JUDY WOODRUFF: This week marks
the last week of primary voting
before the midterm elections.

It comes on the heels of former
President Obama making his
presence felt on the campaign

season.

Lisa Desjardins is here for
this week's Politics Monday.

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

The early rounds are ending.

It's a good time to get ready
for the finals of this key
midterm year and, of course, a

very good time for
Politics Monday.

Here to bring us up to speed,
Shawna Thomas, D.C. bureau chief
of VICE News, and Amy Walter

of The Cook Political Report.

Thank you.

Let's just jump right
into where we are.

We have New York
gubernatorial primary on
Tuesday -- on Thursday.

We have got tomorrow
Delaware and New Hampshire,
which is, strangely,
the last primary in the

nation, I guess
they could say now.

But let's go big.

Why not?

Amy, tell us, what are the
themes and what are the expected
real battle lines for November

right now?

AMY WALTER, The Cook
Political Report: I think
the one theme that has
been apparent throughout

all these primaries in all
different kinds of states and
all different kinds of districts

is the number of women who
were successful as candidates
on the Democratic side.

My colleague looked into
all the races for the House.

And what he found is, of all
the candidates in Democratic
primaries -- these are without

incumbents, OK, so open seats
-- a woman who was running
against at least one other man

won 69 percent of the time.

So women were winning a
disproportionate number
on the Democratic side.

The number on the Republican
side, much, much, much lower.

But that is one key variable.

And I think that's going to be
obviously a very big talking
point on election night,

to see if we do hit and exceeded
the mark set in 1992, which
was the first year of the

woman, when a record number of
women were elected to Congress.

LISA DESJARDINS: Shawna,
what do you see here?

What are the two
battle lines here?

What are the two
parties trying to sell?

And where do they
conflict in November?

SHAWNA THOMAS, VICE News:
Well, I mean, I think the key
battle line and the other big

theme, other than women,
and maybe because of
women, is President Trump.

And there's no way
to get around that.

As many midterms are -- they
usually are about the person
who is in the White House.

This one is no different.

And this one is even more
powerfully so about the
person in the White House.

I think we saw examples of
that -- and I'm sure we will
get to this -- with President

Obama, former President Obama
being on the campaign trail...

LISA DESJARDINS: We will, yes.

SHAWNA THOMAS: ... in
Illinois, railing directly
against President Trump,
but also in California,

striking a slightly different
tone in California, but still
making sure people know this is

about flipping the House of
Representatives for Democrats.

And flipping the House of
Representatives is a -- in some
ways a code of saying a way

to put a check on the president.

AMY WALTER: And the other
main storyline too for these
elections is just the difference

in the maps for the
House and for the Senate.

The battle for the Senate
runs through red, rural states
that President Trump is still

relatively popular, in some
cases, still very popular in.

The battle for the House
runs through purple,
suburban America, where
the president is not

very popular.

So we could have an election
night where Democrats
actually do very well in
the House, but struggle

in the Senate.

LISA DESJARDINS: Well,
it's interesting.

So if this in part a
test, at least in some
places, of President
Trump, but we have former

President Obama out there, let's
look at -- first of all, let's
listen to what he's been saying.

This is from this weekend.

Let's play the tape.

BARACK OBAMA, Former President
of the United States: We have
a chance to flip the House

of Representatives and make
sure that we are checks
and balances in Washington.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BARACK OBAMA: And I cannot tell
you, all across the country,
you can feel the energy.

You can feel people saying,
oh, enough is enough.

We're going to kick off
our bedroom slippers.

We're putting on
our marching shoes.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BARACK OBAMA: We're going to
out and we're going to start
taking some clipboards out.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BARACK OBAMA: And we're going
to start knocking on some doors.

And we're going to
start making some calls.

We're going to volunteer.

LISA DESJARDINS: Kicking off
the bedroom slippers, making
some calls, whatever people do.

Shawna, my question to you
is, what does President
Obama do for Democrats?

What might he do
for Republicans?

