unaccompa unaccompanied, undocumented children are overflowing detention facilities in texas and arizona. authorities are scrambling to see to their basic needs. and turning the page, as hillary clinton's book tour hits the fever pitch today. nbc's cynthia mcfadden will be here to talk about her sit-down with the former secretary of state and what this means about 2016. good morning from washington. it's tuesday, june 10th, 2014. this is "the daily rundown," your election 2014 headquarters. because it's primary day. let's get right to my first read of the morning. if it's tuesday, somebody's voting somewhere, and today, it's voters in five states that are going to the polls. there's a runoff in a sixth, arkansas, where the republican race for attorney general has gone into overtime. but today's marquee contests are in south carolina and virginia. senator lindsey graham, congressman eric cantor are hoping to crush some tea party opponents. when south carolina senator tim scott was appointed to the u.s. senate 18 months ago, lindsey graham looked like one of the most endangered incumbents in the senate. then one by one, members of the state's congressional delegation, from congressman nick mulvaney to trey gowdy made it clear they would not challenge lindsey graham, leaving six little known, poorly funded candidates, competing today, to try to force the race into a runoff and get a two-week, one on one with them. in the latest poll in the race, none of them have cracked double digits. the question today is not whether graham wins, but whether he wins more than 50% of the vote and avoids that june 24th runoff. yesterday, closing out his campaign with a five-city bus tour, graham sounded pretty confident. >> at the end of the day, i really do believe there's a contest going on in the republican party, between the ronald reagan republican, where 80% is a good day, and ideological purity. if everything holds, we're going to win tomorrow without a runoff, and i think we're going to win decisively. >> if you win tomorrow without a runoff, what do you think it says about the gop? >> i think it says that solving a problem and being conservative and not being consistent. >> very interesting, that lindsey graham wants to make his victory count for something more than just simply surviving, as far as endorsing a way of legislating. graham has raised more than $12 million for his re-election. much more money than all of his opponents combined. and he's been unapologetic about the idea that electability is an asset. >> we've given away four seats over the last four years, because we nominated people who couldn't withstand scrutiny. if you nominate me, that's not going to happen. i'll beat the democratic's brains out. they know they're not going to spend 15 cents here. >> senator tim scott is also on the ballot today, but is running virtually unopposed. immigration reform is the fault line in both south carolina and in congressman eric cantor's re-election bid in virginia. and ahead of today's primary, an out of state pack, americans for legal immigration, has been running robo calls against both graham and cantor. take a listen to one of them >> eric cantor and senator lindsey graham need your thanks for supporting amnesty for undocumented illegal immigrants on election day next tuesday. both eric cantor and senator graham have indicated they support barack obama's kind of plan to give amnesty to tens of millions of illegals. >> now, cantor faces tea party-backed economics professor, dave bratt, in the richmond area seventh district. and though bratt has raised virtually no money and cantor is expected to win comfortably today, cantor has decided to spend more than $1 million to defend himself against attacks, particularly on the issue of immigration. >> tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are pouring across the border, on the promise of eric cantor's amnesty. >> many of us have been shocked to read eric cantor's lies about his own pro-amnesty record. eric cantor saying he opposes amnesty is like barack obama saying he opposes obamacare. >> dave brat, by the way, will join me in just a moment. just miles away in virginia's suburban washington eighth district, seven candidates are competing in what a staffer for one virginia democrat calls disneyland for progressives. it starts with former lieutenant governor and ambassador, don byer. he's considered the front-runner, but his opponents are each trying to out-progressive each other. mark levine, a radio talk show host, not that one, calls himself the progressive. evan adam says he's the proven progressive champion. northern virginia is a place where being a progressive advocate of president obama is a safe choice, politically, and byer, a key fund-raiser for obama's 2008 campaign, has made the most of endorsements from former obama staffers. we're actually in arlington, virginia, that might have impact. finally, by the way, don't let today's shiny metal object, lindsey graham's re-election fight, distract you from the fact that two vulnerable governors are on the ballot today, although they're not vulnerable today. they will be in november. one is nikki haley and the other is paul lepage. both will sail through primaries, but that won't be true in the fall. ha haley faces a repatch by paul la sheen. and there's a third candidate on the ballot in november, tom irvine, a former primary challenger to haley has twice the number of signatures he needs to run as an independent. there's also a three-way race in maine where the vulnerable and very combative governor there paul lepage faces mike michaud, would be the first openly gay governor if elected. and then there's eliot cutler, an independent who lls beat lepage four years ago. he has made some enemies, calls legislators idiots, telling the naacp to, quote, kiss my butt, and comparing the irs to the gestapo, and he memorably said this of one state senator. quote, he claims to be for the people, but he's the first one to give it to the people without providing vaseline. ladies and gentlemen, the governor of maine. can the three-way race save lepage. and michaud's bid opened up the second district state in that state. it's the