alexander. >> craig, good to see you, and thank you very much. right now on "andrea mitchell reports" 19 days as president trump goes on a road show to leave no doubt about who is really on the ballot. >> a vote for mike is a vote to make america great again. very simple. >> a vote for steve is a vote for me, and a vote for cindy is a vote for me. and a vote for marsha is really a vote for me. >> time will tell after meeting with the president, and the secretary of state mike pompeo is going to give the saudis more time to investigate what happened to the missing "washington post" journalist even after many are convinced that the crown prince is behind the killing. >> there are a lot of stories out there about what happened, and we will allow the process to go forward and allow the facts to unfold, and as we unfold and make a determination for ourselves of what happened there and based on the facts that are presented to us. >> and due process, the

president is call canning ate witch hunt, but the man in charge of the russian investigation says that robert mueller's work is appropriate and independent. and joe biden is cautioning the democrats of going too far too fast. >> and if the democrats win the house, do they believe they will move forward with the articles can of impeachment? >> i hope they don't there. is not a basis to do that and we should wait for the report to come out. >> good day to you. i'm peter alexander in for my friend andrea mitchell where we are in washington, and the president is preparing for a midterm blitz here across some key battleground states. rallies scheduled in montana and arizona and nevada where the president is expected to unleash a big string of attacks against the big named democrats and the c camp is hoping that an tie trump movement can sweep them to washington. joining us is jeremy peters and

political reporter at "the new york times" and "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page and also, national correspondent steve kornacki who happens to be the author of "the red and the blue" and so glad to have you all with us. we will see the president walking across the south lawn in the next couple of hours before he makes a swing out west and three critical state, and john tester is in his sights, and tell us what is so crucial about these states for the president. there are so many places that he thinks or knows that he may go, and montana is one of those place places. >> yes, that is exactly right. and montana unlike the other senate races that are competitive for the democrats have tightened. and tightened significantly over the past few weeks after the brett kavanaugh confirmation where the republicans got a lift in motivation, and trump is hoping to extend it, and he is doing what he is doing, and

going on the attack and making it all about him. there's -- particularly -- >> and is it about him, and the president says it is not about me, and the republicans will carry the weight and it is their problem if they have fail ed. i have been to the bun of of the rallies, because on the trail, he says that you are voting for me. >> and he says that people come up all of the time and say, that i wish that you were on the ballot because i could get out the vote, and this is the case for a lot of thep republicans, and trump has made the republican party so much about h him, and he is a singular political force and we don't know if the popularity is going the transfer to candidates like rosenhill in montana or dean heller who is fighting for his political life or martha mcsally. >> and critical races he is focusing on. and susan, the desire and the intention and the white house is hoping that he is going to energize the base and motivate those voters who swept him into the white house, but there is a risk which is the opposite effect happens is that he mo

motivates the base and does the same to energize the opponent's supporters as well. >> we should not say that this is unusual for the midterm, because presidents who have the approval ratings in the low 40s try to be as far away as ucest man in the country, because the ten states of the states that he carried that have democrat senate incumbents are tailor-made for him not to carry the risk side, but generating the enthusiasm about his troops that are not enthused, but democrats have been on fire for two years, but republicans for two weeks. >> he is particularly lucky on the house side, but in the senate side, most of them are suburban districts with the approval ratings of women so low, it is looking like he is swept out, and the republicans could get booted out there, and as you noted the red states or the senate seats are up for grabs. >> it is sberging when the president goes out to do the rallies in the red states some of the endangered republicans

don't show up for the rally and that what happened in kansas, because kevin yoder did not show nup topeka, because he is in one of the suburban districts and in trouble there, too. >> yes. and walk us through a lot of pla places in 19 days ourt, and in some places voted or are voting as we speak, and what is the current state of play as you are looking at the map? >> well, susan says a good two weeks on the republican side, and as you mentioned on the senate side where you are starting to see that some of the the polling that we are seeing in the recent polling, and let me go back to the beginning and i gave it away there, but brand-new in tennessee, we have two new polls, and one putting marsha blackburn, the republican ahead, and another one from vanderbilt that came out that has bredesen moving ahead by one, and the range in tennessee is basically now this month anywhere from the one poll with bredesen up to blackburn at 14, and to the other extreme, and the average of it and the total

