three years after a spectacular flame-out in the 2010 delaware senate race, tea party darling, christine o'donnellg victory. not for herself but for the movement that catapulted her into a national race. and in an interview with the delaware news journal yesterday o'donnell announced moderate republicans and rye know rye knows are extinct and candidates are more understanding. i think the movement has been very successful. by way of proof, she offered even people on msnbc talk about deficit spending and the economy. yes, the tea party movement has cannibalized the gop and dragged it to the right word fringe but that doesn't mean the tea par partiers have taken the country or people on msnbc, along for a ride. a cbs news poll find 15% of americans support the tea party which marks a new low. while the country is decidedly soured on tea party idea is like live christine o'donnell's other believes will gain any more traction any time soon. >> american scientific companies are cross breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains. >> we've seen no polls on this

there are no christine o'donnells right now. it appears that are popping up. that in itself is a victory. >> in georgia you'd have the gingreys and browns. they're going nowhere. so let's talk about the democrats just for a moment. when you look at georgia particularly, you've got two democratic dynasties up for re-election both the carters and the nunns. what does that mean and what's going to go on in georgia? >> look at the entire pattern of the red states. got the landrieus of louisiana, the pryors of arkansas, you brought up the carters and nunns. alison grimes is the daughter of a long-time powerful kentucky democrat. think about this. this is not an accident that in these red states where democrats are trying to over-perform the national number where democrats are these days, they're turning to brand names that they hope rise above the national democratic brand. and i think that that -- you know, why are we even talking about georgia? because of the power of michelle nunn's biography and working across the aisle with george h.w. bush. and also her last

i mean, christine o'donnell exists. >> christine o'donnell didn't have to go up against the kind of establishmenty on the other side to beat somebody within the primary system that way. i think what you really find when you look at these candidates is that typically the more talented candidate wins unless the other guy in the race has a lot more money or a lot more backing in terms of the power side of things. you see the real talent sort of emerge within these situations and that's true whether you're looking at nebraska or looking at georgia in the current sh showdown that you see there. i think within the context of mcconnell, though, it's really interesting to me the way it this race played out. going forward from here, and you were talking earlier about the role grimes is going to play, within this cycle, mitch mcconnell always made the calculation this was going to be a wave election year and he wanted to make sure that his own re-election was prioritized within that context. he's going to be spending a heck of a lot of money within kentucky, a state that really ought to be sending a republ

establishment didn't like that much, but didn't like when ken buck in colorado, joe miller, christine o'donnell lost in november, leaving four seats on the table republicans think they could have and in some cases should have won. that was 2010. then in 2012, more of the same. these four candidates all bate establishment candidates. richard mur duck in indiana,ed to aiken in missouri lost in november, leaving on the table seats republicans, especially these two, think they should have won. let's fast wore ward. five primaries so far in 2014, zero, no tea party upsets so far. 31 primaries will be done by the end of june, will the tea party get anybody? it's a big open question at the moment. the next contest to watch, mitch mcconnell in con techy. cochran in the state of mississippi. two incumbents that might be in trouble. at the moment republicans are pretty confident. cochran not quite out of the woods yesterday. the question, maggie haberman, we have a ways to go. so far the tea party is getting crushed. why is it different this time than 2010, 2012. >> energy is very different than 2010. al

in delaware, a chance to win there, a blue state, but christine o'donnell, the tea party candidate wins the nomination, loses in november. that was off the table. fast forward to 2012, it happened in missouri, todd aiken beats the establishment candidate, says things i won't repeat, loses. in indiana, richard lugar loses to richard murdock, tea party candidate, who loses in november. so far this year, no tea party challengers have knocked off big name incumbents or establishment candidates. two win in kentucky. the establishment wins in oregon. the week before that we talked about an establishment win in north carolina. so so far, no surprises, no tea party challenges. peter hamby, the question is this. if the democrats were counting, and they were, on the republicans to lose a few races early on by nominating people from the extreme in these primaries, what's plan b for the democrats? >> this is what democrats say that won all this week. the winning establishment candidates co-opted the tea party brand, their policies and can run against them on those things. i will say this, though, r

