republicans. the state of of the republican party. this morning we'll talk to both parties looking to take lugar's seat. and another hotbed of discontent. wisconsin democrats pick their man in the fast approaching recall vote on governor scott walker. we'll take a deep dive into the fierce fight that's only 27 days away from today. and mitt romney, another one of those pivots to november. this time it actually felt like on one. this is "the daily rundown." startling revelations about the double agent who ended up blow up that yemen bomb plot. lots to get to this morning. we know about indiana senator richard lugar. he was rejected by his own party in a double-digit defeat that

was just one of last night's ballot blowouts. the results went largely as expected in indiana, north carolina, west virginia and wisconsin. the surprises were in the margins of victory. murdoch beat lugar by 20 points, 61% to lugar's 39%. new york overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment that will constitutional will band civil unions. it will make north carolina the 30th state to adopt a marriage ban. the state was the last holdout in the south. a white house spokesman said the president was disappointed by the vote. >> in north carolina you have to

get over 40 to avoid a runoff. walter dalton by, at 46%. and it's a rematch from 2010 when walker beat barrett by 6 points. finally, after last night we know why west virginia's democratic senator claims to be undecided on who he'll support in the presidential race. texas felon keith russell judd currently serving 210 months in a federal prison won at least eight counties last night and 42% of the vote in west virginia coming within 16 points of the president in the democratic presidential primary. by the way, for the president, this campaign roll-out week, was this how they imagined it? saturday joe biden stepping on this evenings, on sunday having this weird problem with a felon in the west virginia primary, not the greatest campaign roll-out week. we move on.

when lugar entered the senate, elvis was still alive, the pacers were just joining the nba and the indiana colts didn't exist. lugar made a soft statement about partisanship in front of tv cameras. >> we are experiencing deep political divisions in our society right now, and these divisions have stalemated progress in critical areas. but these divisions are not insurmountable. >> but after that concession speech, lugar pulled a jerry mcgwire. he released a $1,426 word good-bye letter of sorts, which reads almost like a manifesto, just missing "catcher in the rye" cover. he railed against mourdoch. he had even stronger word for washington writing, quote, unfortunately we have anne

creasing number of legislators in both parties who have adopted an unrelenting partisan viewpoint. i don't remember a time when so many topics have become politically unmentionable in one party or the other. our political system is losing its ability to even explore alternatives. he said he does not regret votes for tarp, the auto bailout, or vote to confirm supreme court justices that he voted for. senator john cary, lugar's counterpart on the senate for foreign relations committee said "this is a tragedy for the senate, it's a blow to the institution during a period when the institution itself has been strained." the president said "while dick and i didn't great on everything, i found he was often willing to reach across the aisle to get things done."

vice president biden said "the senate lost a brilliant mind, an man with absolute integrity. he will be missed." we've heard speech after speech of mitt romney described as a pivot. yesterday he did one. in michigan romney did his best to create a wedge ideological between president obama and president clinton. he did it in michigan, where he has to peel away independents to even have a shot at putting that state in play. >> president clinton, he said the era of big government was over. president obama brought it back with a vengeance. president obama is trying to tireless li les tirelessly expand the welfare state. >> he was borrowing a trick from the president. >> ronald reagan, who, as i

recall, is not accused of being a tax and spend socialist, he could not get through a republican primary today. >> that's a little bit of a danger here for romney invoking clinton. clinton is still alive and he will probably be ready it respond and look forward to. he sort of already made the argument about the republican party he had to deal with the 90s versus today. remember the good old days and the 90s, like impeachment? sporting a sweater vest, rick santorum continued his luke warm endorsement of mitt romney. >> i sthaid that with respect t romneycare. >> do you regreat saying that? >> that was the predecessor to

obamacare. it going to be hard for him to make the case. >> do you think he's found out he's not getting a speaking job at the convention? he said he thought it was about getting it the morning newspapers, et cetera. the tepid endorsement tour continue there is for sure. to a little bit of the economy money the economic crisis in europe is taking a toll on stocks here at home. i know, we've never reported that before. becky quick joins us now. we're waiting for greece to become a government. they're making another attempt today, this time from the left. >> that's right. everything that's happening, though, is really starting to cause a little bit of panic in investors, chuck. we're seeing it play out in just about every one of the markets today, around the globe and back here at home. in europe stocks have been under quite a bit of pressure.

