my thanks to rick, jason, and to you for watching. it does it for this hour, i'm nicole. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts now. ♪ if it's thursday, we are tracking the big storm hurricane dorian strengthens and heads towards florida amid new signs the winds are shifting by the way, politically on republicans and the issue of the climate crisis. plus, a doj watchdog rebukes comey, but it also debunks trump. why the president is once again lashing out at his former fbi director.

and georgia on our mind with both the state senate seats now for grabs. democrats are finding the peach state ripe for the picking, but is it ripe enough? welcome to thursday. it is "meet the press daily." good evening. i am chuck todd here in washington. a hurricane is barrelling towards the florida coast. july was the hottest month ever recorded and on and on. hurricane dorian is expected to strengthen into a category four storm with winds of 130 miles per hour when it eventually hits florida. moments ago the president announced he was actually rescheduling a trip to poland so that he could stay in the u.s. to monitor the approaching storm. we realize that a hurricane in late august isn't unusual and that weather and climate are not the same thing. but, folks, the earth is getting hotter. ocean temperatures are rising and an urgent storm like dorian is an urgent reminder of all the climate mitigation we haven't done and the crisis that we face. today the trump administration moved to roll back some climate

change regulations that even fossil fuel companies supported keeping. the administration's actions today came days after we learned it's transferring millions in fema disaster funds to the southern border. talk about a bad p.r. timing. but politically, literally, there is a potential storm brewing for republicans on the climate crisis. more and more, americans are awakening to the threat. a majority of the country now believes climate change is an emergency. this is from a new quinnipiac poll out this afternoon. as the president holds fast to his belief that it's a hoax, there remains a striking partisan debate on this issue. it's worth noting that republican leaders in places like florida have woken up on the effects of climate change and aren't afraid of the phrase anymore. also consider trump loyalists like lindsay graham who also happens to be from a coastal stage. he's called on the president to admit that climate change is

real. >> i have really taken this issue to heart, and i would encourage the president to look long and hard at the science and find the solution. i'm tired playing defense on the environment. >> republican senator thom tillis went from dismissing climate change as a fiction to now advocating for a massive global response to the program. then there's matt gates from a coastal district as well in the panhandle of florida. he's defended so many trump conspiracy theories it's hard to keep track at times. but climate change, he doesn't defend him on that one because it's staring mr. gates and his constituents right in their faces. my name's matt gates. i represent florida's first congressional district. while it is above water. history will judge harshly. >> as i said, there is a storm approaching and you're starting to see those that actually live

in it. climate areas start to take climate out of the political debate. our own meteorologist here at nbc news has the latest on dorian's strength and path. and, bill, i think the big thing and, again, judging all things through the prism of my own family there in florida. the big thing seems tock the euro model's suddenly finding that this storm has slowed down. >> and it keeps changing, chuck. i mean, we want answers, i want answers, i want to be able to tell you exactly what's going to happen. the people in florida want to know do i board my bifwindows u do i need to go to a friend's house in georgia or louisiana. and we don't have the answers yet because our computer models are still varying. and the storm has slowed down so much. that has given us an extra day or two. so we are going to get into a fatigue of where is it going. >> we have at least three more days before it gets close to any

more land areas. >> didn't michael -- >> that was like my punch line there. it is going to look a lot like michael with the euro model. here it is on satellite. it's out over the open water, just causing a problem for some cruise lines. the update from the hurricane center, intensity's the same, speed's the same. and as far as the intensity forecast goes, i don't want to spend a lot of time on that either because it's going to be over the warm water for three to four days. all indications are it's going to be a powerful storm. will it be a storm category 4 or 2 or 3? we'll worry about that two to three days from now. so here is the new path. low and behold, nothing has really changed because all of the computer models are so variable and they have slowed down so much, they don't want to make any big changes because they don't have the information to make any huge changes either. >> is there a pressure, a surprise pressure or front, is there something that's causing this trouble with the models

