ATTENTION TO THE STORY AND
THAT’S A QUESTION WE MIGHT NOT
KNOW THE ANSWER FOR UNTIL
NOVEMBER.
>> LET’S GET TO NEW POLLING
THAT’S SHOWING SOME DEMOCRATIC
CHALLENGERS GIVING REPUBLICAN
INCUMBENTS A RUN FOR THEIR
MONEY.
IN NORTH CAROLINA CAL CUNNINGHAM
HOLDS A LEAD OVER THOM TILLIS,
48 TO 38%.
IN MAINE, SOFTWAREARAH GIDEON LE
SUSAN COLLINS BY 4.
IN SOUTH CAROLINA, LINDSEY
GRAHAM IS STATISTICALLY TIED
WITH JAIME HARRISON, 45 TO 44%.
IN GEORGIA, INCUMBENT DAVID
PURDUE HOLDS A 5 POINT LEAD OVER
DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGER JOHN
OSSOFF, 47 TO 42.
AND IN MICHIGAN, GARY PETERS
HOLDS A FIVE POINT LEAD OVER
CHALLENGER JOHN JAMES, 49 TO
44%.
>> BOSCH COSTA, OBVIOUSLY THE
NORTH CAROLINA RACE STANDS OUT,
TEN POINTS.
A REPUBLICAN INCUMBENT IN THE
30s FOR QUITE SOME TIME, EARLY
VOTING BEEN GOING ON IN NORTH
CAROLINA FOR QUITE SOME TIME.
SO IF THESE POLLS ARE ACCURATE,
THAT’S OBVIOUSLY BAD NEWS FOR
THOM TILLIS AND THEN, OF COURSE,
YOU GO DOWN TO SOUTH CAROLINA
AND YOU HAVE LINDSEY GRAHAM WHO
HAS BEEN PLAYING STARVING TELL
ADVANTAGE LIST, HE’S DONE
EVERYTHING EXCEPT GOING TO THE
TOP OF THE TOWER SAYING HE’S NOT
GOING TO COME DOWN UNTIL HE GETS
$3 MILLION FROM PEOPLE OF FAITH.
HE’S BASICALLY DONE THAT ON FOX
NEWS BEGGING FOR MONEY.
HE OBVIOUSLY KNOWS HE’S IN
TROUBLE.
BUT WHEN YOU HAVE REPUBLICAN
SENATORS ENDANGERED IN SOUTH
CAROLINA, NORTH CAROLINA, ONE
MONTH OUT, THAT’S LINING UP TO
BE A HECK OF A BATTLE ON
NOVEMBER 3rd.
>> WE ARE SEEING IT REAL TIME,
AN EVOLUTION OF THE POLITICS IN
THE SOUTH.
JOE YOU KNOW THE SOUTH AS WELL
AS ANYONE, REPRESENTING THE
FLORIDA PANHANDLE BUT THE SOUTH
ISN’T WHAT IT WAS TEN, 20 YEARS
AGO.
YOU GO TO PLACE LIKE ATLANTA OR
CHARLOTTE AND YOU’RE SIGHING THE
DEMOGRAPHICS CHANGING, YOUNG
PEOPLE, BLACK AMERICANS,
ASIAN-AMERICANS, LATINO
AMERICANS, THIS IS A NEW KIND OF
SOUTH.
PEOPLE ARE MOVING TO THE SOUTH
BECAUSE OF THE COST OF LIVING
FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE
COUNTRY.
YOU SEE FROM SENATOR TILLIS AND
GRAHAM SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES
AND EVEN SENATOR PURDUE IN
GEORGIA RUNNING AGAINST A
CANDIDATE A COUPLE MONTHS AGO
SEEN IN THESE RACES AS EMBRACING
PRESIDENT TRUMP, NOT ENOUGH TO
CARRY YOU ACROSS THE FINISH
LINE.
IN SOME CASES IT MIGHT BE BUT
THEIR STRATEGY HAS BEEN USE THE
PRESIDENT’S POLITICAL CAPITAL TO
WIN.
BUT THE STRATEGY JUST WEEKS
BEFORE THE ELECTION BEING
TESTED.
>> YOU NO KNOWKNOW, JONATHAN LEM
LOOK AT THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
IT’S A STATE THAT PEOPLE HAVE
TALKED ABOUT GOING BLUE
EVENTUALLY, TURNING MORE PURPLE.
I KNOW YOU TALKED ABOUT THE DIVERSIFICATION OF GEORGIA.
DIVERSIFICATION OF GEORGIA.
I WAS BORN IN DORVILLE, GEORGIA
IN 1963 AND SPENT MY TIME IN A
NEIGHBORHOOD THAT LOOK LIKE THE
WONDER YEARS, VERY WHITE, AND
WHEN I WENT BACK TO VISIT MY
HOME EVEN IN THE ’90s, IT WAS
EXTRAORDINARILY DIVERSE, IT HAS
CHANGED DRAMATICALLY AND YET,
DONALD TRUMP’S MESSAGE HAS BEEN
PLAYING TO, ACTUALLY, MY PARENTS
FROM 1961 OR 1962 OR 1963,
TALKING ABOUT, YOUR GREAT
SUBURBAN LIFE.