the ti is blackburn moving ahead in the mid-single digits when you add it together. and this is hot off of the press, new jersey who was not supposed to be in anybody's r radar, but bob menendez had the hung jury rye, and this week, the democrats got nervous about this the race to pour in $3 million the make sure that he hangs on. this is a new poll showing him leading by actually nine points in the likely voter model there, and this is quinnipiac, but the new one is nine points. sorry, thought we had a different one up there. and in texas, ted cruz is in the lead. in the battleground, if new jersey is going into the democratic kcolumn, there are three that we should show you if you have any chance and heidi heitkampp is struggling there, and if i can get it to work. and if north dakota were the go

over and tennessee were to go over, and -- boy, this is not o cooperating -- and that is all they need. so is if the democrats can't get one of these three, and that is all the republicans need, and they can get everything else on the democratic side, but if they don't get one of these three, they are not potentially in the game for the senate and talk about it being on trump turf the senate battlefield, that is what they mean. >> and steve, talk about the trend, and new energy of the republicans coming home no the party in the wake of the kavanaugh's victory and him join joining the supreme court. are we seeing the people kind of going back to the places as they were before or has the energy stuck around in the days since then? as evidenced by the number wes have shown, we have returned to the traditional colors around the democrats are showing the advantage in terms of the energy again. >> yes, that is what i am wondering about, is this going to last through the election, because the story of the last two years since donald trump's election is like the democratic energy being up here, and we have been seeing the republican energy comparatively down here,

and in the last two weeks, the republican energy level has risen and what that has done and translate ed translated to the polling is that on the senate side more favorable to them, and on the house side, the districts that are not necessarily the suburban districts that are ripe and juicy targets, and the next wrung out, but when you get into the rural areas where they have been hoping to make big inroads, too, the idea of the republican energy coming back is solidify ing them in the next tier, but it is leaving open the big chunk of the suburban districts where the democrats could get a tidal wave and the house majority and almost there, but in terms of the range of how far the d democrats could get in the house side might have narrowed in the last two week, and oof course, two-plus weeks in the election and things could change again. >> we will be working on the board and we have a couple of bugs, but we will be fixing them. i trust you that you will be doing that, and the control-alt-delete should help

there. and jeremy, you have spent a lot of time with the evangelical voters in the kcountry, and wha are you noticing as you are looking into the energy of the community right now in these waning days? >> they are energized to vote themselves. i think that what is separating that from the enthusiasm on the democratic side is that they are energized right now not to vote themselv themselves, but to get the friends otut to vote. and you is seen that bear itself out in the polling, and the trend. it is interesting, of course, because it is a big if, if the republicans are able to hold on to the house by a slim ma jr. ti, because even now the most optimistic will say if we manage to do this, it is by three or five seats and if they do it, it is because the democrats don't turn out. i came back from a swing through the midwest that steve is talking about and the districts where there is a little bit more trump country, and i will have to say that there are a lot of the worried democrats that they won't turn out the numbers that they need. >> and i will tell you, susan,

as you are looking at the waning days, what are you focused on or that we are not that we need to look at? >> well, we need to look at what happens between now and then, and even though we are 2 1/2 weeks -- >> and a lot can happen in that time. >> and even more voting than we used to v and things happen that change the dynamics of the elections and the khashoggi story for instance is something that we could not have foresaw. >> what about immigration? >> yes, immigration is the number one issue since he announced. >> the president knows all of these things. >> and the thing that gets the voters to the polls is being mad or scared, immigration helps the republicans on that front. >> i was in adventist tuesday night, and in a swing district at a republican event and every single question to the candidate was about immigration and nothing else. >> jerry peters and susan page,

and steve kornacki and with what a great panel here. thank you. >> and ignoring the intelligence and why the white house calling for more time to investigate the death of a saudi journalist? you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ms let's do an ad of a man eating free waffles at comfort inn. they taste like victory because he always gets the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed, when he books direct at choicehotels.com. or just say, badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com

