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Democratic strategist says Maine Senate race upheaval is a moment for everybody to take a lesson · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the takeout walking to the takeout tavern.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: That's not apple cider, folks, I assure you. Republican strategist
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Doug high End, Democratic Strategy business contributor Joel Payne, all right,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: news flash out of Maine. Patrick Dempsey, otherwise known as
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  Speaker 1: Mick Dreamy, not running for the Senate in Maine. He
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  Speaker 1: had to put out an op ed because there is
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  Speaker 1: such a desperate need for someone not named Graham Plattner
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  Speaker 1: who might have some appeal beyond standard political lanes in
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  Speaker 1: Maine that he had to let everyone know he's not
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  Speaker 1: going to run. Joel, give me your handicap on this
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  Speaker 1: current situation, and what do you think will happen in
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  Speaker 1: the next forty eight hours.
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  Speaker 2: We're a really good place that's on fire. Manager. I look,
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  Speaker 2: obviously there's a lot of egg on the face of
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  Speaker 2: lots of people related to Graham Platner.
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  Speaker 1: I think what's interesting is Jus Schumer saying I told
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  Speaker 1: you so, sure, But like Chuck Schumer also got behind
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  Speaker 1: a candidate who could not defeat a very Mills.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Janet Mills, who could not defeat a clearly compromised
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  Speaker 2: candidate in Grant Platner. Grand Platner's people obviously didn't do
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  Speaker 2: the work of vetting. I actually think it speaks to
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  Speaker 2: a larger thing about the types of candidates that voters
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  Speaker 2: are looking for. That they would go to a compromise
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  Speaker 2: candidate like this tells you a little bit something about
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  Speaker 2: the mood of the Democratic electorate. And I think it's
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  Speaker 2: something that Democrats are just gonna really have to wrestle
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  Speaker 2: with because I know that people are trying to dunk
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  Speaker 2: on each other in the middle and in the left
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  Speaker 2: of the party. I think it's a moment for everybody
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  Speaker 2: to take a lesson.
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  Speaker 1: Bottom line, is it a winnable seat anymore?
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  Speaker 2: I think it is winnable.
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  Speaker 3: Is it tougher?
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  Speaker 2: Sure? I mean, look, in a favorable environment. Sarah Gideon
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  Speaker 2: was not able to defeat Susan Collins in a favorable environment.
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  Speaker 2: Shannon Bellows was not able to defeat Susan Collins, both
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  Speaker 2: very traditional candidates. So Platner trying something different. I think
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  Speaker 2: that there's wisdom in it. I still think it's winnable
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  Speaker 2: if Democrats can get beyond this process and circle behind
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  Speaker 2: one candidate.
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  Speaker 1: Doug, I want to talk to you about Kentucky because
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  Speaker 1: Andy Basheer, the Democratic governor, wrote a letter today sego,
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  Speaker 1: Senator McConnell, you owe Kentuckians, not me but me, but
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  Speaker 1: mostly Kentuckians. Explanation. Are you going to return to the Senate?
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: What is your health status? Let us in on this.
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  Speaker 3: Your politics is a long game. So let's remember that
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  Speaker 3: Andy Basheer's father ran and lost against Mitch McConnell in
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  Speaker 3: nineteen ninety six. Memory, so that letter has been a
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  Speaker 3: long time coming.
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  Speaker 2: Look, they're fair question.
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  Speaker 3: It's a legit question, a legitimate question, and it's a
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  Speaker 3: legitimate question not just because of the substance of what
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  Speaker 3: we've seen with McConnell in the past, but because of
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  Speaker 3: what we've seen with so many other members of Congress
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  Speaker 3: and senators in the past. And so if I'm team McConnell,
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  Speaker 3: I want to put something out on video or a
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  Speaker 3: photo with a thumbs up rather quickly. It doesn't have
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  Speaker 3: to be a response how basher. Basher doesn't get to
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  Speaker 3: dictate how McConnell responds. But McConnell and his team need
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  Speaker 3: to respond, and twenty minutes to talk to Mitch McConnell
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  Speaker 3: right now if he wants.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, right twenty minutes. I'm glad you mentioned that, because Doug,
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  Speaker 1: there was a startling similarity in the way three different
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  Speaker 1: people described a conversation they said they had via telephone
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  Speaker 1: with Mitch McConnell. All said it was twenty minutes. All
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  Speaker 1: said it covered more or less the same topics. That
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: read to me a little too compact and conveniently repetitive.
