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Battle in Virginia, Montana; White House Reaction; View From the Hill

Aired November 08, 2006 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You're with CNN. You're informed.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments keep coming into the NEWSROOM on this Wednesday. It's November 8th, the day after midterm elections.

Here's what's on the rundown.

Jubilant Democrats. Angry voters put them behind the wheel in the House of Representatives.

HARRIS: A republican president forced to make Pennsylvania Avenue a two-way street again. A roadmap to the new Washington in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Under new management. Democrats capitalize on voter anger and crush the Republicans' 12-year lock on Congress. The American people voted for change, so says Nancy Pelosi. The California Democrat is now in line to become the first female speaker of the House.

But at this hour, control of the Senate still too close to call. It may come down to the bitter contest in Virginia. Democratic challenger Jim Webb holds a paper-thin lead -- he is on the right of your screen -- over incumbent George Allen. The Virginia race appears headed for a recount. Because of quirks in state law, a final answer here could be weeks away.

What we do know, President Bush faces his greatest opposition yet on Capitol Hill. He will enter his final two years with at least half of Congress in Democrats' hands. Tax cuts, the Iraq war, the war on terror all could be steered in a possible new direction.

We are going to be hearing from the president in an afternoon news conference. It's scheduled for 1:00 Eastern. You'll see it live.

HARRIS: So here's how the numbers break down in the newly divided House.

Democrats went into yesterday's elections needing 15 seats to win a majority. They've nearly doubled that goal. CNN projects the Dems will pick up at least 28 seats by the time the final votes are tallied.

Democrats faced a tougher challenge in the Senate: hold on to two vulnerable seats and win six pore. Democrats have held on to their two seats and gained four from Republicans. Two races, Montana and Virginia, are still too close to call.

Let's talk about that cliffhanger in Virginia. The outcome determines who controls the Senate. The margin whisper thin and a recount is almost certain.

CNN's Brian Todd is live in Richmond.

You know, Brian, we're talking so much about a possible recount I have to ask you, have all of the raw votes been counted?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not quite yet, Tony. We're told that about 400 or so votes are still outstanding. And we also are just told a moment ago that the margin that Jim Webb thought he had as of maybe an hour or two ago is a little bit thinner than he thought he had.

A state official has told us that because of a couple counting errors, the margin that he has right now is about 7,000. He has a lead of about 7,000 votes on Republican Senator George Allen. That is less than one percent. And if a candidate is at less than one percent by the November 27th certification date, he can ask for a recount. The candidate that's losing by that margin can ask for a recount.

So that is the news at this hour. It is even less of a margin than we thought. And in about a half hour, we're expected to hear from a senior adviser to Senator Allen. Ed Gillespie is supposed to be speaking at a news conference. At that time we may know more about Senator Allen's plans for the coming days and weeks.

But last night it was really on a cliffhanger. This was a race that Senator Allen and those who followed him and followed this race very closely thought he had as of a couple of months ago. It was supposed to be a cakewalk.

Last night we knew going in it was going to be close. It was. Allen had a lead for much of the night. It kept getting chipped away.

And after midnight, with James Webb coming out slightly ahead, both candidates came out and spoke to the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE: We all go out, we vote, we argue, we vote. But also, I would like to say that the votes are in, and we won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: So the point of the matter is, I've been through it. I think that the counting -- I know the counting will continue through the night. It will continue tomorrow.

And I want to thank you all, because I know you're going to be like a bunch of eagles and hawks watching how every one of these votes are accurately counted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And those votes are going to be counted over the next roughly three weeks by state election officials. November 27th is the key date to watch out for here. That is the certification date for the vote. That's when all the votes will be tallied.

If the margin at that point is less than one percent, there's no automatic recount. If the margin is less than one percent, the losing candidate can request a recount. That's when it requested. Then the recount takes place.

So, Tony, this may not play out, this may not finish playing out until sometime in December.

HARRIS: And -- December, wow. And with so much on the line here, Brian, it seems to me -- I can assume -- we can all assume, it seems, that attorneys are on the ground from both sides. And I would imagine federal election officials are on the ground as well.