right now it looks like the dow is going to open down by close to 130 points. that's really concerning because the market is sitting up and taking notice. by the way, the dow has closed down for five sessions in a row already. you're talking about significant pressure to the down side. investors look pretty scared all the way across the board. the one place they're running is to the u.s. treasury. the ten-year was yielding below 1.8% this morning and at that point you were getting near the lowest levels we've seen all the way back to the hoover administration. 1.7% is the lowest we've seen during the financial crisis. 1.8% and below, people start sitting up and taking notice. you're watching gold prices down -- >> that means gold is up, right? >> oil price is below 96. all of this is bad news unless you're looking to refinance your house because mortgage prices have been coming down or if you're paying for gas at the pump because those prices have been coming, too. there's a lot of chaos. we have to watch this closely

today. >> becky quick, thank you. will lugar as loss give democrats a win? coming up, the man who ended lugar's 25-year career. and after him, his own opponent. and don't forget the united states is hosting nato. and later tonight it a concert honoring mike meyers and austin powers' favorite singer, burt bacharach. plays a key role throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin, designed for many of men's health concerns as we age.

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united states senate, dick lugar lost last night to a tea party candidate. i toke to the winner. mr. mourdock, congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> what do you believe the firing offense was? >> it was much more resounding, even more than we expected on our team. i think for a long time, mr. lugar had been out of touch with the state. he moved out of state in 1977. when the issue came up, he filed a lawsuit saying he doesn't have to live in indiana. that sent a message he doesn't want to be here. >> senator lugar put out a lengthy statement, a manifesto of sorts, and he endorses you

but he does so it seems reluctantly. "i want him to be a good senator but that will require himto revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship." >> i said bipartisanship ought to come to the democrats point of view. we wanted to give more to the national voice to the ideas that republicans and more specifically conservatives would be in the majority of the senate and the house and hopefully we'll have a republican in the white house. that means they have to come our way. if we're successful in getting the numbers, we'll work toward that. i want confront not so much people but the issues that are causing to us be in the economic crisis we're in. >> so why be a u.s. senator? why not be a party leader? u.s. senators are elected to legislate. the way the entire senate was

devised, where every two years there's some churn and it always reflects where the country is at that time and the country shift as lot, why be a u.s. senator? why not simply start a pac, become the party chairman, do something to elect the chairman, rather than do what you say here, you're not going to be legislating if you can't get your way. >> i have a very unusual background. i spent 31 years in the business sector, in the mining industry. i've had the privilege of working six years as state treasure under our great governor. the positions you just mentioned don't give you the opportunity to win someone offer to your point of view. we're going to be involved with a national argument, trying to get more and more people to

realize it would be a good thing if we roll back the size of government. it would be a good thing if we gave individuals more freedom. it would be a great thing if we roll back government to the extent that businesses begin to prosper again and people see opportunity. right now they're not sensing that. >> you are aware that over 60% of the country does not identify themselves as conservative. and even on the best numbers, let's say it's 40% that call themselves conservative. that th that's 60% who do not. >> that's right. i've said i'm more frustrated with republicans than i am democrats in washington. even the republicans who will more often than not and vote the right way are not coming back to their states and disabilititric get in front of the unfriendly crowds to make the point that it's good. i think they're going to face

some devastating defeats again this year. they passed something in obamacare they can't defend. i feel i can defend the purpose of conservatism and more should be doing it, just as i want to. >> there was a report that indicated you might not be supportive of mitch mcconnell as senate republican leader if you're elected to the senate. is that the way you feel today? >> no, i've never said that. what i've said is if we get a few more conservatives in the united states senate, we can certainly change the leadership but not necessarily the people but give them a more conservative point of view because we'd have more conservatives in the caucus of the united states senate. i've never had the occasion to talk to mr. mcconnell. we've not made any decision there whatsoever. >> and i want to quickly ask you about the auto bailout. there's a lot of independent analysts that say it was very beneficial to indiana. do you feel as if indiana has benefited from the auto bailout? i know you were against it but do you believe indiana has

