and now, it is unlikely that this guy would be able to take mcconnell out in the primary but mcconnell is certainly worried about him. and on the other hand, you have allison grime, very strong candidate, that the democrats could have hoped for. and mcconnell is essentially responsible for drumming a much less powerful candidate out of the race early on. so he is also responsible for having a tough democratic challenger in this race. >> ezra, the bad news for america, and the bad news for mitch mcconnell is that he first of all has a challenger, a republican challenger in kentucky from his right, who is complaining about how cooperative mitch mcconnell has been with president obama. so this -- that will be the first force that will presumably make mitch mcconnell even more intransigent on the senate floor. >> i think if people had heard back a couple of years ago in 2013 that mitch mcconnell would be doing everything in his power to remain close as possible to rand paul, they would have laughed. but that is exactly what he is doing. now the good news for america, lawrence, is that mitc

alison lundergan grimes tied mcconnell to the washington gridlock. >> if senator mcconnell had his way, his version of kentucky health care for all seniors, grandmother, would be to walk it off. let's just tell it like it is. if the doctors told senator mcconnell that he had a kidney stone, he'd refuse to pass it. >> as somebody would just had a kidney stone, that one sort of hit close to home. republican challenger matt denim who attracted support from some in the tea party, attacked him on the economy. >> i don't intend to run to the right of mitch mcconnell. i don't intend to run to the left of mitch mcconnell. i intend to run straight over the top of mitch mcconnell and right into the u.s. senate and with your help we're going to do that. >> mcconnell's folks were hoping neither grimes nor bevan would look ready for prime time. both challengers came off surprisingly fiery. the weekends show mcconnell may not be the most vulnerable senator up for re-election. on saturday, the first female graduate of the citadel announced her plans to run against him in a primary. she cite siriticiz

[applause] here,nator mcconnell is too. we do have our differences like when he voted to double medicare premiums. kentuckyon of healthcare for our seniors would be to lop it off. let's just tell it how it is. if the doctors told senator mcconnell he had a kidney stone, he would refuse to pass it. i am glad senator mcconnell is here and he actually stayed because i know it has been a tough month for him. from the republican caucus, the entire caucus around him to a filibuster reform to the announcement of his chief of staff leaving this weekend. recent polls show senator mcconnell is the most unpopular senator among not just democrats but republicans as well. [applause] you know what that means? after all of these years, at least he kept one campaign promise to keep both parties coming together. the truth is there is a reason that senator mcconnell is not liked by kentucky or the united states is because there is a disease in washington. senator mcconnell is at the center of it. in his quest for power, he has left kentucky

mitch mcconnell or addison mitchell mcconnell ii, as he might be known, there was another guy that had a war chest. his name was king george william frederick iii. in 1776, he had a war chest, and the people sent him packing. and we're going to send you packing. >> i mean, that's right down the middle, james, to use king george to right-wing tea party crowd. that's almost not fair. >> look, that's straight out of the tea party playbook, rev. and listen, he is running to the right of mitch mcconnell, and he is doing it by the tea party playbook. you know, this is what is interesting. the republicans love the energy of the tea party. remember, they also love some of the dollars that come into certain kinds of donors who are interested in the policies and the politics of the tea party. but at the end of the day, they can't co-exist with them politically because mitch mcconnell, even though he set out strictly to be against president obama, even though he has all this rhetoric against president obama's policies, at the end of the day, in the senate you actually have to do something. and by

what does mitch mcconnell's own campaign manager think about working for the mcconnell campaign? an audio recording was released today of a recording between an ardent activist and jesse benton. benton who is married to rand paul's granddaughter oversaw his presidential campaign, rand paul's election to the senate in 2010, and is widely expected to play a significant role in a potential presidential campaign for rand paul in 2016. are you following all of this? which benton implies on the tape is eminent. economicpolicyjournal.com has obtained a reporting in which benton in his own words describes how he feels about his current job. listen. >> between you and me, i'm sort of holding my nose for two years. >> benton responded with a statement today. he said it is truly sick that someone would record a private conversation i had out of kindness and use it to try to hurt me. i believe in senator mcconnell, and i'm 100% committed to his reelection. being selected to lead his campaign is one of the great honors of my life, and i look forward to victory in november 2014. if mcconnell's