largest geographic district east of the mississippi, actually. two democrats from the state senate, emily kaine, backed by emi emily's list, and troy jackson, are competing for that one, to take on whichever republican wins the nomination. and again, there's an open seat. should be fairly competitive, particularly in an off year. as i said, we'll be talking to two virginia candidates in just a moment. but first, i want to go to my colleague, nbc's perry bacon. he is leiv for me in spartanburg, south carolina. and perry, it is remarkable, i think, when we look back, if lindsey graham gets 50% plus one today, in this very crowded primary, it's actually one of the more remarkable feats, considering his voting record, how unapologetic he's been about it, in a state that has arguably the most conservative electorate in the country. >> exactly, chuck. it's not just that he voted for obama, he also voted for immigration reform, is that he goes around bragging about these things. like, i've been covering these primaries where the republican nominee, the incumbent against the tea party challenger. mitch mcconnell, talks about how conservative he is. and graham spent yesterday in every event talking about how eager he is to get immigration reform done, how much he wants to work on that, how much he wants to work with president obama. how he wants to define conservatism as a more compromising idea. it was very striking to see him in this year, campaign the way he has. >> and you've been making the point about tim scott. i mean, let's remember who the real star of conservative politics is, in south carolina. it isn't lindsey graham, it's tim scott, isn't it? >> that's exactly right. lindsey graham has been this incumbent in here for a long time. but this is a really great story about how well tim scott is doing. i mean, there are very few plaques who have been elected senator in the first place. he not only is on the verge of winning a senate race, but on the verge of winning it overwhelmingly in this primary. hill finished well ahead of lynds graham today, and it shows you how well he's done. he's kind of been born of the tea party and the tea party here really likes him. i talked to voters yesterday, even in seneca, which is the town lindsey graham lives in, and they were much more excited about scott than graham, because they feel like they're going to vote for graham, but they're still wary of graham on immigration. they think he's two eager to work with president obama, versus scott is a strong opponent. >> well, tim scott will likely be the largest voter getter in november. that's for sure. perry bacon on the ground for, thank you very much. now let's turn to the challenge, to congressman eric cantor in virginia's seventh congressional district. dave brat joins me now on the phone. good morning to you, sir. happy election day. >> good morning, chuck. happy to be on, thanks. >> let me ask you this. define amnesty for me. what does it mean to you? >> i think the working deaf anything out there is the pathway to legalization and citizenship. and in that instance, eric cantor is the author of the house principles, which allows for 6.5 million illegals to become legal and gain a pathway to citizenship. and he's been in favor of the dream act, the kids act, and enlist act, which all follow that definition of amnesty. so eric, of course, in the primary, for the last two weeks, says he's against all of this, and even against all of his own bills that he's written. but i think the voters know and we're having overwhelming success here today. >> so let me clarify. you do not believe there should ever, for the 11 million undocumented folks that are here in this country right now, that they should ever have a chance to become citizens, even if they, quote, unquote, get if the back of the line? >> if they go through the legal process of the united states of america, it's a loaded, biased question -- >> well, i understand that -- >> a very simple answer -- i'm for legalization, if they follow the rule of law, as it's written, in the united states -- >> so let me ask you -- >> and legal structure. >> so what do you do with those -- >> but the problem is, once you incentivize that, we're seeing the humanitarian crisis on the border right now. and that's the problem. we have 100,000 kids leaving their parents, coming over the board. today the news is $2 billion to spend -- to help those folks out. i teach third-world economic development. i went to seminary before i did economics. they're all children of god, right? was if you want to give them a good outcome, what you've got to do is establish the rule of god and strong property rights in the home country. the answer is not for the united states to absorb 7 billion people. it's clearly the wrong path and if you incentivize the wrong path, you'll get more of it. >> i guess i go back to the answer on 11 million, at what point. if you, yourself, eventually would be okay if they became citizens, if they followed a legal path, i've heard some people argue that that's still amnesty. >> yeah, well, i mean, i don't want to spend time on the wrong issue, and that's the wrong -- after the financial crisis, those numbers were all taking care of themselves, and if we track workers that have the everfy system in place, that will take care of itself, right? so the numbers were all going down, until president obama and eric cantor, and eric cantor this past friday slipped up and admitted he wants to work with obama on the kids, in quotes, as of -- and if you incentivize more people -- it's at the top of the drudge news story right now. 100,000 kids, and the kids themselves have said, we've heard there's a kids act. and eric cantor is the author of the kids act. if you want open borders, vote for eric cantor, because he's opening the borders. and i'm an economist. this isn't theoretical. look at the data. the kids are coming across the border and it's a humanitarian crisis. i don't know how much simpler i can make it for the voter, but that's what's going on. >> mr. brat, i'll leave it there. i'm a little concerned we're going to lose you on the phone there. i know you're on the campaign trail, be safe, and we'll be