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leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. why should saudi arabia be trusted to conduct a fair and impartial investigation when they are accused of the disa

appearance and the apparent murder of jamal khashoggi. >> so we will all get to see the work product and the response of the kingdom of saudi arabia gives us, and when we see that, all of us will have a chance to make a determination with respect to the credibility and the work that went into the that. >> that is my exchange with the secretary of state mike pompeo outside of the white houses really about an hour and a half ago after he spoke to the president about the recent trip to saudi arabia and turkey, and saying that saudi arabia, quote, quote,s a sured me that they will conduct a complete and thorough investigation, and that the report is going to be as he described it transparent, but pompeo say ths that the america should give the saudis more time even though the intelligence community is more certain that the saudi crown prince is behind the death. and moments later, secretary of treasury steve mnuchin said that he is not going to be participating in the investment initiative to begin next week in saudi arabia. and joining us is mike lighter,

the national counterterrorism s center. and it is an important post, and so tell us, three more days they say, but do we need it? >> well, i think that we do have everything that we need to make the decision, but this is a complicated enough political sna scenario, intelligence issue with both turkey and saudi arabia and two key regional allies and the three days do three things. one, it does allow the intelligence community to potentially get hands on information that they may not yet have >> and let me interrupt you, but what? >> the audio from the turks. >> you don't believe we have it? >> i think that the ushgs have described it to us, but they have not shown it to us. so that may help. and piece two, this is tricky for the trump administration to walk, and they need that time to

calibrate the need for the good strategic relations with saudi arabia and what to do in this instance. and last, the saudis clearly need time to get a story straight. it started with he left the consulate and we don't know what happened to him to, well, something went wrong and these have been trial balloons and shot down, because they didn't hold water, and clearly the saudis need more time. >> and the president is the one who introduced to the world whether he thought it up first or the king or the prince introduced the idea of the rogue killers here. and what do you make no the whi white house response in the immediate aftermath of this? >> well, it is trumpian, and the idea of rogue killers and anyone who has worked with the saudis know that is laughable, because there is nothing rogue about this team coming out of saudi arab arabia, and mbs and the crown prince, he has great control over the security services, and one of the first things that he did coming into power, and rogue is not simply believable.

>> any circumstances if there is something like this that took place without the knowledge of the crown prince? >> in my view, the saudis did it and no likelihood and maybe he didn't know all of the details, but in my view, the crown prince would have been involved in this. >> this would not have been the first u.s. administration to put a strategic dealing with the saudi arabia, and george bush and president obama as well. >> you must remember since 1932, we have had a long strategic relationship with the kingdom of saudi arabia, and they continue to be a important counter terrorism alliance of the united states, and we need to be mindful of that as well. >> it is clear that the president does not want to disrupt that relationship even

if the $110 billion may never come to fruition and not real and some of it was done under president obama, and the president'ses concern is less about one individual as he describes it the 500,000 jobs affected by this deal jet yyet come. >> i am not sure that the president is fully aware of the aspects of the relationship, but what pompeo said, it is important, and what he left out is that i think that the administration and the president's approach to all powerful leaders who don't respect human rights has provided a window for this sort of behavior by saudi arabia. that is something that regardless of the strategic relationship in saudi arabia that we have to address strategically across the globe. >> and the president said that there will be a harsh retaliation, and a what would he

do? >> it is not just up to the president, and as with the russian sanctions, the congress will play a heavy hand in this. >> and so they will force his hand, but unit laterally what could he do? >> put the arms deals on a pause, and suspend some intelligence relationships and saudi arabia is not as important on counter terrorism, and still important on iran, but not as important on other issues and then we make some other limitations on the saudi enga engagement with the national institutions, and we make it clear that this sort of the behavior is not permissible by any country. >> and the conversations that i have had with people close to the white house tell me that basically the thinking is that issues for saudi arabia that the crown prince locked up a number of members of his own family for heaven's sake, and those washed over. is this the calculus here that it is going to be washing away like the others? >> not only to some extent the calculus, but it is likely to be

right. as torn douhorrendous as that i >> what does it say about america? >> it is the country's prioritization of human rights and not the only consideration can, but whether it is north korea or complimenting dictators elsewhere, it is deeply problematic. >> and it is deeply challenging for everybody. tha thank you for being here. and now, all of that declaration of independences in the russian probe. we will have more. you are watching msnbc. the fact is, there are over ninety-six hundred roads named "park" in the u.s. it's america's most popular street name. but allstate agents know that's where the similarity stops. if you're on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the washoe zephyr could damage your siding.