that they can't seem to process consistently? >> well, i mean, i'll have a map for tomorrow, there's a high-pressure system which steers the storm called the bermuda high. that is weakening. and then there is a big trough coming through eastern canada and the northeast. the battle between those two is where the storm is going to go. and think how far away that is. that's like 101,500 miles from where the storm really is. and so those little fluctuations. all of this says is here'sand s fluctuations. all of this says is here's the cone don't look at these intense tease because once it gets close to land or if it hook it's can still be a category 4 further north. the american model's a little further north. the euro model's a little further south so we're taking you, remember i said we have 72

hours of nothingness. it's not until we get to sunday night that the storm is over the central bahamas. and that's when the things get interesting at least with the european model. then it kind of drifts it towards miami. then we get to tuesday. then we are talking wednesday the middle of next week. and then we are talking seven days from now the possibility somewhere still off the southeast coast line of georgia or florida. we just don't have the answers yet. but the best news of all is that we don't guarantee that we're even going to have a landfall yet. people should have all their preps ready in case the emergency manager says you have to evacuate. that's all we are telling people to do right now. it's still too far away. >> thank you, bill. as every floridian will tell you that has lived on the atlantic coast, we all know of more than one storm that does crazy stuff off the atlantic coast. >> floyd, michael. >> hurricane betsy does a

u-turn. >> jean did a loop-de-loop. let me turn now to the political storm that surrounds these actual storms. that is the climate crisis. joining me now for this discussion is betsy woodruff. and stephanie cutter a white house adviser and former deputy campaign manager for barack obama. let me start actually with -- thom tillis' move on this is quite good too. thom tillis had a debate in his 2014 campaign versus thom tillis now. take a look. >> is climate change a fact? [ laughter ] mr. tillis. >> no. >> i think we have to come up with several strategies to recognize reality. if you don't have a comprehensive global agreement

to reduce human factors in climate change, then you haven't fixed anything and you may have disadvantaged the very countries that are the innovators that may be a part of the solution first among them the united states. >> remesh, it does seem as if there is now a divide in the republican party on this issue of climate, at least rhetorically. >> i do think that some of this divide is more rhetorical than it is real. so senator tillis, i think when he talks about the solution. so it is a way of deferring unilateral action or action that will actually cost anything in the united states. i do think also that a lot of republicans have looked at the polling data and see that particularly among young voters, there is belief that this is in fact a problem and there's a concern among republicans that they put themselves on the wrong side of this by looking anti-science, anti-knowledge. but that doesn't mean there is

the appetite for regulatory or tax dollars. and that's the public, not just republicans. >> but public opinion has moved here, stephanie. quinnipiac today, u.s. response to climate change. does more need to be done? 67% believe more needs to be done. boy, 67%, that's more than just democrats. >> oh, absolutely. >> and this gets to rammesh's point. particularly below the age of 40, this isn't a political decide. >> particularly for young people. >> your campaign helped you guys in some ways. >> we campaigned on it, yeah. we've all been in politics a long time. we have seen the progression of this issue. it is a majority issue for this country now. and particularly for young people as we've discussed, it's not -- you can't break it down by party line. they're in agreement. and young people are voting at a

higher rate than older americans. so you can see where this is going to go. the question is whether it's going to be fast enough because we are facing this urgent crisis. >> you know, betsy, what's been interesting about watching sort of this -- the politics of this change, it's also how you can have a conversation about climate change with anybody if you don't necessarily use the phrase. it's interesting plenty of people acknowledge, boy, the weather is just funky now. a lot of things happen strange with the weather now. you're even having in more rural areas conversations like thachltd. >> and there's so much news coverage on this. the local paper is looking at the changes in the great lakes over the weekend. there was a series i think in "the new york times" sunday issue about floods over beaches in chicago. people actually can see it happening in real life when they walk outside. that said, of course, the huge elephant in the room when you're talking about climate change and

politics is the president. the fact is the president sees the expansion of oil and natural gas production that's happened under his administration as maybe his biggest achievement. he talks about it every single rally, every single appearance. and any time people bring up the prospect of environmental regulation, his first instinct is how is that going to affect the numbers that he looks at on oil and gas? >> ramesh, this is the only place where the oil and gas industry is on the same page. no, we're good with those. >> no, i do think that this is a case where you have an ideological goal that's being prude and it's not interestingly being driven by business. but to get back to the cost issue. >> well, that's the problem. >> 68% of people in a poll a couple months ago said they wouldn't spend more than $10 an extra in every month's electricity bill to fight global warming. and even once you get past the question of what's the science