christine o'donnell had to say i'm not a witch. it was sort of at that level when they played to a caricature. we have seen that's destructive for republicans. let's take a look at thom tillis. he's a disciplined, polished candidate. he's been in politics a long time. he's not going to say the stuff that brannon would have said. is he's going to be disciplined. but on paper, you're looking at far right ideology, is he going to pay a price for that in a state like north carolina? >> so much of it depends on what kind of turnout we get, but kay hagan is counting on that. she's given support for the affordable care act. she's going to push him on ideology. and i do think that we have seen a lot of turmoil in north carolina. you have a governor who is a real moderate, one of the hand ful left when he was mayor of charlotte ran on that basis and became a radical conservative with thom tillis leading the way for him. there's a lot of anger about that, but will those voters turn out. if you look at the republican party, both parties have

we looked at christine o'donnell, sharon engle, ken bukhar.e that lost general elections republicans should win. we said, too far to the right, too extreme, all these things. the bet republicans seem to be making that it wasn't the itology that sunk these candidates. it was the fact that they said things publicly that sounded way off the spectrum it logically. if they can no, ma'am name candidates that are more marketable and know how to present themselves, they can have the same voters. mitch mcconnell can embrace all the tea party stuff. what do you think of that bet? >> let me refine it a little bit. the tea party, we agree they have had terrific success not in electing people but moving the party to their policies. we have in the gop house of representatives the reason that we have so much inaction there within the republican side is that the leadership doesn't want to inflame the tea party members who could die them up and their wart them. you have a set of candidates that were imperfect and not disciplined. if you have candidates, you ha

they are, to borrow a phrase from christine o'donnell, just like you. >> the gun world didn't come fromowhere. there's a heritage that would put most rappers to shame. there's no way you look at a photo of hemmingway hunting in africa without thinking there's a reason the most interesting man in the world is pro gun. >> hemmingway by the way killed himself with a gun. they have a cool new show on nra freestyle tv in which they try to reach out to gun owners who aren't in the fold and put a face on itself to appeal to people who don't have jobs as insurance agents. this is what you get when they sit down with a fox news columnist. >> if i handed him a gun and he limp wristed it like he was picking up a spider, not cool. >> this is what you get when you take guns, a little bit of politics, pop culture -- >> perez hilton and u.s. weekly are talking about golf digest. >> not every gun owner wants to play commando. there are millions like my co-host, amy. >> i'm going to influence women in the gun world. >> we'll talk about everything and politicize nothing. >> you step outside of that circl

. >> what about christine o'donnell.n't get along with hannity. >> i love hannity. >> how can you be a conservative if you're at war with so many true conservative icons. >> i'm a uniter not a divider. rush and i get along well. and glen beck and i talk a good bit. sean, you have to talk to sean. i can tell you, the most important thing is that we move forward with conservative ideas. there's no doubt identify upset a lot of people because i was against the republican establishment, when i left congress we had a balanced budget. eight ears later, nine years later republicans kept their mouths shut. they saluted. they were in power at the white house. wait. i got to finish. the fact of the matter is we doubled the national debt, we took $155 billion surplus. >> i'm talking about perception. you're talk about policy. i have e-mail from our viewers we don't want to here from him. he's a rhino. he's a faux conservative. >> you keep saying that. i don't hear that. i've been to new hampshire, south carolina. >> i'm not saying

. >> they don't want christine o'donnell in delaware for example to be the republican nominee because, you know, she's the one who made that famous comment, i'm not a witch, and that obviously did not go over well in delaware. let's talk a little bit about pennsylvania. marjorie margolies. she's chelsea clinton's mother-in-law, former congresswoman, she wanted to become a congresswoman again. bill clinton, hillary clinton, they campaigned for her. bill clinton was doing robo calls for her yesterday. didn't exactly work out all that well. >> didn't have the pixy dust she quite wanted. she is somebody who lost her seat. a lot of personal history. lot her seat 20 years ago when she voted for bill clinton's economic plan. she was trying to make a comeback 20 years later. now the clintons are in-laws, her son married chelsea clinton. the clintons were willing to help to a limited degree. raising some money. they weren't out there every day on the campaign trail. but bill clinton really did those robo calls. >> does it say there's less power for the clintons? >> i think what it really says

