the republicans. saccone campaign is not conceding. animated rick saccone took to the stage and had to say this. >> you know, we're still fighting the the fight. not over yet. going to fight all the way to the end. you know i never give up. you know my first race went into the night and we won that. second race the same way. we're kind of used to this right? so that's it. we're not giving up. don't give up. we'll keep it up. we're going to win it. god bless you all. >> his campaign is telling nbc news they've been in touch with legal counsel tonight, exploring full range of legal options here. more in a minute. pennsylvania law requires a recount for statewide races, key word, statewide, if in close percentage. congressional district as opposed to statewide, it's unclear. if you're not conceding at this hour, hard to blame you for that. still votes out and margin is 5.79. what he's got to make up on paper. maybe it's possible. what he's up against this hour. all the votes, absentee, election, in and allegheny and westmoreland, wanting for washington and greene. 1,395 is the number o

wins. the president a's son, don jr., hit the trail with rick saccone. >> they say that the other side is energized. let me tell you, they're energized for hate for our president. i've talked to so many of these on the left and they have a hatred for our president. i tell you, many of them have a hatred for our country. and i'll tell you some more, my wife and i saw it again today, they have a hatred for if god. it's amazing. you see it when i'm talking to them. it's disturbing to me. >> hatred for god. >> strong words there. >> i had to listen to that. >> i was pretty surprised by that there at the end. vaughn hilliard is joining us now. i feel like it's alabama 2.0 minus the roy moore controversy, to say the least. good to see you this morning, vaughn. i understand that you spoke to don trump jr. yesterday hitting the campaign trail. do you think that his appearance there along with, of course, his father's appearance, the president, is helping rick saccone to resinate with republican voters in the district? >> good morning, you guys. you know, there's not an alleged pedophile i

pennsylvania tonight where democrat conor lamb and republican rick saccone are facing off. the race obviously is still close to call. 95% of the vote in, and still too close. lamb has 50% of the vote. saccone has 49% of the vote. it's going to change in another minute. conor lamb leads by just over at this moment a thousand votes. but that's been changing by the second. steve kornacki has been watching the returns covering this. he has been covering the race for weeks. he has been waiting for night. he has been waiting for this minute. steve, what's going to happen? >> well, the number right now, lawrence, 11,132. that's the difference right now separating conor lamb who is leading with all these votes and rick saccone who is trying to catch him. let me show you the lay of the land as we look for the final precincts. first, this big chunk of real estate here. take it off the board, green county. it's tiny in terms of the number of voter there's. 100% in. take that off the board. westmoreland came in late. but then it came in fast. so saccone, if you're watching the returns all night

, a red county, but tonight rick saccone is not winning it by a huge margin. he's only winning by seven. the other thing is what we've seen in allegheny and w westmoreland is the absentee vote has been more favorable to lamb than the election day votes. so if that continue, that 53 could come down even further for saccone. and you're sitting there looking at that bank of 1200 votes. how many is he actually going to be able to gain? so he would need something. he would need a departure in washington county from what we saw in westmoreland and al ga y allegheny earlier. is he going to get it? we're going to find out. otherwise, you have greene, they're not counting that. i think they went to sleep. again, though, just for comparison here, ooh, that's the wrong button. how candidate race go on election day, it was 58% for saccone. again, if that trend held, that number might be a little different in the absentee ballots. so absentee, and beyond that, military and provisional, military is going to be a very small number. we talked to somebody in washington county. they said there are

is this? the special election in pennsylvania, the race between conor lamb and rick saccone. the race still too close to call, according to mnbc news. democrat conor lamb currently with a lead of 579 votes. that is out of 227,000 cast district wide. that accounts for all of the election day vote and most of the absentee vote. why are we with you at this hour? it's for this reason. we could be within minutes of receiving a critical number, that would be the absentee vote in washington county. that could be enough to tell us if saccone is going to have any mathematical chance to overtake conor lamb. earlier tonight, even though all the votes aren't all counted yet, conor lamb took to the stage and said this to supporters. >> it took a little longer than we thought, but we did it. [cheers and applause] you did it! you did it! >> and the chairman of the house democrats campaign are also declaring victory for his party saying in a statement, quote, want to congratulate conor lamb and his team of grassroots supporters on an incredible victory. i'm excited to have conor as a colleague. that'