number two, mcconnell has tried to have it both ways. some of the time he's talked about how he's brought projects and money and funding back to kentucky. in recent years, he's been sort of putting up his hands and shouting no at every project. he's kind of caught between the two. the third fact which is he's an insider and everybody knows it. >> that's what's so fascinating. he's caught -- the "huffington post" did this amazing 10,000-word piece about mitch mcconnell's history in the state. you see a guy, on the ground in kentucky, was good at bringing home the bacon. he was kind of a classic southern insider, i'll get you the pet projects you need, i'll bring back the federal dollars. now he's living in the tea party era where there's become an athema. how seriously are they taking this primary challenge? >> they're taking it seriously. if christine o'donnell can do it in delaware, why not matt bevin in kentucky? matt bevin has a lot of money. he wasn't the tea party favorite, i don't think. some tea party groups are not endorsing him

this is the mitch mcconnell race and jesse benton is mitch mcconnell's campaign manager. listen. >> between you and me, i'm sort of holding my nose for two years because what we're doing here is going to be a big benefit to rand in '16 so that's my long vision. >> he doesn't deny this is his voice talking about holding his nose as he works for mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell and jesse benton posted pictures to show they are trying to make a check out of this. it isn't a joke. >> it hurts mitch mcconnell more than jesse benton. mitch mcconnell is a measurrcen politician. whatever it takes to win, he does. that's been his m.o. that's politics about winning and mitch mcconnell wants to win. he decided the only way to prevent from losing a primary challenge is see if pauls would help. they cut a deal. the pauls are helping. is this a marriage of convenience? yes. is this a marriage of love? no one believes that mitch mcconnell loves the paul world or that the paul world loves mitch. they cut a deal. it is what it is. it hurts mcconnell because it gives him primary challenger

number two, mcconnell has tried to have it both ways. some of the time he's talked about how he's brought projects and money and funding back to kentucky. in recent years, he's been sort of putting up his hands and shouting no at every project. he's kind of caught between the two. the third fact which is he's an insider and everybody knows it. >> that's what's so fascinating. he's caught -- the "huffington post" did this amazing 10,000-word piece about mitch mcconnell's history in the state. you see a guy, on the ground in kentucky, was good at bringing home the bacon. he was kind of a classic southern insider, i'll get you the pet projects you need, i'll bring back the federal dollars. now he's living in the tea party era where there's become anathema. how seriously are they taking this primary challenge? >> they're taking it seriously. if christine o'donnell can do it in delaware, why not matt bevin in kentucky? matt bevin has a lot of money. he wasn't the tea party favorite, i don't think. some tea party groups are not endorsing him a

but look, mcconnell, look at what bevin said, he's pushing mcconnell. he said mcconnell has to be on this defend health care strategy. what is mcconnell going do in the fall debates. mcconnell is probably not going to -- probable ly not that vulnerable to a primary challenge. probably not that vulnerable but enough that he can't stick a finger in the right's eye. he can't make mike lee and ted cruz so mad that they use, you know, because those guys could use the primary challenger as a way of pushing mcconnell. and then the farther right he goes -- >> let me ask you that -- >> the more he helps grimes. >> the influence of mike lee and mainly ted cruz on say cornyn, john cornyn who earlier was following him on a lot of things. are you starting to see a split that more of the mainstream republicans are not feeling like they have to follow ted cruz, marco rubio, mike lee, on every one of their adventures? >> well, i certainly agree that split is sitting there and it's the split between sort of the legislative republicans, legislative conservatives, lamar a

