Lawrence odonnell isom up. Hell have an update on the important story of children be separated from their parents at the u. S. Border. The biggest state, the biggest stakes on the biggest day of the imary. The story here in california, one weve been following is this question of there are seven house races, seven congressional raceshere demrats think they can flip the seats. Republicans hold them in california, clinton won them in 16. Democrats think they can flip them in the fall. They have this wild toptwo primary system in california. Can democrats make the ballot in november . Theyve got to be in the top two. This is dana rohrabacher, republican ibt. Lets see if we can get this up on the screen. Toptwo ary. Everybody gets the same ballot, regardless of party, top two candidates regardless of party get through. This is a very tense situation for democrats. Dana rohrabacher is moving ahead. The question is who is going to be behind him . You have a democrat running in second place. You can see the difference there. Youre looking at less than 400 votes separating the frontrunning democrat. The issue here is theyre just splitting the Republican Party california. Trict, this part of rohrabacher, they see hes controversial. Doesnt like the direction that acher is going, especially on russia, putin, those sorts of things. If enough republicans are with baugh, the democrat being vote spread out a little bit here, more republicans, if this holds, if what were seeing holds, more republicans in this district voting or more voting for republicans and democrats, this would be if baugh is able to leap frog over keirstead, this would be the scenario democrats dreading. In california, these things can go late in the night, the next day and for days and days and days. This may be one we are looking at to a while. Lets look at the 39th district. A lot of this is in orange county. This is an open seat. Longtime incumbent not running for reelection. Youve got kim, a republican, moving wl io first place here. Sis n cisneros, the democrat, hes spent a lot of money, hes a loery winner. This is a farright candidate, phil liberatore, put a lot behind him to get republicans excited and to dilute the vote. These were the two republicans democrats were most worried about getting into that second spot. Lets go back to the first screen on 39. Can we go back to that first screen . There you go we have more strots come in. This is exactly what democrats wanted to see in this race you have a democrat here, a democrat here, a lot of blue under that first place, so democrats does not like like that lockout thing is going to happen in the 49th. Heres one, though, this was not on the ray ddar coming into the night. The republican congressman, calling him the winner, in first, but question is, who comes in second . This is a sleeper who snuck up. This is ted howze. This is a grassroots conservative candidate. Hes smeneaking up there. Harder is the front running democrat now, but 700 votes separate them. Theres a lot of democrats, showing you the next screen, a lot of democrats behind them, spread out democratic vote, h d harder ahead now, can he hold on to that . If howze gets up there, thats one democrats did not see coming. This is a clinton district. Thats what we are looking at. More votes in the next few hours, and california, they have a lot to come in and get counted tomorrow and in the days to come. Im not sure how much well call. By the way, governors race, one other thing to note quickly, i want to show you the governors race in california, the question coming in, couldepublicans get that sec spot . They are going to get the second spot, john cox, newsom, a statewide candidate and talk republicans may be a little better in the race than expected. Joining us now to break down the results, breaking down results in seven other states. We have maria, president and ceo, and msnbc contributor, david johnson, and ed john, and, maria, starting with you. Ill just ive talked for a look time here. Curious looking at the results in california, what do you think of it . California i my home state so whats happening there, not only is fascinating, but its actually quite telling that you have a general primary going to determine the way that possibly actually could shape up congress, and i think thats what the republicans are concerned with. Look, the fact that you have a lead but such Competition Among the own party with the person in third is a testament people dont like whats happening right now with the dotted line for the russian full stop, but i think were going to see Something Interesting in the scenarios because most people come up and basically more than likely actually give that district a run for its money. Whats going to be curious, though, is whether or not in the Central Valley youre going to get a lot of latino voters that are young voters, next gen dumped in a lot of money on the ground. People coming of age who did not participate before because they were not old enough. Thats the coin toss. Whole swath thats behind you, potentially going to turn purple in the dterms. All right. John, i just we have numbers coming in, news, and someone just handed me a report, g piece of information. If we can confirm it, well get back to that. But california, there are seven Hillary Clinton republican held house districts, a third of what democrats need. One of the questionsding into tonight was, how would republicans feel about the drib districts coming out of it . What should republicans take away right now in. I think, look, this jungle primary system is so singular and bizarre and gamesman ship with democrats trying to goose the vote of extremely conservative republicans and all that is hard to take a sort of regi general lesson. If it happens to twof the districts and end up blocking out the democrats in the top two or one, thats insanely significant because underost circumstances if they had not california had not passed reform that started in 2012, you could probably assume that in a favorable election for democrats, all those seven would go. All of them. Thha a wave is, right . Everything sort of tends to go in one direction. If you instituonally structure it so thats prevented as an unintended consequence of reform, you know, you could have american politics totally flipped on its head so that democrats could have won, could have taken the house, and will not be able to by one vote or one or two seats. It is fascinating because the system in california, everybody runs on the same ballot, every voter gets the same ballot. This was passed by referendum, and is this something that you might think will be revisited after this year. A poll today seems popular with california residents, think of a blue verye state, trump blamed the popular vote loss, and yet reality for democrats is uncomfortable situations right there in the ballot. Presumption when passed this was going to moderate candidates right . As a political scientist, we have something call a law where basically if you have a first pass opposed system, that moderates candidates anyway, moderate and limit the number of parties you have. I understand why this was passed. It does not end up a good idea long term. You can create problems because what you essentially have, people call it a jungle primary. This is the hunger games primary. You have all different democrats who are trying to kill each other and slash each other and hope they get to the end of the thats not necessarily the most effective thing you want as a party. Yes, we dont want an oldschool hall where the leadership in smoke filled rooms decides who the democrats are, but there needs semblance of Party Control and unity of the you have 7 , you need to go. At 4 , you need to go. Theres a lot of black candidates, we cant have five black people run against one of women, et ce, et this ceterat that could be a lesson the California Democratic party learns as well. Tell lower tier people, get out of the race, youre not going to win, but thats hard to do. People are passionate. Theres a strong line of encouraging victory and seeming like youre squelching your own party. Thats true. The challenge in califnia the moment the party makes aed no, we dont want you on the ballot, that revolutionizing people and counter intuitive. The idea that anyone in california totes the party line is a testament of why we have a jungle primary. That just wouldnt work. N as the establishment out to get you. It started in the Republican Party in which 2010 which being an insurgent in your own party is a net positive for some people, number one, two, theeakness of the state and National Parties and their inability to do what parties did with a flick of ager just 20 years ago and, certainly, thro american history, which is to say, no, no, no, youre not running. I mean, if you keep running, if you keep running, were going to, you know, weaver going to ruin your business or, you know, give you something so that y can run next time, or well set you have a legislative seat for you. The decentralization of fundraising, they fundraise on their own without the party line, that gives this idea that the movement is coming from the people, that the partys not basically doing the hall as mentioned earlier, but the people moving it forward, and if you asked what is changed in politics more than anything, its the decentralization of traditional funding thats come to the candidates where its usually five or six people that decide to write the big checks, and now its a level Playing Field that anyone can give a dollar and give people really boosts to run a candidacy. Right. And you look at sorry. Go ahead. You look at a district like 48, like, those guys are only one or two points apart. Youre not going to convince either one to drop from the race. Thats been objectively speaking one of thes nastyist races. This is campaign, like, really, really ugly between the two. They both have absolutely legitimate reasons to be in the race, and so, you know, sometimes this is the cost of democracy. You have to have people willing to slug it out. I think in the end, i doubt democrats are probably going to get lock out the seats. Democratic votes will come in later. The way they are sweating the night out, unlikely this will be adopted in virginia, georgia, or other purple states that dont want to run the risk. In templrms of the question this happens in california, the late vote, all of that, what happened in the past is basically tonight and into tomorrow, about twothirds of the vote generally is counted, and then over next month, over the next number of weeks the other third is counted. When i looked at this,ooking statewide, the race of 2016, there was a swing postelection run, a lot of that comes from the highly populated democratic centers like l. A. County. Look at the individual congressional directs that have been represented by republicans for a while, democratic swing was not as prevalent. We looked at 49th district, the late vote was 5149 democrat there in 2016, so im not sure how much it changes. Maybe its different in a primary, but points to how many variables there are in a system like this. You just dont have that many other states, and its not been tested that many times here that the Ballot Initiative is less than ten years ago, and this is what weve got. I do want to in the few minutes left, though, shift to national implicationserement one question i looked at on special Election Nights, primaries, the qn of energy, and, maria, wondering, are you seeing any clues here to that . Energy for democrats, energy for republicans, in california anywhere else tonight . We saw, once again, 60 of the people winng sfa are women so wave of women coming in is on it, but i have to recognize that we have just elected the very first native d looks like also s from new we have a latina governor from w mexico. Those are good wins. Youll see math in montana you have while tester won, theres a republican possibility carrying on as well. You are going to have a lot of close races, but itss i would actually garner to say its not as much as a wave seen in virginia, georgia, and alabama so really a lot of the stuff c im th base and Republican Party, they are just