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we are back now at "andrea mitchell reports" and i'm peter alexander. rod rosenstein is defend iing t special counsel's investigation into the russian investigation. this is where rosenstein say s that i committed that i would make sure that the investigation is appropriate and independent and reach the right result whatever it may be. as far as his own future, rosenstein says that the president knows that i am prepared to do this job as long as he want ms. to do this job.

joining me is the justice department julian ansley and bob bower, and so julia, this is odd to see him doing an interview, because we have heard a lot about him, and we thought that he was out of a job less than a month ago right now, and what message is he sending, and is the job safe or what is this? >> well, it is a 180 since that fire drill, because we thought that he was on the way to the white house to be fired and now he is much more comfortable, and he has the backbone back, and he is not the same one that cowered shortly after the comey firing, and what i took from this is that it is interesting that the people will see why the mueller investigation is so long, and talking about the frustrations, and his boss' frus traces, and one is that he may plan to make it public, and it is up to him to decide whether or not that report that mueller comes up with is going to be public and it will be whether the american

people will see it. it is as if he wants it to be transparent in tend and telling us a lot about who he is as a person right now. he is someone who feels like he is going to be justified for all of the decisions both in public eye and perhaps in the president's eye if he can have the chance to make the case. >> and there is some reporting out there, and i ask you specifically s there any better understanding from what we have heard and the tea leaves about the time thing of it and suggestions that as the midterms are over, that we will hear from robert mueller. >> i have is heard that and a bloomberg report and there is a fact that we will hear other things from robert mueller, and there are shoes to drop, and so they have not gotten everything, and so, we are still looking at paul manafort and other people who can give information to be crucial to the investigation. it could be that he could wrap up part of it and wrap up obstruction and save something bigger like whether the campaign is working with russia for the spring. >> and bob, let me ask you, that we have heard a lot from the president, and heard from him

again recently as it relates to jeff session, his attorney general and he spoke to the associated press this week, and i want to put up what he said, ki fire him when i want to fire him, but i have not said that i was going to the, and if you ask me if i am thrilled, no, i am not thrilled. so the question is how safe and not so much jeff sessions, but how safe is the russia investigation? >> there is the ultimate question of what the president thinks that he is going to be receiving in the way of congressional republicans if he is trying to buck their decisions in the past and try to replace the senior doj team, and try to end the russian investigation. >> and he has to wait for the mid-terms. >> and partly the outcome of the midterms, and the political environment will have the effect. i read the interview as julia did, but with one additional point, and it is interesting that he delivered the interview at the same time as the change in the white house counsel, and

i am not thinking that the white house may have been aware that the white house counsel was doing that, and maybe to communicate to the reset a little bit for him and a little bit for the general public. i understand they owe the president loyalty, and i am g g going to be doing the job as long as he wants me to, and the investigation is appropriate and everybody calm down was the message there, and i wonder if it is part of the premidterm communication to the president, hold on, let's not rush into anything here. >> is so you speak about the white house counsel, and sarah sanders said today, that emmitt flood is going to serve as the interim until pat sip -- pat p

cipollone comes on. and is there anything specific that we should look at with the exit of don mcgahn going forward? >> no, think they don mcgahn was compelled to give the testimony that he needed to give and he has given it, and for the suggestion of 30 hours, there is no change in the posture of the special counsel's office. >> and what about don mcgahn know, because he would have been ale longside the president. >> and we know that he was a key witness in the 18 days that robert mueller has been looking at when flynn was a national security adviser and don mcgahn who was approached by sally yates and the doj saying that we think that your national security adviser may have lie nod the fbi, and mcgahn of information no the president. and so he was in a key piece to understand who knew what when and he has

another shoe to drop as far as what he knows. >> and so the people who are watching this network and paying attention hear rudy giuliani all of the time setting the deadlines and disappeared and nothing happened and what can do you make of the fact that we have not heard from rudy giuliani? >> well, it is a good time for the defense, because it needs more discipline, and it also may mean that the an agreement has been reached or a large part of the agreement has been reached with mueller's office of how he is going to communicate what he is prepared to communicate in briting and also some progress of whether he is going to actually provide any personal or direct testimony. >> thank you so much, and nice to see you in person and julia, always nice to have you here as well. and now, the president's threatt to close the wall to mexico, and going to that region in arizona where he is going to speak before the rally.