this time it's mitch mcconnell's campaign manager, jesse benton, allegedly talking about mitch mcconnell. >> between you and me, i'm sort of holding my nose for two years because what we're doing here is going to be a big benefit for rand in '16. that's my long vision. >> holding my nose to work for mitch mcconnell? still seems like the greater sin here is the alleged bribery. paying republican politicians to switch their endorsements? but pretending you're committed to a candidate in public, being his public spokesman and in private saying you're holding your nose about it and you're in it just to help some other guy, and it's that other guy, ick. late this afternoon, in an attempt to make fun out of his miserable turn, the mcconnell campaign posted this picture of jesse benton holding his nose. see, it's all just good kentucky republican fun. seriously. fun. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about

mitch mcconnell but seeing a tea party challenger jumping in. >> mcconnell's manager has led to these from the new republican. even mcconnell's campaign manager, can't stand him. from "the new york times" top mcconnell aide holding my nose to help rand paul. the democrat running in the race, of course, is kentucky secretary of state grimes. where does she stand in all of this? does it help her? >> oh, without a doubt. she is delighted by this. nothing better for her than some inviting and questioning about mccom from his own campaign manager. michael kinsly said a gaffe when a politician tells the truth and this is what happened to benton here. he toll the truth what he really thinks about mitch mcconnell. the weirdest thing for this for democrats at least this is the truth. that people like benton and the paul true believers think that mitch mcconnell is too liberal for them. >> it does sort of shine the light on this difference that there is between these two candidates. i just want to play what nbc political analyst the former pennsylvania governor ed rendell said about this on "mo

what does mitch mcconnell's own campaign manager think about working for the mcconnell campaign? an audio recording was released today of a recording between an ardent activist and jesse benton. benton who is married to rand paul's granddaughter oversaw his presidential campaign, rand paul's election to the senate in 2010, and is widely expected to play a significant role in a potential presidential campaign for rand paul in 2016. are you following all of this? which benton implies on the tape is eminent. economic policy journal.com has obtained a reporting in which benton in his own words describes how he feels about his current job. listen. >> between you and me, i'm sort of holding my nose for two years. >> benton responded with a statement today. he said it is truly sick that someone would record a private conversation i had out of kindness and use it to try to hurt me. i believe in senator mcconnell, and i'm 100% committed to his reelection. being selected to lead his campaign is one of the great honors of my life, and i look forward to victory in november 2014. if mcconnell

this time it's mitch mcconnell's campaign manager, jesse benton, allegedly talking about mitch mcconnell. >> between you and me, i'm sort of holding my nose for two years because what we're doing here is going to be a big benefit for rand in '16. that's my long vision. >> holding my nose to work for mitch mcconnell? still seems like the greater sin here is the alleged bribery. paying republican politicians to switch their endorsements? but pretending you're committed to a candidate in public, being his public spokesman and in private saying you're holding your nose about it and you're in it just to help some other guy, and it's that other guy, ick. late this afternoon, in an attempt to make fun out of his miserable turn, the mcconnell campaign posted this picture of jesse benton holding his nose. see, it's just all good kentucky republican fun. seriously. fun. let's play: [ all ] who's new in the fridge! i help support bones... [ ding! ] ...the immune system... [ ding! ] ...heart health... [ ding! ] ...and muscles. [ ding! ] that can only be ensure complete! [ female announcer ] the four

mitch mcconnell is known as mudslinging mitch. because the only thing he has to run on is destroying other people. there is nothing in his 30-year history of voting that he's proud enough of to actually run on. i don't intend to run to the right of mitch mcconnell. i don't intend to run to the left of mitch mcconnell. i intend to run straight over the top of mitch mcconnell. >> well, if i didn't disagree with him on practically everything, i like his style there, casey. i mean, there's a guy not afraid to call the guy a mud slinger which he is. mitch mcconnell is a negative force in american politics. he's not an idealogue, he is a negative. here's the guy calling him on that from the right. >> bevin also wasn't afraid to engage with reporters. after the event and a lot of them were from the national press. he didn't screw up. that's a big test of this fancy farms sort of extravaganza. they say you can't win your race here at fancy farm but you can lose it if you make a big mistake. and bevin didn't do that. he pulled it through.