been too close to call with the democrat conor lamb leading the republican rick saccone by just 95 votes. this is a congressional district, as we've been saying for days and weeks. president trump carried by nearly 20 points back in 2016. that's why tonight's race has been viewed as a bellweather for things to come, potentially in the midterm elections. if you've been watching our coverage, you know that steve kornacki has been manning the big board tonight. and steve, the takeaway from watching your coverage is that this may turn out to be an absentee race decided -- absentee vote-decided ratece, correct? >> here's where we are. 95 votes is the lead for conor lamb. 95 votes, i finally got it. it only took me three tries. here's the deal right now where we stand. every election day vote is in in allegheny county. that's the heart of conor lamb's base there. every election vote is in republican area. every vote early on was in greene county. what do we have left election day? we have two precincts left in westmoreland county. here's the thing that's killing me right now. every other

closing argument for rick saccone hoping that it will bring him a win, a race that we've seen a lot of money sunk into the republican candidate and even conor lamb outspending saccone 3:1 as we see president trump and we see once he became president how he energizes the crowd at these types of rallies. so at any moment the president is set to speak and we'll see how the president -- what he says, what he addresses in this final push for rick saccone and also with the headlines swirling about stormy daniels, the russia investigation, north korea as well with the new developments there that his lawyers are trying to get a deal there for him to actually speak in the mueller investigation with conditions everof a deadline. the president now takes to the podium. let's listen in. love this plac. hello, pittsburgh. that a on l hello pittsburgh! you know what, do me a favor, get out on tuesday. vote for rick saccone. and we can leave right now. come on. we don't have to spend anytime. great guy. i'm thrilled to be back in pennsylvania. where i went to school, went to college with so many hard

comer lamb and rick saccone, the race too close to call, no one has called this race. 99%, though, of the expected vote, it is in, it is counted, it's dislay for the world to see. democrat conor lamb currently in the lead with 579 votes. that is out of 227,000 cast district-wide. that number accounts for all of the election-day vote and most of the absentee vote. why are we with with you live? it's for this reason. we could be within minutes receiving a critical number. that would be the absentee vote in washington county. that could be enough to tell us if saccone's going to have any mathematical chance to overtake conor lamb. now earlier tonight, even though all the votes aren't counted yet, democrat conor lamb took to the stage and he said this to his supporters. >> it took a little longer than we thought, but we did it. you did it. you did it. >> and the chairman of the house democrats campaign also declaring victory for his party saying in a statement tonight, "i want to congratulate conor lamb and his team of grassroots supporters on an incredible victory, i'm excited to have co

very presidential. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight. rick saccone will be great, great congressman. he will help me very much. he's a fine man and a wonderful wife. i just want to tell you on behalf of the united states of america that we appreciate your service. we appreciate your service. to all of the military out there, we respect you very much. thank you. thank you. then you go, god bless you and god bless the united states of america. thank you very much. see, that's easy. that's much easier than doing what i have to do. this is much more effective. this got us elected. if i came like a stiff, you guys wouldn't be here tonight. she's a nice woman. i like her. she doesn't like me much. she's writing like i'm some kind of a neanderthal. i'm really smart. they all talk about how they're telling us -- they said we couldn't get elected. i say we because you came from areas. some you have never voted before but you love the country. great congressman from tennessee. they vote early. the voting gets started. he was asked a speech i was making in pennsylvania

for rick saccone. how did republicans feel about involving president trump in the re-election efforts? >> i think you can see from the speech that there's a real risk for these congressional candidates that the president can eclipse them. certainly if they're not in lock step in this very strong america first approach that he seems to be doubling down on entering his own re-election. as you said, he sent far more time talking about himself and his campaign than he did talking about rick saccone here. and so in that sense, it could be problematic. we've seen the president's message eclipse that of over republican leaders. nobody's talking about paul ryan's economic plan or the new tax law that by all accounts is becoming more popular, which republican leaders would love to be talking about which a lot of these candidates would love to be talking about and we're not. we're talking about the chaos surrounding the white house, these tariffs and other things. it's really getting in the way of the message that a lot of republicans wish they could be focusing on. >> joe, there was a lot ther

of rick saccone's candidacy, republicans have called him out, ayman. donald trump was here on saturday night and there are reports he, himself, was not fond the rick saccone. conor lamb is out canvassing today going door-to-door. >> you are live streaming it so well. let me describe the ice cream. >> reporter: and what do you think about rick saccone? >> he's doing a good job and will support the things my father is doing. you have a real conservative who will fight for america. when i hear about weighs going on in this business, 400 employees. they added 80 new full-time employees. that's 20% in a few months. that's what we need. we don't need people pretending to be conservative that will follow the testers and vote with nancy pelosi and vote with chuck schumer. all-time low tax reform. we can't applaud what's good for america. i want somebody in the office who will fight for america and do that and that's what we have right here. i'm excited about it. >> reporter: are some of the criticisms about mr. saccone's candidacy fair? >> i don't think they are. the media is doing wh

