MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

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MADDOW: That was Democratic Senate candidate from here in Delaware, Chris Coons, committing politics today after one of his would-be constituents at the Mid-County Senior Center near Wilmington told Mr. Coons that he thought Republicans were laying siege to social security. He said he wanted Mr. Coons to pledge to defend it. Here"s my interview with Chris Coons.

Mr. Coons, thanks very much for your time. I really appreciate it.

We"re at the Mid-County Senior Center in Pike Creek(ph) in New Castle County. Tell me about the decision to campaign here, when you made the decision how to best use your time. Why come here?

COONS: This is a great senior center. I"ve been coming here for years for the decade that in county service. And it"s a community that I know well and where there"s a lot of questions, a lot of tough questions and concerns about social security, about the veterans administration, about health care, about the direction of the country.

And one of the things I find very good is to keep listening to and responding to the real concerns of Delawareans. Now, I"ve gone to senior centers, to civic associations, to fire (UNINTELLIGIBLE) up and down the state of Delaware. And this just happened to be a good day for the senator in me to be here.

MADDOW: You know, being here reminds me of every local political event I ever went to as a kid, you know, my dad being on the fire commission and seeing people do that sort of stuff.

I mean, this is timeless retail politics. I have to ask, are you running into your opponent on the campaign trail? Part of the reason a lot of the national media is here is because nobody can find her.

COONS: I"ve seen her once since the primary. She came to a public debate.

Other than that, I have not run into her at all.

MADDOW: Does that seem politically important to you or is that just a tactical decision to have a bit of campaign (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

COONS: How she"s running her campaign really doesn"t concern me. I"m interested in trying to connect with as many Delawareans and listen to their concerns as I possibly can.
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MADDOW: Yes.

MADDOW: My concern is that she thinks that this is a state that will respond well to lots and lots of, you know, paid media and the TV ads and the negative talk. I don"t think it will and I"m looking forward to having debates with her and to being at community events with her.

I hope Delawareans will get a chance to listen to both our ideas and to compare our experience, our values, our background and where we want to take the country. I think she speaks for a wide group of folks who are angry and very concerned and upset about what"s going on in Washington.

And I keep hearing from folks of those groups that they want to take their country back. And my view is I want to take our country forward. And I look forward to the chance to put those views and compare them.

MADDOW: It"s not just a difference in orientation in terms of who your opponent is listening to, who she is getting advice from and who she is directing her message to. It"s also a difference in money.

I mean, one thing about the fact that you are running unexpectedly

against national conservative celebrity is that it"s a huge tide of money

from outside the state. How do you -

COONS: Five weeks ago she had $20,000 at that time. Today, if you believe her Web site, she used to have $2.7 million in pledges. And that is a real concern that this, as you"ve heard, tide of money from around the country would come to our little state to try to influence the outcome.

Obviously, outside money did have a big influence in the outcome of the primary. My strategy is to continue doing what I"ve been doing since I started in county service, go up and down the state, listening to people, being with them and coming up with real, concrete proposals to address their concerns. Because at the end of the day, this is Delaware.

MADDOW: Yes.

COONS: People want to meet their candidates. They want to know what you"re going to do for them. And they want to listen and talk with you about their real concerns.

MADDOW: How do you run away from the Martha Coakley Phenomenon? I mean, she got that special election in that case, you know. I don"t mean that you"re - you"re not Martha Coakley and Christine O"Donnell is not Scott Brown.

But the dynamic, in some ways, is the same. The out-of-state funded, celebrity conservative against somebody who has been a lifelong public servant of the state?

COONS: I haven"t been a life-long public servant. I spent eight years with one of Delaware"s most innovative manufacturing companies and I don"t take anything for granted.

This is an election. To me, as you heard me say, this is a job interview. And I"m going to keep working my hardest up until Election Day and then afterwards. And I think Delawareans respect that, respond to that.