you saw her against senator mitch mcconnell. the candidates kicked off the political season, we're talking about the political season for next november, the world's largest barbecue in fancy farm, kentucky. this is real. this contest isn't just about the kentucky senate seat. it's a crucial front in the war for control of the senate and the future of legislation in this country. it's going to fails give an early indication of how the race looks. this is going to be one heck of a horse race. nbc news political reporter caseyy hunt and political and lies howard fine marn were both in fancy farm this weekend. casey, you were on the ground there. harold bows to your knowledge of the scene. first of all, we know why it's important. he's the leader of the senate and will face an attack from his right. what's his biggest danger, the guy you saw over the weekend from his right or the woman you saw to his left, if you will? the democrat? >> at this point, his immediate danger is the guy to the right. and that's going to set him up for po

>> mitch mcconnell -- >> which of course makes the right crazier, the whole mcconnell -- >> exactly. >> all right, these guys are going to stick around. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. nform, including the es and rx. ♪ this is the pursuit of perfection. ♪ iand we're talkingl time with diane about the walmart low price guarantee, backed by ad match. you got your list? let's go! look at that price! i like that! they need those for school. wow! that's the walmart low price guarantee backed by ad match. save time and money getting your kids ready for school bring in ads from your local stores and see for yourself. (announcer) bring the adventure to their bowl with a whole world of exciting flavors. friskies. feed the senses. missing workouts because of sports injuries. runner's knee... ...it's right there. shin splints... ...it hurt right on this side. injuries like these can come from the pounding your feet take. but i found something that helps. dr. scholl's active series insoles with triple zone protection to help reduce pain from three sports injuries: runner's

mcconnell to the u.s. senate. thank you. god bless you. and god bless the united states of america. [applause] >> you have a beautiful family. and you stole half of what i was fixing to say. >> say it again. >> sometimes you do not want to repeat. i wanted to dedicate this speech to a good friend of mine who passed away. gaywood was the best example of a grassroots candidate and he also believed like i believe that the party bosses should not pick a candidate. it should be the people. here it is to you throwing your hat back in the ring. i am probably going to run over. i want you to stand up. i cannot say hello for five minutes. i want to give it one more shout hillbillyreport.org. if you want to know everything that is wrong with mitch mcconnell, you need to check it out. please check out our good friend. i told you to stay in the truck. one thing i want to talk about is i have been the placeholder since december and the national media has forgotten about that. that is what happens when you are grassroot

this time it's mitch mcconnell's campaign manager, jesse benton, allegedly talking about mitch mcconnell. >> between you and me, i'm sort of holding my nose for two years because what we're doing here is going to be a big benefit for rand in '16. that's my long vision. >> holding my nose to work for mitch mcconnell? still seems like the greater sin here is the alleged bribery. paying republican politicians to switch their endorsements? but pretending you're committed to a candidate in public, being his public spokesman and in private saying you're holding your nose about it and you're in it just to help some other guy, and it's that other guy, ick. late this afternoon, in an attempt to make fun out of his miserable turn, the mcconnell campaign posted this picture of jesse benton holding his nose. see, it's all just good kentucky republican fun. seriously. fun. hero: if you had a chance to go anywhere in the world, but you had to leave right now, would you go? man: 'oh i can't go tonight' woman: 'i can't.' hero : that's what expedia asked me. host: book the flight but you have to go right

