senator kay bailey hutchison.we talk about women and a distaste for running for public office, we have to be fair and sort of look at the last couple years and how we treat our women electives. one of the stats i found staggers, nancy pelosi saw $65 million in gop ads, 161,203, including one in which she was portrayed as the wicked witch of the west. we are also talking about the treatment of michele bachmann and sarah palin in the national media. women look at this stuff and if you want to run for office, you have to completely dismantle your personal life and build a coat of armor around yourself th that a lot of women are unwilling to do. >> that's true but when women do run, they win, so they are very good at raising the money, running the tough campaigns, getting it done. this election cycle, we have such opportunity. we have 11 women running for the senate right now, five new challengers, six incumbents. among them, you have at least two pickup opportunities in nevada and massachusetts. so there's a lot of o

. >>> and kay bailey hutchison sits down for her exit interview today, part of our week long series with the departing senators. good morning from washington it is tuesday, april 14, 2012 -- august 14, 2012. my apologize. this is the daily run down. i'm chuck todd it is august, april, it is the as. >>> go right to my first reads of the morning, battleground blitz. the race to define paul ryan turns to five swing states today, the president is in iowa, mitt romney, ohio, biden will campaign through virginia while ryan stops in colorado before heading to las vegas, nevada, where he will give a private briefing, by the ways, to republican donors and raise some money at the venetian hotel. republican meg ga donor sheldon adelson will be there as well. the two national tickets seem to share one goal right now which is trying to define paul ryan first. democrats want to paint him as the ideological warrior determined to take away your medicare, republicans selling him as the serious candidate with a serious plan for the debt. >> my running mate, paul ryan, a great leader. >> what's gutsy about

joining us from dallas, texas, this morning is republican senator kay bailey hutchison.ing with us. i want to start with west nile virus, because john was just updating us on what's happening there in texas. clearly the epicenter. are you getting a sense that it's under control? or how are you feel being that? >> well, they have started doing aerial spraying. that was a tough decision for the officials. but they decided that 18 deaths in this area, 218 cases, it was just too much. and they decided to do it. and therefore, i think we are beginning to get it under control. but it has been a nightmare really, soledad. >> yeah. following that story, it has been incredible. let me ask you about the storm as well, isaac, which is a tropical storm but looks like it's going to become a hurricane, category 1 at least. how worried are you about that considering you're heading down to tampa for that? >> well, right. i think the governor speaking earlier on your show said that they are doing everything they can. they are experienced in this, as we certainly are in texas as well. in

favorite won the republican nomination for the november election to replace retiring senator kay bailey hutchison. ted cruz is thanking treat party supporters for a convincing defeat of lieutenant government david dewhurst. he's going to face democratic representative paul sadler who begin as as an underdog in one of america's reddest states. >> congressional leaders have reached a deal to keep the federal government running through march of 2013. they worked out the agreement to avoid a possible government shutdown before the election. it would extend funding for federal agencies for six months. the agreement would also make it a bit easier to great postelection deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff of expiring tax cuts and automatic spending cuts. the compromised deal would have to be approved in september by both houses of congress. >> now to the london summer games and u.s. swimmer michael phelps. he swam his way into the history books tuesday by winning his 19th career olympic medal. phelps picked up his 15th gold medal in the 4x200 meter free style relay after taking silver in the 200 me

. >> this november, paul sadler, being vacated by the outgoing o republican senator kay bailey hutchison. >>> question. what does ted cruz's victory say about the tea party movement and its influence on the republican party? rich lowry? >> john it says the most important and powerful force in the republican party right now is the tea party combined with a genuinely impressive candidate. we had the tea party victory in the indictment indict senate race awhile ago but that was almost entirely lay a rejection of the incumbent rather than an endorsement of the challenger. this was all about ted cruz. he had no elect electoral experience when he began, running against the establishment with tons of money to spend and ted cruz overcame that because of the tea party and because of his ability to articulate and stand for his ideals. >> he is practicing law. >> john this is a. >> solicitor general. >> he is a brilliant guy. >> what law firm did he work with? >> morgan lewis. >> morgan lewis, a major firm. >> ivy? >> john this is a first round draft pick. >> was he a member of that firm? >> they a