and left side of your screen is conner lamb. the republican is rick saccone on the right side of your screen. again, this is a special election. there is a republican member of congress who represented this district. he resigned. he's a staunchly anti abortion member, there were reports he had an affair and pressured his mistress to have an abortion. 42% of the vote in this special election tonight, conner lamb, the democrat in this district is up by eight points at 54% of the vote with rick saccone at 46 points. that's remarkable in itself. again, trump won this district by 20 points. so we'll keep updating the numbers as they come in tonight there is a lot of suspension about the race here. democrats feeling like if they can make a trump plus 20 district a close race in a special election, that could bode well they think for their chances of contesting control of the house of representatives come november of this year. republicans spend over $10 million to try to keep this seat in republican hands including campaigning by the president and campaigning by the vice president and

was there to endorse rick saccone. chuck todd did not directly address the president's insult, though he did ask steve mnuchin about the president's moral leadership. >> many people, including myself, raise their kids to respect the office of the presidency and the president of the united states. when he uses vulgarity to talk about individuals, what are they supposed to tell their kids? >> again, i'll be with my kids this morning and i'll be focused on them on what the president is doing to protect the united states, its citizens and more importantly the economy. >> so don't worry about his values, don't worry about -- >> i've never said that whatsoever so i don't know where you're putting these words in what i'm trying to say, okay. so, again, i am very comfortable with what we're doing. and, again, i think you're trying to take this out of perspective and implying something i'm not saying. >> fair enough. what are you supposed to say when he's using these vulgarities to kids? >> again, i think you should be focused on what the policies are. he's using these vulgarities the

republican rick saccone despite the race not being called, lamb declared victory last night while saccone stopped short of any concession. watch this. >> it took a little longer than we thought, but we did it. i've heard conor, the job you're running for is the house of representatives. so if you get down there, do the job. do the job. okay. i will. mission accepted. >> we're still fighting the fight. it is not over yet. we'll fight all the way to the end. don't give up. we'll keep it up. we're going to win it! >> so under pennsylvania state law, supporters of either candidate can request a recount if they believe there was an error in the initial tally. there is no provision however for automatic recounts in tight congressional elections. rick saccone's team tells nbc news that win or lose this race, saccone will file campaign petitions next week to run in the you new 14th congressional district. coming up this morning, conor lamb will be a guest on "morning joe." joining me now, correspondent for nbc news, steve kornacki, who has literally been up all night following this race.

jobs and wages, vote for rick saccone and keep it going. that was yesterday morning. and in the middle of the night last night, well, at exactly 5:22 a.m. this happened. >> we have an apparent winner in the pennsylvania special election for the house district in the 18th, connor lamb, the democrat, nbc news is declaring the apparent winner over rick saccone, the republican. finally, oh, my god we waited all night for these numbers. >> a heroic night of coverage by steve, and donald trump was crushed last night in pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. so was donald trump jr., who went to the district, wearing his vote republican hair net and that wasn't good enough. ivanka trump was crushed in pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. she campaigned for the republican candidate and it did absolutely no good. and mike pence was also personally crushed in pennsylvania's 18th last night, he campaigned there. the republicans know what happened last night. the democrats won a congressional district where they didn't even bother to put up a democratic name on the ballot in the

looking. i think i'm better looking. personally, i like rick saccone. i think he's handsome. you like me? i think so, right. i like you, too. i love you. all right. he is handsome. that's a lot to take in and the president kept up the focus on the race today as well. tweeting out that gop is 5-0 in recent congressional races hoping a pennsylvania win will continue to streak. a streak that we should note is nonexistent as simple look of a map of congressional races, clearly shows. i don't know if the president got that same map we do. but we want to break down a lot for you this hour. to do that let's start with the trump referendum. how this race for small district may not exist at this time next year became make or break time for the president. how could the president's recent decisions on tariffs impact this individual race? and what will the results of this race tell us about what might be coming in the mid terms for both parties. joining me now to discuss this, nbc news correspondent von hilliard, columnist and opinion editor with penn live and patriot news, and new york state dem

for rick saccone in partisanship th -- this weekend. the president again tweeted about saccone says the pittsburgh post gazette just endorsed him.

