what do you make of matt bevin?> look, i don't own the nomination of my party or the seat that the people of kentucky have given me and i fully intend to inmy pwin my primary. he's making the argument that somehow i'm an obama enabler. i'm sure the white house is snigerring about that. republican voters in kentucky don't believe that. >> he's saying you have voted repeatedly to raise the debt ceiling. you voted for the wall street bailout so are you not a true conservative. >> i was 1 of 5 u.s. senators last year that got a perfect rating from the american conservative union. the argument that i'm some kind of liberal is absurd and that will be rejected by the republican primary voters in

i am matt bevin, and i approved this message because after 30 years, conduct he deserves another -- kentucky deserves better. host: the primary challenge with thetor mitch mcconnell, mcconnell campaign said that they were into law prevent -- in too long. for the heart and soul of the republican party, because it is almost verbatim to a column that we wrote about how important this race is. if these antiestablishment conservatives are able to knock off mitch mcconnell, it is going a shockwaved through the republican party, give some of these other races that are later in the calendar some momentum. theymay not be the race, may get a couple of victories this cycle, it is maybe a little bit later on in the calendar. -- kentuckypublican primary is coming up in the calendar. louisiana is a pure tossup at the moment, what is happening at that -- in that state? yup to remember that it has become increasingly more republican, which makes the child a little bit harder -- the challenge a little bit harder. the congressman who is fairly conservative, although the tea party would like a more conservativ

what do you make of matt bevin?> look, i don't own the nomination of my party or the seat that the people of kentucky have given me and i fully intend to inmy pwin my primary. he's making the argument that somehow i'm an obama enabler. i'm sure the white house is snigerring about that. republican voters in kentucky don't believe that. >> he's saying you have voted repeatedly to raise the debt ceiling. you voted for the wall street bailout so are you not a true conservative. >> i was 1 of 5 u.s. senators last year that got a perfect rating from the american conservative union. the argument that i'm some kind of liberal is absurd and that will be rejected by the republican primary voters in kentucky on may 20th. >> senator mcconnell, thanks for coming in today. always a pleasure to talk with you, sir. >>> up next, you our sunday panel and what they'll be wapg for in president obama's state of the union address. be sure to tell us what you think on facebook and share your favorite moments from today's show with our fns

matt bevin is joining us from louisville, kentucky. matt, thanks very much for coming in.ch mcconnell, the republican leader in the united states senate, should be ousted and you should be the next senator from kentucky? >> well, my reasons for thinking so are really the reasons of the people of kentucky whose voices i listen to for some months before even jumping into this race. they probably are summed up in the fact that 30 years is a long time for a person to go somewhere. they change, they become less of who they once were and there are many people here in kentucky that do not feel that our voices are well represented by mitch mcconnell, that he really does not 'em place the conservative thinking of most of the voters here in kentucky. i am willing to step forward to give people a choice in this upcoming primary. >> freedom works, the conservative pac, has just endorsed you, but you have a huge uphill struggle. a lot of republicans fear you're just going to weaken mitch mcconnell, setting the stage potentially for the democrat to win the election. what say you? >> it

the question is, are the steve stockman, the primary challenger to thad cochran in mississippi, matt bevin mcconnell, they probably will keep talking about it. if any one of them comes close to winning, that's going to be a warning sign for the rest of the members. >> you're talking about people challenging the incoumbents fro the right. they'll talk blindly about let's get rid of it. >> this is a great map and i want to show it. i found it earlier this week. >> you don't want to spend more time talking about the affordable care act? >> let's put up this map. this is andrew shears, a geology professor, fascinating, at mansfield university, which i believe is in pennsylvania. this is a map what if every secession movement succeeded, it would be 124 states. very complicated. david, your take. >> you know, what i was fascinated by is it actually looked like the 124 states almost divide the 1 trcountry i 124 equal pieces. you have south jersey and north jersey about split and it becomes about the same size as whatever it is, western dakota. >> i found fascinating that south carolina was one of

a new poll out today has mcconnell up by more than 20 points over matt bevin, backed by the senate conservativesd. so the scf is not doing great in that respect, but it is doing great in this respect. it raised $9 million last year. with no board of directors to steer it, it has paid the consulting firm of the guy who started it about half a million dollars. it's also paid $143,000 over 3 years to a luxury design firm to renovate office space in washington townhouses as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars, you've heard that right, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of conservative commentator mark levin's book to hand out to donors as freebies for contributions. side note, ever wonder why number one on "the new york times" bestseller list is some random right winger? ding, ding, ding, ding. joining me, tara dowdell and alex pareene for "salon" who wrote about the senate conservative fund today. i'm well acquainted with the land of the conservative con job. by those standards, this is breathtaking. >> this is a breathtaking one. usually when there's a group that's raising millions of dol