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spike to border crossing on the u.s./mexico border. this is a political flashpoint as president trump in a tweet storm today vowed to cut aid to honduras if the immigrants are not stopped, and he says i will call up the u.s. military and close our southern border, and he would call can it an assault on the country that has been g orchestrated by the democrats. and joining us is bill crystal and ron mcclain, the former white house aide under presidents clinton and obama. and gentlemen, thank you for being here. and bill, you seen the series of tweets this morning and the president tweets about a lot, but today, the strategy is clear, let i-- let's tau about immigration and it is divisive and works for the base in 2014 and what is the calculus. >> yes, we will not talk about the ale lies the saudis or anything else, and the administration's pathetic response to that or the health care or the debt and the deficit which is up, and do the rabble

rousing and the fearmonger iingn immigrants. i think it will work -- >> you think it will work. >> no, i don't think it will work. i think that we were supposed to have diplomatic and other policies in place to stop these caravans from presenting these to us, and we need to treat them humanely, and they can say that donald trump is not going to solve the problems that he wants to solve. >> and when you are looking at the numbers for the wall and other things, what are you seeing? is >> the polling is showing that people are disap appointed that trump did not build the wall, but they should not also build it if it is going to cost $60 million. and so the symbol of what trump is going to do could backfire on him, but the if i were a democrat, i would say, wait, you can not blame president obama for the current caravan that just started. >> and they are not embracing president obama, but they are

embracing health care and saying that i will protect the pre-existing conditions, and these are the republicans who have voted to repeal and replace, mcsally in arizona and saying that it is to be mandated to undercut says governor scott wa walker, and dean heller in nevada also has been strong on this, and what do you make in the republican effort in the waning days by some to say, no, no, we believe that we have your health care and got you covered. >> well, the best single thing for democrats is that looking at the polls, the voter says health care is number one issue, and for the ability to get healthy on this is too little too late. many of them supported the lawsuits to get rid of the affordable care acts, and many of them were incumbents who voted against the affordable care act and now coming around as the defenders of this is ridiculous, and the democrats were handed a huge break yesterday by mitch mcconnell who said that if the republicans

control the congress, they will take another run at repealing the affordable care act, and if the republicans were trying to make this issue go away, the majority leader in the senate raised a big red flag to help the the democrats yesterday. >> was that a mistake, because a lot of the republicans say, and strategists that we have health care's act, because it is resonating as local in my kitchen issue for families. >> if i were a democrat, i would say i will protect the parts of health care system that you like, and make the republicans who are going to be threatening your health care and say it is under the unified control, and the deficit is up, and i will be a fiscally responsible democrat and get both sides and cut the entitlements of social security and medicare and that is their way of dealing with the deficit rather than tax iing the rich o making cuts. >> and this is going to be sounding like a democrat in two year, and that is amazing. >> and go to fight trump or more

trumpian ground, and so they will be tempted to go after the other issue, but they need to be discipline odd on this. >> and you are seeing particularly in the swing races, peter, great discipline. this week, alison spanberger debated dave brats in a republican debate in virginia and she attack ed him for runnig up the deficit and explaining for stronger voter security, and -- >> from virginia. >> yes, and so democrats are playing the middle where they need to and really emphasizing the health care, and it is a winning issue. >> but bill is bringing up the potential of the democrats they overplay the hand, and start to talk about things like impeachment and the republicans say, and ted cruz said this when he was fighting with beto o'rourke in texas, you put them in charge, it is going to shut down government for the next two years. and sheer a colleague of your, and joe biden and how he addressed the issue. take a listen.