election. a new poll shows connor lamb with a slight over rick saccone who has just been trashed by absolutely everybody in the republican party. they say he's a horrific candidate. well, in three different voting models, this is what you see. lamb leads saccone 51 to 45% if today's turnout patches the enthusiasm that was seen in other special elections. even if the turnout is higher or lower lamb still leads. of course as we've said donald trump won that district by 20 points in 2016. mitt romney did about as well in 2012 but yesterday the chairman of the republican party had this explanation for why the race is so close. >> you have to remember, this is a democrat district not with standing the fact that the president won this by 20 points. it's a democrat district. >> but take a closer look at the numbers. it shows that statement is not exactly true. despite supporting trump in 2016, the democrats backed republican candidates by double digits in the prior elections. and then by 20% in 2008 and its former house republican tim murphy first elected in 2002 won by even larger margins

roy jones loss, can he drum up enough support to drum up rick saccone. no matter how the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence. >>> rick is a great guy. and special. he's a special person. >> you won this district by 20 points. >> right. >> can he do as well as you? >> i hope so. i said to him, i hope you do as well. we're here. we're going to be helping. i'll be back for rick. and we're going to fill up the stadium and do something really special for rick. i look forward to it. >> he's going to be back. that was president trump earlier this year promising to campaign for rick saccone in pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. he'll hold a campaign in the keystone state in an airplane hangar days before the critical election on tuesday. conor lamb, the democratic candidate, will battle sucone for a house seat in a district donald trump won by 20 points in the coun 16 elec

that race, it seems like, because now they're trying to badmouth rick saccone as a candidate and kind of lower the bar for the expectations for republicans. so i think we've got a great chance. the better news is that no matter what happens on tuesday, we're going to win the new seat that conor lamb is going to be in when the new map takes effect this fall. >> there was that redistricting there. we should say conor lamb has been outspent three to one in this space, so quite remarkable he's up as much as he is. >> exactly. over $10 million spent from outside groups to try and defeat him. for a seat that's only going to last about six months. >> it shows the high stakes right now in congress. i want to talk about what happened in december when you voted in favor of impeaching the president. given all that happened since, congressman, the mueller investigation, the stormy daniels scandal, north korea, when you put all that in the blender, where does impeachment stand at this point and will it happen if democrats take congress after the midterms? >> it's hard to say. we're not emphasizing

looking than him, i do. personally, i like rick saccone. i think he's handsome. this guy should win easily. do me a favorite. get out on tuesday. vote for rick saccone and we can leave right now. >> i don't know even know what to say about that. publicly the president lavishing high praise on rick saccone in pennsylvania. according to axios, trump thinks saccone is a terrible weak candidate according to four sources who spoke to the president about him. maybe that's because trump likes winners and he's told us time and time again, in the election, rick saccone is hardly a sure thing. polls say he could be on the brink of a crushing defeat in a district trump won. he's handsome. >> this district is a district republicans should win. if you look at the poling that shows saccone down by 6, congress is in the district. republican is losing by half dozen points. there is something to him being a weaker candidate. certainly i think we've had a republicans have had for some reason nominating weak candidates. you mentioned alabama before. this is a district that is going away because of the

president to see this on a referendum on his own presidency if he were to lose. if rick saccone were to lose on tuesday. >> the president sees everything as a referendum about the president. this is who he is. whether from his business career to you know the campaign to this, his singular focus is sort of himself and becoming the story and he feels that it is that charisma and that personality that made him successful in 2016. he is president today. so to some degree of truth to that. on this particular race, you know, certainly there feels like a lot of democratic momentum right now going into this particular race and certainly coming up in the fall mid terms. they have racked up a number of sort of the high profile wins with alabama senate race being the biggest of them all. this is certainly a state as you said traditionally going blue, trump flips it. it is one of the states he is most proud of as winning. the swath of states michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, and to a lesser extent, ohio. states that were democratic states in recent years that he won. that was his path. through

vote effort for rick saccone. outside of the rally he has been nowhere to be seen this weekend. nowhere yesterday, we don't know where rick saccone is today. we don't know where he'll be tomorrow. he had the get out the vote rally. about 15 individuals showed up for that event. i want to put this in perspective. connor lamb's campaign has spent more than four times what rick saccone has on television. paul ryan's super pac has put comparatively more than $2 million on tv here. they had 80 door knockers, paid door knockers they had out here essentially trying to make up for what rick doesn't have. he doesn't have a campaign operation in place. i talked with the head of that super pac, the congressional leadership fund earlier today. she told me essential sri what they should take away from this is the republican party in these congressional races, they need better candidates and better campaigns. kasie? >> nbc's vaughn hillyard. thank you for that rather dire assessment of the status of the rick saccone campaign. i will see you starting tomorrow. thank you very much. >>> michael

hours. his appearance an effort to boost the candidacy of republican rick saccone ahead of the congressional election. the race is being seen as a referendum on president himself. the district is in the heart of trump country. and it's also steel country. this week's announcement on tariffs on steel and aluminum is being seen as an effort to appeal to blue collar voters. a recent surge in polling for democrat conor lamb has the race in a dead heat. the geeft for republicans could be evidence of a exactic wave in the midterm elections. nbc news white house correspondent jeff ben set in moon township, pennsylvania where the president will soon speak. the crowd seems to be growing behind you. looks like a fullhouse so far. >> almost, frances. i tell you i spoke to one of the supporter here for this event and i asked him outside what do you want to see? he said he wants to see a show. and judging from previous campaign style rallies from this president we can expect some of that. but the president has serious work to do. he has to rev up the republican base, more to the point the t