establishment winning over the tea party means, and it means that the republicans didn't end up with a christine o'donnelldd akin or somebody who is problematic for the republicans to win in the general election, and able to get the best person whether it is mich mcconnell in kentucky and run over of perdew and kingston, and not getting folks who are nowed headi flawe novemb november. >> and as i mentioned, senator mcconnell will be alongside rand paul and let's look at the race the day after the tremors and what is leading up to the midterms. >> well, you encapsulated it well, that alison grimes wants to make it about mitch mcconnell and if you don't like what is going on in washington, vote for me, and mitch mcconnell skeeps mentioning harry reid and barack obama saying that alison grimes is a democrat, and we traditionally do well in the senate and the presidential races in kentucky, and grimes wants to take it away from president obama, and emphasize somebody like steve bashir who has a 16 pors % approval rating >> all right. thank you, mark. and let me bring in the daily beast contributor, and founde

so the democrats are also saying, yes, we may not be getting christine o'donnell, but we're getting the next best thing and that's a real far right establishment republican. >> dana, funny you should mention that. i have compiled a brief list of a few of the highlights of tom tillis's sort of views. he doesn't believe in climate change, opposes increase in minimum wage. even seemed sketchy on whether there should be a minimum wage at all. he supports personhood, helped pass the most restrictive voter law in the country. he banned sharia law. that's vital. >> that's a good thing. >> he is a very far right conservative guy. he led this conservative movement in raleigh which went so far to the right that voters really revolted against it. i actually think for kay hagan, it's sort of a good thing that she now has her opponent and can start to talk about him and defy him. the narrative in the primary was that he was the, quote, unquote, establishment more moderate candidate. the reality is that he is extremely far out there. >> i think she wouldn't have minded if he had to spend more money f

together as good a campaign as you can put together in red states and republicans are avoiding christine o'donnellimportant factor. and i think in senate races we forget they're not as sometimes you can avoid the national environment in a senate race. it's harder in a house race. you sometimes can do it in a senate race. the. >> especially if you have a famous name. >> especially if that name is -- >> landrieu. >> or nunn or pryor. >> funny all the names -- the legacies matter this time. legacies always matter. thank you, chuck todd, john f he eherty, cynthia tucker and ed rendell. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. join me in two hours for all the results announced live at 10:00 eastern. we'll have everything including all the victory and concession speeches, the best drama of the night at 10:00. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. >>> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. the bluegrass state is in the spotlight because it is election night in america. with big races in six states and polls have already closed now in georgia and kentucky where there are two big ma

christine o'donnell, richard murdoch and todd akin, those were seats that the republicans should have won and would have won but for the flawed republican nominees that made themselves the issue. and the problem with democrats is defending seats in states that president obama did not carry. so it's not enough just to reenergize the obama coalition, you have to reenergize the obama coalition and add to it those who hold on to the president. the republican brand is the worst its ever been. people feel less friendly and positive towards the republicans than at anytime. >> it's a mystery, that one. we hate them but we may want them. >> woodruff: one of the other things the democrats are worried about right now is the administration, the president's standing on foreign policy. the president comes back from his trip to asia greeted by yet another poll showing a lot of disapproval of his handling of the economy of rome and other issues about foreign policy. and criticism from everywhere. we were going to show the cover of the latest issue of "the economist" magazine, what would america fight

you know him if you know the name sharon engel or christine o'donnell or ken buck. these were all the little known outside the establishment tea party candidates who derailed establishment republican candidates in senate primaries in 2010 and who then went on to lose general election races that a generic republican candidate probably would have won. that was one of the stories of the 2010 election. it was a great year for republicans, no question about that, but it could have been an even better year for them, a year in which they won back the senate, if only they hadn't nominated those fringe candidates. so that was 2010. democrats took what happened that year to heart and in 2012, they recognized that they could actually help the tea party get those fringe candidates nominated in primaries and there by increase their own party's chances of hanging on to the senate. that's exactly what claire mccaskill did in missouri in 2012. her poll numbers were very bad, missouri was a romney state. mccaskill had no business winning a second term in the senate except there was