here, that's going to be the big sticking point. >> i think it's on policy. stephanie, the public has spoken whether it's australia's public, france's public, washington state. the carbon tax isn't going to be the right way to do this. we're going to have to as a policy come up with another way to find the money. >> another way to find the money, but also marshall across sectors and communities to move it forward. the wrong way to do it is. >> you know, part of the reason oil and gas liked the methane rule that the president rolled back today is because it is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gases and it's cost efficient. they know if we're not reducing methane gas, what's the next thing? it's natural gas. >> this is a good business for them. they are not doing this out of the goodness of their heart. >> i was just on the way over today, i was just doing some research on the number of rules the president has overturned that are related to reducing

greenhouse gases. it's equivalent to 200 million metric tons of greenhouse gases that he's overturned, the rules that he's overturned that prevented that kind of pollution. the equivalent of 44 million cars. so there were things on the books that were common sense solutions. it might not be common sense if you worked for a particular industry, but they were -- the cost benefit analysis solutions that would have protected the environment with an economic benefit. >> part of the challenge of talking about the economic benefits here too is that people don't recognize the extent to which climate change is already costing them lots of money. evacuating from coastal areas. it's really hard. >> hurricane recovery. what it's doing to farmers, it's already expensive. >> we are trying to come up with a list of just how many hundred years floods that we've had over the last ten years around this country. this is the third hundred year flood we've had in the last ten years. i think that has always been the challenge.

it's also the challenge for the citizen. they look at this climate issue and it feels overwhelming. >> right. >> it doesn't feel like there's one fix. >> and no one has really been able to articulate that case. now i'm not saying that this is the solution and it didn't come with its own problems. but aoc in putting out the green new deal did mobilize -- >> she forced a conversation. >> but she also got some passion behind it. >> matt gates put up a sign that said green new deal, real new deal. here's the thing with that, whatever you want to matt gates, aoc got matt gates to talk about climate change. so that would be a win for her. >> if matt is talking about it, that means he's probably talking about it with the president. they talk all the time. this is where the politics, but this is where the politics can actually accelerate on the republicans here. the coastal areas also attract some of the wealthiest americans, the wealthiest americans are some of the

biggest donors. you know, i remember why was chris kristi so consumed at some points? because he had people calling him directly who were his friends and donors who got hit by super storm sandy. it does have a way of changing the minds of some of these politicians. >> it does. but i wouldn't discount how people are feeling in the middle of the country. and i realize this is a democratic presidential contest, but iowa is one of the -- climate is one of the number one issues being discussed on the campaign trail. same thing goes with other midwest states. >> they've had some issues, the southwest part of the state had flooding. >> ramesh, the conservative has always been leery of multinational agreements. at the core there's always been this sense of -- that's why

there's always been skepticism about the u.n. i'm not just doing this in the form of donald trump. but the fact is it's going to have to be a global response. that is always going to be a difficult place for some conservatives to be. >> there are some things that can be done in a different context. there is research agenda. there is the scientific innovation agenda that doesn't have to take that form. but, yeah, that is going to be a stumbling block for a lot of conservatives and a lot of other americans too. >> well, we didn't solve the climate crisis here, but i think a lot of folks are going to be paying a lot more attention to it. you guys are sticking around for the hour. a quick note, msnbc will of course have special coverage of the two-day forum, not one, two-day forum featuring 2020 presidential candidates. it'll be moderated by chris hayes and ali velshi that's september 19th and 20th. and next a new report from the department of justice's internal watchdog. it found no evidence james comey leaked classified information to the media. something the president has

accused the former fbi head of doing maybe a few times. >> what james comey did was illegal. >> the crime was committed by comey. comey's lying. and he lied. he is a liar and a leaker. look at the leaking and look at the lying. comey admitted he leaked. ♪ i planned each charted course ♪ ♪ each careful step ♪ along the byway ♪ much more ♪ much more than this ♪ i did it my way (announcer) verizon is america's most awarded network and the only one with the galaxy note10 5g. right now, when you buy one, you get a galaxy note10 free. that's verizon. so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more

