How 2012 spelled the end for House GOP’S West, Walsh – but not Bachmann

>>> republicans may not need to look very far to understand why the president won re-election and why democrats increased their majority in the senate. house republicans like allen west , todd akin , and joe walsh all gave very good reasons for why americans should vote against them. mr. walsh repeatedly attacked his opponent for talking about her military service . tammy duckworth lost both legs and part of her right arm while serving in iraq. she didn't attack mr. walsh , instead, she offered his offer of help.

>> it's not about me. this is about the people of this district and if he has services that can help the people of my district , then i'm absolutely going to accept that help because time and again i said this is not about me. it's about our nation. it's about the district . it's about the people i serve.

>> nbc's luke russert joins us live from the capital. luke, joe walsh was the first elected member to appear on this broadcast. what finally finished him off? his disgraceful attacks on tommy duck worth, his contempt for the president, hiss abuse of harry reid , his failure to pay child support, his abusive response to constituents? i could go on. what do you think it was?

>> well, martin, all politics is local is something we're fond of saying, and the knock on joe walsh was that he was more concerned with his own self-image than he was for the actual constituents in the district .

>> you surprise me. why would anyone think that of the great mr. walsh .

>> what's interesting if you talk to high level gop aides, a lot of them are smiling owe every this joe walsh loss because guess what? one less thorn in the side of speaker boehner within his own conference he has to think about and deal with. there weren't a lot of tears at rnc headquarters when joe walsh went down.

>> wow, so they're actually celebrating his demise. todd akin is gone having given up his house seat to run for the senate. what about the great allen west ? the man who claimed to know of at least 79 communists in the house of representatives . he's not taking his loss too well these days, is he?

>> this is fascinating. he's still contesting his election. right now it shows he's down to mr. murphy in florida's 18th district by 2,556 votes. that's above the 0.5% threshold which would trigger an automatic recount in florida. allen west is going to now -- he's now lawyered up and he's trying to sue by claiming that there have been irregularities in st. lucy county, saying the vote count was not conducted accurately and fairly. so that's still somewhat of a cliff-hanger but it's very surprising because patrick murphy was outspent 4 to 1 by allen west . allen west was a tea party fund-raising machine, and if the current results hold, which for all intents and purposes we believe they will, allen west goes down, that's a trophy buck they will be putting on the wall.

>> they're calling like the clubs. i have to ask you about michele bachmann . she managed to pull off a razor thin victory in minnesota, as you know. do you expect her to repeat her call for an investigation into congressional members who she feels may not be american enough?

>> well, i don't know if she'll necessarily say that, but rest assured, martin, she will certainly still be a dynamic force within the republican party . what's interesting about that specific race is i went out there and i covered it. a lot of republicans i spoke to in the district said exactly the same reason of joe walsh , she's put herself too much out in front instead of caring about the district . if 2k789s had actually spent more money in that district , the dnc, there's a very good chance they could have beaten her. folks did not think it was going to be this close. she was obviously in the fight of her life, about you i'm sure there's some folks in the dnt side saying, wow, if he had done a little more, perhaps we could have taken her out. what really helped her was gay mar raj was on the ballot.

>> i think we're all glad she's there is we can enjoy the entertainment. stay with us. the day's "top lines" are coming up. [ male announcer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the market, he goes with people he trusts, which is why