They want to see that you"re out there working hard. That would be my

you know, if I were advising my opponent"s campaign, because I"m sure Delawareans haven"t gotten a chance to meet her, to see her, to understand what she is about and what she"s going to do.

MADDOW: Yes.

COONS: I think Delawareans, at the end of the day - they"re going to respond to engagement and to respect. And I don"t know what happened in the Massachusetts race, but my impression was Martha Coakley didn"t work really hard after the primary. She took it for granted. You can"t take anything for granted.

MADDOW: Democrats across the country are paying attention to this race now because Mike Castle is expected to be the Republican nominee, expected to be a very strong favorite. Now, that he"s not the nominee, Christine O"Donnell is, you are expected to have a very good shot. You are up in the polls by double digits as the Democrats around the country are paying attention to you.

You were the founder of the College Republicans at your college. You cut the living hell out of the budget in New Castle (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as New Castle county executive. Should Democrats around the country, people who don"t know you for your service in Delaware, think of you as a progressive?
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COONS: They should get to know me. They should look hard at my issues, at how I"ve spent my time, at my values and my service. I am a fiscal conservative and that"s in keeping with Delaware and a lot of Delaware"s traditions.

But I am progressive on issues that I think are critical to the folks who have driven and inspired and supported the progressive movement nationally. I resist certain easy labels on one thing or the other. But there"s a whole series of, I think, very important issues on which I"m a solid and reliable Democrat and progressive.

MADDOW: On the issue of your service in New Castle County, your opponent and some other people in the state are suggesting that your campaign is interfering with your performance as New Castle County executive, that you should resign New Castle County executive, what"s your response to that?

COONS: I"m working as hard today as county executive as the whole six years I"ve been county executive. I have a great team. The county is doing very well. I have, in my county executive office, daily and I am on top of all the issues in the county. We have 28 days to the election.

MADDOW: Yes.

COONS: And I frankly think I put up my record of public service and of leading and managing and running our government against my opponent"s record.

MADDOW: Let me ask you one last question. I know you have tried to run your campaign in a way that avoids making it all about Christine O"Donnell. But I have to ask you, though - she"s an unusual candidate who has taken unusual stances.

In 2006, she said she had access to classified information that she couldn"t discuss but that indicated that China was trying to take over the United States of America. She has talked about being around blood-soaked, satanic altars in her past.

She has talked about her fear that people are hiding in the bushes at her campaign headquarters, out to get her. Are there issues about not just her policy views but her world view, her connection to reality that you feel like are relevant to this first, that you need to talk about to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

COONS: I think that"s a decision Delaware"s voters are going to make on November 2nd. I"m grateful for a chance to get out and meet and talk with and listen to average Delawareans up and down our state. That"s what I"ve been doing since the campaign began.

At the end of the day, Delawareans are very commonsense, very levelheaded people. And I think they"ll make their own judgment about all the other issues that the national media has done a great job of highlighting the campaign. But what I hear from Delawareans, none of them asked me about this stuff.
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MADDOW: Yes.

COONS: They ask me, "How are you going to get us back to work? How are you going to fix the deficit in the budget? How are you going to protect the environment? How are going to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Because that"s what they care about. At the end of the day, that"s what this campaign is about.

MADDOW: Do you have access to any secret information about China trying to take over the United States?

COONS: No, I don"t, Rachel.

MADDOW: I"m going to ask everybody in Delaware thinking that, maybe, somebody will let me know why she might know.

COONS: Well, I wish you the best of luck in finding my opponent and asking her questions.

MADDOW: Chris Coons, thank you very much for giving us some time today. I really appreciate it. Thanks.

The man that you heard in the background while I was interviewing Chris Coons was Delaware"s Senior Senator Tom Carper who was at the senior center today, talking with people, spent the whole morning there meeting with his constituents.

I was able to do that interview today because Chris Coons has public events on his campaign calendar that you can actually find and go to. His Republican opponent Christine O"Donnell, a whole other story, which you will see in just a moment.

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