. but you heard some of president trump's speech for rick saccone, which is why rick saccone is running second behind chuck lamb. it takes something special for a congressman to fall behind the polls in that district. and that is obviously the trump effect. donald trump delivered a speech with racist comments about california senator maxine waeters and i'm not going to show you what president trump said about maxine waters, but it is to vial but in the same speech he attacked the congressman, he defended north korea's dictator. >> south korea came to my office after having gone to north korea and seeing kim jong-un and -- no, it's very positive. >> rocket man! >> after the meeting you may do that but now we have to be very nice because let's see what happens. >> the people in that crowd cheering on that man represent a minority of voters in the pennsylvania 18th and a minority of voters in the united states. and as long as president trump plays only to that minority that means republicans losing, elections and big leads over democrats in districts like pennsylvania's 18th. joining our d

pro-gun and antiabortion. he also faced a staunch conservative in rick saccone in a district that went to trump by 20 points a year and a half ago. in the end, lamb declared victory after pulling ahead by the slimmest of margins just a few hundred votes. remember, don junior was out in pennsylvania trying to help the republican. president trump himself made two trips out there. and just a short time ago, lamb appeared on morning joe and said the results should serve as a warning not just to republicans but to democratic leaders. >> it's nothing personal. i just think the leadership of both parties have presided over a time when we've had more and more gridlock and fewer and fewer important things getting done. and i always learned that responsibility starts at the top. so i think we need to sweep some new people in there. >> wowzers, that sounds like the center is beginning to rise. the big question is what does this mean for republicans in the fall, specifically those thinking about riding trump's coattails to victory. remember, i mentioned it, trump personally campaigned for sac

weekend's rally ostensibly to support rick saccone, was what we need, the roar of the crowd. >> we're working hard. it's not easy. that washington, d.c., you have a lot of evil there, but we're getting people out. a lot of bad people, a lot of fake media. >> it's 1999. i'm on "meet the press," a show now headed by sleepy eyes chuck todd. he's a sleeping son of a bitch, i tell you. >> i would love to beat oprah. >> maximum sene waters. >> i love you. >> our big question today, it is march 2018, and who is still buying what donald trump is selling? in just 30 minutes we're expected to hear from the white house with the daily briefing. first let's get to peter alexander inside the white house. we'll start with you, peter. why the flip-flop and who is the president trying to sell on this policy in regards to guns? >> it's a question we'll be pressing to sarah sanders when she briefs us in 30 minutes in terms of who he's selling, it appears the president is in retreat right now. consider that tweet from early this morning where the president among other things said specifically about the t

struggling campaign of rick saccone mostly centered on the topic trump likes to talk about the most, donald trump. it was a wild performance from the president. here he is doing his very own pennsylvania polka if you will for voters. ♪ >> remember, i used to say how easy it is to be presidential? but you'd all be out of here right now. you'd be so bored. i was joking and i said ha, president for life? that sounds good. maybe we're going have to try it. when i was in china and other place, by the way, i said mr. president, do you have a drug problem? no, no, no. i said what do you attribute that to? well, the death penalty. so if i don't win the election, their ratings are going to go so far down, they're going to be out of business, every one of them. can you imagine? can you imagine covering birney or pocahantas? how about that? i'd love oprah to win. i'd love to beat oprah. i know her weakness. i did "the apprentice" on nbc for 14 seasons. i made a lot of money for them. we had a big successful show. arnold schwarzenegger failed when he did "the apprentice," and he is a movie star. obam

weekend in southwestern p.a. supposed to be talking up rick saccone for the 18th congressional district but he spent a lot of time on his favorite topic as he begins a new week at the white house, here is a brief look at what he'll have to contend with. a lot of people are saying his latest proposal for gun control was released late yesterday seems to be a concession to the nra even though he vowed to stand up to the gun lobby in the days after the park land school shooting in florida mounting questions about the president's decision to sit down with the leader of north korea and announcement that has been followed by few details from the white house or anybody else about plans for the summit. there is a battle for the house seat in pennsylvania, the election tomorrow races tighter than a lot of republicans ever would have expected and tomorrow the president gets an up close look at the prototypes he's ordered up for his border wall. that will take place in california, which has resisted his tough line on immigration and other policies and then there is stormy daniels, the porn

