CHRIS MATTHEWS: Republican Rand Paul is doing something few in his party seem willing to do, he's trying to reach out to African-American voters. Last year Paul spoke to students at Howard University and then this Friday he addressed the National Urban League Conference and told the crowd that he was teaming with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker to expunge nonviolent felonies from a person's record because it makes it harder to find a job and because it disenfranchises voters.



RAND PAUL: Nationwide 5 million people are prevented from voting because of their criminal record. It's the biggest impediment to voting in our country. i want more people to vote, not less.



MATTHEWS: Senator Paul's message has a libertarian lilt of course, government is not your friend is his message. The jury is out of course whether it will sell with any voters, especially African-American voters. As this New York Times photo shows there were quite a few empty chairs in the room at Rand Paul's address, but the paper describes it this way, not so nicely: row upon row of empty chairs. The space didn't look much fuller after one of the organizers urged people seated near the back to fill in the front rows. I think they are laying it on there a little thick. Anyway, to be fair, Rand Paul didn't exactly get primetime billing. He got to speak at 8:30 on a Friday morning, not exactly primetime.



Joining me is Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson and Michelle Bernard, president of the Bernard Center for Women Politics & Public Policy. So, Gene, as a veteran of the wars and talking about the African-American vote in particular, he's trying to make the argument that there are cases where big government -- which has always been helpful in the Civil Rights, especially in economic programs and support programs -- there's times when it is your enemy. And one of them is when they keep you branded as a felon for life. Even if you committed a crime, say a hold-up at 18 and you clean up your life, you can still never vote, you are never a full citizen again, either. I don't whether that is a common law, I don't know where that comes from. He says we're going to get rid of that, he and Booker.



EUGENE ROBINSON: Yeah, I think if he genuinely wants to appeal to African-American voters, I think, you know, big government is bad is not the way to do it. That's a sort of broad, philosophical point. But, to make specific points, for example, about the felon voting rights --



MATTHEWS: Why doesn't -- Why didn't a Democrat think of that? I mean, blacks have been voting for, historically, we're getting into the numbers, but African-Americans have been voting Democrat pretty faithfully. Why didn't a Democratic official come out and say, you know what, this felon thing is is too general, too permanent, it kills hope?