former governor schweitzer decided not to run. why?out the actual paper that would have allowed him to run for senate. he said he wouldn't though this weekend. democrats in d.c. are privately saying they had quite the research book on him. >> bill: the republicans? >> no, the democrats were getting nervous that there was too much out there that would cost them a senate seat, and so it looks like they sort of maneuvered him out of the race. this is a big deal though -- >> bill: he was elected governor twice. >> and the most popular politician in the state. >> bill: yeah, and they hadn't vetted him? >> well, there have been a few issues that have come up over the last year or so he has closer ties to a dark-money group -- this is one of those organizations that raises money that they don't have to disclose and then spends it on politics. he has closer ties to them than he had said before. i don't think that's the full story, but that's sort of the tip of the iceberg -- >> bill: so is there another strong democrat out there? >> nobody in

brian schweitzer seemed to shock democrats over the weekend. former montana governor.x balkus is retiring. perry, supposed to be their way of holding that seat and brian schweitzer decides not to run. >> big blow and rumors about his supporters involved in dark money groups and might be the reason why he decided not to run. arkansas, louisiana, alaska become very important places. you have three senate democratic incumbents and places red states and those are the three races become hugely important. >> the more republicans think they have a shot at getting all of congress, why should they start cooperating with the president? >> the thing about it is if immigration ends up having this long and painful death, look at what happened with the primaries during the republican -- during the presidential election in november. this was that long drawn-out toxic debate that turned off latino voters. is it in the best interest for republicans to cooperate with this president not just on immigration but remember that immigration touches so this aspects of our national agenda? educ

jihad is which will influence the entire region earlier we talked to terrorism expert your time schweitzer from the israeli think tank the institute for national security studies and he says if push comes to shove is road can take up the challenge against the jihadists in syria. it seems time passes by buses by the the. salafi jihadists growing in numbers and effective in the conflict and considered to be the most violent and the most professional among to be a position to fight them i think israel is not interfering in the same syrian conflict some elements fold their own reasons trying to accuse israel of this kind of involvement the second i don't think that these are the should interfere in these conflicts. and. unless the ease they wrecked attacks by the global jihadist against israel and the syrian army would not be able to contain them then in these cases and we have to deal with the program by itself the syrian army on each side is very cautious not to get into fights with these because they know the results of it. or check out the stories we don't show in our news updates but stil

democrats are suddenly, schweitzer is the name i was looking for. >> he is the sitting governor. jon: okay. >> that is a big recruiting loss, that's a good point, jon. even though montana tend to lean republican in presidential races. he is popular democrat, democrat across the board. he would have won that race i think, no matter what republicans have dug up on him. the fact he is not run something made it open season for republicans. if they do not repeat recruiting failures of 2012 race, nominate somebody with half a brain who knows how to run a campaign and appeal to voters this seat is really on the table for the gop. it gets them one step closer to the majority. i say this, even if they don't win the majority, imagine if republicans 2012 won north dakota, missouri, and indiana, reid would not have to the votes to pull the nuclear option to change the rules that is how important the races can be. jon: a couple of tight races coming up in south dakota and west virginia as well where democratic senators are retiring. it will be an interesting race for the senate in 2014. david

fromian schweitzer montana. someone who says i have never worked in washington, i am not part of the cesspool in washington. you see that out there. a lot of permutations of where on thego, but all built questions that have to be answered up front. the republican party is a question of how many times can you cut up the center right in the sense of -- i do not know how one what exactly measure this, but ted cruz, rand paul, scott walker, marco rubio. chris christie? i think he would be a formidable general election candidates. i am not sure how he wins the republican nomination. let's say on the democratic side, could mark warner when the democratic nomination? i think that would be very hard. is jeb bush. i think he would be a very strong candidates but do not think he will run. he would like to, but i do not think he will run for personal reasons. you enter into all these things. that is a very long way of saying who knows? it is going to be a lot of fun to watch. who have i left out? i do not have my cheat she

since brian schweitzer said he was noting about to run. that's another dangerous seat for democrats so they're thinking a little further ahead. carl levin said, quote: >> michael: so was there a better way for reid to have achieved the same thing here? >> well, he would have needed the republicans to go along with him in the beginning of the year, and they did not. and the other thing reid is really grappling here is a caucus of a majority of new democrats. these are democrats who have not served in the minority. so they have an understandable frustration with the minority's ability to block things, but they've never had that as their only tool in their legislative toolbox, and guys like reid and levin, they were in the opposite position in 2005 under george w bush's judicial nominee. if you remember the gang of 14, and they were making the exact same arguments then that the republicans are now. >> michael: that is such an astute observation. people who have never been in the minority have no idea what it's like. that's an important part o