let me bring in texas republican senators kay bailey hutchison. always good to see you.ou've said mitt romney gets a bad rap in the polls but one after the other after another, our own nbc news/wall street journal poll, one from gallup, one from "washington post"/abc, show mitt romney trailing the president. why this gender gap? >> i think that it's very difficult, that's for sure, but i believe in the end, chris, that when people focus they're going to be looking at where we are now, with our economy and with this obama health care looming on the horizon and we want them to say, we can do better, we can do something that will give jobs to this country, that will put our health care system back in place. you know, obama health care takes $500 billion out of medicare to pay for it. that's not a solution. we need a change and mitt romney is that change. we need to get the message out. >> in an ep ed in "the washington post" your colleague from maine, olympia snowe acknowledged and i'm quoting her -- her argument, senator, is that mitt romney should in his speech vigorously

ted cruz won the runoff for the republican nomination for the senate seat being vacated by kay bailey hutchison. cruz, a lawyer and state solicitor general has never ran for office. he thanked supporters, including sarah palin. >>> and secretary of state hillary clinton began a new multination tour overnight. arriving in the african nation of senegal. she'll speak, today, at a university there and preside over a peace corps swearing in. later, she travels to four other nations and will meet privately with nelson mandela. >>> conditions in syria's largest city continue in an 11th day. residents in aleppo are running out of food and cooking gas and electric power is spotty. thousands of people are streaming out of the country. >>> in india, power has been restored across the country, after a major system collapse led to the worst blackout in world history. an estimated 620 million people were without power after 3 power grids failed. now, questions on whether india's outdated infrastructure can keep up with the surging demands for electricity. >>> overnight, we learned about the passing of gore v

princeton debate champ and harvard law grad is now heavily faifded to replace retiring senator kay bailey hutchison. his primary campaign was viewed we many as a struggle between moderate republicans and the tea party. do you feel as though congress is better or worse off the way it's working with those tea party members there? >> i think it is much, much better off, but i think it is a transition that's only halfway complete. 2010 was the first step. right now, they can't do anything. as long as harry reid and the democrats control the u.s. senate, very little's going to get accomplished. >> reporter: cruz pulled off a come-from-behind upset defeat, texas lieutenant governor david dewhurst. by most any standard, dewhurst is considered a very crrvative republican, and was endorsed we texas governor rick perry. cruz spent months tacking even further to the right, chatting up prayer groups, party meetings, tapping into frustrations about washington spending. >> i will never support new taxes, period, the end. >> reporter: a lot of republicans would say they think things have knotten worse with the te

and joining me now, senator kay bailey hutchison who we welcome to the broadcast.ou, republican from texas. thank you for your time. >> thank you, alex. >> we'll get to medicare in a second. your party has been accused of perpetrating a war on women. todd akin's comments only played into that. as the senior most republican female senator, do you understand how the comments can be used against the party with respect to women? >> i understand how it is being used against us, yes. but i think it's been very clear that the party has repudiated the comments that were made last week, and we're trying very hard to reach out to women on the issues we believe that they care about, which are jobs and the economy and the obama record. we're looking at an enormous debt. we're looking at obama care, sort of dismantling health care as we know it, and women are very concerned and that's what we want to talk about. >> is there any part of the party that has a war on women? those to the extreme right or elsewhere within the party? >> well, i think individuals have to speak for them

