republican strategist and director of media affairs for john mccain's 2008 campaign, kevin mclaughlin. political columncolumnist, karen tumulty. and msnbc political analyst mike murphy. thank you all for being here tonight. i want, first, karen has written a definitive obituary of senator mccain. karen, you write in the "washington post," "when he acted like an ordinary politician, trimming principles in the cause of ambition and experience, it was all the more jarring because of the standard he had set. in the years that followed, a question often asked was which is the real john mccain?" so which one is it? >> well, there really was -- john mccain had this code of honor that i think on the one hand both defined him, but i think it was also a burden. i think it also haunted him because when he fell short of his own standards, he was in torment. you ask what was the worst moment when he was a prisoner of war, it wasn't being tortured. it wasn't all those years of solitary confinement. it was -- it was when after having his arms rebroken, he was forced to sign a sort of stilted confess

republican strategist and director of media affairs for john mccain's 2008 campaign, kevin mclaughlin. political columncolumnist, karen tumulty. thank you all for being here tonight. i want, first, karen has written a definitive obituary of senator mccain. karen, you write in the "washington post," "when he acted like an ordinary politician, trimming principles in the cause of ambition and experience, it was all the more jarring because of the standard he had set. in the years that followed, a question often asked was which is the real john mccain?" so which one is it? >> well, there really was -- john mccain had this code of honor that i think on the one hand both defined him, but i think it was also a burden. i think it also haunted him because when he fell short of his own standards, he was in torment. you ask what was the worst moment when he was a prisoner of war, it wasn't being tortured. it wasn't all those years of solitary confinement. it was -- it was when after having his arms rebroken, he was forced to sign a sort of stilted confession. so, again, you don't see that sort o

kevin mclaughlin. political columnist for "the washington post," karen tumulty. former adviser for senator john mccain and msnbc analyst mike murphy. thank you all for being here tonight. i want first, karen has written a definitive obituary of senator mccain, and, karen, you write in "the washington post," quote, when he acted like an ordinary politician, turning principles in the cause of ambition and experience, it was all the more jarring because of the standard he had set. in the years that followed, a question often asked was, which is the real john mccain? so which one is it? >> well, there really was -- john mccain had this code of honor that i think on the one hand both defined him, but i think it was also a burden, i think it also haunted him, because when he fell short of his own standards, he was in torment. you ask what was the worst moment when he was a prisoner of war, it wasn't being tortured, it wasn't all of those years of solitary confinement, it was when after having his arms rebroken he was forced to sign a sort of stilted confession. so, aga

for more on how the convictions good effect midterms, kevin mclaughlin, a veteran republican strategistow are you? david: let's start with the midterms. is it likely that this could have an effect because we have to put this against the backdrop -- of a couple members of congress who are under indictment for campaign violations. kevin: possible, likely. will it? to be determined. republicans have gone into the midterms with the same problems they had yesterday. one is history and the second is math. historically, the president in his first midterm loses 32 seats in the house on average and they need 23, democrats to take the house. the second thing is the history. -- the math, excuse me. republicans have so many retirements, that is the biggest concern how strategists have this entire time. problem, itit is a is not helpful and it takes candidates off message. it takes oxygen out of the media air. the 50 house retirements is really a problem for house republican strategists. david: you have run some successful strategies in your time with republicans. if you were advising the himident,

for that joining me now is kevin mclaughlin, also with us "new york times" reporter jeremy peters.is also an msnbc contributor. so, guys, thank you very much for being with me. it's great to see you. i want to start, steve kornacki has given us a rundown in each of these areas. we'll start with his analysis and take a look. >> all right, kasie, the story of how it happened in ohio 12. three quick stories. number one, columbus, the immediate suburbs. democrats got everything they could have dreamed of here. they got turnout, overwhelming support. why weasn't it enough? the rural parts of the district, not as much turnout but very strong support. trump did extremely well here, so did balderson. the ball game was won apparently in delaware. he didn't get a great number for a republican year but he got the trump number. he didn't slip any further from what trump got in 2016. add it together, apparently just enough for balderson. >> so thanks to steve for that. kevin, what's your take on what happened? >> so i findi find it fascinati well o'connor did in franklin. he outperformed obama