john tester said he is not going to -- i'm sorry brian schweitzer said he is not going to run for senatemontana. there's a chance the republicans are within striking distance of taking control of the senate then would either party change their tune if those roles were reversed? >> i don't worry about whether what harry reid does sets a precedent for republicans. if they find it advantageous to change the rules when they are in charge they will change the rules when they are in charge. so i would go ahead and do it and i wouldn't worry about what the republicans are going to do because i wouldn't trust them anyway. >> michael: that's a good point. they just think about what they are doing and what they want to do. david what do you think is going to come out of this meeting today? >> i think republicans are going to blink. harry reid is simply asking for them to allow an up or down vote tomorrow. these are not big deals. republicans have just made it so because they hate these agencies. they don't want the agencies to exist in the first place. harry reid is not asking for much, and even s

earlier i spoke to peter schweitzer head of the institute he wrote a book called "throw them all out.d why the military would throw that kind of money into a facility it is not going to use. >> when you use the term military the sense that we always have are the brave men and women serving in uniforms in countries. the reality is the military also has an enormous component at the pentagon it has contractors there's a lot of money that gets thrown around. part of this is a story about waist. they a -- waste. it's also a problem of what i call krohn kneecap talli-- kroco nobody really cares whether the thing has any use or not. that's what i think happened in this particular case. >> you in your book really outline just how extensive this whole i guess hand holding is between government and contractors. there are a lot of people getting just disgustingly rich with government contracts. so how extensive is it? >> it's a huge problem, governor. if you or somebody who works at the pentagon or you work at the department of health and human services and you are a government employee you are

. >> i wonder how much of that re -- the democrats backing off was precipitated by brian schweitzer's decision over weekend that he's not running for the senate in montana which gives them another really vulnerable seat because the democrats have a bigger hill to climb to hold on in the senate in 2014. >> i spoke to john mccain and he raised that issue saying the democrats could foresee a scenario where their majority could be in jeopardy and if rules were changed now, who's to say the republicans wouldn't certainly do the same if the majority were switched. so i think there was, in part because of the montana open seat race, a kind of real world scenario that made sense to democrats, many of whom are terribly frustrated about legislation that's not moving forward and trying to get some sort of resolution to move things more quickly, more smoothly, and maybe having the conversation and having the threat does have the benefit of getting them to talk to each other and to try and sort this out. so 02014 was definitely castinga shadow like this. >> kelly and chris, great minds thinking al

democrats suffered a setback this weekend when popular democratic governor brian schweitzer of montananced he would not run for the seat max baucus has held for 36 years. this comes as harry reid is threatening to invoke the nuclear option, a change to senate rules to limit filibusters on executive branch nominations and leave confirmations possible by a simple majority vote. >> the changes we're making are very, very minimal. what we're doing is saying look, american people, shouldn't president obama have somebody working for him that he wants? the constitution's pretty specific. if you want a supermajority vote, look at what a veto is or a treaty. but if you want to look at nomination, you know what the founding fathers said? simple majority. this is not judges. this is not legislation. this is allowing the people of america to have a president who could have his team, to have his team in place. this is nothing like went on before. >> tonight, all 100 senators were invited to a rare clos closed-door meeting in the old senate chamber where there are no c-span cameras to see if an agre

. >> former montana governor brian schweitzer says he will not run for state's open senate seat.big hit for democrats next year. how does it shift the balance of power in the senate? it could, you know. to the big board, now we've got a six-point gain, that's all we've got that it's higher. no big retreat this monday morning. harry reid hints he's about to make historic changes in the senate. and doing the nuclear option, is this the only pro nominee is to bundle the nlrb? that's next. ♪ announcer: where can an investor be a name and not a number? scottrade. ron: i'm never alone with scottrade. i can always call or stop by my local office. they're nearby and ready to help. so when i have questions, i can talk to someone who knows actly how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. that's why i'm with scottrade. announcer: scottrade- proud to be ranked "best overall client experience." she's always been able it's just her way.day. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime

when montana's former governor brian schweitzer a democrat announced last weekend that he would not run for montana's open senate seat, the gop's odds for taking back the senate got a big boost. for the first time this year, senate republicans think they are in strike distance of taking back control of the senate. "our best guess is that republicans will end up with somewhere between 50 and 51 senate seats after 2014 putting them right on the threshold of a majority." joining me to discuss all of this today, msnbc political analyst jonathanal t alter, mang editor of the grio.com, joy reid, and chairman of the slate group, jacob wiseberg, and ari melvin. joining us from new hampshire, jennifer singer. thanks for joining us. i want to go to you first, jennifer. you just wrote an article about john boehner and saying the speaker is newt but not unintelligible trying to get into the mind of the leader of the raucous caucus. there is a moment in the piece i wanted to signal out specifically today where you acknowledge and sort of bring to the fore the notion that the senate is now the place

