ken vogel was there.wrote, as adelson whizzed around his venetian king doll on a motorized scooter he was often trailed by gop operatives, politicians and fellow donors eager to assess his state of mind, advise him on what he should do, or just lavish him with praise and gratitude. ken vogel joins me right now and joshua green, senior national correspondent for bloomberg and business week. made a comeback with all this choose me action. >> this is very emblematic of the new politics where sheldon adelson can and did in 2012 totally up-end the republican party. >> because he kept people in the race who wouldn't be in the race like newt? >> absolutely. so republican elites are nervous that that's going to happen again. so they're pleased to see him inviting out vegas to schmooze with him. >> if you need any reminder who was really the focus of intent this week, take a look at ohio governor john kasich. he is addressing the entire group, but one name seemed to be on the tip of his tongue. >> sheldon and i we

ken vogel and robert costa, thank you very much.ght back. stain remover and brightener, the average house-hold spends 47 cents a load on laundry. but with tide pods, you get all three in one easy-to-use pac. which, at 27 cents per load, makes a lot more sense. so try tide pods, and pop in savings. that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. go to comcastbusiness.com/ checkyourspeed. if we can't offer faster speeds or save you money we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. >>> let me finish tonight with the president's decision to hold off on making a decision on the keystone. it tracks the swath that goes solidly republican. but the grand totals are between 24 and 21 electoral vote, depending on the route, 62 if you count texas. keystone looks more like a bust than a boom. sure there are democrats ele

ken vogel from politico. thank you. >> my pleasure. >>> joining me now, charlie pierce, writer at large for "esquire" magazine and political blogger for esquire.com. okay. so, charlie, as a tactic, the koch brothers obviously spending lots of money to influence elections, to influence the outcomes in politics, but charles koch claiming, you know what, all he wants to do is get a little freedom. did that ring true to you in that op-ped? >> no, absolutely not. this is a guy who says he wants to get a little personal liberty but is funding voter suppression all over the country at the state level which is where the mischief really gets done. americans for prosperity most recently meddled in a mass transit issue in nashville. >> this is a group they have funded, alec, et cetera, who have been involved in voter i.d. one of the tactics from the koch brothers is encouraging their employees, koch industry employees to get out there and become part of the pr machine to remake the koch image. sent out an e-mail urging

let me bring in political reporter ken vogel who wrote the article about republican groups funding right wing talkers. ken, good to have you with us tonight. i'm just looking for the facts. no commentary. i know you're a reporter. dick armey said right wing talkers are selling their influence in contracts. what does that say? break that down for us. what's happening here in. >> well, dick armey has an ax to grind because he was forced out of freedom works but the argument that he's making i heard from other folks in the conservative movement, which is that it calls into question the core ideological beliefs of some of the talk radio hosts if they're running political shows and espousing political positions while taking money and sponsorships from organizations that have a particularly narrow focus both in terms of candidates, positions onion going issues and promoting those groups and promoting groups' candidates. it begs the question, where does the line between the core ideological beliefs of the hosts end and where does the paid sponsorship start. >> bill o'reilly said, not even a jan

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let me bring in "washington post" reporter nia malika henderson and ken vogel.ood to see both of you. let's start with the obamacare issue, since that's where we left off, and can bill clinton call for democrats to embrace it, in fact, he thinks as we just heard from congressman israel, that, in fact, there is an argument to be made, but is anybody making it and what is it? >> well, i mean, you were right when you put it to the congressman and asked whether it was a more difficult, more nuanced argument to make, it is, and it's tough to make. however, they think that they can couple it with this push for an increased minimum wage and this attack on republicans as being the party of plutocrats and really just interested in helping millionaires and billionaires and come up with a message that appeals to three key demographics that they really need to get out to be able to at least minimize the damage, if not make gains in the midterm election. that is young voters, minorities, and single women, all of whom polls show are amenable to the message of sort of a populo