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welcome back. former fbi director james comey violated fbi policy and, quote, set a dangerous example in his handling of memos documenting his interactions with president trump. that's according to a new report out today from the justice department's inspector general. this report also found that despite what the president and his republican allies have repeatedly alleged, none of those documents that comey shared were classified. and the government now says it will not prosecute comey. remember, bill barr's justice

department couldn't find a reason to do that. but it didn't stop the president from tweeting today, quote, perhaps never in the history of our country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated. he should be ashamed of himself. again, there was no criminal referral, nor a decision to prosecute james comey. so already that tweet is not true. with me now is ben, he is the senior fellow at the brookings institution, editor in chief. let me put up the first expert here on comey's response according to your report. by not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his fbi employment and by using it to create public pressure for official action, comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current fbi employees and the many thousands more of former fbi employees who similarly have access to or knowledge of nonpublic information. it's clear the a.g. is basically

saying here he went outside his, call it a chain of command in this case, i guess it's some form of that. and by not doing that, if others did the same thing, the fbi would lose its credibility in a heart beat. is that not a fair critique? >> i think under normal circumstances it might be. but let's consider what the sensitive information that the i.g. is referring to there. the sensitive information is that the president of the united states tried to shut down an investigation of his national security adviser. and that is the information that the i.g. is critiquing comey for making public. and so i think you have to ask the question once you've been fired, you are now at this point you're not just the former director of the fbi, you're also a witness to really gross misconduct that may be criminal. so what are you -- is the i.g. really saying and i think by the way that he is really saying that if you are a law enforcement officer who's a witness to potentially criminal

activity, you've got to shut up. >> even if you're the fbi director. we played the president's response. i want to put up james comey's tweets responding this morning. he said the ig report found no evidence that comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos. i don't need a public apology from those who defamed me. but a quick message with a sorry we lied about you would be nice. and unto all of those who have spent two years talking about me going to jail, ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long including the president. a lot of people have strong opinions about bill barr. and it is interesting to me that people are saying, oh, look, it's george h.w.'s bill barr and choosing not to criminally prosecute. let's set that aside. but no matter what you think of bill barr, the fact that he did not, you know, decide to prosecute, that's not a small deal, right? >> well, i think -- >> considering what the

president had promised and all of those things. >> look, i think there was no case here. >> right. that's my point. >> if he could have at least had an illusion of a case, the theory goes he probably would've at least started an investigation. >> i think that is the andrew mccabe situation, right, where there is enough of a factual predicate that maybe you can think about bringing a case, and they're thinking about bringing a case. >> against mccabe. they couldn't find it here. >> here there's just no material to work with. you have two classified memos that are never retained. they are left with the fbi. you have some information at the confidential level. a court by the way has recently ruled that those were erroneous classifications except as to one single word. >> you know it's interesting in reading this report is if you didn't know, if you weren't familiar with what he wrote in his memos, if you weren't

familiar with what was happening in the moment in time, it was written in such a way you would think that this, um -- that these memos were even a bigger deal than they were. i don't know how else to put it. it felt overwritten at times. it was as if he should've been criminally prosecuted. i mean, i don't know how else to put it. they wrote it in such a way almost like they were hoping for a more punishable -- >> i actually agree with it. but it's only the last few -- >> it's the rhetoric. it's the way it's written. the facts don't back it up. >> this is a 62-page report. 52 of these pages are a dry recitation of the facts. they're quite fair. everything you need to know -- >> but there was a spin at the end. >> the last ten pages are kind of chest-beating a howl of rage. and i don't know how to explain that. i don't think the first 52 pages

remotely supports the last ten pages. and i think, you know, inspector general mike horowitz may have come to regretting this. >> it remind me of a former fbi director who announced not to prosecute a former secretary of state and at the same time lectured her. it felt like comey was getting a taste of that medicine, which is, look, there's nothing here, but i'm going to lecture you loudly so that people don't think i'm one way or the other. >> right. look, i think there is something to that that, you know, that there is a kind of an anger reflected in this document at comey for having said, hey, we're in an extraordinary situation. i just had a set of wildly inappropriate interactions with the president. i'm going to make the rules work for me and, you know, which other people will say means bend or break the rules.

