More superstorms and floods. More damage and more money to fix it. Those are the daunting headlines of a new climate report from the white house this morning. Well talk to white house counselor john pedesta about what action the white house should be expected to do. And ohio may brag about being home to the most president s, but why hasnt there been one from there in nearly a century . A tdr 50 take on why the road to the white house never starts in ohio anymore, even if it finishes there. Good morning from washington. Its tuesday, may 6, 2014. Take a listen. There it is. You know what the music means. There are people voting somewhere, because its tuesday, but its not just any tuesday. It is the start of a sixweek gauntlet. Half the country is going to be headed to the polls over the next six weeks and it all starts today in three states. So lets get right to my first reads of the morning. Just soak in the music, right . Doesnt that make you feel good . Get you fired up . Polls are open right now in North Carolina, ohio and indiana, and its a primary hat trick, kicks off this may mayhem. A monthlong series of primary contests, stretches across nearly a dozen states from the deep south to the great plains and on to the pacific northwest. Today the race to watch is in the tar heel state. Its the latest round in the epic battle over the last four years thats been the Tea Party Versus the establishment inside the republican party. Today its a battle for the u. S. Senate nomination in North Carolina. It will go a long way toward setting the narrative which will develop over the next month. Does the Tea Party Movement have any bite left and will republicans snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and lose the prospect of losing control of the senate if they end up nominating weaker, general election candidates. Thats what this next six weeks is about. Thom tillis, backed by the chamber of commerce and american crossroads has the advantage in what is a very crowded eightway primary. Its clear tillis will be the top votegetter. Will he break the next 40 vote getter to avoid a runoff. He must win that 40 to avoid a july 15th, deep in the summer runoff. Tea party groups are divided between physician greg brannon, Libertarian Tea Party activist who supports a return to the Gold Standard and tillis closest competition so far and then theres mark harris, bap tis minister who has the support from more evangelical christians that are in North Carolina. The race has become somewhat of a 2016 proxy fight. If you need to understand the divisions inside the republican electorate in North Carolina, all you need to do is look at the potential president ial candidates who decided to weigh in on the primary. How do we know tillis is the establishment pick . Jeb bush backed him. In a tweet jeb wrote tomorrow is election day. Join conservatives across North Carolina in supporting thom tillis, a proven leader running for u. S. Senate. Mitt romney also announced his support for tillis on monday. But in case it isnt clear that brannon is the libertarian favorite, yesterday kentucky senator rand paul didnt just tweet for him, he stumped for him in charlotte, pointing to brannons experience with Health Care Laws as an ob gyn to draw contrast with tillis and making not so veiled criticisms of the establishment side of the party. I see a lot of people who are working class, blue collar workers. I see people of every different race and ethnic group, much more so than i do in the republican group. And then theres former arkansas governor mike huckabee, hes endorsed and campaigned for the evangelical favorite, mark harris. The person who may be watching the margins tonight very closely, though, is actually the democrat in this race, the North Carolina incumbent, kay hagan. She is likely to benefit the most if no one cracks 40 and the republican race has to stretch out for another two and a half more months. The hagan campaign is trying to weaken tillis and boost his republican competition. Most recently paying for mailers to Republican Voters saying tillis called the Health Care Law, greaquote, a great idea an they echoed that claim in some radio spots. Politicians, these days you got to watch them close, real close. Heres Republican Senate candidate thom tillis describing obamacare. Its a great idea. Thats right. Thom tillis called obamacare a great idea. Tillis even supported an Obamacare Exchange in North Carolina. So thom tillis thinks he can attack kay hagan over something he calls a great idea . The origins, by the way, of that great idea, quote, it was an interview several months ago. Tillis was critical of the Health Care Law before concluding that it was a great idea that cant be paid for. Its a quote he says with sarcasm that hagan took out of context. Well bring you much more on all of the other primary races to watch today over the next hour. But we had to start with that big one. Now lets turn to the other big political headline this morning. Just a half hour ago the white house released what it calls the most comprehensive scientific assessment ever generated on Climate Change and its impact across every region of america and major sectors of the economy. But will the president take any meaningful action in the long run . Can he change the politics on this . Todays 1300page report shows the average temperature in the u. S. Has gone up at least 1. 3 to 1. 9 degrees since Record Keeping began in 1895. More than 80 of that temperature rise has happened just since 1980. In fact according to this report, the last decade was the hottest ever recorded in the United States. Todays new Climate Assessment predicts that temperatures will rise another 2 degrees over the next few decades. In fact this rise in temperatures brings different problems to different parts of the country. In the northwest, according to this report, more coastal flooding will happen. In the southeast, it would mean more severe hurricanes. The midwest would suffer more droughts followed by flash flooding and in the southwest, more drought. Water resources will be strained in the northwest. Alaska could get an earlier thaw. What does that do . It would impact the ecosystem. And then theres hawaii, which could also suffer from the rising temperatures as well. Experts say were seeing the effects of Climate Change just this week. An extremely dry winter has contributed to this Massive Wildfire thats consumed 3,000 acres in central oklahoma. California is in the middle of a massive drought, measuring only 18 of the usual snowpack in the sierra nevadas. The Climate Assessment predicts the opposite problem for the gulf states and the atlantic seaboard. This week pensacola is dealing with widespread flash flooding, something they havent seen in decades. Experts say rising sea levels and storm surge could cause even more damage like we saw with superstorm sandy. Sunday the u. N. General secretary made this dire warning on the issue. If we do not take another direction, all our plans to increase prosperity and security will be undone. In political terms, president obamas power seems very limited. Last june the president pledged to cut Carbon Emissions and require more fuel efficient cars. Last month a federal Appeals Court ruled the epa can enforce emissions standards on coal and oilfired power plants. But on the hill in january, the house energy and Commerce Committee voted down an amendment that would even acknowledge Climate Change is taking place. Every republican on the committee voted no. The president talks in broad terms about Climate Change, most notably in his second inaugural address. We will respond to the threat of Climate Change. Knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. So