full trump show. it had very little to do with rick saccone enjoying millions of dollars from the republican party and outside spending to try to hold on to a seat in the belt that it should be easy for a republican to win but suddenly isn't. he didn't make it about the candidate. he launched the reelection bid in front of the crowd and he's gone, trusted his guts on a number of issues from the announcing north korea talks to going ahead with the tariffs. we've seen him now shift away from the process that had been put in place in the white house and sort of more freewheeling, trusting himself, being his own counsel and we're getting the full trump, if you will. >> jonathan, this is too good. i'll go back to the well before i allow you to speak. we have another mash up from pennsylvania. we've got to do this. >> that washington d.c., got a lot of evil there but we're getting it out. step by step. a lot of evil. a lot of bad people. a lot of bad people, a lot of fake media. look at them. a lot of fake media. fake, fake media. if i don't win the election, their ratings will go so fa

more about, a real friend and spectacular man, rick saccone. >> loves this area, loves this country. >> this guy should win easily. he's going to win easily. you got to know him. he's an extraordinary person. go out and vote on tuesday. for rick saccone. >> axios is reporting the president privately believes saccone could, quote, be a weak candidate. we're joining by mike murray from msnbc political news. this pennsylvania 18th district. it shouldn't be close. some polling calling it a tossup. some calling lamb very competitive but this is a district not likely to exist come november. >> i'm calling this the phantom race of to 18 because you'll have a situation where months later this congressional district is not going to exist anymore. conner lamb, the democrat, will likely be running in the 17th district, not the 18th. rick sacy. saccone is running against a different candidate that's not lamb. why do you have millions spent on this race, the president of the united states, joe biden campaigning for the democrat last week? the question comes down to it's about bragging rights, ab

trump campaigning for rick zicon. polls sew s show saccone is nec neck with connor lamb. a good sunday morning to you, what's the latest from there? >> reporter: good morning, alex, you said it, this is a place that donald trump won two years ago by 19 percentage points, now it's a situation that where rick saccone is neck and neck with connor lamb, who is a form marine vet, when you talk to republicans on the ground, trump voters, they talk about conor lamb, the question is how many will ultimately conor lamb. how much do you think that will affect the outcome of the election, or do you get a sense that people's votes are already decided and they'll go to the polls with that? >> yeah, alex, i talked to a lot of republicans on the ground who said that they even still support president trump, but ultimately they'll back conor lamb. because in this race there's been a lot of outside spending for rick saccone, the republican candidate. i was at two of his events on friday, one had eight people, the other had 15 individuals, and that doesn't include the dnc staff. he said rick sacco

rick saccone. >> usually in this environment it's the outparty that wants it nationalized and the in party wants it localized. von hilliard, kasie gets to be indoors, unfortunately to be outdoors and in the elements, clearly, there. >> reporter: i was out there earlier today, chuck. >> fair enough. he's got to remember what the totem pole is. you've seen lamb, is there enough trump enthusiasm in this district where nationalizing this race which clearly as the final weekend decision from the president's rally to rick saccone to fox news today and playing the democrats hate god card yesterday, this was clearly a trying to get the trump base fired up, are they? >> reporter: isn't this what we saw just three months ago in alabama. the question around that, donald trump showed up just three days before that election as well and in a special election like this one, are republicans going to show up. not only is it a matter of not necessarily voting for the republican but going to the polls and deciding to pull the lever for the democrats. here on the ground, i was over in irwin here and i w

special election race thinking that it would help boost the standing of rick saccone the republican running for what is an open seat here in the 18th district in pennsylvania. the thing is, as you well know, trade policy is so often a regional issue more than it is an ideological issue. it really depends on where you live. this is steel country. so you have the democrat in this race, conor lamb, who is open to modest protectionist measures because it will do well for steel workers. he also has the backing of the steel workers union which supportses te s the tariffs. so i don't think tariffs are the deciding issue, but still the president is coming to help push rick saccone over the line. he septembnt a tweet. last time he was here, he said saccone was a spectacular man and now saying heading to moon township to be with a really good person, rick saccone, running for congress. big and happy crowd. why not. some of the best economic numbers ever. rick will help me a lot. also tough on crime and border. loves second amendment and receipts van veterans. trouble is the varace is neck a n

slight edge over republican rick saccone. >> rex and i have been talking about this for a long time. we -- we got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things. >> oh, it's not even close to the end. >> angry over hope hicks leaving? new tariffs, announce them immediately. do you want stormy daniels off the front page? >> who doesn't? >> right. so agree to a meeting with the north korean dictator, desperate to get people to stop talking about the special election which should have easily gone to the republicans now being amended on your presidency, fire the secretary of state. right? >> that sums it up willie, doesn't it? >> i love the old movie. >> you know, he won an academy award. >> again? >> first repeat, best actor. >> no, he didn't. >> i was that fish that the lady had sex with. >> oh my god. welcome to morning joe. >> do you think i'm going to watch that? what it's like -- i don't want people telling me that i need to watch that. >> i think it was a love story. it wasn't just about the sex, joe. >> you could have fooled me. >> welcome -- to morning joe. >> it's wedne

