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America Votes 2002: Most Expensive Senate Races

Aired November 05, 2002 - 11:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: By now, you have probably been inundated with political ads on television, flyers in your mailbox, and even phone calls on behalf of the candidates. All of that campaigning does not come cheap. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider here to talk about the cost of a vote, and there have been some bucks spend on this election, have there not?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. ANALYST: About a billion on television advertising alone, at least that, a whole lot of money. And the Senate races have gotten a lot of that money, in large part because the parties have to spend all of their soft money by the end of this year, and then it becomes illegal under the new campaign finance laws.

Look at these most expensive Senate races in the country. The one that comes at the top of the list, North Carolina, $21 million according to "The New York Times," $21 million spent in the North Carolina Senate race, $18 million in that Minnesota race, where we had the tragic death of the incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone, the last minute-substitution of Walter Mondale, when the race started all over again five days ago. Georgia, where we are right now, $15 million, that's a lot of money here in the state.

KAGAN: What surprises me as I look at the list, those are not the most expensive media markets.

SCHNEIDER: No, they are not. They are some of the tightest races in the country, where the biggest campaigns have gone sort of wall to wall, when I've gone through some of those states, the voters say we long to see a used car ad on television, anything other than these nasty television ads for candidates.

KAGAN: What about governor races? There is one in particular that one candidate has kind of opened up his own wallet.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, he has, Tony Sanchez in Texas has spent -- is expected to spend about $70 million, almost all of it his own money, to win the race in Texas. He's not winning so far in the polls, although of course he can use that money to crank out a heavy turnout among Latino voters in South Texas, San Antonio, all over Texas in fact, then he has a chance. The problem is, can he spend enough money to get them out. He's spending about $70 million, the Republican incumbent Rick Perry about $25 million.

KAGAN: No contests there in terms of money. But what about voter turnout? This is a midterm election. There is not necessarily the hottest issue to get people out. What does that look like? SCHNEIDER: It doesn't look terrific. It doesn't look like the voters are energized. There's no dramatic national crisis like impeachment four years ago, or anger over President Clinton's health care plan in 1994. People are concerned about the economy. They're worried about the war with Iraq. If anything, it looks like President Bush is doing what he can to energize and rally Republican voters to get out to vote. The question is, will the Democrats be able to do the same thing on their side? What issues have they got? It's kind of hard for Democrats to rally if they don't have a leader comparable to President Bush.

KAGAN: As I understand it, when they look back on 2000, actually The Republicans looked to the Democrats were impressed how they did get the voters out, and tried to not necessarily copy, but improve their own effort to get Republican voters out there.

SCHNEIDER: In a number of states, particularly Florida and Georgia, African-American voters came out in very large numbers. They were energized through labor unions, churches. They did a tremendous job out there on the ground, on street, getting Democratic voters out. So Republicans say, we're not going to let that happen to us again.

KAGAN: We were just a little while ago visiting with Gary Tuchman, who's in Dunwoody, Georgia, not that far from here, Georgia being the first state to go electronic all across the state. How do you think these new machines, not just here in Georgia, but other districts around the country, will affect turnout.

SCHNEIDER: Well, some people maybe curious to find out how it works, but I think one problem could be, a lot of voters are unfamiliar with those machines. If you've ever brought a new computer or a fancy new telephone, you know when you look at the thing, you say, what in the world do I do now? You have to read the manual. But when you vote, you only have a few minutes. So the question is, are people going to be able to look at these things and vote quickly and get out? They're designed to do that, but I spoke to a voter from Georgia this morning, who said, well, I voted, and I think Pac Man came out and gobbled up my vote. I don't know what happened. It could slow down voting as voters confront unfamiliar equipment.

KAGAN: I want to put on the spot just a little bit. When we sit here this time tomorrow morning, what do you think will be the lead story that we're talking about?

SCHNEIDER: Well, so far the voting story, it looks like the machines are working. We hope that won't be the lead story.

KAGAN: I mean at the whole race of the election, what will be the lead of election 2002.

SCHNEIDER: The Republicans say, I'll credit them here, they say the lead is going to be a minor miracle. Republicans gain seats in the House of Representatives in a midterm election with a Republican president. That's never happened before, especially it's never happened when a party controls Congress already. They are confidently predicting that they're going to pick up seats, which is something you've never seen, and that would be a big boosts for president bush.