and i think this is the sort of establishment justice department view saying, oh, no, you don't, that's not proper. what i was surprised that he didn't seem to address enough of what do you do when you're in this situation of a sitting president. >> i mean, i think that's the key. >> he seemed to punt on that. >> he says basically comey had other avenues within the chain of command. what are those other avenues you've just been fired as fbi director. >> you had recused attorney general. >> do you go to rob rosenstein who just helped fire you who is tweeting piously today about how people should follow the rules strictly. do you go to rod rosenstein, do you go to the president who is responsible for this activity? and so what are the rules? and so what comey decides to do is i have these memos, i'm going to give them to my lawyers to help me figure out how to handle it. and i'm going to give the

substance of one of them to "the new york times." and that substance of one of them which he gives through his friend dan richman says the president tried to shut down a major federal investigation. that's what he's being criticized for. >> well, was one of those cases it felt like the report was trying to give something to both sides of something, which is always, again, i think james comey himself found that you try to please everybody you're going to please nobody. >> and i think mike horwitz probably pleased nobody today. >> ben wittes, it's good to see you. thank you. up ahead we've heard a whole lot about winnowing when it comes to the 2020 field. but we are going to tell you what to really expect in the days ahead. shut the winnows. ♪ buckle up for some insurance themed fun ♪ ♪ at progressive park! children: yeah! announcer: ride the totally realistic traffic jam. ♪ beep, beep, beep, beep children: traffic jam! announcer: and the world's first never bump bumper cars.

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welcome back. tonight in 20 vision, we've been talking about how the democratic presidential field was going to shrink. with four candidates dropping out in the past two weeks, it has. but don't expect it to get much smaller in the immediate future. everyone who is on the upcoming debate stage automatically qualifies for the next debate stage. that's because the rules are exactly the same for the september and october debates, same time frame of polls. so candidates have more time now to hit the 2% and four qualifying polls. you don't have to get new one. if you already have three, you only need one more.

so the october stage is going to get bigger even as the september stage didn't. again, tom steyer, one more poll. i think he's going to get it. i am sure there is going to be one more poll. hawaii congresswoman tulsi gabbard needs two more polls. what about the five other candidates? well, some of them say they don't plan to drop out just yet. >> i mean, obviously you weren't on, but we're moving forward. this is not going to stop us at all. >> i am absolutely stay in the race. the only poll that really matters to me is the iowa caucus. >> and that does not mean to me okay and going home just because the dnc says to. not now. it's too early in the process. >> so if you're patiently waiting for a significantly smaller field next week, don't hold your breath. probably won't happen until later this fall. i'm smelling thanksgiving. we'll be back with more "mtp daily" after this. every day, visionaries are creating the future.

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welcome back. we don't know if speaker pelosi is feeling more pressure on impeachment than she was before congress went on recess. but we do more members of her caucus are on board than before congress left town. is that meaningful? well, we're now at 134 house democrats who support an impeachment inquiry. the number was under 100 before the recess began. that's not an insignificant increase. some democrats have definitely been facing questions from their constituents while at home. >> in favor of an impeachment inquiry. can you expand on what you said last night? >> would you please comment on your position impeachment? >> the majority of your caucus has now signed off that they would impeach the current resident of the white house. where do you stand now about joining members of your caucus or are you going to just continue to wait? >> betsy, ramesh, and stephanie

are back. stephanie, i will start with you on this one. she doesn't act like she feels more pressure on this front. but i do get the sense that house democrats when they went back to their constituents felt like they didn't have a good answer for now. >> well, i think we need to break down the numbers a little bit because i don't think that people coming out for the inquiry were necessarily against the inquiry before. they were leaving it to nancy pelosi and following her lead on it. >> and she has been encouraging them to say say whatever you want now. >> it's not official, but they're in court, they're doing research trying to get -- >> if they open an official inquiry, they'd be a grand jury and they'd have real power. >> in fairness. but there is a lot of work to do to build a case beyond not just what's in the mueller report but the documents behind the mueller report. but more than that.