intend to run to the right of mitch mcconnell. i don't intend to run to the left of mitch mcconnell. i intend to right right over the top of mitch mcconnell into the u.s. senate. >> nbc's casey hunt was there. she's here with us now. before ashley judd said she was not in the race, mitch mcconnell's people were after her. so here these are two official challengers, and they don't seem threatened at all. are we seeing that same kind of push back from the mcconnell camp that we saw with ashley judd? >> absolutely. i mean, there was a tape that was leaked of a mcconnell meeting. one of the interesting things on that tape was that at the time they actually didn't have too much on grimes, who has since then announced she's going to make this run. the mcconnell folks at this point are particularly focused on bevin. while mcconnell is ignoring him in public, he didn't mention either one of his challengers by name in his speech at fancy farm, his campaign is already on tv. they're sending mailers out and going after bevin. a super pac is

who is mcconnell's 2014 campaign manager. he was speaking with a conservative activist by phone who then recorded that call and relieved it to the economic policy journal. explain the comments that jesse made and why they are so off putting to those knowing that he works with mcconnell? >> what jesse benton said he is essentially holding his nose for two years while he runs mcconnell's campaign because he believes that will be a benefit to rand paul in 2016. jesse is close to rand paul and his father ron paul. he ran the campaign, rand paul in 2010 that mcconnell tried to defeat. i think what benton wants to get out of this is get mcconnell's campaign contributors. no pretense mcconnell and benton like each other and get along. mcconnell needs to reach the conservative voters and benton is supposed to get him there bhap is damaging here is that fair? >> benton said he was upset about this call being leaked and says he is 100% committed to mcconnell getting re-elected. mcconnell put this on facebook. there is the picture. was

it was a packed audience for mitch mcconnell there. you saw everybody yelling "we want mitch, we want mitch." and there she was, very pointed in her criticism of mitch mcconnell. i think the people to watch in this race are the clintons. clinton's a great, great friend of alison's father. he's already cut an ad in support of her. and this is really going to be a test of democrats' fortunes in the south more generally because that is where democrats have some room to grow. and this is a state, kentucky, that clinton of course won twice, in '92 and then of course again in '96. so i think that'll be interesting to see, how much bill clinton is there and how much hillary clinton is there on the ground stumping for alison. >> and the polling at this stage is horrible for mcconnell. whenever an incumbent is below 50%, they're in trouble. mcconnell's at 44%, and alison grimes is a point ahead in the poll. it's basically a tie. but at 45. i mean, that's -- an incumbent senator looks at that and panics. >> yes. he is in panic mode and he has in

and fancy farm, matt bevin, mcconnell's tea party challenger, said quote mcconnell needed to be a man and join the rest of the republicans in trying to block any kind of government funding that does not also defund obama care. that's why you are now. mcconnell is interested and he takes pride in leading the senate republicans. he doesn't want to be like bainer who is drug along at times. he takes pride in being the person making the deal. mcconnell is in a mind because the mike lees, marco rubios, ted cruz's of the world are pushing hard as is now matthew bevin. this basic message that mcconnell should no longer be involved in any kind of bills that work. like keeping the house moving. they want him to be part of the blocking things club and be not really governing or working with joe biden. that's big tension right now for him. >> ted cruz and company from that tea party group that you just mentioned, they have not formally endorsed senator mcconnell now that bevins is in the race. you know, to that point, maria, we used to make fun of the house because we said, you know, all those t

mcconnell primary challenger matt bevan has seized on this, tweeting, even mcconnell's campaign manager things mcconnell isn't conservative. mcconnell's campaign is trying to make light of the episode, posting this picture of benton and mcconnell on facebook. i hope we posted that picture. the two them were there, holding their nose together. let's bring in the gaggle. republican strategist and former top aide to hastert john furyk. an msnbc contributor maria teresa kum ra. from it is cook political report my old pal amy walter. i am shocked there is hired guns in american politics. jesse benton admitting he's a hired gun. i mean this is not news to people that follow politicings. >> there's a lot of holding noses all over the place these days. if they want to win, they've got to hold their nose and come together. that's why mcconnell hired him. didn't particularly love ron paul. >> he didn't want this. he didn't want -- we finally put the picture up. he knew he needed -- he was trying to get some rand paul help and rand paul said fine. >> this is called coalition building. if you want