. >> i liked christine o'donnell. >> me too.hank the panel. >>> don't forget you can disrupt the conversation all week long. find us on facebook or tweet us. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ no matter what kind of business you own, at&t business experts can help keep it running... seamlessly. so you can get back to what you love. when everyone and everything works together, business just sings. it's about getting to the finish line. in life, it's how you get there that matters most. it's important to know the difference. like when i found out i had a blood clot in my leg. my doctor said that it could travel to my lungs and become an even bigger problem. and that i had to take action. so he talked to me about xarelto®. [ male announcer ] xarelto® is the first oral prescription blood thinner proven to treat and help prevent dvt and pe that doesn't require regular blood monitoring or changes to your diet. [ brian ] for a prior dvt i took warfarin, which required routine blood testing and dietary restrictions. not this time. ♪ while i was t

as you said there's no christine o'donnells and no todd aikens this year. whether having embraced the conservatism but not the tea party whether these conservative candidates can win. >> no fun for the media. >> so boring. >> still early. let's not say there's no todd aikens yet. >> i watched grimes victory speech last night. i thought she was phenomenal. let's take a look at a little bit of that >> he claims that kentucky will be lost if we trade in his seat for a kentucky woman who he believes will sit on the back bench. well i'm here to tell you tonight my fellow kentuckyian, aham not an empty dress, i am not a rubber stamp, and i am not a cheer leader. i ham a strong kentucky woman who is an independent thinker, who is kentucky's next united states senator. the decisions i make will be what's best for the people of the commonwealth of kentucky. >> i really thought she was terrific. one of the thing that struck me is contrary to what consultants used to advice female candidates to do, she's running on being a woman and i think it sets up this great contr

the thought being that by avoiding a primary victory for the richard murdoff and christine o'donnellsrld, the senate has a better chance of winning a senate majority. there's still nearly six months to go, so the question is do republicans have this locked up, or do democrats have a chance to hold to the senate? robert costa is a national political reporter with the washington post, and perry bacon is an msnbc contributor and political editor at the greo.com, and i want to start with you, robert, because the slugfest to come in georgia is going to be interesting. they did retire the three candidates that seem to have the most gaff-tastic sort of history. is the purdue matchup good news for the party or good news for michelle nunn? >> it's good news for the gop in this sense. jack kingston is a long-time congressman. he is seen as relatively polished on the campaign trail. so is businessman david purdue. they're going to be squaring off. it could be a nasty run-off, but because you don't have someone lining phil gingery in there and someone like paul brown who lost last night who has c

in the month and if at the end of the primaries they can say "we haven't nominated another christine o'donnell for senator, we haven't nominated another candidate who's going to have to run an ad saying "i am not a witch," then they'll consider themselves ahead of the game. [ laughter ] >> right. it's just later when the "i am not a witch" candidate actually wins the race that they think they have a problem. governor strickland, there are fearsome outcomes for both sides of the aisle come this november and for democrats it's the question of who retains control of the senate and it had predictions, they may be early but they are not particularly good. there's an 82% forecast if you listen to some folks that the democrats are going to lose the senate, certainly 2016 races are more favorable to those on the left side of the aisle but the inimmittable eugene robinson has a piece out in the "washington post" today and says "it is time for some happy talk from democrats." eugene i think rightly says democrats fixed the economy, they expanded access to health care oh, and they ended two wars. show a

this is not christine o'donnell or sharon engle. he is a state senator, has some polish. they thought he was nipping at the heels of cochran. but this incident has thrown the whole race into a mess. it's in a tizzy. i think right now, cochran is quite strong. there's a lot of sympathy out there on the ground for him in mississippi. but don't count out mcdaniel yet. he still isn't tied to this in any official way. only tea party activists on the periphery who are supporters of him. he could still make a charge but it's going to be a difficult one. the tea party right now, the conservative movement is pouring money into this race. club for growth is going in six-figure buys. citizens united and other groups. that's something that is going to be a factor. >> just to follow up on that, what does this race mean to them? we talk about, you know, these are tea party activists who are, at least, in the case of up with of these guys who's arrested, the vice chair of the state of the mississippi tea party. it means a lot to them personally. this race is very significant to the nati