checking back in on your race and see what happens tomorrow. let me turn now to former lieutenant governor, don byer. he's running as a democrat in virginia's eighth district. and if you're going to have ideological whiplash, the seventh and the eighth may be numbered next to each other, but having radically different debates. mr. byer, good morning. >> good morning, chuck. >> ambassador, why congress -- you've been a statewide elected official, you've run for governor, you've been an ambassador. in some ways, considering the polarized congress that we have, the likelihood that the democrats could be in the minority for a long period of time, why do you want to be there? >> chuck, i really wanted to spend all my adult life in public service. and i so loved those years as lieutenant governor and the four years as ambassador, but we were frustrated and embarrassed by a dysfunctional congress that couldn't get things done, that was too partisan. so the opportunity, sort of the once in a generation opportunity to go and try to be part of the solution in congress and move things forward, was just too great to resist. >> now, how do you think you can do that -- you know, your primary has been a race to the left in the way that the seventh has been a race to the right. and i'm actually going to do a larger examination of that. do you think you can be somebody who votes in the middle, who somehow votes as a centrist, a compromiser, however you want to describe it, without worrying about your primary back, if you end up winning? >> well, i wouldn't frame it quite that way. i mean, i don't think ours has been a race to the left as much as it's been an effort to be authentic. you know, i've talked about climate change, the american economy post-globalization, about common sense gun measures. and these are things i deeply believe, but also things i don't think need to be democrat versus republican or right versus left. i would like to go to congress and try to bring lots of people from both sides of the aisle together to talk about how we make progress on climate change, how we preserve our world. >> what is it about that you think you can bring that's somehow going to change the tone in washington? >> well, by nature, i'm a peacemaker. i have always been a person that believes deeply that we listen carefully. i don't think anybody goes to congress because they don't love their country. we just need to figure out how to work together to actually find that common ground and move forward. and do that without compromising our basic values and principles. >> all right, don beyer, we'll be watching tomorrow morning. you heard it just a moment ago. from dave brat, undocumented children are crossing the border at alarming rates. but immigration is a pressing issue far beyond the campaign trail. the sudden surge and what we can do it. the former commissioner of customs and border patrol will be here next. but first, a look at today's planner. of course, election day, hillary clinton interview, a lot of stuff going on. we'll be right back. if healthc, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪ ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer 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countries that are racked with violence. 47,000 unacompanied children have entered the country illegally, since last fall. but the number has surged in recent weeks, creating what is now a full-fledged humanitarian crisis, right here in the united states. and it's also created a political problem, one that's giving critics of immigration reform one more reason to keep the debate at arm's length and to make sure reform doesn't happen, at least until the border security issue is dealt with. the obama administration says its violence in places like honduras, el salvador and guatemala that are driving these kids to the united states. murder rates there are among the highest in the world. the children are leaving their families and m coming by themselves, including a large number of pre-teen girls, to look for relatives already in the united states. once they arrive, the law says that the kids are turned over to health and human services within 24 hours. fema is now getting involved. some are being sent to emergency shelters and military bases in texas and california. a third is being opened at ft. sill in oklahoma. others are being moved to arizona, to ease pressure on the border patrol in texas. but there's a lot of concern now about what happens to these kids, and whether they'll be able to stay once they've arrived. and while the administration, again, blames the violence in central america for creating this situation, there are others who blame the president, citing the executive action he took in 2012 that let some undocumented children defer deportation if they came to the u.s. as minors. now, that was a part of a specific date. it doesn't actually apply to these kids that have come over the border since. still, arizona governor jan brewer, whose furious about the government's decision to move some of these kids to her state, wrote this. "the if the obama administration put half the effort into securing our border as it has invested to institute this operation, our state and nation would not be facing this situation. this is a crisis of the federal government's creation." congressman bob goodlaugh also called it, quote, an administration-made disaster. and the alabama republican, jeff sessions, a big opponent of immigration reform, called ate direct and predictable result of the president's sustained and deliberate campaign to dismantle immigration enforcement. but again, the administration says, that's not the case. they point out if this was a result of policy changes, you would see an increase in immigration from all over, not just those three specific countries. violence has driven immigration spikes in the past, from china and mexico in the 19th and 20th century, to an increase in asian immigrants during the vietnam war. so far, the administration has been focused on just getting these kids some shelter and something to eat. they still haven't figured out what happens next. so let me figure that out, or at least lest try. jason ahern