SHAWNA THOMAS: Well, I
mean, just like President
Trump, President Obama
comes with his flaws

and his positives.

The positives are, when it's all
said and done, the person who
is the head of the Democratic

Party still, despite the fact
that he's not in the White
House, is President Obama.

Nobody who I ever talk to has
had a better answer for the
question of who is the head

of the party.

One of the things our
correspondent on VICE
News Tonight saw when
he was out there in

California was that people were
driving miles and miles and
hours and hours to be part of

this event.

And those were
hard-core Democrats.

That wasn't necessarily
independents and other
people, hard-core Democrats.

But they're coming to see him.

He is able to get that kind of
rally and energy that President
Trump to a certain extent can

get on the other side.

So that's a positive.

Great.

The other thing is, in
some ways, he is also the
example of what people
were rallying against

when they voted for
President Trump.

And so they will -- and so,
there, Republicans who will
say, look, they're going back to

Barack Obama.

That is somebody you didn't like
when he was in the White House.

That is still the
head of their party.

Come out and vote for --
vote for the people who
support President Trump.

LISA DESJARDINS: Amy, is
President Obama the head
of the Democratic Party?

AMY WALTER: Yes, though
I probably -- you
probably remember this.

I remember those speeches
that he made saying
those exact same things.

You guys need to
come out and vote.

You need to do
this for my legacy.

Whatever you do -- apathy
is our biggest problem.

He said that in 2010.

He said that in 2014.

He said that in 2016.

Those voters still didn't
turn out for Democrats.

They turned out for him,
but never his party.

I still believe that the biggest
motivator for Democrats is
Donald Trump, and he's still

the biggest -- he's
the 800-pound gorilla.

He is the biggest
factor in 2018.

I do think, yes, Republicans
are going to try to use Obama,
but mostly use Nancy Pelosi

as the boogey-person, right,
to say, if you elect Democrats,
they're just going to follow

the same liberal marching
orders from their leaders.

But I think the bigger risk
right now for Republicans is
that Trump is taking all the

oxygen and all of the focus that
they would rather be spending,
talking about the economy,

deregulation and anything
else that they're
doing in Washington.

They don't want Donald Trump
to be making it all about him.

LISA DESJARDINS: Quickly, I want
to talk about the U.S. Senate
and something that might be

going on in Texas, home
state of yours, Shawna.

SHAWNA THOMAS: Yes.

LISA DESJARDINS: I want to show
some video of Beto O'Rourke,
the El Paso congressman.

He's lighting a fire
for many progressive.

He's doing things like
skateboarding in parking lots.

This is unconventional.

This is something that
the liberal left is
loving, something that
some people think might

be a problem for Ted Cruz.

There's a Marist poll showing
he's within four points.

What's going on in Texas?

Does this man actually
have a chance of becoming a
Democratic senator from Texas?

SHAWNA THOMAS: Well, I have
to admit I saw the Marist poll
and also was like, oh, OK,

OK.

So maybe he has a chance.

There is a possibility
of a chance.

In our reporting VICE News has
done when it comes to Beto,
he has gone to a lot of parts

of the state that usually
Democrats have ignored.

He has made it his duty to go
to every single county, with
the idea of, like, if you know

you can win Houston, Dallas,
Austin, major cities, if you
can pick up an extra 1,000

votes here way out west, if
you can pick up 1,000 votes
somewhere else, perhaps this is

something that is
actually possible.

I'm still saying perhaps
because I still think Texas
is still a solidly red state.

But...

LISA DESJARDINS: OK.

OK.

AMY WALTER: I think the bigger
challenge for - - that's right.

I think the bigger challenge
right now for Republicans in
holding a seat is Tennessee,

a deep red state where the
candidate on the Democratic side
is actually a little bit ahead

of the Republican.

LISA DESJARDINS: But the
Senate is getting interesting.

Thank you, Amy
Walter, Shawna Thomas.

Wonderful having you
here for Politics Monday.

AMY WALTER: Of course.