KAGAN: We will be watching it, and like I said, a long day, a long night for all of us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 5, 2002 - 11:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: By now, you have probably been inundated with political ads on television, flyers in your mailbox, and even phone calls on behalf of the candidates. All of that campaigning does not come cheap. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider here to talk about the cost of a vote, and there have been some bucks spend on this election, have there not?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. ANALYST: About a billion on television advertising alone, at least that, a whole lot of money. And the Senate races have gotten a lot of that money, in large part because the parties have to spend all of their soft money by the end of this year, and then it becomes illegal under the new campaign finance laws.

Look at these most expensive Senate races in the country. The one that comes at the top of the list, North Carolina, $21 million according to "The New York Times," $21 million spent in the North Carolina Senate race, $18 million in that Minnesota race, where we had the tragic death of the incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone, the last minute-substitution of Walter Mondale, when the race started all over again five days ago. Georgia, where we are right now, $15 million, that's a lot of money here in the state.

KAGAN: What surprises me as I look at the list, those are not the most expensive media markets.

SCHNEIDER: No, they are not. They are some of the tightest races in the country, where the biggest campaigns have gone sort of wall to wall, when I've gone through some of those states, the voters say we long to see a used car ad on television, anything other than these nasty television ads for candidates.

KAGAN: What about governor races? There is one in particular that one candidate has kind of opened up his own wallet.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, he has, Tony Sanchez in Texas has spent -- is expected to spend about $70 million, almost all of it his own money, to win the race in Texas. He's not winning so far in the polls, although of course he can use that money to crank out a heavy turnout among Latino voters in South Texas, San Antonio, all over Texas in fact, then he has a chance. The problem is, can he spend enough money to get them out. He's spending about $70 million, the Republican incumbent Rick Perry about $25 million.

KAGAN: No contests there in terms of money. But what about voter turnout? This is a midterm election. There is not necessarily the hottest issue to get people out. What does that look like? SCHNEIDER: It doesn't look terrific. It doesn't look like the voters are energized. There's no dramatic national crisis like impeachment four years ago, or anger over President Clinton's health care plan in 1994. People are concerned about the economy. They're worried about the war with Iraq. If anything, it looks like President Bush is doing what he can to energize and rally Republican voters to get out to vote. The question is, will the Democrats be able to do the same thing on their side? What issues have they got? It's kind of hard for Democrats to rally if they don't have a leader comparable to President Bush.

KAGAN: As I understand it, when they look back on 2000, actually The Republicans looked to the Democrats were impressed how they did get the voters out, and tried to not necessarily copy, but improve their own effort to get Republican voters out there.

SCHNEIDER: In a number of states, particularly Florida and Georgia, African-American voters came out in very large numbers. They were energized through labor unions, churches. They did a tremendous job out there on the ground, on street, getting Democratic voters out. So Republicans say, we're not going to let that happen to us again.

KAGAN: We were just a little while ago visiting with Gary Tuchman, who's in Dunwoody, Georgia, not that far from here, Georgia being the first state to go electronic all across the state. How do you think these new machines, not just here in Georgia, but other districts around the country, will affect turnout.

SCHNEIDER: Well, some people maybe curious to find out how it works, but I think one problem could be, a lot of voters are unfamiliar with those machines. If you've ever brought a new computer or a fancy new telephone, you know when you look at the thing, you say, what in the world do I do now? You have to read the manual. But when you vote, you only have a few minutes. So the question is, are people going to be able to look at these things and vote quickly and get out? They're designed to do that, but I spoke to a voter from Georgia this morning, who said, well, I voted, and I think Pac Man came out and gobbled up my vote. I don't know what happened. It could slow down voting as voters confront unfamiliar equipment.

KAGAN: I want to put on the spot just a little bit. When we sit here this time tomorrow morning, what do you think will be the lead story that we're talking about?

SCHNEIDER: Well, so far the voting story, it looks like the machines are working. We hope that won't be the lead story.

KAGAN: I mean at the whole race of the election, what will be the lead of election 2002.

SCHNEIDER: The Republicans say, I'll credit them here, they say the lead is going to be a minor miracle. Republicans gain seats in the House of Representatives in a midterm election with a Republican president. That's never happened before, especially it's never happened when a party controls Congress already. They are confidently predicting that they're going to pick up seats, which is something you've never seen, and that would be a big boosts for president bush.

KAGAN: We will be watching it, and like I said, a long day, a long night for all of us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com