Page 844 - Midterm News Today

>> sounds like a pretty hard core democrat and yet paul ryan and a lot of other republicans on capitol hill were talking about how this guy was a conservative. >> conor lamb ran as a moderate democrat but a democrat nonetheless. theres no question about that. he ran against house minority leader nancy pelosi, said he would not vote for her in the a leadership contest but whats unsettling to republicans is that rick saccone, the republican who was defeated, he ran as someone who embraced the trum...

Just have him for lunch. but this is pennsylvania, 18th district. what do you make of the fact that the winner had a "d" next to his name? >> well, look, brian. this is a scary hour for republicans in congress as they consider their majority. only three times in the last 118 years has the presidents party not lost seats in the first midterm election. so we start off structurally with the headwind. you look at all of the special elections that have taken place over the course of trumps presidency...

About what it is were witnessing here is steve schmidt, republican strategist and political veteran of the bush white house and mccain presidential campaign. steve, well start local. this guy was a democrat really in title only. anyone else, any other democrat who made a commercial with an ar-15, the progressives would just have him for lunch. but this is pennsylvania, 18th district. what do you make of the fact that the winner had a "d" next to his name? >> well, look, brian. this is a scary ho...

>> they ran as conservatives, ran as pro gun, pro life, nancy pelosi conservatives and thats the takeaway we see here. >> if it is truly a wakeup call as we understand you told your members this morning, isnt it also a wakeup call for the role the president should play from your opinion in the upcoming midterm. >> look, i think the president helped close this race. you saw the public polling. the public polling helped close this race to where it got right now within a few hundred votes. >> so jo...

District where the democrats didnt even run candidates in the last couple of house races he would have called it fake news does seem to show how close things are for this election whether this is part of a bigger wave or not well see. >> he didnt even run any candidates against the republicans for a couple of cycles. there is no question, first of all this is dramatic and its exciting. >> thats why we got in this business. >> its why we got in this business. as youve been saying repeatedly every...

Odonnells and sharon engels, and a whole bunch of others who get through, who are just too radical. >> do you think the age of joe biden democrat is over? >> like i said, i think we may find that out in 2020 if he decides to run for president. there are a lot of people in the party that would like to see him try that. im not taking sides in it, but i dont think his days are over at all. he again came to alabama and it was a big success for us in the state. i think the thing about these races in ...

Members because this wait is big. the enthusiasm in the trump era, not different from the republican enthusiasm in the obama era in his first midterm year, this is the energy in american politics right now. it is swelling for democrats, we saw it throughout 2017 and now were seeing it to actually convert into stealing a house seat that they have no right owning, the democrats. so that is when you say to your members if youre a remember, we know its going to be a tough year, this is a signal its ...

Maybe is not joe biden. >> but they have nancy pelosi. >> thats not it. >> conor lamb would say the same thing. >> thats always the case in a midterm with the out party. >> sure. >> that fight happens in the next presidential. 15, 16 people run like happened with the republicans in 2016. >> more than that. >> 53. then we see which one emerges as the leader of the party and pulls it together. no one would have predicted donald trump. >> biden helped obama that way. i would argue obama had that sa...

Six competitive house races so far, id rather be 6 for 6, our margi margins havent been what they might be. look, democrats are energized, no question about it. thats noteworthy to me in this case. you got a democrat running against speaker pelosi, running for gun control, running in favor of the presidents fortar policies. he was a little bit of a stealth candidate but a gifted candidate. again, i expect a very competitive midterm election. i believe our majority is at stake. thats been true in...

Mastered the job. >> right. >> was there one thing that happened that suddenly made him feel this way? >> its really hard to know. i think he felt, okay, i got tax reform done. thats good. and i figured it out. and theres a good economy. and were heading into a midterm, which is going to be tough. unless i take charge, nothing is going to get done around here. the president is very well known for being his own spokesman. he believes hes his best spokesman. you see him orchestrate iing al kinds o...