TODD: That's right. I mean, if they're not here now, they're certainly going to be down here in the next day or so.

This place is going to be crawling with it. It will probably seem a little bit like Florida in 2000, although maybe on a slightly lesser scale.

But hey, you know, this is going to be very hotly contested. This is for the control of the Senate. This is the one seat that may make the difference.

HARRIS: Yes.

TODD: And you can bet that if it's less than one percent, which it really looks like it's going to be, the person on the losing side is going to request a recount. It will probably be contended very heavily in the next month or so. We may even take this until Christmas -- Tony.

HARRIS: That is something.

Brian Todd for us in Richmond.

Brian, thank you.

COLLINS: Still counting in Montana as well. The Senate race too close to call. The outcome crucial to control of the Senate.

CNN's Chris Lawrence reporting now from Billings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The last precincts are just reporting in, and Democrat Jon Tester leads incumbent Republican senator Conrad Burns by a razor-thin margin. But there are several factors at play that may prevent an official winner from being declared for quite a little while.

One of those is Montana's recount law. It allows the loser to request a recount if he lost by less than one half of one percent. The numbers are close enough that make that at least a possibility.

The other issue is the provisional ballots out there. These are ballots that, say, someone went to the polls, they didn't have the proper I.D., they cast a provisional ballot, then when they bring in their I.D., that ballot is then counted. Well, if, say, Jon Tester were to win the election by 1,000 votes, but there were still 1,500 provisional ballots out there, that would prohibit the secretary of state from being able to declare the election.

There was no one central issue in this election. Sure, Iraq played a part. Definitely some Democrats voted against Republican Conrad Burns because of his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Some said he was the poster boy for the culture of corruption there in Washington.

But Republicans hammered away at Jon Tester, calling him a high taxer who was too liberal for the state of Montana. The state was almost evenly split among these two men, and it remains to be seep which one will win, and therefore tip the -- possibly tip the balance of power in the Senate as well.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Billings, Montana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The voters have spoken. Now it's President Bush's turn.

Let's go to the White House now and CNN's Kathleen Koch.

Kathleen, we are going to be hearing from the president in about two hours live in a news conference. Any idea what he's going to be saying today?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly he's going to be, Heidi, getting a lot of questions about just what this vote meant. So many voters going into the polls, coming out of the polls, telling reporters that this was all about Iraq. So we'll certainly be hearing the president getting a lot of questions about whether or not this was a referendum on his conduct of the war in Iraq.

Let's talk a little bit about last night. The president got the news around 11:00 p.m. that Republicans had lost control of the House. It was his chief strategist, Karl Rove, who made that call. And counselor to the president, Dan Bartlett, said, "Obviously the president is disappointed with the results." Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino says, "He's not the first president to see a Congress change, and he won't be the last. While Congress has changed, the issues have not. We have plenty of time to get a lot done, but not enough time to waste a single day."

And to that end, right out of the gate this morning the president began making calls to Democrats, starting, of course, with the presumed House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Perino said that Mr. Bush congratulated Pelosi and vowed that the two of them would be able to work together in the final two years of his presidency.

He also called House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and other Democrats. Perino saying that there was "strong spirit of goodwill" in the conversations.

The president did invite both Pelosi and Hoyer to the White House tomorrow to join him for lunch. And we're assuming they're going to be accepting that invitation.

The president, of course, also reaching out to Republicans, calling out, calling Speaker Dennis Hastert, saying that while they came up short, they are both committed to working with Democrats to get things done for the country -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. We'll wait to hear that news conference certainly at 1:00, once again, as a reminder to our viewers.

Kathleen Koch outside the White House.

Thank you.

KOCH: You bet.

HARRIS: The view from Capitol Hill this morning. Democrats are taking control of the House for the first time in 12 years.

Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel joins us live now.

And Andrea, a big deal here from the standpoint of we're talking about managing the House, running the House right now. We're talking about committee chairmanships changing hands. We're talking about new offices. And in some cases, it seems to me, drapes from red to blue.