>> you are democrats' top choice to run against president trump. >> it is so early. it does not mean anything. >> well, you care deeply about the kcountry, and that is why yu are out campaigning and you understand the polling data. >> i don't care about the polling data, but i think about whether i should run and based on very private decisions of my family and the loss of my son and what i want the do with the rest of my life, but i don't think of it in terms of can i win or lose, because that is not part of the calculation. >> a couple of compelling sound bites from that interview is one, and the other was on the issue of impeachment, and he said, too early to talk about that and see what the mueller report ultimately says. your opinion on that strategy? >> i think that he is right. not just because he is my former boss, but because i think that he is right. i think that he is formally going to believe that if the democrats can take the house back, they have to make the

priority to be delivering for things at the kitchen table, and raising the minimum wage, and doing something to strengthen health care, and child care and other issues before they get into the absolutely necessary oversight and accountability measures they have to show they can do things that are pinching people in the everyday lives. >> what about the risk? >> not controlling the house. and right now, the democrats have easy answer, protect the mueller investigation and do not interfere with it, and see what he discovers, and they have come to that easy place, and not falling into the impeachment there. >> and welcome to see you, bill and steve. and now the playbook to take over the country. this is "andrea mitchell reports."

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text "listen27" to 500500 to start your free trial today. you are recognize the music? it mean s ths that we are in th neighborhood of another election and 19 days to the midterms and president trump crisscrossing

the key states that he won in 2016 in a campaign blitz to fire up the base to take advantage of some vulnerable red states. he is going to be in montana in a state where he won by 21 point, and also where john tn tr is locked in a race that is at the moment too close the call. hours before the trip, president trump launched a new attack on tester saying that he looks to be in big trouble in the big state of montana and behaved worse than the democratic mob did with justice k can for kavanaugh, and chris jansing spoke with tester in his home state, and she is joining me with more, and what is he tel g telling you? >> well, he knows it is a tough fight, and truly a tossup at this point, peter. and maybe as pure referendum on donald trump as we are going to be seeing anywhere in the country. it is incredible to think that a state like montana would just with about 1 million people in it, and he is going there for

the third time in four months and the question is what do you do if you are jon tester? well, i went to montana, and spent four days there and drove 1100 miles around the state talking to the voters to find out. >> reporter: jon tester is as comfortable on a farm equipment as he is in the state senate. he has had a different day job for the past few years as senator. are you comfortable here or in the halls of congress? >> here. >> reporter: a amid this expansive quiet, test ser in the fight of his political life. >> matt rosendale means business. >> reporter: on the ballot he is running against the state auditor. >> welcome back to montana, mr. president. >> and his looming opponent is

the president. >> he will never drain the swamp. >> reporter: the president has travelled there for two months out for revenge against jon tester. >> one of the saddest things that i have seen is john tn tes and what he did to a great, great man, admiral ronny jackson. >> reporter: as the ranking member of the veterans committee, he revealed allegations of improper behavior to take down trump's pick for secretary, and he quickly called for his resignation. >> if you knew that the president would go so hard on you, would you still go after ronny jackson? >> well, if i had to do my job, i would do my job. >> reporter: for his july visit, he bought ads in newspapers across the state, but the

republicans are hitting back for his vote against trump on tax cuts and immigration. >> he may look like montana, but he is looking like them. >> reporter: and the most effective answer to the popularity may be this. >> well, personality plays big here, and also how montana you ? >> every chance tester has, you see him emphasizing his deep roots in montana. and the playbook to attack rosendale is to emphasize how he's not in here very long -- >> 16 years ago. that's not very long in montana years. tester took advantage of a big controversy. >> herding my cattle, branding the calvcalves. >> but turned out he didn't own cattle. >> all hat, no cows. >> it's been tubb ebe ebed dubb top hat fight. >> you know he needs a haircut. >> tester -- >> i'll introduce a bill -- >> knows winning another term is a toss-up.