emoluments, abuses of power. the problem is there is so much out there -- >> but does it need to be focused or not? like, look, i had congressman krishnamoorthi on. there does seem to be one of the things that seems to be moving members is going it's all this, and -- >> yeah. >> and we should look at it all. >> let's also separate whether or not this was about building public support amongst the american public for impeachment which nancy pelosi thinks is critical because impeachment is a divisive act. it will basically if we start moving on impeachment, it could impede getting other things done, and we are doing it, you know, without a majority of the political will of the people, i'm not arguing against it. these are just the types of calculations going on. if you want to build a case for impeachment, then i do think you have to expand it beyond mueller. >> betsy, some of these

democrats have come out it seems like because they're fearing a primary challenge, right? we know that some of the new york members that delegation suddenly a lot of them found impeachment religion about a month ago, and you wonder how much the joe crawly aoc situation has them. is there a risk for democrats that they frustrate their base? you haven't done anything, you haven't done enough, and there is that anger. >> of course. and chairman jerry nadler who is overseeing the impeachment inquiry,,quote/unquote, is facing a really credible primary challenge or who's raised a lot of money very explicitly by making that argument that he wasn't moving fast enough and moving hard enough to make impeachment happen. at the same time part of the reason pelosi is in such a tight spot here is that the districts that democrats represent are so incredibly diverse. so at the same time that you have jerry nadler representing manhattanites on the upper west side, i believe, you have folks

like melissa slotkin representing honestly red districts that are very suburban, hard to hold onto, and you would have trouble finding a person from nadler's district who would see the same way as just about anyone for melissa slotkin's district. >> you know, ramesh, there was a time when the republican base would get frustrated, you haven't done enough for obama. what is play observer on the other side. you have seen a republican base revolt on its own party. >> so we have already reached this situation where last election three-quarters of democratic voters wanted to move forward on impeachment. that is a hard kind of fraction for a party to resist as you were suggesting republicans have shown in the past. the numbers are not going to go down. so if you've got 134 house democrats, none of them i think is going to flake off and say i don't. >> his behavior has really convinced he he is fit to be president. >> there is another point that i think is not maybe adequately getting attention. and that is this. in the fall of 2020 when you've

got a democratic presidential candidate who's making the case, presumably, donald trump is corrupt, he's tyrannical, autocratic, unfit, i think that president trump would be well within his rights to say, look, even your own party doesn't really believe this. if they believed it, they've got the house, they would have voted to impeach me. they didn't. this is just talk. >> respond to that talking point. i'm curious -- it's an interesting talking point. >> i don't disagree. >> this is the dilemma. >> yeah. and the other dilemma is that there are real things out there that need -- we need to shed light on. and to your point an impeachment inquiry would give more power to be able to do that. there is a lot of work going on. the question is whether or not coming back from recess people feel like they are more empowered to take it to the next level. i wonder the president's own sort of -- and maybe this is august behavior. i have this theory that when congress is away, he is really more erratic because congress

keeps him -- i think fox covers more of what's happening in washington so it keeps the president on message. i don't know what the theory is but when august goes, i wondered how much of an impact that has had on the psychies of some of house democrats. his behavior going why am i sitting on the fence, my gosh, look at what he's saying today. >> encouraging people to give pardons. it's harder and harder to say no to an impeachment inquiry based on that was the argument that i was making earlier on mueller. i am not saying there's not enough. but that has not ignited something amongst a broad base of the american people. these abuses of power, people are shaking their heads, this is not presidential behavior. betsy, can we step back here a minute and realize how james comey reputation has been totally eviscerated by the president in many ways? yes, he got on one hand

technically got -- essentially, you know, if he's off the hook here in doing anything wrong. but the way the report was written, you could tell it's sort of in the president really is good at this character assassination. >> and the thing about that report too is that it was very much a rorshak test. obviously comey was sort of celebrating the fact that he's not getting prosecuted. but it was a tough report on him. and it went after him hard and it made a thorough case that he did something that fbi agents aren't supposed to do. >> but it didn't address the other issue which is what do you do when your boss is potentially the one doing this. >> that if you're not being prosecuted it's total exoneration. and in that case. >> all right, betsy, ramesh, and stephanie, happy thursday to you. up ahead, why democrats might be spending their campaign cash on the midnight train to georgia.