And then there is the plan moving forward.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, exactly, Tony.

A long list of to-do items for Democrats. And Nancy Pelosi, who is now the speaker-elect of the Democrats in the House, had said that she wasn't measuring the drapes. In fact, Democrats today are pinching themselves.

They hadn't really dared to allow themselves, many of them, to accept the fact that after 12 long years they'd finally be back in the majority, but today they find they are. And Nancy Pelosi had already set out what she said would be a very long list of things she'd like to accomplish, not in the first 100 days that they're in power, but the first 100 hours. And things like raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, enacting the 9/11 Commission recommendations, trying to roll back the subsidies that oil companies had been getting from the federal government, cutting college tuition by half, a long list of items.

Now, on the other side of things, Republicans are also somewhat in shock today. You had Tom Reynolds, who is the Republican chairman of the Congressional Campaign Committee, who right up until the bitter end not only was fighting for his own political life, but was also trying to paint a bright, positive potential for his party.

Now, today he offered congratulations to his Democrat -- the colleagues across the aisle. Among them, Rahm Emanuel, who is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM REYNOLDS (R), NEW YORK: You know, I've got to congratulate Rahm Emanuel, my counterpart, for his hard work in achieving the majority.

Second, what will be, I believe, Speaker-Designate Pelosi to be congratulated to be the first woman speaker.

My goal and job will be to make sure she never sets the record that Denny Hastert has in the House. That being one of the longest serving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Now, Speaker Hastert became the speaker for the Republicans in 1999, has been the longest serving Republican speaker. Obviously, Tony, feelings are still very fresh, very raw on the Republican side.

HARRIS: Andrea, let me pick up on something from Tom Reynolds. And let's get back to Nancy Pelosi for a moment.

The battle has been so hard fought. Nancy Pelosi calling the president at one point incompetent. And you had a conversation with her.

How do you go -- how will she go from being so opposed to the policies of this president to now bridging that wide gulf?

KOPPEL: Well, Nancy Pelosi is a very practical politician, and she says that even though she personally, obviously representing San Francisco, leans to the left of her party, that she governs by consensus. And if the Democrats are going to accomplish a lot of the goals that they've laid out, not the least of which is what to do about Iraq, they are going to have to work hand in glove with the White House -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel for us. Andrea, thank you.

COLLINS: Close races, recounts, election glitches. Some decisions could come down to the courts.

Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin will weigh in on the 2006 election.

HARRIS: Missouri voters weigh in on a highly emotional issue. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, the stem cell research vote in Missouri.

COLLINS: The eyes and ears of Election Day. We'll tell you how some people answered their own call of duty. That's coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

Let's get to you Washington, D.C., now. Last hour we heard from Tom Reynolds, who heads up the Republican National Congressional Campaign Committee. This hour, Rahm Emanuel, the man who heads up the victorious Democratic National Congressional Campaign Committee.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

REP. RAHM EMANUEL (D), ILLINOIS: OK? In districts like a Chris Murphy against a Nancy Johnson, a Ron Klein against a Clay Shaw. And we expanded the field so we had a universe that could take advantage.

What you couldn't see a year out, but what became apparent three months out, was we were going to have an expanded field with expanded opportunities for Democrats. All of those candidates ran as change agents, and we have the expanded field to deal with it.

Now, also, there was numerous veterans, but specifically five Iraq war veterans. Four of them got elected. Tim Walz, Patrick Murphy, Chris Carney, Joe Sestak -- Tammy Duckworth did not make it, but the four of them did make it and came -- are coming to Congress. One of them, a three-star vice admiral; one the head of the National Guard unit in an area in his state, Minnesota, Tim Walz. You know about Patrick Murphy's credentials, and then you know that Chris Carney has both taught at the War College and is also a lieutenant in the Naval Reserves.

A couple other things.

In August 2005, we launched the rubberstamp Web site and the awards each week for rubberstamp members of Congress. And that became a label the Republicans did not want to see, and became a national identity for the Republican Party and the Republican Congress. And they paid a price for their blind loyalty to the president.