government to obamacare and do that montana minnesota is talking about doing the same thing brian schweitzer state they haven't gotten that far yet second question real quick. quick question for you greg crystal clear. program for. all three i noticed that growth in our group at the congressional level many times whether democratic or republican there's. no there's no competition in terms of how the old dot com would you support having that third party app progress a third party to you know propose. here's you know i'm not opposed to third parties i you know i voted for ralph nader in two thousand that said two third parties typically shoot themselves in the foot and in the american system what we really need is instant runoff voting or proportional representation and there are groups committed to doing both in the united states the green party is a big advocate for instead of voting or rank voting so that's really what we need first then we can have multiple parties that's it for your take my take alive thanks for all your calls if we didn't get to your call tonight is back next week and ke

peter schweitzer wrote a great book that you probably know about it about two years ago called throw them all out in which he argues that that lawmakers on congress engage in what is the same any of us would be considered in started trading and that that should be abolished and i agree stewart yes absolutely but everybody well the truth of the matter is that banners not only should not be allowed to do this but he's a heck of a hypocrite for not bending and not coming forward and saying in not publicly recusing himself and not taking himself out of this fight the canadians do not want the pipeline to go through canada to the west of vancouver they wanted to come down through the united states we've already seen the same kind of pipeline with the same kind of all. split in arkansas all just two months ago twenty two foot long rupture two feet wide that had the all cannot be carried through a pipeline and when the pipeline because of the pressure burst we can't clean it up we don't know how to clean it out as we're seeing now years later and kalamazoo river that was there is still stru

were democrats had to deal with brian schweitzer not running. we have three democratically held seats that look like they are probably going to go over to the republican side and that is assuming that republicans hang onto all their own seeds and the thing about it is there is only one republican seat up in the democratic leaning state. and that is susan collins of maine. so i guess she doesn't run for reelection or gets bumped off in a primary, i don't think either one of those are going to happen and the only other one that we are really looking at is where saxby chambliss is retiring. and that is where later today daughter of sam nunn is running in there about five or six republicans running on the other side and you can see you whether his candidacy is really sort of mattering only if republicans nominate -- i say this? and exotic or potentially problematic nominee and that is the term that i use with my wife and so anyway. [applause] >> so if republicans nominate this, they hold out this hope. because georgia is shifting a little bit in the

or brian schweitzer from montana. someone who says i have never worked in washington, i am not part of the cesspool in washington. you see that out there. a lot of permutations of where it may go, but all built on the questions that have to be answered up front. the republican party is a question of how many times can you cut up the center right in the sense of -- i do not know how one what exactly measure this, but ted cruz, rand paul, rick perry, scott walker, marco rubio. chris christie? i think he would be a formidable general election candidates. i am not sure how he wins the republican nomination. let's say on the democratic side, could mark warner when the democratic nomination? i think that would be very hard. then there is jeb bush. i think he would be a very strong candidate but do not think he will run. he would like to, but i do not think he will run for personal reasons. you enter into all these things. that is a very long way of saying who knows? it is going to be a lot of fun to watch. who have i left o

especially in montana where democrats failed to get their dream candidate the other day, brian schweitzerin 2016, who knows, it's very possible republicans could win the nomination. it's a situation after 2016 a republican president, a narrow majority in the house and if you have any changes now to the filibuster, that could come back to bite democrats. senator, is that something they're pushing for is aware? i know carl levin is trying to remind them but are they aware of it? >> i'm aware of it. i listened to mitch mcconnell make the case why there should be no nuclear option and list what they call the parade of horribles the republican caucus would put into play, number one on the list is obama care. certainly, that's part of the discussion. as i said earlier, whether it's carl levin or a few other senior senators say, listen, dial this back a little bit and think about what you're doing here. and if you don't want the senate to become the house where the majority will decide everything and the minority -- existence in minority is very difficult, unexpired difference, you have to under

>> caller: no, schweitzer. >> stephanie: oh, montana. >> caller: yeah jso we're not going to win thatoo. it could be a toss up. there was a piece in the "new york times" about senate control which is -- ah. yeah, the juror in the -- b37 -- >> bingo. >> stephanie: you sunk my battleship. >> oh. >> stephanie: who made her first public appearance since the trial said race did not play in the jury's decision but admitted that she believes that zimmerman went above and beyond his role as neighborhood watch member. you think? okay. jim in orange county. >> caller: good morning, i think we are going through the growing pains of a racist sexist country. i think the pendulum was ready to swung back before bush stole the second election, and it has swung back so far, and obama was absolutely the best choice. but i have a big problem with this juror b37, she went to the georgey zimmerman warehouse of lies. couldn't she have literally just said, wow, we felt he was lying? i keep hearing people say the way the law was written -- almost like it was a forgone conclusion. he had so many freakin' lies