benefited from it? >> i hear the question a great deal, if chrysler and general motors are now deemed successful, was i wrong in the point i took in 2009? i was not wrong because the law should always matter. government should not be in the position of picking winners and losers. that's what the chrysler and gm bankruptcies were all about. >> so you disagree with mitt romney who basically says the version of the auto bailout, the managed bankruptcy is something he's supportive of. >> the bankruptcy that ought to have occurred should have one that was consistent with the law of 2009. i believe with my heart and soul if that bankruptcy had taken place, you would have seen much of chrysler and general motors continue through that process. would it be different? sure it would. still, to throw away the law and have government take away the property of some individuals so they could give to someone else, how does anyone justify that?

no one has yet even tried to make that argument that i'm aware of that it was a good thing that, it was fair. our law says we're all supposed to be equal. yet in the chrysler bankruptcy specifically, we're all equal but, wink, wink, some are more equal than others. if we're not all equal, we're not equal. and i think that was a serious mistake. >> richard mourdock, republican nominee for indiana. thanks for coming on this morning. >> great being back with you. >> still to come, new details about how a double agent stopped that al qaeda plot to blow up a u.s.-bound plane. but first today's trivia question: richard lugar just became the second six-term u.s.

senator in the past 100 years to fail to win his party's nomination. who was the first? tweet me the answer at @chucktodd and and @thedailyrundown. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions

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in 7 days guaranteed. then tell us your results on facebook. pantene healthier hair in less than 7 days. we just heard from richard mourdock, the man who vanquished richard lugar. now joining me is congressman joe donnelly. he faces mourdock this november. congratulations on officially becoming the nominee. >> thank you, chuck. thank you for having me on. >> i want to start with your reaction to richard lugar's manifesto of sorts, if you will. he really gets angry at both parties in here. obviously he's upset at his own party but he says he's finding too many democrats are doing the same thing, that partisanship wins the day, not enough reaching across the aisle.

do you agree with him on that? >> you know, i do. i think what we have do is work together. the indianapolis star the other day said a few years ago we had five, six members of the indiana delegation who were moderates. he said the only two left are lugar and donnelly. i'm the only one left at this point. senator lugar and i worked repeatedly together to help save the auto industry. on numerous occasions he was extraordinarily helpful on issues like iraq and afghanistan and actually sat with me one time. you talk about the epitome of statesmanship. he said, joe, i want to help you with iraq and afghanistan, if i can, any ideas i might have. anything we talk about is you and me. it's about our country. >> do you think -- i noticed already this morning club for growth noting your support of

nancy pelosi as speaker. >> they've been trying to do that for six years. in the last election i supported heath schuler. >> let me ask you about that. why didn't you support your democratic leader there? what was the message you were trying to send? >> well, the message i was trying to send was i thought the democratic leader should be someone who was more in the middle. i respect nancy pelosi but i thought the leader should be someone who epitomized working together, partisanship. i'm a blue dog democrat, it means trying to work with others, strong national defense, standing up for our veterans and balanced budgets. >> do you believe president obama is too liberal for your state as well? >> well, you know what i think, i think that we had talked about this a week or two ago. president obama, the first thing he did after he became president was come out to indiana.

he came out to talk to hoosiers about jobs, about trying to make our state's unemployment get lower and trying to work together and i was there. when the president talks about issues like jobs and working to the and listening to hoosiers, i'm all for that. the president helped with the auto industry effort. i was very, very helpful in that. it should be noted richard mourdock tried to single handedly destroy the automotive industry, which results in 100,000 jobs. he would have single handedly put our state in a depression if he had been able to do what he wanted to do. >> is that your number one issue, how you're going to go after mourdock? >> mourdock said he wasn't hired to make sure every person gets a job. that's another critical issue.

