generally, is it good news for anyone left, right, or center, cantor's defeat? except those like nancy pelosi who don't mind seeing their partisan rival take a loss, does anyone think this isn't going to show itself this november when this rolling thunder clap of anger against big shot republicans will hit democrats broadside? well, tonight we look at what it means to progressives, to hard-right conservatives, and, of course, to the 2016 presidential election. how's jeb taking the news from virginia? how's chris christie? how's rubio? does anyone think this vote against government debt and failed immigration policy is good news for this crowd? do they? let's find out what happened and what more importantly, how the politicians feel about it, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and how they are going to take it. chuck todd's an expert, msnbc political director and white house correspondent, as well as the host of "the daily rundown" here on msnbc, of course. and howard fineman, director of all politics and all coverage thereof at "the huffington post." former congressman vin weber called this an earthquake. cantor's stunning defeat seems to catch the entire political world by shock last night when he lost that primary, including cantor himself. his own internal polling had him winning by 34 points in that primary. instead he lost to economics professor david brat by 11 points. according to "the washington post," cantor felt so confident of victory in that primary he spent the morning at starbuck's holding a fundraising meeting with lobbyists, but results came in quickly last night and today in a press conference, cantor said he will step down as majority leader the end of july, this next month, and including a note of compromise in washington. >> i think that this town should be about trying to strike common ground. i've always said, it's better if we can agree to disagree, but find an areas which we can produce results. and i've said this before, and i've talked about my wife and i almost by now married 25 years, and believe me, we don't agree on everything, and we have managed to raise our family, have a wonderful marriage. she's stood by me throughout this public office stuff, and been a strong advocate for me, and not always believing in everything that i believe in, but we've managed to raise our family and do well. i don't think that's too unlike life, i don't think it's too unlike the legislative arena, and i think more of that could probably be helpful. >> you know, chuck todd and howard fineman being political experts, isn't it wonderful why the country has to watch a guy convert himself from congressman to lobbyist in the matter of five minutes? this is what they hate about washington, what they see here happening, built a lot of relationships with lobbyists, when you leave office, voters kick you out, move right into powerful positions. anyways, let's get to the noise level. >> no one is going to be shocked. >> anyway, here's my question, the noise you hear today from the political world, i hear a lot of noise. >> look, it's nervousness, it's the immigration panic with republicans, basically realizing they can't deal with it now, it's going to be sitting there in 2016, and this demographic time bomb that, frankly, went off in 2012, right, it went off and that's among the reasons why romney had no shot at obama. >> but they do not like illegal immigration. they don't like it, period. they don't want to help the people that are here and don't want more of them. >> it's clear to me that the republican party hasn't figured out how to deal with this populous base inside their party, the populous wing, yes, it's immigration, but also antiwall street. he kept saying things, he's the chambers candidate, he'd throw that out. it's the same anger. very much so. >> accused cantor, the guy he beat, first leadership of any party, any house, i've heard of losing a primary. anyway, here's the guy who beat him said he supported amnesty. you interviewed brat today. you asked if he thought his election was about immigration. he skirted it a little bit. here he is. >> immigration is a part of that aspect, but it's -- i ran on the fiscal issues and the republican creed, which starts off with the main thing i'm interested in, and that's a commitment to free markets. amnesty, at the end with a clear differentiator between myself and eric cantor, and so it fits into the whole narrative and it also fits into the narrative that eric just has not been present in the district, and he was out of touch in supporting, you know, the chamber agenda on that one instead of -- i was door knocking, i know what's on the mind of the folks. >> howard, first of all, i believe in the voter and believe the voters vote voluntarily, only ones that voted were the ones that wanted to vote. you have to count it seriously, these votes count. they represent personal passion on the part of people. not group passion, personal passion. people out there who voted last night in virginia are really ticked off, it seems to me, government spent, government spending, government overregulation, and especially they think they are selling out the country with this illegal immigration thing, they think people like cantor are too damn soft. my question to you, howard, why did he skirt the immigration thing, is he embarrassed, did he play politics, didn't play fiscal politics, why did he sort of skirt chuck's question, and he clearly did. >> well, because i actually think, chris, that even though immigration is important, and i think in this particular election it was important, the larger sense i get of this, and the big takeaway from this, is the absolutely vicious antagonism that voters in the country, all across the country, in both parties have towards washington, and it's the kind of -- it's become the kind of city where when television, when netflix puts on a -- an utter attack on washington in the form of the show "house of cards," people in washington are so out of touch that they think it's cool. they think it's funny. >> that's a great point, i completely agree. >> they think it's funny. >> it's a shot at us. >> the city is completely out to lunch, and almost literally out to lunch, or the steakhouse, in the case of eric cantor. >> tell me why you said steakhouse, that's a great number. >> it's because according to spending reports, i think he spent at least $120,000, $130,000 at events at steakhouse, which is more than dave brat spent on his media budget. >> the point is at the steakhouse, give me the picture for the voters, lobby is crowding around you, guys eating big steaks with bibs on, unless it's lobster night. >> they are sawing the big steak and deciding to block the bill that a lot of its proponents think will help real people in the real america who can't afford a 25-ounce, you know, slab of meat at bruce's steakhouse. they can't. >> they are working at a higher priced place like charlie palmer's or something. i remember years ago one of these things, i remember a congressman sitting there, 15 lobbyists around him serenading him with how great he is. that's called a dinner. >> goes back to marty caplan, the guy wrote the best betrayal, distinguished gentleman with eddie murphy and the more i watch that movie, the more and more correct it is. but this does go, this anger that's out there, this anti-washington thing. look, i took a bunch of people in capitol hill today, tea party conservatives, liberal democrats, and all of them are actually reacting the way they should be reacting in this election, is there an anti-incumbent wave coming? that's what they are nervous about. >> hillary clinton is out in the news right now, i don't particularly go with her view in this, but i think she was smart to address it directly, pretty much. hillary clinton, on her book tour, sounded a candidate's response to the virginia upset. here, fair enough, here's her response to what happened last night in virginia, where for the first time any of us can remember a leader of congress was defeated in a primary. >> as i read the political coverage, and we just saw this race in virginia, where eric cantor, the second-ranking republican in the house, was defeated by a candidate, who basically ran against immigrants, and his argument is this, there are americans out of work, so why should we allow immigrants into our country to take those jobs? and i think that's a fair question, but the answer is not to throw out of work and deport the 11 million immigrants who are contributing already to our economy. the answer is to grow our economy to create more jobs. >> that was a very astute answer, didn't answer the whole question of illegal immigration, guys, but did deal with the hatred of people who have been here for 20 years, which is stupid, the idea to deport people who have become americans, maybe this is my particular ax to grind, didn't fix the immigration problem. go ahead, howard. >> i was going to say, that this is going to be an election where people are going to lose, who you never expected to lose, and it's going to happen in both parties. it's shaping up to me as that kind of election because of the sort of free floating anger that's out there and it's going to affect both parties. it may help somebody like alison lundergan grimes pull off a huge upset in kentucky for the democrats. on the other hand, these democratic incumbents running in states for re-election to senate, they think they are in firm ground, i don't know if they are going to survive. i just think it's going to be that kind and we're going to be surprised. you think we were surprised last night, wait till you see what happens in november when chuck todd's up there with a telestraiter. it's going to be amazing. >> does feel more like '92, remember, perot anger hit everybody, guy like vander jack, but then you also had fowler lose, who seemed to be safe. '78, those midterms, which didn't change the status quo of who's in power, but it shook things up and changed the republican party race in 1980. it could be something like that. >> here's what i'm asking about, because i love to get to the roots of things and i trust the voters, we have to, we believe in democracy. >> voters figured out what's wrong, washington's messed up. they may not have the solution. >> those struggling along in the middle class salary, making $40,000, two kids, you're struggling, you still read the newspaper, you see government deficits, government debt, congress can't control spending, read about illegal immigration, it bothers you, you say, can these guys get anything right? i can't control things because i don't have any power, but i do have the power to vote and i'm going to vote against that, because that's reverberating with me, what's going on with this country is the politicians' fault. >> i do think there is also a strand of folks who may not vote, who may -- because, we have voted change six straight elections, right, '06, '08, '10, we've been voting a lot of change, three of the last four cycles, there's been a change and nothing happened. so you could have a slice of voters who say we've tried this, i'm done. >> i think we've heard an offshore warning and i think a tsunami could be coming. anyway, thank you chuck todd, i don't know, but i think it could be coming. howard fineman, excellent reporting and analysis. coming up, the tea party defeat of eric cantor last night is his biggest win yet, didn't just give him a scare, they blew him out by more than ten points. today, that's energizing the red hots on the right in races all across the country, people are hoping to do the same thing. plus, what should establishment republicans take away from cantor's defeat last night? what's jeb thinking? how about this, when it comes to the republican nomination for president in 2016, moderates and soft liners on illegal immigration need not apply. are you paying attention, jeb bush? and later, hillary clinton's book rollout, the start of something big, but how's the tryout going? our nbc colleague cynthia mcfadden interviewed the former secretary of state and joins us right here tonight. finally, let me finish with what this new tea party hero said about the minimum wage this morning. he's all wrong. he didn't tell it right to chuck todd, and this is "hardball," the place for politics. you probably know xerox as the company that's all about printing. but did you know we also support hospitals using electronic health records for more than 30 million patients? or that our software helps over 20 million smartphone users remotely configure e-mail every month? or how about processing nearly $5 billion in electronic toll payments a year? in fact, today's xerox is working in surprising ways to help companies simplify the way work gets done and life gets lived. with xerox, you're ready for real business. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. 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[ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. . another reason eric cantor's defeat last night was such a stunner is the amount of money he spent compared to that of his opponent. look at these number differences, cantor's campaign outspent david brat's by more than 40, that's 40-1. $5 million for cantor versus $123,000 of brat. cantor, cantor media, cantor campaign ran more than 1,000 tv ads, almost all of them anti-brat attack ads. while brat ran just 65, so he put out the bad word on his opponent and still didn't work. strategist told "the washington post" the cantor campaign hoped to bury brat with the attack ads, but they backfired and made brat seem sympathetic. and we'll be right back. there's a saying around here, you stand behind what you say. around here you don't make excuses. you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. could help your business didavoid hours of delaynd test caused by slow internet from the phone company? that's enough time to record a memo. idea for sales giveaway. return a call. sign a contract. pick a tie. take a break with mr. duck. practice up for the business trip. fly to florida. win an award. close a deal. hire an intern. and still have time to spare. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business. built for business. this grassroots movement precedes me and a lot of people have put in a lot of sweat and a lot of shoe leather to make this happen. it's not about dave brat winning tonight, it's about returning the country to constitutional principles. [ cheers and applause ] if i go to d.c., every vote i take will move the pendulum in the direction of the people, away from washington, d.c., back to the states, back to the localities, and back to you. >> we're back. that was david brat after his unexpected ten-point victory over house majority leader eric cantor in virginia's district last night. the stunning upset comes a year after many thought the tea party was losing strength in the country. and while national tea party groups largely stayed out of the race, it's now clear that the power of their ideas at the grassroots level have not diminished at all. well, the race in virginia's 7th district was fought over issues like immigration and spending at the government level and it turned on the kind of anti-incumbent sentiment we saw in 2010, allowing a relatively unknown college professor to take down the second most powerful republican in the country. not only does brat's victory confirm that the tea party's more relevant, it's also a wake-up call for republicans and government right now, who appear to be increasingly at odds with their own conservative base. joining me right now, republican strike that strategist john brabender and president of freedom works. i'm going to start with you because you've become our poster boy for the tea party. what i thought was interesting, it was radio, laura ingraham, i'll call her my friend to get her in trouble, and people like mark levin, for some reason they circled around this guy and said we can beat cantor with this guy. what made them get so involved because right wing radio, conservative radio, is really powerful in this country. >> they've also been involved in a lot of races and i think that's the national trend. >> laura actually campaigned, i hear, for brat. >> yeah, she was very active, but i think the other parking lot of that stopart of that sto enabling the candidates to do what they did last night and this is a paradigm shift that shifts power away from people -- >> what's changed to give power to the people at the grassroots level? >> social media, sources of information -- >> you mean bloggers? >> yeah, i know moms with facebook pages bigger than house gops right now. >> same on the left. >> interesting hillary clinton is out there as a candidate right now saying people have the right to be angry. >> i think she's going to join the tea party. that's where she's going with this. >> she doesn't want to fight the anger, she wants to deal with it. >> look, there are a lot of angry people. what's puzzling today, though, is, why did the anger erupt here when nobody saw it and it didn't erupt in kentucky and south carolina and all these other states and i think you're 100% right about the social network. i'm a media consultant, i do a lot of tv. >> is it the perfect storm? >> i don't know. nobody predicted -- >> could it be that eric cantor created a district, had a big role in fixing the district the way he wanted it, he fixed a real right wing district and he's not a right winger. >> i think that's part of it. people went to the polls and said, look, i do not like the status quo, it's not even that personal, it's anti-washington and i'm going to do something about it, but people are going to spend too much time on trying to understand why it happened and not that it did happen. there are house members everywhere now that are going to double check every vote because they are worried about a primary as much as they are a general. >> a while ago, the former democratic leader, sort of like a cantor on the other side told me his polling showed him if you ask the people, do members of congress go home at night and steal the equipment from their offices, government equipment, to take home with them as theft, they said, yes, we believe they steal the equipment out of the offices and take it home with them. you laugh, but you think people think that, he thought they did. the posters say that. >> no -- >> is that the mood of the country, these guys are a bunch of thieves, i don't care what you say, they are like guys in "house of cards"? >> if you're a busy person with jobs and families and look at the direction of the country, i think it's quite rational to look at the existing leadership and say, you know what, we need to shake things up, we need to try something different. i think that was the mood. >> what's wrong where eric cantor? >> what's wrong with eric cantor? i don't think he stole typewriters, i think the lack of leadership coming from the house republican side is he says he wants to get things done, but where were his ideas? our idea of fixing washington is not splitting the difference on harry reid's bad idea. if you want to do immigration, pass your own immigration plan. if you want