much for your time, and i refer to colonel jack jacobs who is on the phone with us, and i have christine o'donnell, and kristen welk ear at the white house standing by. >>> and now, let's start with you, because you heard the speaker boehner and nancy pelosi both on the same page in their idea of the you remove general shinseki from his position, does it address the systemic problems that exist within the v.a.? what are you believing will happen today, colonel? >> it is difficult to save whether or not general shinseki is going to be ousted today, but i have known it for a long, long time, and he is going to stay in the post until he is removed. so if he comes out to say he has resigned, or if the president or somebody else in the white house comes out to say he has resigned, it is because he was told. i don't see him resigning because there is a lot of heat and pressure on him. and that is the first thing. the second thing is they don't think that he is going to be leaving until they will have found somebody to have taken the job. there is a recurring rumor that the person who is being considered

richard murdoch, christine o'donnell, todd aiken, they bring back ghosts of lost senate seats past. >resting, larry, that the democrats are putting forth female candidates to run against these establishment republicans. is that effective? >> well, i think in both cases they made good choices. they put forward candidates who certainly have a chance to win. their problem, of course, is that this is a low turnout midterm election. the turnout is skewed to the republican side and president obama's job approval rating in both kentucky and georgia is in the mid 30s. obviously that doesn't help any democrat. i think they'll be very lucky to win even one of those two seats. >> we'll see. larry and john, thank you for your insight. i appreciate it. >>> china is furious with the united states for indicting five of its military officers on hacking charges. it is threatening to scale back on promoting -- guess what? cybersecurity. those officers accused of stealing trade secrets from major american companies but beijing is denying those allegations. >> translator: the chinese government, the chin

they didn't want to get caught off guard like in the past with someone like christine o'donnell who showst minute and too late to stop them when they built momentum. this connects with the attacks they have been leveling against mcdaniel which he has unsavory associations. they have been attacking him for months for his habit of seeming to pop up at event that are also cosponsors or speakers of white supremacist or neoconfederates. the idea many of the people arrested were very drecket irec him and feeds into this idea who does mcdaniel hang out with even if he doesn't necessarily have any connection with this. >> tell us the flip side of this. why is it that thad cochran is getting this? what is it about thad cochran that drives the tea party crazy? >> well, there is a general bias among tea party republicans against people who have just been there a long time. in these sort of mythology of the tea party, the republican has lost its way over time. they gave into too many of these establishment politicians and just agreed bringing pork back to their district and cochran fits that to a t.

result of two phenomenons, the republicans are becoming more pragmatic, and delaware, christine i'm not a witch o'donnell beat the gop establishment and went on to be humiliated and went on to lose the seat for republicans. you could argue that the republicans already control the senate, and all they need is a net gain of six this time around to gain control. and the chamber, and the other national gop groups are getting in the race a big way and countering the funding of other groups, like growth in idaho. we have seen all in all, the biggest task, who is going to control the senate, and that goes a long way in the legacy that president obama will have for his second term. >> mike viqueira, where it's twilight at the white house. coming up next, desperate need to fight off widespread starvation in sudan, and now several companies are stepping up their relief efforts, and laying down their arms. rebel groups with a ceasefire until elections can be held. >> the u.s. said today it will send nearly $300 million in aid to south sudan to help more than 1 million refugees with food and shelter, the additional

everyone from todd aiken, remember that cycle in missouri, and christine "i'm not a witch" o'donnell - that was in delaware. they want viable candidates and are voting in a pragmatic way. you have to say the money thrown in from establishment organizations like the chamber of commerce to counteract the organization, like the club for growth - that is having an impact. >> part of what i do is cast a line out, questioning the weight of this extreme and have you bring me back. if the center goes g.o.p. is gridlock until 2016 a given. >> it's not necessarily the case. it's the conventional wisdom. there's a school of thought that the president wants to compromise, and that is something that democrats are afraid of. 2015 is the window if the republic take control, for them to get anything done. after that it's subsumed by 2016 and the presidential election. on immigration - republicans want it off the table. john boehner made noises towards compromise and minimum wage. republicans say they should allow that to be raised says mitt romney. there is hope if you advocate for minimum wage refo