Chris McDaniel in Politico.com

On Budget & Economy: Those in D.C. don't appear to be listening

• "Cochran supports earmarks and crossed over to vote with Democrats on a host of issues. There are those like Senator Ted Cruz who not only vote with conservatives, but give voice to liberty-loving citizens across the country. Then there are those like Thad Cochran who are completely missing in action in the fight against ObamaCare."
• "Chris McDaniel has the courage to stand up to the big spenders in both parties."
• "Chris McDaniel is ready to take the fight straight to the liberals in Washington who have led us to $17 trillion in debt."

On Environment: Supported Katrina relief, but some funds were misspent

Pressed on the 2005 Katrina bill specifically, he conceded: "I probably would have supported it," adding that "some of the money [in the Katrina bill] was misspent." When it comes to government spending, he argued, "It's one thing to provide immediate storm relief and to protect people's lives and property, it's quite another to benefit campaign supporters."

Asked whether there was a specific instance of government abuse he had in mind, McDaniel responded: "Not that I can say. I think the people of the coast understand that some of the money was misspent," he said. "I'm not alleging that Sen. Cochran misspent it."

A campaign spokesman reached out the morning after the interview to "clarify that Chris would've been a yes vote on the disaster bill.

On Principles & Values: Tied to Tea Party and endorsed by conservative groups

The endorsing groups stressed that McDaniel has proven his right-wing bona fides. "Chris McDaniel is not part of the Washington establishment and he has the courage to stand up to the big spenders in both parties," the Senate Conservatives Fund executive director said.

Cochran , mingled with about 70 donors at a reception this week at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters. He suggested this summer that it might take months before he shares his plans. Asked about the attacks, Cochran's spokesman emailed: "Senator Cochran has indicated that he will determine his plans regarding the 2014 election cycle later this year."

On Principles & Values: OpEd: Cochran accused of courting blacks for runoff vote

In a media call on Wednesday with Cochran aides, an anonymous caller repeatedly asked questions about the senator's interaction with African-American voters. "If black people were harvesting cotton, why is it OK to harvest their votes?" the caller asked. Some McDaniel supporters have accused the Cochran campaign of paying African-Americans to vote for the senator in the runoff.

On Welfare & Poverty: No welfare state: "I'm not going to do anything for you"

"I'm not going to do anything for you," McDaniel said. "I'm going to get the government off your back, then I'm gonna let you do it for yourself."

About an hour later and less than a mile away, speaking in the same fluid, confident patter, he hedged that statement. McDaniel said he was not prepared to take a position on either the federal farm bill or the Cochran-backed effort to fight rate hikes in flood insurance--two local issues for which assertive federal action is plainly popular. "You can't very well send 1,000 government promises to people and then pull the rug out from under them the next day," McDaniel said.