pat buchanan and karen finny, thanks to both of you.n party against the alaska senator, lisa murkowski. she is refusing to go quietly after she lost her primary, saying the people of her state still want her. >> but what happened after that primary was absolutely unauthorizing from the people of the state of alaska saying, lisa, you cannot, you cannot end this. please stay in this fight. >> nbc's lee cowan is in anchorage following all the political drama there. you sat down with her, didn't you, lee? >> yeah, she's still defending this decision, chris, even though it upset a lot of republicans who wished instead she would go back and back the republican joe miller who won the primary here. she knows this is still a real long shot. there are those who think it may work. she has a lot of money and name recognition and she told chuck todd the reason she's doing it is because the voters here didn't have a choice. >> 85% of the people, the electorate did not participate in selecting the two nominees going forward. democrat scott mcadams, ni

let's bring in karen finny democratic strategist and former press secretary for hillary clinton and msnbcontributor pat buchanan is a republican strategist, former gop presidential candidate and nbc analyst. pat, with you excluded, you don't get to be a presidential candidate or a president by not having a healthy ego. did jimmy carter say, frapgly, what all ex-presidents actually think? >> well, he did. sadness, jimmy carter feels deeply unappreciated by his country which rejected him for ronald reagan, who is now beloved. he feels he didn't get health care because teddy kennedy stole that from him. and he believes he's immorally superior president and the things he'd done been on a higher, moral level. he has to say it himself and it comes off very offensive. and, as i say, all the presidents probably think they're unappreciated, but he lets the public know that he feels this and i don't think that comes off very well. >> is it kind of a sad, karen, because i think there are an awful lot of people that in some measure what he said is true. the carter center has done a lot of good. you s

republican robert trainham and karen finny. >> good morning. >> let me start with you, karen. is sara failen running? >> obviously, in the primary season, she is enjoying success in the process. he likes to get paid. >> robert, is she running? >> i don't know the answer to it. i don't think she knows the answer. but she's doing everything she can to position herself, that if she chooses to run, she has the staff and resources in place to do so. >> if she does run, do you think she can win? >> in the primaries, i think she could. there are three states that determine who the republican nominees are going to be. iowa, new hampshire and south carolina. you look at the democrats in those states, sarah palin has a significant ground force. the real question is whether she can win in the general. she is a forced to be reckoned with. there's no question about it. >> karen, is this a candidate that the obama white house would like to face or fear facing? >> i think democrats learned a long time ago when they were hoping that ronald reagan would be the republican nominee not to try to

i want to bring in karen finny, former press secretary for hillary clinton and also ron christy who is a republican strategist and former assistant to former president bush. you have at least eight races where these establishment senate candidates have been in trouble and then you have some of these other races like for the republican nomination in new york, tea party candidates. what's going on with the republicans? >> good morning, chris. well, i think, frankly, norah o'donnell hit it on the head a couple minutes ago. people are angry as hell across the country. i traveled across several states and people are very upset with washington. let us not forget that the tea party stands for taxed enough already. i think people are very upset with the size of government and they're upset with the spending going on and upset with the direction that the country is heading in. >> the republicans didn't recognize that. it didn't take, you know a political genius to figure out that people were mad as hell and weren't going to take it any more. >> yes, ychris, i do. the republican establishment in