right now i'm joined by senator kay bailey hutchison, republican from texas.g us today. >> thank you, richard. and can i just say thank you for the conversation you just had about the women in the olympics. oh, my gosh. the soccer team, the basketball team. now the men's. it's been a fabulous time for our american athletes. >> been great to watch, senator. i see you and i are big fans of both together. to the subject at hand. with the choice of paul ryan, when you look at the polls that came out just this friday, what did the romney campaign see in those polls a couple levels deep that said now is the time to make a pick, now is the time to put paul ryan out there? >> i think they have seen all of the hits that romney has been taking, that we needed to change the conversation, we need to talk about the big issues. we need to make this a campaign that people can see is going to provide a difference to america, a different direction, a spark, an originality of purpose. so i think they wanted to jump-start and energize the people of our country to tune in to the

senator kay bailey hutchison, thank you so much.matthews joins the conversation here in tampa. we're back in a moment. my name is adam frucci and i'm the editor of splitsider.com. i love new technology, so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. turns out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots! ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. and the human element can solve anything. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supp

kay bailey hutchison. sue collins from maine always has been prochis.exceptions in the case of rape or insist. olympia snowe believes the question on whether to have an abortion is personal, moral and religious one. pro-choice. >> you and i marinating on this. they have to make a dent in president obama's lead when it comes to female voters in the poll. what they have left is the convention and the debates. with this akin story sort of muddying the waters if you will at the convention, it's the debates. i can't wait to watch to see. >> i can't either. the numbers are incredible. if you look at the men versus women gender gap, if and how tight this is, if mitt romney can get that to move one or two percentage points, literally two per scentage points, if nothing else moves, can give him the election. >> candy crowley moderating. she's have tough questions, i'm sure. >> our pride. >> make sure you watch erin tonight 7:00 eastern only here on cnn. because we like space, it is a big day for nasa's mars rover curiosity. we have some cool new pictures and eve

for the seat of retiring kay bailey hutchison.candidate. cruz calling his victory a win for many groups. >> tonight is a victory for the grassroots. [ cheers and applause ] it is a testament to republican women, to tea party leaders, and to grassroots conservatives. >> gretchen: stick around because ted cruz will be on "fox & friends" coming up next hour. 8:00 a.m. eastern time on "fox & friends." >>> crisis averted in washington, at least for now. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle reach ago tentative deal to avoid a government shut down right before the election. the six-month stop-gap measure will keep the government running through march. but the full house and senate still need to approve the deal. the vote set for september before the new fiscal year begins in october. >>> scare in the skies. a bird punching this hole -- look at that hole -- in the nose of the airplane. that's from a bird. united airlines as it end does heed into denver international airport. it was coming from dallas yesterday. 151 people on board, when

general, rafael ted cruz who is the republican nominee for the seat held by retiring republican kay bailey hutchison. david dewhurst was backed by governor i can rick perry was outspent three to one. includes captured, 53% to dewhurst's 43%. >> it is a testament to republican women, to tea party leaders and to grassroots conservatives. [cheers and applause] this is how elections are supposed to be decided, by we the people. >> reporter: after losing the primary to dewhurst on may 29, cruz enjoyed a nine week gap before last night's runnoff. previously the longest gap between a primary and runnoff in texas history was five weeks. cruz used the 63 days wiselying raising money and earning free media. while he is a newcomer to elected politics, he attended harvard law, clerked at the supreme court for william rehnquist, worked in the bush 43 administration and married to a woman who works for goldman sachs. he received millions in support from likes of senator jim demint, sarah palin, freedomworks, led by former house majority leader dick armey, the club for growth and columnist and abc news commentator

kay bailey hutchison trying to unseat incumbent republican rick perry.he austin american spokesman noticed that hidden in senator hutchison's campaign website, among a long list of search optimization terms is the text, "rick perry gay" twice. this is the metadata for the site itself, but it helps your site pop when people are searching for, say, the words "rick perry gay." the hutchison campaign said it was all a mistake, but look at specifically the way they apologized. they said, "we did not know these offensive word associations were being searched for by hundreds of thousands of texans every day, nor do we condone the computer generated existence on our website. they will be removed promptly." hundreds of thousands of texans are sevening daily for the words "rick perry gay" every day? we didn't know. we would never take advantage of the fact that hundreds of thousands of texans are searching "rick perry gay" every day. did somebody say gay? gay, did you say? the latest one is in arizona. two incumbent republican congressmen running against each othe