as energized as we had seen as previously within the democratic party. That is i think thats true with the results in california. You shouldnt expect a bigger wave in the close congressional directs held by republicans, and youre just not seeing that. Well see the late vote, but thats initial reactions. Right. Thes with information over the past month to suggest that all sorts of that things are sort of closing, right . That democratic enthusiasm is matched by republicans t enthusiasm, generic ballot, democrat or republican to be your congressman in november is narrowing, and, you know, i think everybody sort of assumed that the level of democratic enthusiasm, wild over enthusiasms for republicans in 2017 would carry through 2018, and so far we dont see that much evidence of that. I say that the democratic enthusiasm is still greater than the republicans, and democrats are turning out, and there was this result in a state senate race in missouri that was carried by that no one thought a democrat would carry, and theemtarried it. Theres bits and pieces to suggest this, but if i were a Democratic Political consultant or person in the congressional or Senate Campaign commiti tonid wee on our i me, i dont think you say, oh, my god, baton down the hatches its a disaster, but thatjason, this idea that the blue wave, postalabama, post2018, do you feel its receded . No. Ts still going, steve. Heres the thing. Its like in sports, hey, score board. Democrats just flipped a 45th seat. As a political scientist, im not a fan of the generic congressional ballot. I thought there was statistical theoretical problems with reading too much into that. What i sees this. If youve got lowball lot special elections, people are enthusiastic enough to switch seats, but 10 flips from how o, that shows ts a trump two grassroots enthusiasm for democrats. California is an anomaly. You have so many different unique factors here that i dont think the perceived lack of enthusiasm or lack of turnout in s sn to be indicative of whats happening in the rest of the country. I think the democrats are fine. I have no dog in this fight, but it seems to me that their success at the ground level with county commissioners, with state house and state senate races seems to me these people are enthusiastic and driven to vote like republicans will be, but the democratic enthusiasm might be spread throughout more states. Thats something i would actually really focus on. What the republicans have done is tapped away from the plan. Remb cr land, they were going to test whether or not the tax plan sticks to the republican. That failed. Their tactic shifts to antiimmigrant rhetoric. 14,000 were antiimmigrant, giving up the base. Democrats have to come up with a Stronger Economic messagend stronger clarity why the antiimmigrant is not part of the american dna. Results show tonight its working to bring in folks that are some more extreme members the Republican Party. It there. Everyone, stick around, were back with updated numbers ler hour, and up next, lawrence on the big picture in the Russian Investigation and what putin says about his relationship with donald trump, and if you want to catch lawrences original opening segment on t trumpmueller investigation, watch the video on the last word website. Zplmplts we got a reminder from david corn today to remember to focus on the big picture, and that is a reminder that we need over and over again. He wrote a piece arguing for a simple reset of our focus on what the russia investigation is actually about. I will paraphrase david elegant summary to simply this. Russia launched an Information Warfare against the United States during our president ial election with the intention of hurting the democratic candidate and helping the republican candidate. The republican cdidates campaign then tried to collude secretly with russia in a meeting at trump tower while the candidate, himself, was publicly trying to collude with russia by publicly begging russia to steal and publish the Democratic Candidates emails. The republican president ial candidate and his campaign ne themselves with the country that invaded the United States, invaded the election of the american president. As david corn put it, the trump team, quote, assisted a foreign adversary as it was attacking the United States. The evidence is rocksolid. They committed a profound act of betrayal. This is the scandal. And that is what we should never lose sight of when we examine the details of the scandal, the dozens of scandals that exist within and under that scandal. Thee scandal of the trump campaigns deliberate alignment with russia in attacking the United States. With that in mind, it is not surprising that in the new interview with austrian television, putin brags about his close relationship with donald trump and how often they speak on the phone including something we never heard before. Quos, indeed, donald trump and i have met more than once at various international venues, and secondly, we regularly talk over the phone. Our Foreign Affairs departments and special services are working fairly well together in areas of mutual interest. Above all, in the fight against international terrorism. This work is ongoing. Weve learned something new about president obamas view of putin from bens extraordinary new book. It says that president obama neither liked nor loathed putin nor did he subscribe to the view that putin was all that tough. If he was that sure of himself, obama said, he wouldnt have his picture taken riding around with his shirt off. Joining us now is ben, former Deputy National rity adviser and speech writer for president obama and now an msnbc political contributor. His new book is the world as it is a memoir of the obama white house, and, ben, you have rave reviews for the book. It is not the typical inside the white house memoir. You are not trying to show how right you were about everything while everyone else was wrong. Yeah, yeah. But take us into president obamas view of putin. It seems like such a clear and simple form of analysis looking at putins public grandiosity and obam