Page 688 - Midterm News Today

Have you. >> reporter: republican pete is an ex-cop and hockey player who nabbed president trumps first midterm rally. >> pete is a great guy. you got to get him a victory. great guy. >> reporter: a rare bright spot for republicans in the midterms because this district is still trump country. >> he tends to be a little brash sometimes, but he gets things done, and when he says hes going to do something, he takes care of it. >> joining me now to talk more about this is minnesota public radio corr...

Midterms that these two guys, lets speak english, who hate each other, were side by side and lovie dovy tonight. what does it say about this? >> well, in a midterm when you have incumbent senators running for re-election, theres a little bit of a dance with the president on some issues. do i depart with the president? this is nothing like this. this is acrobatics like weve never seen. this somebody suggested the candidates father had something to do with asass nalting one of the most popular pre...

Trumps first midterm rally. >> pete is a great guy. you got to get him a victory. >> reporter: a rare bright spot for republicans in the midterms because this district is still trump country. >> he tends to be a little brash sometimes but he gets things done and when he says hes going to do something, he takes care of it. >> reporter: so you can really see, chris, the difference between these two types of places. the kind of rule districts that really are still sticking with the president and th...

Not turning out and doing everything you can to get your friends, neighbors, family to turnout, the consequences you staying home would be profoundly dangerous to this country, to this democracy. >> already more than 5 million or early absentee votes are cast nationwide. in texas today, on the first day of early voting, the turnout was, in the words of the houston chronicle, down right shocking, with thousands in line before a key early voting event even opened. very enthusiastic beto orourke ca...

That year they would rate a 9 or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, and that far outpaced the number of republicans who said the same thing. the election results followed that very same pattern that was 2006. four years later in 2010, you might remember that was a big republican year, and again, that polling question predicted it. republican voters that year much more highly interested in the election than democrats. and the election results followed that same pattern. the following year, 2014, the next ...

Despite the environment that this president has created, its not necessarily driving hispanics to the polls for democrats. why? >> absolutely. i just feel like the democrats have had a hard time this cycle and just in past cycles coming up with a coherent optimistic message. theyve had a hard time playing against trump and the politics of him. trump is playing this game where hes really betting the whole midterm strategy on fears and basically falsehoods, things like a major tax cut is coming, w...

Can be beneficial in the midterm elections and i will say just a quick, you know, observation in the media coverage today, they have been savvy at it. theyve injected a topic that hasnt been or hasnt been a to call point of the conversation. isnt that pressing of an issue. they made it into national news throughout the course of the day. can they sustain that? i dont know. its not a pressing issue but theyve been savvy at getting this discussed in a way that it probably doesnt deserve to be disc...

Exacerbated is what russia wanted. what do you think russia wants to sit down with putin so close after the midterms before we really had a chance to conduct an after-action report and gauge the scope of any russian interference two years after their big effort in 2016? >> well, thats a great question, of course. robert mueller just indicted the other day a russian in connection with meddling in this midterm election. not the election from two years ago but this midterm election. we know its sti...

I think now hes going into the midterms. he understands that the base that got him elected in 2016 is still the base he needs now. and that is precodominantly whi, predominantly male and non-college educated and doing racist dog whistles to it appeal to them. >> its not a coincidence this comes as he doubles down on the hard-line immigration rhetoric. the embracing of the word nationalist, here, hes making the closing argument of the republican midterm strategy, this caravan. and coming up towar...

Of a caravan and throwing a lot of falsehoods out there about what is happening. but democrats, as you know, when youre talking immigration are usually on the defensive. republicans like that issue. they like it for their base. and they want to get the certain blue collar trump voters out. the problem in a midterm is not that your voters might go for the other guy. its indifference. you have a mobilize, energize, and scare people. >> the president is out there indicating the democrats are fundin...