Howard Fineman sat down with Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday to discuss the Republicans likely to seek the GOP Presidential nomination.
Fineman explained the current breakdown of the Republican party:
"There really are at least two Republican parties right now. There's the Iowa Republican party, and that is the one that's going to be the first to speak in the nominating race. And there's sort of the establishment Republican party, and it's a crude way of dividing things, but it's pretty accurate."
He continued, "People like Pawlenty and Romney and Barbour are the ones who think they can speak to the whole country, or at least they haven't given up on the thought of doing so. Right now the other candidates are focused on one thing, getting 25-30% of the caucus votes in the Iowa caucuses early next winter. That's all it's about for all these people, and they can't be focused enough on Evangelical issues, on the hardcore rhetoric, that's why they're out there doing what they're doing."
Fineman also had some thoughts on Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). He explained, "I think if there's not another real Evangelical focused candidate in the race, I think Michele Bachmann can run very close and very strong there, and that's what she's planning to do I think."
WATCH (via MSNBC):
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