no, but mcconnell did just that. and would the conservative effort lead the effort to fund obama care in washington? absolutely not. but that is exactly what mitch mcconnell is up to now. after 20 years of claiming to be a conservative, but then complaining big government policies, isn't it time that the conservatives dumped mitch mcconnell? >> and in the ad, it is just the words, the ad by the conservative madison project pact is the first outside spending by mitch mcconnell in his primary race. the campaign spokesperson told "the washington post," apparently matt bailout bevin has friends in washington that concluded the conservative government was not half as important as making money off the campaign. david dickerson, the head of the tea party in kentucky said "i don't know where the senior senator gets off. it appears to me that first of all they're saying that matt bevin is not legitimate and the people supporting him are not legitimate. it looks like if you're an opponent of mitch mcconnell, you're just not le

mcconnell realized he had touched on something that mcconnell needed to understand and be part of and actively work to cultivate a relationship with rand paul. he has jesse benton managing his campaign, long-time paul family aide. that's how smart mitch mcconnell is. one mistake he has made thus far is that ashley judd was looking at getting into this race and mcconnell drummed her out of the race. she would have been an easier opponent than allison grimes. that is one error mcconnell has made. i think you're right -- >> shows how vicious a campaigner he is. >> one fun fact that i want to get in, the fancy farm picnic holds the guinness world record for the largest picnic in the world because they consume in one day, 15,000 pounds of mutton, pork and chicken. they're going to try to break that record today. >>> the republicans who try to kill the reagan revolution and the democrat who helped usher it in. that's coming up nextpetp. why t allstate accident forgiveness. it starts the day you sign up. [ female announcer ] with accident forgiveness from allstate, your rates won't go up jus

mitch mcconnell to the u.s. senate. thank you. god bless you. and god bless the united states of america. [applause] family.ave a beautiful and you stole half of what i was fixing to say. say it again. sometimes it you want to repeat. this speechdedicate to a good friend of mine who passed away. example of the best a grassroots candidate and he also believed like i believe that the party bosses should not pick a candidate. it should be the people. here it is to you throwing your hat back in the ring. to run over. going i want you to stand up. i cannot say hello for five minutes. i want to give it one more shot out. if you want to know everything that is wrong with mitch mcconnell, you need to check it out. please check out our good friend. i told you to stay in the truck. one thing i want to talk about is i have in the placeholder since a december and the national media has forgotten about that. that is what happens when you are grassroots candidate. you do not have money. you do not have a shema -- behind you.

this photo of benton on his facebook page holding his nose next to mitch mcconnell. all this red meat for democratic and republican opponents alike. this photo of mitch mcconnell with a clothes pin on his nose, quote, don't hold your nose, vote for a real conservative. >>> it's been a brutal summer for wildfires and right now it's southern california that's dealing with the worst of it. 1,400 firefighters are working on the latest which is called the silver fire. it's just 20 percent contained at this hour after days of burning up an arid landscape out there. it has consumed about 14,000 acres to destroy more than 25 homes and commercial buildings and driving hundreds from their houses. >> you always wonder if your house is going to be there or not. but we went through the esperanza fire before and we lived through that. so we're hoping the same here. >> we have one neighbor that their house was burned the last fire, and they said the fire was within 50 feet of their house. >>> according to gallup, hispanics born in the united states favor democrats by roughly 2-1. h