guest: recently, the big news is brian schweitzer not running in montana. he opted not to run against max baucus. the pundits are thinking that republicans have a slight edge there. the math favors the republicans in this cycle, but not in 2016. as far as the house, democrats need to pick up a substantial amount, 17, right now, many democrats have to worry about their seats as well as republicans. few think that democrats can win back the house in 2014. let's see what the implementation of obamacare is. if that goes smoothly, democrats will go well. it does not, republicans will do well. the other issue will be the economy and both parties want to get out their base in midterm elections. host: in recent midterms, we have seen wave elections, a big wins for one side or another. what is the prediction for this upcoming midterm? will this be closer? guest: it is a little bit too early to say. history has not been kind. they called the six-year itch. presidents are in their second year election. president obama had a tough midterm election in 2010. it was a she

they have their foibles. , iyou throw them all out know schweitzer has been on the , they allfore ingratiatehemselves. when you get done to it it is -- on the governmental level the government people are looking what is good for them on an individual level. we as a society are looking at what is good for us. the country be damped. one of the points on the twitter page -- wall -- inside "the wall street journal," the story points out -- pittsburgh caller:, democrats line, good morning. -- pittsburgh, democrats line, good morning. thanks for taking my call. i just wanted to ask if anyone we caneorge to talk so compared the voice to the voice that is on the recorder? there would be a difference andeen a 17-year-old voice however old george zimmerman is. kerry is joining us from pennsylvania. i just want to get my thoughts concerning congress and [indiscernible] these people run for office and get newly elected. they get into washington and find it is tough to get inside the beltway. , i wish that someone could make a difference the first term. i felt it could happen and if they get the second t

guest: there are a number of decided not toan schweitzer run for the open seats because of the retirementoming for max baucus. likely to stay in the hands of the democrats. it is much more likely to go republican. two only 10 by republicans. almost all the republican seats is prettyxception much say for the republicans. winning theshot at majority. it is important to remember that these numbers are shaped by what happened six years earlier. you have a good year. that is why they are up. the next election after this come after elections for the republicans in the senate. the shoe will be on the other foot. if they take a majority there's no doubt it will make a difference for president obama's final years. it and -- it will expand. host: what role is president obama not being reelected playing on this issue? guest: there's very little doubt that mcconnell's reelection campaign has made a difference in his rhetoric and approach. republican he was up this time is worried about being primaried. we see a very different behavior by john cornyn in texas. they are much more concerned and the chal

need to pick up six, still an uphill battle but on saturday when the former montana governor brian schweitzerasn't going to run that was a change because it looked like he was a sure hold for democrats. the left loves him. he was populace, popular speaker at convention, liberal flavor of health care, but he had what the republicans call a lot of rust under the hood. there could be a lot of issues that would have made it harder for him. now a jump ball, probably a favorite for republicans and they say now that they have a better chance for minority leader mitch mcconnell to become majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> also in the playbook, wheels in motion for the 2016 presidential race already. starting early is that sort of us must ring up news or something going on? >> it's not. >> it's not us. >> it's not? okay. >> it's not us. >> we're going to enjoy it and -- but the "morning joe" on politico we're going to revel in it and both sides say they need to start earlier on 2016 and there's good reasons for this on both sides. on the democratic side, hillary clinton who was going to do her six mo

withrats have the below schweitzer not running. three democratic-held seats that look like they will probably go to the republican side. the key is the fourth, fifth, sixth. that is assuming republicans hang onto all their own seats. there is only one republican -- i amin a democratic not counting new jersey -- in a democratic-aiming state. unless she does not run for reelection or gets bumped off the primary, i do not think either of those will happen, she is fine. the only other one is in georgia , where saxby chambliss is retiring. later today, apparently michelle nunn is running. there are five or six republicans running on the other side. , whetherion there nunn's candidacy, it only matters only if republicans this, andhow do i say exotic or potentially problematic nominee. at is the term i used with my wife trying to convince me not to use the term wacko anymore. [laughter] if republicans nominate a normal republican, they hold onto the seat. little.is shifting a in the south, virginia has become a certifiably mid- atlantic s

recently the big with news is, of course, brian schweitzer not running in montana, democrats had reallyhoped he could aim to succeed retiring senate finance committee chairman max paw cuts. he opted not to run and congressman steve dangerous is likely to run -- danes is likely to run on the republican side. so thinking that republicans have a sight edge. the math favors republicans in this cycle, it does not favor them in 2016. but democrats are defending a rot more seats than republicans in the senate. as far as the house, democrats need to pick up a substantial amount of seats, i believe it's 17, and right now there are a lot of democrats who have to worry about their seats as well as republicans. but few think the democrats can win back the house in 2014, but it's a long way away. obamacare, let's see the implementation of that. if that goes very smoothly, democrats are going to do well. if it doesn't, then republicans will do well. and the other issue, of course, is going to be the economy. and both parties want to get out their base in the midterm elections. >> host: we've seen in