>> the difference in this race? >> yes. >> hopefully, it will be my record. >> i like that flat top. i hadn't heard that. >> the flat top fudge ice cream they now have in the state is very good in case you end up in montana some time. >> i trust that's in the freezer. let me tell you the number that bodes well for democrats. nbc news data analytics lab. it shows since 2016 the benefits have benefited in terms of registration activity. they're well outpacing the way they were from 2014 to 2016. republicans are down in terms of their registration activity. simple thing is democrats are registering bigger numbers. >> you know, it's interesting, i talked to both sides about this. and what they tell you. and it's backed up, by the way, by a recent study, peter is that there's no state in the union that has more split ticket voters. so if you're a republican, doesn't mean you're going to vote republican. what it is, what i found fascinating, in some ways, even

though it's a sprawling state, it has small population centers. new hampshire and iowa in the primaries. this is a very retail politics state. people know jon tester. he has been spending every minute he's in montana when he's not under the hood of his truck, you know, going out and talking to people and meeting people. this is very much a retail politics state. >> yes. one of the -- >> without a doubt. >> thanks. coming up here, beto mania, rock star receptions for a texas senate candidate, but does that translate into votes? this is "andrea mitchell reports." is now in session. and... adjourned. business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it.

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in texas' heated senate race, republican incumbent ted cruz and his democratic challenger, three-term congressman beto o'rourke, made their final pitch to voters this week. it's been 30 years since texas elected a democrat to the senate but o'rourke, a rising progressive star, is getting plenty of attention well beyond texas. >> to me, you embody so much watch the country needs right now. you are kindness, you are joy, you're meeting difficulty and disappointment with a power and joy of connecting with people and bringing the best out of people. if there's a way we can connect with what you're doing with the viewers who watch the show, if i can make my wife amy, who's here, even happier, right there,

you know, then i'm going to do it. you are very kind to have us on. >> there he is with ellen degeneres. got a firsthand look at beto mania. this guy is a hero in l.a., in new york, in a lot of liberal parts of the country. what do people in texas say? >> there's definitely a lot of enthusiasm for him on the ground in texas. i was with him on a monday. he was going to a rally in the morning with 1,000 people. that evening, a big concert with rappers. but still, you know, this is texas. 500,000 more republicans voted in the primary earlier this year than democrats. he's got a lot going against him. even as there's this alternative national world going on, with all these liberals, you know, putting beto stickers on their cars. wanting to run for president in 2020, he has to win in texas

first. >> i heard from someone close to president obama say this could be b.o. 2, barack obama 2 in some way. we saw in recent days, his numbers seem to trail off. maybe in the wake of the kavanaugh controversy where republicans came back home so to speak. how are they combating that right now? >> this has been the big problem for any democrat in texas. from day one, there was a sense there was a ceil, that he could climb and climb and no matter how much enthusiasm, he was never going to get to 50%. hasn't been well organized. democrats haven't investmented in getting them to turn up. they're basically trying to remake the electorate to win. >> he's gone negative in recent ways. >> right, there's been a huge

part of his brand that has been positive. really took of the gloves this week with ted cruz. could be a sign of nervousness. it could have been their plan to close negative in the end. if you've gone this far going positive, you would like to avoid going negative if you can. >> you joked des moines. a lot of people think this guy's name, if he wins, he's the nomin nominee. if he loses, he may be the democratic nominee. >> he says he's going to serve his full six-year term. so did a guy named barack obama when he was running for senate. he just kind of has this it factor a lot of democrats don't have these days. i think it's a sign so many people are excited about this guy who all the polls say is about to lose when they've got 30 candidates running for president already and they're instead getting excited about this guy. they're not falling in love with the rest of the 2020 field right now. >> 19 more days to keep an eye on ways happhat's happening.

good to see you. my thanks to andrea for letting me sit in. tune in to "hardball" with chris matthews tonight for an interview with lynch. now stephanie ruhle. >> good afternoon, everyone, my partner ali velshi is off today. it is tuesday, october 18th. let's get smarter. >> secretary of state mike pompeo speaking about the investigation into the death of murdered journalist khashoggi. >> we take this matter very seriously. they made clear to me they, too, understand the serious nature. they also assured me they will conduct a complete, thorough investigation of all of the facts surrounding mr. khashoggi and they will do so in a timely fashion and this report itself will be transparent for