Scott Jennings and John Nichols on Kentucky’s State Election

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Let me just ask you about the Trump effect because, obviously, we did play that soundbite and it’s gone all over the place. It’s a famous one, you know, “You can’t let it happen to me,” and it did. What does that mean for his stickiness and his sticking power when it comes to, you know, helping a candidate because it didn’t work with this — in this case?

SCOTT JENNINGS, FORMER ADVISER TO MITCH MCCONNELL: Yes, it did not work for Matt Bevin. I would say that it worked for the attorney general, Daniel Cameron, the Republican who flipped the attorney general’s office from Democrat to Republican, was also solidly embraced by Donald Trump, endorsed by Donald Trump. Brought up onto the stage at the rally by Donald Trump. And Daniel Cameron got a 58 percent of the vote. So, I don’t think it says a lot, honestly. Bevin was way down, all year long. I never, frankly, saw a poll, internal or external, that had Matt Bevin ahead. He was way down all year. I do think the president’s effect, Christiane, was to help boost overall turn out. And we did see Republican turn out for the rest of the ticket go up. It just didn’t translate for Bevin. So, this was a case of having one bad apple in a bunch. But fortunately for the Republicans, one bad apple didn’t spoil the whole bunch.

AMANPOUR: OK. So, to you the, John Nichols, writing for “The Nation” and, you know, you’ve been watching all this very carefully from the very key State of Wisconsin. It — you know, you had predicted or others had predicted that there was going to be a blue wave and it didn’t really turn out like that. Obviously, Virginia, as we’ve discussed, was significant. But one flip in Kentucky and in, you know, some of the others that they stayed Republican. How do you see it for the Democrats who want to make hay out of this?

JOHN NICHOLS, CORRESPONDENT, THE NATION: Well, the Democrats will make hay and Republicans will make excuses. And here is what we have that is important to understand. The president of the United States will, unless he is impeached and removed from office, be leading the ticket in 2020. His promise to Republicans who are in difficult races is that he’ll be able to help them. Well, Matt Bevin was in a difficult race. Everything Scott said is true. And so, the decision was made to focus that race nationally to bring the president in to make an all-in and very strong appeal on behalf of a votefor Matt Bevin as a way to sustain and support Donald Trump. It didn’t work.