mourdock says i'm for bipartisanship as long as everybody does what i want them to do. i've played a lot of baseball over the years. that's the epitome of the kid who comes to the park and says i'm going to take my ball and my bat and go home unless you do what i want. >> he said he believes his job is to argue for conservative causes if he gets elected to the senate. and he said democrats have done a poor job, for instance, selling health care. you were a supporter of the health care reform law. do you believe you guys have done a good job selling it? >> well, what i have said all along is number one, it's not perfect. number two, i have a daughter who has rheumatoid arthritis, people with rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, first time they can ever get coverage. those who are 21, 22, who can't

get health care can still stay on their parents' plans. there are a lot of good things and we'll continue to work for it. >> congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> next, the sides are set in the democratic party's attempt to oust wisconsin governor scott walker. this is going to be knock down, drag out. 27 days from now. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. help us expand our palette... ...and prices that give us more spring per dollar... ...we can mix the right soil with the right ideas. ...and bring even more color to any garden. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. brighten mom's big day with colorful hanging baskets and color bowls. [ dog ] we found it together.upbeat ] on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk.

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spread across the country. he bill to limit bargaining rights drew thousands of protesters to the capital in madison. the president himself accused walker of an assault on unions. when democrats failed to stop the bill, they began targeting republicans in recalls, kicking off a wave of election upheaval. in may, supreme court justice david proser barely held on to his job after the race became a proxy battle over his bill. three months later a pair of republican state senators were knocked off in recall elections. four more republican state senators face a recall vote on june 5th along with the governor and his lieutenant governor. one of those four retired in march. barrett blamed governor walker for dividing the state.

>> we all have witnessed what has happened with scott walker starting an ideological civil war in this state that has divided our state like it has never been divided before. family members shy away from talking to family members about politics because it becomes too bitter. it does not have to be that way in wisconsin. >> well, the governor doesn't talk much about the recall but he did last night and he blamed it on big labor and big government. >> since last february those big government union bosses in washington, the out of state special interest, has spent millions and millions and millions of dollars trying to take us out. but we got a simple message for them. they can take their money, they can take their people and they can go back to new jersey and washington and chicago and anywhere else they're from because we run things in wisconsin for the taxpayers! >> as can you see, this sets up

a very nasty and a very expensive race. the governor has a huge financial edge. they're taking advantage of a law that lets recall targets raise unlimited funds from the time petitions are filed until the date the election is certified by the state and that happened at the end of march. by then walker had brought in, ready for this, $25 million in unlimited amounts of money. numbers more on par with a second tier presidential candidate than a candidate for governor. about two third of it came from out of state supporters, as you just heard walker talking about out of state money and labor. he's outspent the mayor 9-1 and has been running ad against him for nearly a month. >> tom barrett, he promised to raise taxes on employers. >> wisconsin'sin employment rate is the lowest it's been since 2008. >> milwaukee's unemployment rate has gone up 29% under barrett.

>> forward walker. >> backwards barrett. >> forward. that's a familiar theme, isn't it? there's a reason the government is trying to frame the economic argument in his ads. despite the focus on the union issues, jobs are an issue. half the state saw significant job gains over this period, wisconsin showed a statistically significant drop in employment. where does all this leave us with the recall election less than a month away? dead even, all of that money, all of those ads, nothing has moved. for walker's numbers, it might be scary for him. barrett is up just a point among registered voters. among likely voters, it walker up a point. the governor's job approval rating, right down the middle. this is something else here. it is going to be the one of the very, very close, very divisive

elections. folks, think about what we just saw in indiana, what we've been seeing. it was bad during impeachment 14 years ago and we've been escalating to this point. is this the breaking point to polarization? we'll see. it is unbelievable what wisconsin has gone through as far as these divided campaigns in the last two years. coming up, we'll speak to mayor barrett about his bid to unseat governor walker. >> all right. a few headlines i've been following this one. especially this one the white house is following closely. the man believed to be an al qaeda operative attempting to blow an airplane was a double agent, working for the cia to get information on this new near live undetectible bomb. fbi agents are examining the explosive. officials say eight lot more sophisticated than the bomb worn

in 2009 by the underwear bomber. now chairman king expressed his concern over how this part of the operation became so public. >> this leak could have significant long-term damage. it's absolutely essential a full investigation be carried out as to who is responsible for this leak. >> this is a big deal to have infiltrated and exposed a double agent there. round one is in the books. now in the senate's fight over stopping student loan rates from doubling. a procedural vote failed in the senate. republicans were opposed to pay for the rate through higher payroll companies for higher companies. the white house called the vote extremely disappointing. they will get back to the drawing board and see what happens. >> an update on mark kirk's health from the senator himself. it's a new web video. the illinois freshman senator

described an intense rehab process from a january stroke. he had a message for the monen d women he represents. >> i'm walking again to walk the 45 steps my staff counted to walk from the parking lot to the senate front door to fight for the people of illinois. >> pretty moving video there posted by senator kirk. our best wishes to him. our hump day political panel will be here next. can the president get back on track? and what lessons should other senators learn from lugar's loss? and soup of the day at the white house, chicken noodle. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different.