far weve heard a lot about the problem without seeing solutions that can weather this hostile climate thats in congress. Im joined now by the Senior Adviser to the president , in many ways the architect of what we saw today in this plan. Good morning to you, sir. Its good to be with you, chuck. Obviously the hardest part of dealing with the climate issue is the politics behind it, and it seems to me, and correct me if im wrong, the report today, the president s time that hes going to be spending with meteorologists today in interviews, it seepz thms that e made the decision that you hope to change the perception of the climate issue by having people view it through the prism of weather. Fair . Well, i think this is the most comprehensive, authoritative report ever put out on the climate impacts on the United States. I think its actionable science. I think it will help people really understand whats happening in every region of the country and that, i think, can lead to political action. So, you know, the president will be talking to meteorologists who, i think, have an Important Role in Public Education on this topic. You know, we look forward to further action. The one thing i disagreed in your setup, you did a great job on the report, but we have the capacity to do a lot in this area. Weve already done a substantial amount to reduce emissions from some autos lets go through that. And from power plants. The emissions front and on and on raising the standards, that power is there. I guess walk me through what it is you believe you can do unilaterally, but what is it that cant be done without congress . Well, were going to move forward with rules to regulation the emissions coming from existing power plants, which will have Health Benefits for the public across the country. That will be coming forward, a proposal on that will be coming forward in june. Were doubling the amount of Renewable Energy on public lands. Were increasing the efficiency of appliances, both in the commercial sector as well as in the Home Appliance sector through action by the department of energy. Weve had the biggest expansion of Renewable Energy in really on record, ten times the amount of solar power deployed since the president came to office, triple the amount of wind, so a lot is going on. Theres a lot of action to take. It would be helpful to have Congress Move forward. For example, the senate intends to consider a bill on more Energy Efficiency this week but were working with the private sector as well as with our public authorities to move forward. If they cant begin to act. You know, you noted this great number of republican members who voted against the idea that Climate Change is even happening, and i think maybe well send them all a copy of this report and theyll be able to see what 300 of the leading scientists in the u. S. Said and its been peer reviewed, including by people from the oil and gas industry. Does the president still believe that Clean Coal Technology is a possibility, that there is such a thing as a Clean Coal Technology . Well, the department of Energy Continues to invest in Carbon Capture and sequestration. I think theres a thats an important investment in the future in research and development, because coal is not only burned obviously in the United States but across the world. The biggest increases in coalburning fire coalfired electricity is in china and now increasingly in india. And let me ask you one final thing on keystone. I know you said when you came into this job you recused yourself on lobbying, i guess, against keystone. You were active no, i didnt say that, chuck. Okay. Explain to me what you did. I said i wouldnt work on it because my views were well known and i think people might question whether i was impartial about it, so im not working on keystone. And as i noted, my views are well known on keystone. But when were looking at this and climate, the president is going to be asked about keystone today. Where are we on this . Well, its under review by the department of state. They just noted that as a result of the Nebraska Court decision, the route is now in is up in the air so theyre going to have to wait for that Court Decision until they can finalize the interagency review and then make a final decision. I guess i dont understand why you did sort of say you werent going to lobby on the issue. Why not . Why do you keep use the word lobbying, chuck . Okay, you know what i mean. Lobbying why not make your case to the president . The president knows my views on keystone. And i think that again, i think people would have questioned by impartiality, but my views are well known on keystone. All right. John podesta, well be watching this. The president sits down with a slew of meteorologists this afternoon to talk more about this report, is that correct . Thats right. All right, john podesta, white house senior counselor on this climate report. Thanks, sir. Thanks, john. An elite military unit is heading to odessa was the crisis in the region escalates. Ill have the chairman of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee here next to talk about what hed like to see the administration do. New developments in nigeria, boko haram reportedly just kidnapped eight more girls and were hearing for the first time from one of the nigerian teenagers who escaped the kidnapping. First a look at todays planner. As we told you, people are voting today. Ohio, indiana, North Carolina. But theres other stuff going on today. 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Youre type e well, i have been researching retirement strategies. Well thats what type e s do. Welcome home. Taking control of your retirement . E trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. Are you type e . [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. Tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. But for everything we do, we know you do so much more. Tylenol®. We know you do so much more. That corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. And yet, theres someone around the office who hasnt had a Performance Review in a while. Someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. Im looking at you phone company dsl. 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. Ukrainian leaders are in a desperate fight to keep their country from splitting apart. The government in kiev says new military operations have left dozens dead. The unrest that has spread across Eastern Ukraine and south to odessa where at least 40 people died friday. White House Press Secretary jay carney addressed the violence monday. The events in odessa dramatically underscore the need for an immediate deescalation of tensions in ukraine. The violence and efforts to destabilize the country must end. Kiev leaders have since fired the acting governor of odessa and are sending in elite National Guard unit to try to keep the peace. The question is, what can the u. S. Do about this . Joining me is new jersey democratic senator bob menendez. His committee is holding a hearing on ukraine later this afternoon. I know were already tight on your schedule there, senator, my apologies for that. Let me start right away. There is not it doesnt seem anything weve done so far with sanctions, with the europeans, with the United States, has worked to get putin to back off. What do you do now . Well, this is a question of continuing escalation of the pressures so that its part of putins equation not to enter Eastern Ukraine. Although at this point without sending any of his troops over, although we believe he has some special forces in Eastern Ukraine and certainly intelligence entities that are part of creating the unrest in various