HE IS A MAN OUT OF TIME AND YOU
LOOK AT THE GEORGIA POLLS AND
YOU LOOK AT POLLS IN OTHER AREAS
AND IT LOOKS LIKE TIME IS
CATCHING UP WITH DONALD TRUMP.
>> THAT’S RIGHT, JOE.
HE IS SEEMINGLY OUT OF STEP WITH
WHERE MUCH OF THE SOUTH IS GOING
RIGHT NOW.
GEORGIA AS YOU KNOW, DEMOCRATS
HAVE HAD THEIR EYES ON FOR A
WHILE.
THEY SAW VIRGINIA TRANSFORM INTO
WHAT WAS A RED STATE, INTO A
TRUE BATTLEGROUND AND NOW A
CONSISTENT BLUE STATE THAT’S NOT
REALLY UP FOR GRABS EITHER PARTY
THINGS.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF NORTH
CAROLINA WHICH WAS A REPUBLICAN
STRONG HOLD NOW THE DEFINITION
OF A BATTLEGROUND, ONE THAT
PRESIDENT OBAMA WON ONCE RIGHT
NOW POLLS SHOW TIGHT AND IF THEY
CONTINUE TO MOVE DOWN SOUTH,
GEORGIA WOULD BE NEXT ON THE
LIST, IN TERMS OF THE SPRAWL OF
ATLANTA, THE CHANGING SUBURBS
THERE.
AND THE PRESIDENT HAD TO MAKE A
STOP IN GEORGIA LAST WEEK FOR A
CAMPAIGN EVENT THE MORE TIME HE
HAS TO PLAY DEFENSE IN PLACES
LIKE GEORGIA OR OTHER STATES HE
WON IN 2016, IS A REAL PROBLEM
NOW.
HE HAD TO VISIT OHIO WHICH HE
WON BY 9 IN 2016.
IOWA, TEXAS.
AND IF THESE ARE PLACES THE
PRESIDENT NEEDS TO BE NOW.
EACH TRIP TO GEORGIA IS A FEWER
TRIP HE CAN MAKE TO
PENNSYLVANIA, WISCONSIN OR
FLORIDA.
AND I THINK THAT IS SOMETHING
THAT THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN IS
CONCERNED ABOUT.
THEIR LATEST WAVE OF ADS
SPENDING, THREE STATES WERE WONS
THAT HILLARY CLINTON WON IN
2016, THE OTHER 12 OR SO ARE
PLACES THAT HE WON LAST TIME
AROUND, NEEDING TO PLAY DEFENSE.
JOE, I WANT TO GET YOUR TAKE ON
THIS.
WE TALKED WITH STEVE KORNACKI IN
THE LAST HOUR ABOUT THE SEEMING
SURPRISE.
MAYBE SPLIT TICKET VOTERS IN
SOUTH CAROLINA, THOSE BACKING
PRESIDENT TRUMP BUT MAY BE
MOVING AWAY FROM LINDSEY GRAHAM
AND MOVING TOWARDS JAIME
HARRISON, THE CHALLENGER.
BUT LOOK AT NORTH CAROLINA, WE
TALK ABOUT THOM TILLIS AND THE
DEFICIT HE SEEMS TO BE FACING
BUT THE PRESIDENTIAL POLLS SHOWS
A TIGHTER RIGHT THERE BUT WHAT
ABOUT MICHIGAN, THE PRESIDENT.
ARE WE SEEING SPLIT TICKET
VOTING WHICH HAD BEEN PHASED OUT
IN PREVIOUS CYCLES MIGHT BE
COMING BACK?
>> I’M SKEPTICAL.
I REALLY AMPY ONLY SKEPTICAL OF
THAT DRAMATIC OF A SWING AND
SPLIT TICKET VOTING.
I THINK WHAT IT MAY SUGGEST IS
THAT THE MICHIGAN RACE FOR THE
PRESIDENCY IS MUCH CLOSER THAN
WE THINK IT IS.
AND IN NORTH CAROLINA I THINK
THOSE POLLS THAT SHOW A TEN
POINT MARGIN SHOW THAT ACTUALLY
THERE MAY BE A LITTLE MORE
SEPARATION BETWEEN DONALD TRUMP
AND JOE BIDEN IN NORTH CAROLINA.
WHO KNOWS, AND THAT SOUTH
CAROLINA MAY BE A LITTLE TIGHTER
ON THE PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL.
BUT YOU DO HAVE THREE RACES.
THOSE THREE RACES IN PARTICULAR
THAT ARE SHOWING POSSIBLY THE
RETURN OF SPLIT TICKET VOTING.
I CAN’T SPEAK TO SENATOR PETERS
AND HOW HE IS WITH RANK AND FILE
DEMOCRATS.
I DO KNOW THAT THOM TILLIS AND
LINDSEY GRAHAM HAVE NEVER BEEN
TRUSTED BY RANK AND FILE
REPUBLICANS.
WHAT YOU MAY BE SEEING THERE,
ESPECIALLY WITH LINDSEY GRAHAM
WHO SAID SOME OF THE MOST HARSH
THINGS ABOUT DONALD TRUMP AS
ANYBODY ON THE NATIONAL STAGE
BEFORE QUICKLY FLIPPING OVER TO
BECOMING ONE OF HIS MOST --
JUST -- I’LL JUST SAY ONE OF HIS