Also, as you saw on CNN's exit polls -- and, you know, about people's disruption and not happy with the kind of sense of corruption around Congress -- in April of 2005, we launched from this room, this place right here, the House's scandal (ph) Web site. And we began the notion that there was something amiss in the United States Congress.

Some -- I know a lot of the other party, even some of the press corps, thought that was small, belittling, not up to par what happened, but there was a sense that this Congress was not dealing with the challenges that happened. But if you go across the list from Don Sherwood to Charles Taylor to Tom DeLay to Richard Pombo, to Curt Weldon, down in Florida, every member -- and Bob Nacy (ph) -- every member -- sorry about that. I was doing that by memory. That's what happens when you get two hours of sleep -- every member or district that had an issue related to the professional conduct of that member switched and became Democratic.

That was eight seats. Half of the 15 you needed.

In addition, two other kind of -- or two other -- three other...

HARRIS: And you've been listening to Rahm Emanuel, the man who heads up the -- well, victorious. Two hours' sleep, didn't sleep much last night. One would imagine a little celebrating. The man who, I guess, could be said to be wearing the kingmaker's hat today.

Democrats went into yesterday's election needing 15 seats to win the majority, and they nearly doubled that. According to the CNN projections, the Dems will pick up, what, 28 seats when all the votes are tallied.

COLLINS: Both Republicans and Democrats have dispatched lawyers to Virginia. Control of the Senate is on the line, and a recount appears almost certain.

Joining us to talk about legal challenges in the 2006 election, our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Jeff, nice to have you here.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Heidi C., how are you?

COLLINS: I am great, thank you.

So, all right. We've got Montana, we've got Virginia. And the law of recounting is a little bit different in those states. It's about one percent, less than one percent.

TOOBIN: Well, it's different in each state.

COLLINS: Right.

TOOBIN: In Virginia, if someone is behind by less than one percent, which in the context of this race is about 24,000 votes, they can request a recount. Here, as we see on the screen, Webb is ahead by a little over 7,000 votes. So it's within that margin Allen can request -- request a recount.

But if you look at very recent history, just last year, the attorney general's race, the state attorney general's race...

COLLINS: Right.

TOOBIN: ... there was a recount. The Republican was leading after the election by just 300 votes. And after a very long recount that took until December 22nd, he wound up gaining just 27 votes.

In other words, the leader stayed in the lead, and the switch was just 27 votes. So I don't see, unless there's some earthquake that no one expects, how Allen can pick up 7,000 votes in a recount. That just doesn't happen...

COLLINS: In a recount, yes.

TOOBIN: ... in most states. And it certainly hasn't happened in Virginia in recent years.

COLLINS: Yes, that's true. You've always got to look to the history, obviously.

But in Virginia, there is this issue, is there not, of electronic voting?

TOOBIN: Right, which makes the recount even harder for Allen, because there's no -- there's no paper trail. There's no paper ballots.

All the recount is in -- with electronic voting, is you go back to the machine, you look at what the readout is, and then you write it down again. And maybe there was some transcription error the first time, but there are no chads to look at.

It's not a punch card ballot. It's not an optical scan ballot, which is like, you know, the SATs, where you can look at the little circles being filled in.

COLLINS: Yes.

TOOBIN: This is just the result. Now, this is why some people have a problem with electronic voting, because there is no paper trail. But that's what exists, and that makes Allen's task that much more difficult.

COLLINS: So are you calling Virginia?

TOOBIN: That's way above my pay grade, Heidi. I don't do any calling.

COLLINS: All right. I thought I might have had you at a weak moment.

Let's talk about a couple of other states. Some issues, if you will, in Denver and Indiana.

We mentioned Denver already on this program, but not exactly sure what we're talking about here. They basically just ran out of time to leave the polls open late, is what happened. But why?

TOOBIN: You see, this is why elections are always so messed up in the United States, is because basically, unless there's a super- close election, we sort of forget about the problems. And in Colorado, there wasn't a super-close election.

The Democrat won the governorship by a wide margin, so no one -- no one is focusing on it. But our system, frankly, stinks.