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resolve that the committee on the judiciary is authorized and directed to investigate fully and completely whether sufficient grounds exist for the house of representatives to exercise its constitutional power to impeach richard m. nixon, president of the united states of america. >> this day in 1974 when the house judiciary committee officially opened impeachment hearings against president richard nixon. >> it's supposed to be the big start for the president's reelection bid, the campaign kickoff, excited about four more years. from a not quite capacity crowd over the weekend from the vice president's comments on gay marriage and a guy named keith judd, a felon from texas, it's been a far from smooth roll-out.

>> let me start with you. the president of the united states is going to be accepting the nomination now in a state that has a right to work law and constitutional ban on gay marriage and he's going to accept the democratic nomination. by the way, the name of the stadium is bank of america stadium. do you think the president is waking up today going maybe charlotte is too cute? >> i think yes and no. i think it's a place you got to have presence. i think they understand the importance you can't lose the state. and whether it challenging and difficult, it a courageous move. in hindsight being 20/20, maybe it's not the most convenient place to be but where you're going to put resources, boots on the ground and really need a great deal of movement, especially by the time the convention comes, i still think new york makes sense. >> i understand what they're doing. it just the distractions now. it's interesting, the president sort of this roll out week, it didn't necessarily go as planned, if you will.

>> i think that not filling the hall at the stadium, that's usually not something they do. >> at the end of the day, 14,000 people, it's still a lot more than romney is going to get. >> unfortunately they let that message get away. i'm of two minds on the biden thing. i know joe biden speaks -- shoots from the hip but i don't believe he was doing that. i think that there was a strategic -- i know you don't believe me. >> i don't. i've seen people at the white house shake their heads. >> where does obama want to be on this issue? he wants to muddy the waters. he doesn't want to be pro or against. he wants to send a signal to the gay community maybe he's with them. the timing was unfortunate. >> eight years ago a lot was made about the 2004 efforts on gay marriage bans on the ballot. it was more seen as a partisan

issue. republicans have stayed away. >> if you look at the data, the country has moved significantly -- >> you don't see it as a major issue for republicans that they can, quote, exploit? >> if you look at the underlying data, look at where young people are, it not a winning issue for republicans anymore. >> it depends on the state, though. it's going to be used to muddy the water in certain states where especially you have the ability to divide african-americans -- >> you do think you're going to divide african-americans on this? on the issue itself but in the presidential race? >> they're not going to vote against barack obama. the reality is -- >> they do have to vote and they have to be excited and i think every time we come to the presidential, there's always this linchpin issue that you use to confuse voters. it enough of a confusion, especially in conservative states where you have conservative christians that die hard support president obama. but this can be used as a tool

to not make them excited about it. >> let's look at the state of colorado where the republican statehouse speaker tabled a civil unions bill because frankly, he was afraid it was going to pass. >> i think the problem for obama on this issue is he looks political. this isn't anybody who credibly looks at the debate and thinks he opposes gay marriage. that's a challenge for him. >> they just want him to come out and do it. plus, the gay community is a very powerful voting bloc now and they have nowhere else to go. he's not going to lose them anyway. i still believe it was a wink and a nod. i don't believe the arnie duncan thing was part of the master plan. somebody just asked him. >> i want to talk about dick lugar but i want to have a larger conversation so let's take our break now. our trivia question, richard

