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

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

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season.

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

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LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

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The early rounds are ending.

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

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very good time for 
Politics Monday.

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

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of The Cook Political Report.

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Thank you.

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Let's just jump right 
into where we are.

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

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

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nation, I guess 
they could say now.

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But let's go big.

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Why not?

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

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right now?

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

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

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

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My colleague looked into 
all the races for the House.

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

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

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won 69 percent of the time.

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

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

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But that is one key variable.

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

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

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

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LISA DESJARDINS: Shawna, 
what do you see here?

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What are the two 
battle lines here?

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What are the two 
parties trying to sell?

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And where do they 
conflict in November?

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

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

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And there's no way 
to get around that.

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

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This one is no different.

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

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

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

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LISA DESJARDINS: We will, yes.

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

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

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about flipping the House of 
Representatives for Democrats.

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

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to put a check on the president.

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

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in the maps for the 
House and for the Senate.

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

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

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

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very popular.

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

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in the Senate.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Well, 
it's interesting.

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

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

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This is from this weekend.

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Let's play the tape.

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

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

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(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

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

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

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We're going to kick off 
our bedroom slippers.

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We're putting on 
our marching shoes.

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(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

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

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(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

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

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And we're going to 
start making some calls.

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We're going to volunteer.

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

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

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What might he do 
for Republicans?

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

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and his positives.

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

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

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

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of the party.

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

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

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this event.

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And those were 
hard-core Democrats.

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

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But they're coming to see him.

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

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get on the other side.

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So that's a positive.

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Great.

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

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when they voted for 
President Trump.

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

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Barack Obama.

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

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That is still the 
head of their party.

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

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

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

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

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You guys need to 
come out and vote.

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You need to do 
this for my legacy.

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Whatever you do -- apathy 
is our biggest problem.

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He said that in 2010.

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He said that in 2014.

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He said that in 2016.

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Those voters still didn't 
turn out for Democrats.

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They turned out for him, 
but never his party.

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

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

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He is the biggest 
factor in 2018.

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

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

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the same liberal marching 
orders from their leaders.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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SHAWNA THOMAS: Yes.

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

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He's lighting a fire 
for many progressive.

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He's doing things like 
skateboarding in parking lots.

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This is unconventional.

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

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be a problem for Ted Cruz.

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

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What's going on in Texas?

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

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

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OK.

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So maybe he has a chance.

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There is a possibility 
of a chance.

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

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of the state that usually 
Democrats have ignored.

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

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

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

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something that is 
actually possible.

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

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But...

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LISA DESJARDINS: OK.

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OK.

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

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

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

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of the Republican.

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LISA DESJARDINS: But the 
Senate is getting interesting.

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Thank you, Amy 
Walter, Shawna Thomas.

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Wonderful having you 
here for Politics Monday.

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AMY WALTER: Of course.