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♪ ♪ applebee's handcrafted burgers now with endless fries starting at $7.99. and get more bites for your buck with late night half-priced apps. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. welcome back. tonight i'm obsessed with welcoming georgia to a pretty exclusive club. it's where all the coolest election geeks hang out. it's where all the candidates want to be. and it's where all the big decisions get made. now that senator johnny isakson has announced he is resigning at the end of the year, both republican held senate seats in the state are going to be up for

grabs. and georgia is now more electorally competitive than it's ever been. so you know what that means, georgia? welcome, you're now a swing state. >> attention, georgia, you are now a swing state. do you know the signs? you may be experiencing over active phone calls or mails or paper cuts. congested disorder. random sampling. overwhelming weight of electoral college or loss of hope. these are all symptoms of swing state voter syndrome. this condition can met in one of two ways. put your hands inu your ears an go lala. listen to candidates mispronounce your local municipalities. remember it will all be over in a few months.

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welcome back. georgia is one of the ultimate battleground in 2020. it has two senate seats up. interesting nugget from our friend from inside politics by the way. of the 29 times the last 70

years. 90% of the time, the same party won both seats. so just know that going in in advance here. joining me now is our georgia politics expert, gregg blustein. >> welcome to the battleground. if you ever complain of having enough politics to cover, you can complain now. >> that really is and it is hitting us pretty hard now. well, i think the big question is obvious from 30,000 feet. it is a competitive state. the candidates lining up to run for these democratic nominations don't look like big names yet or certainly don't look like big players yet.

>> it is a lack of familiarity or democrats have a bench problem. >> there is already three candidates against david purdue. there is going to be a fourth or a fifth in the next few weeks. on the race to replace johnny isacson just announced he's going to retire at the end of the year, there are dozens of names and lesser known names, this is like a bomb shell e. >> it is an interesting decision you have to make. if you win you have to hurry up and run again in two years. on the republican side of the isle, is that how governor kemp is looking at this. he got to find somebody that does not hold the seat, he's got to find somebody that has the chops to do this twice. >> you got it. this is the most political decision governor kemp has made and will make for his first

term. whoever he picks on the ballot president trump and senator purdue next year and if they win will be on the battle with him in 2022. he has a chance to select his own running mate. we are gehear thaing that the ay general is the washington -- >> his wife is the current top aide. governor kemp is going to look at a small galaxy of republican figures from elected officials like chris carr from outside the box. he has some time, t too to makes decision. he may not pick outsider candidates but he got a lot of options. >> let's talk stacey abrams. she took herself out. is there a point though where she's so disappointing georgia

democrats that she's going to hurt her own political in the park or she's too much of a rock star to do that. >> down here in georgia. every democrat realizes and accepts that she wants a rematch with governor kemp in 2022. if she's on the vp short list or vp nominee, she's perfectly fine with that. everyone down here kind of figures there will be a rematch if she's not a vice president nominee. there will be recruiting efforts for her but i don't think she's going to change her mind. >> does she play a role in recruiting or see herself as a de facto leader in the party. if she's not going to run, is she going to basically play the king maker here? >> i think that's a firm point to make because she's staying neutral in the david purdue race. i am expecting her to stay publicly neutral in the other senate race. she's the most prominent georgia

democrats and she's basically the queen maker of democratic politics around here. >> so, we have made a big deal saying georgia is a swing state and there is so much action going down for the two parties not to ignore. give me our reality right now. is it definitely a swing state or is this still or democrats still have a way to go? >> republicans still nominadomi politics. they still have presidential contests since 1996, republicans have history on their side. democrats have to look at the narrowing margins. david purdue won senate race by eight points in 2016. donald trump won five points. brian kemp won by 1.5 point laslast

points last year. >> bluestein, i have a feeling that you will be a more familiar face. good to see you, sir. >> that's all we got for tonight. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press," eamon is here. >> what's going on brother? >> my friend, have a good one. >> hello everyone, i am in for ari melber. donald trump rattled the economy and democrats calling for new investigations over his part. trump's doj under cut his claims about jamies comey. we'll get to that. the two areas that's most damaging to trump's political fate. politico reporting growing number of republicans are anxious of the trump economy and starting to feel