congressional election. the race between rick saccone and democrat conor lamb neck and neck. the election tuesday is seen as the bellwether for how november's mid north americans might goo. and also the president's first remarks since a fleury of announces this week. tariffs on steel and aluminum. and historic announcement of an upcoming between trump and kim jong un. is the president's last minute push to boost saccone signaling republicans are actually worried about tuesday? >> that is one way to read it. you mention the point that this race between conor lamb and rick saccone is neck and neck. it should not be. this is a race that a relationship and other year would probably have soewn up. i think the fact that there is this discrepancy in the polls between the republican and democrat reflects the fact that there are mixed feelings among trump supporters about the president's own performance. one of the reasons the president is coming here to rev up the republican base ahead of this special election. three days from now the president giving a preview of what he might say tonight. headi

rick saccone into a 2020 trump campaign rally and a chance to revise his presidential history, all 414 days of it, and to set a new, as yet, unprecedented bar for unsettling, bizarre behavior in office. >> remember i used to say how easy it is to be presidential, but you'd all be out of here right now. you'd be so bored. i was joking. i said, ha, president for life, that sounds good. maybe we'll have to try it. >> when i was in china, and other places by the way, i said, mr. president, do you have a drug problem? no, no, no. i said what do you attribute that to? well, the dealt penalty. i'd love oprah to win. i'd love to beat oprah. i love her weakness. >> that went on for an hour and 15 minutes because apparently that's how long it takes to threaten drug dealers with the death penalty, take personal credit for the olympics, make a public mockery of the presidency of the united states and hurl insults like this one. >> and maxine waters, a very low iq individual -- you ever see her? you ever see her? we will impeach him. we will impeach the president. but he hasn't done anything wrong.

you for being here tonight. rick saccone will be a great, great congressman. he will help me very much. and then you go, god bless you and god bless the united states of america. thank you very much. [ laughter ]. >> that's easy. see, that's easy. that's much easier than doing what i have to do. >> yeah. i don't know. i don't know. matt, maybe after you talk to bob mueller you won't think it's quite so easy. that's president trump stumping for a candidate that he reportedly trashes in private. he's doubling down on everything. on all of these head-spinning policy decisions, he's doubling down on his attacks against the media. he's doubling down on his attacks against hillary clinton. he's doubling down on his inflated margins of victory in 2016. in short, just another day at the office. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it's monday, march 12th. with us, we have got veteran columnist and msnbc contributor mike barnacle. noah rothman, columnist and associated editor for the washington post, david ignatius. also nbc news national political reporter heidi prison bella will be with

university poll shows conor lamb up six points over rick saccone, that is a difference from nine months ago when he was ahead by three points. so why is this race in trump country so competitive? one big reason is enthusiasm. democrats have overperformed in the major special elections since president trump took office. republicans are already sounding the alarm that taf g-- that they've got their work cut out for them if a district like this is hard to keep. they can't spend millions on every race like this one and if the republicans lose tomorrow after the campaign appearance and after all of the money that has been spent it could spell big trouble in november. my colleague von hilliard joins us from the ground in pennsylvania. why is there so much enthusiasm for lamb than saccone. >> i think we're seeing in the congressional races is candidates. candidates matter. if you go over to a place like texas, right, there is congressional dire congressional -- districts more popular but here you have a 33-year-old former mean vet and a prosecutor in conar lamb. he is an exciting figure for pe

, campaigning in pennsylvania, a political reason, stumping for rick saccone, the president had another campaign in mind, his own. >> our new slogan when we start running in, can you believe it, two years from now, is going to be keep america great exclamation point. >> and picking familiar targets as well as the new ones. >> can you imagine covering bernie or pocahontas, maxine waters is a low iq individual. >> nancy pelosi, you can't have that and conner humb, lamb the sham. >> the president stunned u.s. allies and his own advisers announcing he will meet north korean dictator kim jong-un face-to-face, meaning being planned. that contradicted what his own secretary of state had said just hours earlier. >> we're a long ways from negotiations. i think we just need to be very clear united states and idealistic about it. >> white house officials scrambled to announce what exactly the president was announcing, adding new conditions to the meeting. >> they promised to de-nuke clearize. we have to see concrete and verifiable actions take place. >> walking those pre conditions right back. >>