in kentucky, mitch mcconnell is challenged by matt bevin. guest: let me wrap that up.this also goes to the cochrane raise. trend ina fundamental american politics. i wish more journalists wrote about this. these lawmakers have been in there for decades. they like their senator. they like roberts. not especially with mcconnell. they are not really happy with him right now. there is the idea that they like them, but it is time for a change. it is time to find somebody new. clearly, they are not helping the situation in the state -- d.c. roberts is inat trouble and i think the mitch mcconnell is in trouble in kentucky. bevin is athink that better general election candidate against allison grimes. i want to ask you about wyoming. two familiar names. liz cheney -- guest: this is kind of like texas. the challenger and the incumbent appear to be above average. we do not see a contrast. from my position, i have not taken much time to see what could happen. whatever happens, republicans will get that seat. host: listed under least endangered, we spoke about texas. lamar alexand

republican in the senate, mitch mcconnell-s already facing a primary challenge from tea party candidate matt bevinacknowledged the political reality of troog to ying to uns sitting leader in a speech earlier this month. >> this is not going to be an easy race. never was intended before. never before in u.s. political history has the leader of the party been defeated in a primary election. >> joining me now, sam stein, senior politics editor for the huffington post and an msnbc contributor, and ari melber, co-host of msnbc's "the cycle." ari, those republicans like boehner who had just given obama everything he wants, everything he wants. what happened to the two-party system? >> look, i think the problem with that messaging is as unrealistic as it sounds to the reality-based community or people who read about politics, obviously it resonates -- >> yeah? >> well, yeah. dot, dot, dot. it resonates with some of these people. and look, the purity matrix in the republican party has gone obviously to an extreme. if anyone's ever been in the market for a diamond and they start trying to tell you that you

i am matt bevin, and i approved this message because after 30 years, conduct he deserves another -- kentucky deserves better. host: the primary challenge with thetor mitch mcconnell, mcconnell campaign said that they were into law prevent -- in too long. for the heart and soul of the republican party, because it is almost verbatim to a column that we wrote about how important this race is. if these antiestablishment conservatives are able to knock off mitch mcconnell, it is going a shockwaved through the republican party, give some of these other races that are later in the calendar some momentum. theymay not be the race, may get a couple of victories this cycle, it is maybe a little bit later on in the calendar. -- kentuckypublican primary is coming up in the calendar. louisiana is a pure tossup at the moment, what is happening at that -- in that state? yup to remember that it has become increasingly more republican, which makes the child a little bit harder -- the challenge a little bit harder. the congressman who is fairly conservative, although the tea party would like a more conservativ

i am matt bevin, and i approved this message because after 30 years, conduct he deserves another -- kentuckyerves better. host: the primary challenge with thetor mitch mcconnell, mcconnell campaign said that they were into law prevent -- in too long. for the heart and soul of the republican party, because it is almost verbatim to a column that we wrote about how important this race is. if these antiestablishment conservatives are able to knock off mitch mcconnell, it is going a shockwaved through the republican party, give some of these other races that are later in the calendar some momentum. theymay not be the race, may get a couple of victories this cycle, it is maybe a little bit later on in the calendar. -- kentuckypublican primary is coming up in the calendar. louisiana is a pure tossup at the moment, what is happening at that -- in that state? yup to remember that it has become increasingly more republican, which makes the child a little bit harder -- the challenge a little bit harder. the congressman who is fairly conservative, although the tea party would like a more conservative ca

in kentucky, mitch mcconnell is challenged by matt bevin. guest: let me wrap that up.s also goes to the cochrane raise. trend ina fundamental american politics. i wish more journalists wrote about this. these lawmakers have been in there for decades. they like their senator. they like roberts. not especially with mcconnell. they are not really happy with him right now. there is the idea that they like them, but it is time for a change. it is time to find somebody new. clearly, they are not helping the situation in the state -- d.c. roberts is inat trouble and i think the mitch mcconnell is in trouble in kentucky. bevin is athink that better general election candidate against allison grimes. i want to ask you about wyoming. two familiar names. liz cheney -- guest: this is kind of like texas. the challenger and the incumbent appear to be above average. we do not see a contrast. from my position, i have not taken much time to see what could happen. whatever happens, republicans will get that seat. host: listed under least endangered, we spoke about texas. lamar alexander,