they're just curious. >> down to mitch mcconnell now. he's getting some heat on the right from the tea party right. essentially saying he's a sellout, he is too much of a paul and that he hasn't taken the fight to obama or obama care. how real is that noise inside of his home state? >> oh, this is very real. first of all, we have a very, very articulate impressive tea party candidate who is taking it to him. i mean, this is kind of the definition of political quick stand sand. mitch mcconnell no matter what he does, he keeps sinking. he alienates one side or the other. he is smart enough to know that for instance, you can't defund obama care. i i listened to your last segment. he knows you can't risk shutting the government down over health care law. that's his position as a responsible governor. but every time he talks like that, the tea party is down his throat saying you're a traitor to us. this is why he is in such a difficult spot, and those of us who are supporting alison lundergan grimes are enjoying the schadenfreude because he i

what does mitch mcconnell's own campaign manager think about working for the mcconnell campaign? an audio recording was released today of a conversation between an arden ron paul activist and jesse benton. benton who is married to ron paul's granddaughter oversaw his election campaign, and is widely expected to play a significant role in a potential presidential campaign for rand paul in 2016. are you following all of this which benton complies on the tame. a recording has beensh in which benting in hi own words describes how he feels about his current job. >> between you and me, i'm sort of holding my nose for two years. doing here will be a big benefit to rand. so that's my long vision. >> benton responded with a statement today. he said, quote, it is truly sick that one would record a private conversation i had out of kindness and use it to try to hurt me. i believe in senator mcconnell and i'm is 00% -- being selected is one of the great mondayoring of my life, and i look forward to victory in november of 2014. if he has to hold his know to work for him to benefit rand paul's

mitch mcconnell as the at but d.c. insider that he is ve an es already leading in the polls this way. if you get ashley judd coming out for her it's just a done deal. >> ashley calling from her tennessee mansion. that would be stop. >> tennesseans for kentuckians for anybody but mitch. all right. what else do we have? >> snowden. >> what about that? that vladimir. >> lot of different -- we have michael hayden on today. great timing to ask him about this. it's been a while since we've seen edward snowden. now we have a flu picture of him. >> oh, good. >> this time, it's stamped inside official government papers making him a legal resident of russia. >> thank god he got his freedom. >> wow. >> it's hard to believe -- >> wait. wasn't there a movie like gregory hines whatever? >> did what? >> separate lives? he wanted to go to protester in russia f ends up -- s? >> i don't know. >> wasn't he a dancer? >> yeah. >> what was it? >> separate lives. >> will you look it up. >> can i do the story. >> ber rish na cough was in the

mitch mcconnell and him holding his nose. it seems like jesse benton could say anything he wants about mitch mcconnell and he won't get fired because he needs the rand paul people. >> if you're looking for leadership, you won't get it for any senator who is up for re-election next year. that applies to the entire house of representatives, they're all scared. i don't know where the leadership is going to come from. in new jersey we know every conversation is recorded. >> that's right. it's not an activist from iowa on the other end of the wire. >> you have to be very, very careful. >> what's interesting about this exchange is that's what people assumed anyway when jesse benton was hired. mcconnell has been very, very strategic knowing he was facing a tough re-election fight. people always want to challenge the leader of the party, no matter what statement they're from. he made all these smart hires. everybody assumed that's what he's doing. now you have him on tape saying that. at the same time, jesse is not going anywhere, he

if the doctors told senator mcconnell he had a kidney stone, he'd refuse to pass it. >> mcconnell focused on president obama instead of attacking his fellow opponents. >> the liberals are worried because just as i predicted obama care is a disaster for america. i fought them every step of the way. every step of the way on the government takeover. as long as i'm in the senate, kentucky will have a voice instead of san francisco and martha's vineyard. >> and we want to say happy birthday, mr. president. president obama turns 52 today. he celebrated with a round of golf saturday morning before heading to camp david. >>> joining me now defense reporter for politico wanda summers and editor of citizen jane politics and contributor for the daily beast patricia murphy. lady, good to see you both. i will begin with you, patricia. an internal poll was conducted on behalf of alison grimes. it was a two-point lead. how big of a challenge is mcconnell facing. >> i think he's facing a stronger challenge than he's seen in the past. he's seeing from the democrat but another republican who has just gotte