concede until tonight. conor lamb just tweeted, just got off the phone with rick saccone, who congratulated me and graciously conceded last tuesday's election. i wish him the best. conor lamb will be sworn in next month. already he and rick saccone are campaigning for already what will come next in a newly drawn district in pennsylvania. this has been the race of the year thus far in the house, and we might get a rematch. that does it for us tonight we'll see you tomorrow now it's they're just so impressive. >> they're very impressive. and they know what they're doing. >> they're very impress and i've -- impress and i've they know

better looking than him. i do. i do. >> personally i like rick saccone. i think he's handsome. >> you say you're on the air and they say i'm looking at a picture of you and they say very handsome. so trumpian. >> clearly the most important factor for a president, congressman or white house economic advisor, no word yet on which handsome devil might replace h.r. mcmaster. >> i think it may be willie. willie is a good looking guy. >> larry is a handsome man. >> you must be eye candy to work in the white house. let's face it. and actually, we've had conversations with him when he's talked about people he's trying to hire and he's like, i like the look. i like the look of that person. >> it is. >> in trump tower i'm staring at him, he's thinking about somebody to be on his foreign policy team, foreign policy team and he's like, i like the look. the look works. >> during the transition at trump tower he would tell people around him the idea of wanting someone that came out of central casting. >> great. >> that's how rex tillerson got there. >> my god. it's just -- >> one secretary of state

going. rick saccone was the worst candidate we have ever seen -- well, ever, since december, roy moore. >> the worst in 2018 by a long shot. >> so the irony is he brought in voters in 2016 that never voted before. now people who never voted before now are because of personal animas to the president. >> i think we're going to get killed. >> that district is why trump won. getting voters in a district like that to go for him in overwhelming numbers, up three percentage points more than romney in 2012. that's the margin of victory in those three states, pennsylvania, ohio. that's where he won. and if the district shifts 20 points in the other direction, that is what we call a harbinger of doom. >> doom. >> i don't think you can call conor lamb a republican. he ran as a moderate democrat. this is exactly what happened in 2006 when rahm emanuel got pro gun, military people to run in these seats and won 30 votes. >> give me some hope. >> just to address john real quick. a, is nancy pelosi in trouble? conor lamb specifically called out nancy pelosi and said i'm not associated with her. does t

the pennsylvania 18th congressional district, exchange for rick saccone. voters go to the polls on tuesday. this is a special election. democrats, including joe biden, have been supporting conor lamb. this is one of those test cases about the mood of the country for the midterm elections. the president won this same area in pennsylvania by a big margin in 2016. so it's a trump supported area. and yet in the polling being done for this congressional race, it's either neck and neck, and democrats are feeling conor lamb may have a shot here. so it's important for the president to go and campaign but it's also a risk in that candidate doesn't prevail. >> absolutely. all right, kelly o'donnell at the white house, thank you, kelly. >>> let's go to a new report about west wing intrigue. "vanity fair" is reporting that the president is going for a clean reset. jay newton-small and jereenginj peters join me. jeremy, the "vanity fair" article says, the first to go would be john kelly and h.r. mcmaster. it also says gary cohn had been lobbying to be chief of staff and quit when he didn't get

president. he's going to be there saturday to stump for rick saccone. going all in on a house race far from a sure bet and this district isn't even going to exist after november thanks to redistricting. both parties are spending only in 2018 in the world of fake news and you are spending $20 million on a fake district. we'll be back with more "mtp daily" in 60 seconds. i text in full sentences. i refer to every child as chief. this hat was free. what am i supposed to do, not wear it? next thing you know, i'm telling strangers defense wins championships. -well, it does. -right? why is the door open? are we trying to air condition the whole neighborhood? at least i bundled home and auto on an internet website, progressive.com. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. i mean, why would i replace this? it's not broken. you wouldn't accept wfrom any one else. this? so why accept it from your allergy pills? most pills don't finish the job because they don't relieve nasal congestion. flonase allergy relief is different. fl

. already he and rick saccone are campaigning for already what will come next in a newly drawn district in pennsylvania. this has been the race of the year thus far in the house and we might get a rematch. that does it for us tonight we'll see you tomorrow now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." hi, lawrence. >> where is steve kor knack knan you need him. >> if we kept him on, he would have no life. >> i could have watched another hour watching you talk to them, it was wonderful to hear from them, wonderful to see them with you, getting to finish sentences in a calm and reasoned conversation. they're just so impressive. >> they're very impress and i've th -- impress and i've they know what they're doing. and they're being decent to the each other and creative. it kind of gives you hope. >> they are an amazing combination of good soldiers and leaders at the same time. thanks, rachel. "vanity fair's" contributing editor has been watching donald trump's moves for decades she knows more about donald trump than most of the political reporters who have only covered him a co