. >> tomorrow in our series of senate send offs, texas republican senator kay bailey hutchison.it was about social security. why paul ryan has made member of his own party a little squeamish. follow us on msnbc. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. [ female announcer ] new roc® retinol correxion max. the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. roc® max for maximum results. and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come togeth

cruz won the closely watched gop runoff election making him the odds-on favorite to replace kay bailey hutchison>>> a judge has ruled that testimony from an alleged hit man will not be allowed in the drew peterson trial. >>> gas prices rose -- actually, gore vidal has died at the age of 86 due to complications of pneumonia. now back to "hardball." >>> the expectation is, if you want to go up in the ranks of either party, you've got to give them your wallet and your voting card. and the overwhelming criticism of me over the years is that sometimes i vote funny, according to my party, and i'm not interested in giving them my wallet or my voter card. >> welcome back to "hardball." that's ohio congressman steve latourette announcing his retirement from congress and his frustration with the republican party after serving nearly 20 years. he's not the only one. republican congressman richard hanna of new york told a syracuse newspaper, quote, i have to say that i'm frustrated by how much we, i mean the republican party, are willing to give deferential treatment to our extremes in this moment in histor

. >> and even further on the margins are the dick lugers and the bob doles and the kay bailey hutchisonsho seem for that matter to be neanderthals within the republican party, speaking of which, of course, a newer version of that party, sarah palin, used her victory lap to take a swipe at dick cheney for saying her vice presidential nomination. take a listen. >> seeing how dick -- excuse me, vice president cheney never misfires, he's convinced what he read about me by the lamestream media, having being written what i believe is a false narrative over the last four years, dick cheney believed that stuff. >> now, calling the former veep by his first name was a deliberate attempt there. that was no mistake. are establishment republicans still worried about sarah palin? >> did she say dick? she meant vice president cheney, obviously. let's put this to rest. dick cheney is right. the election results are election results. it was a bad choice. she didn't help out mccain as much as the mccain people hoped she would. as for your question, i mean, sarah palin has had an enormous effect. her influ

dewhurst was wildly favored initially to walk away with the republican nomination to replace kay bailey hutchison, and there was no problem with his conservative bona fides that should have stopped that from happening until a changer came along who said he was outflanking dewhurst on the right. and although one might not think there was any actual room to the right of texas' lieutenant governor, and indeed there are no real policy differences between these two candidates, in today's republican party politics, really all you got to do is call the other guy too liberal. call him conciliatory, say you're farther to the right and more confrontational and watch the republican primary float your way. that was the state of the lone star state heading into tonight's senate republican primary where the last polls closed 43 minutes ago at 9:00 eastern. just moments ago, the associated press called the primary. they called the race. the associated press says in fact the tea party favorite has won. ted cruz has won the republican nomination for senate in texas. he was running against lieutenant governor davi

in texas, cruz is favored to win in november, and succeed retiring republican senator kay bailey hutchisone lone star state has not sent a democrat to the senate since 1988. so, how did ted cruz do it? and what does his win mean for the tea party, the g.o.p. and the overall senate landscape this fall? we turn to ross ramsey of the "texas tribune" and nathan gonzales of the rothenberg political report. he is also a contributor to "roll call." thank you he had strong grass roots support >> woodruff: when you say small electorate, how samll? >> we have 18 million adults >> woodruff: what did voters see in cruz >> they were trying to devote him into forums and debates and that sort of thing. i guess he got the grassroots people stirred up with those. he consequenced them dewhurst wasn't listening to them and he was ignoring them by going to the debates. by the time they got to the runoff, it was too late. the public was already there and the populist thing had already taken off. >> how much difference in their positions on the issues, how much distance between these two men? >> there wasn't a