>> reporter: the cochran campaign does show an alternate path to victory, the alternative simply doubling down on the base, trying to just, you know, get low turnout and appeal to enough white folks to get past the finish line. >> it worked. >> the republican party needs to deal with depth graphic change. they have had a problem doing that. rand paul is constantly challenging to reach beyond the base, to reach out to african-americans. and hispanics. the cochran campaign is one of the first to do it. in a primary. which the degree of difficulty is much higher. it is it show an alternate path to victory, a different way to fight in the gop civil war. and it could, if someone is inspired, inspire some folks in the republican party to think beyond the base and try to figure out how to practice the politics of addition, not just the politics of division, which they have done for basically the past decade. >> john avlon, i want to ask you something out of left field here. on thad cochran. when you look at his age, 76, he is on his way to another six