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  Speaker 3: You always want everybody on the team to be on
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  Speaker 3: the script age. You just don't want them to memorize
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  Speaker 3: the exact same word from this vaccame script That can
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  Speaker 3: be a problem for you.
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  Speaker 2: Also, why and why is that?
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  Speaker 1: Because it raises questions about whether it's true or not.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, even in good health, if Mitch McConnell has twenty
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  Speaker 2: minutes to talk to Scott Jennings, I think Mitch McConnell
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  Speaker 2: has better things to do with his time. To be
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  Speaker 2: honest with.
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  Speaker 1: You, there is a conversation. Maybe it's just in Washington,
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  Speaker 1: But obviously Governor Bashier has appointment powers has to do
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  Speaker 1: a Republican because that's what the state legislature prep passed
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  Speaker 1: over his veto. Could Thomas Massey be the Republican who
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  Speaker 1: replaces Mitch McConnell if Mitch McConnell can no longer serve
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  Speaker 1: the United States Senate.
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  Speaker 3: My understanding is it has to come from a list
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  Speaker 3: submitted by the state party, Okay, And in that case,
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  Speaker 3: I don't.
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  Speaker 1: Think they Thomas Massey wouldn't be on the only.
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  Speaker 3: Way promoting it unless it's a way to get him
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  Speaker 3: completely out of it. And you can be a senator
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  Speaker 3: for three months and then you're done forever.
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  Speaker 2: Let's book up on something that Doug said a little
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  Speaker 2: bit earlier. I do think that like us here in
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  Speaker 2: DC and the people who kind of run this city,
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  Speaker 2: I think we got to get some religion about why
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  Speaker 2: are people why is the gritocracy holding on so much
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  Speaker 2: to power? And it's not a Republican or a Democratic party.
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  Speaker 2: Diane Feinstein, the same thing happened with her years.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think? What do you think it is?
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  Speaker 2: I think it's because these people think that these seats
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  Speaker 2: belong to them and not to the people that they represent.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's something, frankly that folks in both
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  Speaker 2: parties got to get their arms around. It is not healthy.
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  Speaker 2: God blessed Chuck Grassley. It's not healthy to have a
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  Speaker 2: ninety nine year old man in the Senate representing Islands.
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  Speaker 2: Is not healthy to have someone who is compromised at
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  Speaker 2: this level like Mitch McConnell. And it wasn't healthy to
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  Speaker 2: have Diane Feinstein in the Senate, and the American people
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  Speaker 2: decided it wasn't a good idea for Joe Biden, who
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  Speaker 2: maybe does not have the type of severe health problems
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  Speaker 2: but certainly did not show like someone who is vigorous.
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  Speaker 3: It's not healthy.
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  Speaker 2: It's not a good idea pick up on that point.
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  Speaker 3: Look, it's hard for them the Senate. Yeah, and it's
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  Speaker 3: hard for them for a lot of reasons. And part
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  Speaker 3: of it is it's a very good life. If you
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  Speaker 3: have the member pen, you are called sir or ma'am
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  Speaker 3: wherever you go, and.
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  Speaker 1: If you're in the Senate, you have a vast staff
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  Speaker 1: that takes care of every single need you have.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely and basically the rules don't exist for you. And
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  Speaker 3: so why we see so many Senators and members of
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  Speaker 3: Congress getting in trouble is because the rules don't exist
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  Speaker 3: to them for them, So maybe they break them even
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  Speaker 3: if they don't fully exist. But they go on codels,
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  Speaker 3: they travel the world. Some of that is work, some
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  Speaker 3: of it has a lot of empty time on their
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  Speaker 3: schedule to say, oh, we have four hours of free
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  Speaker 3: time in Istanbul, we're going.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: To the bazar. Who gets screwed. It's the family in Louisville,
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  Speaker 2: it's the family in western Kentucky at Paducah who doesn't
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  Speaker 2: have the type of representation that they deserve right now.
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  Speaker 1: Because they have become increasingly inattentive.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, they become increasingly inattentive and major these people. When
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  Speaker 2: people elect you to office, they trust you to have
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  Speaker 2: good judgment. It is not good judgment if you're not
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  Speaker 2: healthy to deal with issues of state and of politics.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: When you can't be healthy, you can't be on your feet.
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  Speaker 1: Joel, you get the last word here at the tavern.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, so, Doug Hi, always good to
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  Speaker 1: have you here. Enjoy my brothers,