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not government funding. and now, to support our athletes, you can donate a stitch in america's flag for the 2012 olympic games in london. help raise our flag, add your stitch at teamusa.org. i want to see a republican in the white house. i want to see my friend, mitch mcconnell, have a republican majority in the senate. >> let's bring back our panel. sarah, what's going on in your party? >> what's going on in my party? lots of good things. you just showed the clip of lugar who lost last night which is unfortunate for the senate. he was a great american and somebody who really did a lot for this country on nuclear proliferation. we owe him a debt of gratitude. that said, i think his loss was

largely reflective of the fact that campaigns have changed since 1976. >> i get all that. but what about the message that mourdoch said when he said, democrats should agree with my point of view? could you have gotten anywhere without democrats crossing the aisle? >> we couldn't have. and mourdoch is going to realize he won't get anything done with that state of mind. >> you think that talking point is a danger and could put this seat in play? >> i think this seat could be in play. i think ultimately he will win because romney will carry indiana pretty strongly. but it makes it more competitive, yes. >> lois, you red the manifesto. i saw you digesting it. it was the same reaction i had,

every paragraph you couldn't believe what you were reading. >> right. i think mr. lugar was being a little defensive. but i also think that dick lugar's time was up. anybody could have beaten him with a really smart campaign. he hadn't lived in the state since the late '70s. one thing sarah said, i think this language is resonating with people. all we have to do is look at the house tea party people who said -- >> it resonates in primaries. we don't know if it's going to resonate in a presidential year. >> but they won 40 seats in the house. >> in a med term election. >> but there is an angry electorate. >> that brings me to wisconsin. we always think we live in the most historic time at any point in time. i remember the atmosphere during the impeeachment. it was toxic. >> i think there's been such a

shift in how people are viewing washington that they want cowboys to go into washington to take washington back. >> there is a zero sum game. i feel like i see it now. >> but they're psychotic on it in a way because they want cowboys to come in but they also want stuff to get done. so congress' approval rating is in the single digits. all these people are obstructions that are there and won't let any legislation pass. >> but there's a real message coming from washington with real groups from both sides that say they want to work together -- i don't know if the american people believe that he is feasible anymore -- >> do you believe that's really ultimately -- when the economy is pretty good, we're fine with washington and bipartisanship? >> it's the economy but there's a lot of change going on in the country, technology, the economy, globalization. there's a lot going on and people are scared to death. and ironically, the far right and the far left have a lot in common right now with the way that they approach politics. >> it always has been, right?

there's a reason they call it a pendulum, eventually if it swings hard enough, it goes full circle. >> i think 2014, you'll start to see some of the influence of these groups on both sides of the aisle -- >> a couple of quotes i want to get in. one was from lindsey graham, his lesson earned from dick lugar. he said, basically it's the abc's of political, stay involved, communicate with your constituents, be prepared to embrace a 21st century campaign and own a house. and mitch daniels was a supporter of dick lugar. you want to ask him about the vp stuff. here's what he said. >> i don't expect it. i like all the names that i've heard mentioned except one. >> which one? >> oh, mine. >> mitch daniels, viable?

do you think that fits what we think romney's looking for, double down, send a message about the budget but don't make waves? >> he's a great choice if he'd something it. he doesn't want it. >> it's like accepting an opportunity that's too unsure. >> we didn't even get to romney's attempt to talk about bill clinton and the auto bailout. shameless plugs? >> i want to direct everyone to the colombia university website where there's an interview with chuck todd done by a budding journalism student, which is my daughter. >> it was a pleasure. she was very professional and terrific. >> a new internet radio show at bliss.fm. >> don't google bliss, though, right? >> i'll be on there with my mom this sunday. >> it's early.

but happy mother's day. that was my shameless plug. >> very nice. >> husbands and sons. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." tomorrow on the show, romney's senior adviser, ed gillespie, will be here on set. coming up next on msnbc, chris jansing. bye-bye. gloomy weather plaguing the eastern seaboard, especially up in new england. rain is in the forecast today, maybe even a few downpours. minor airport delays expected, all the big airports from new york to d.c. to boston. even atlanta, late-day afternoon storms. in detroit, a chance of showers for you. the middle of the country and the west coast, you still look fantastic. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. the pressure on the president is growing from democrats who want him to come out in support of gay marriage. his campaign says he is disappointed now that north carolina voters okayed a constitutional amendment recognizing marriage as only between men and women. but his views on the subject are still officially evolving. >> if you are president obama, if you're politician obama, you think about that a little bit longer. and this is a pure political calculation. >> joining me now