We have lots of different systems. Denver had horrible problems. There were problems in Indiana. There were problems elsewhere.

But because we don't need to sort out the last vote, we're not going to be following up on this. But, you know, we still have the big problems that we had from Bush v. Gore six years ago because there is no good standard equipment across the country.

COLLINS: It's just amazing. It really is.

Quickly, really quickly before we let you go, Jeffrey, minimum wage, this passed in several different states. States passing minimum wage increase versus the feds.

What happens here? Is this -- is this not unconstitutional? The argument behind it?

TOOBIN: It seems pretty clear. I mean, the Supreme Court has never addressed this directly, but other courts have, and they have all approved local minimum wages that -- I mean, the U.S. government, the federal government, sets the absolute minimum wage. It can't be less than $5.15 anywhere.

But states do have the ability, it seems -- as I say, the Supreme Court has never passed on it, but the states do have the ability to set it above $5.15. And that's what six states did yesterday. Several other states have done it.

So my own personal Supreme Court says it's going to be OK.

COLLINS: Says it's going to be OK. All right. See, that's why we have you here. You've got your own personal Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, you're going to be coming back in about 30 minutes or so, Jeffrey, talking about some other issues with the Supreme Court, particularly abortion.

TOOBIN: A big day there. We'll talk about that.

COLLINS: Right. Partial-birth abortion.

Jeffrey Toobin, always nice to have you. Thank you.

TOOBIN: See you, Heidi.

HARRIS: Well, the volatile abortion issue in on the ballot in the 2006 election, and South Dakota voters said no to an outright ban on abortions. The vote repeals a state law that virtually outlaws the procedure. Oregon voters rejected a measure that would have required parental notification before minors could get an abortion. A similar measure was defeated in California.

COLLINS: The balance of power shifting in Washington. Democrats party, Republicans sweep up the confetti.

What now? Find out from the two political strategists we have here today in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And nutrition news. Always time for some good nutrition news. New findings in children who don't get enough iron early on will suffer the consequences for years to come.

That story coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.

HARRIS: The University of Miami mourning the death of a popular football player this morning. Bryan Pata, a senior defensive end with the Hurricanes, he was shot and killed in the parking lot of his off- campus apartment last night just a few hours after football practice. The 22-year-old Pata was expected to be selected in the next NFL draft.

He was well liked across campus. Miami quarterback Kirby Freeman describes Pata as the team's guidance counselor.

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein back in court today after being sentenced to death in his first trial. This time around, the former Iraqi leader and six co-defendants are accused of genocide against the Kurds in the late '80s. Meanwhile, more deadly attacks in Iraq. Word that a U.S. Marine died after he was wounded in combat in Anbar province. Also this, the military says coalition forces killed ten militants and rescued an Iraqi policeman in a raid north of Baghdad.

Trouble escalating in the Mideast today. Hamas is vowing to retaliate after Israeli shellings of Gaza early this morning. Palestinian medical sources say 19 civilians were killed, seven children among them. Sources say Israeli tanks fired into the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Just hours after Israel announced a withdrawal from the area. A week-long offensive there was aimed at rooting out militants, firing rockets into Israel. Israel says Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is ordering an urgent investigation into the incident. He has halted artillery fire in the area.

Tennessee, one of the key battlegrounds for the Senate on Election Day. The latest from the Volunteer State. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

And politics and paychecks. Find out which states voted to give minimum wage workers a raise. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And right now let's go to Richmond, Virginia. This is Ed Gillespie, who is the spokesman for Senator George Allen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

ED GILLESPIE, SEN. GEORGE ALLEN SPOKESMAN: ... so far a difference of three-tenths of 1 percent. This obviously has been a hard-fought contest. And Senator Allen thanks all of his staff, the volunteers and especially the voters of Virginia for their participation. No one is more interested in the outcome of this race in Virginia than are we at the Allen campaign.

I should begin, I should also say, by the way, I'm Ed Gillespie, and I'm an adviser to the Allen campaign. And so we are closely watching the canvassing process that has begun this morning. Under Virginia state law, every election in Virginia is followed by electoral boards meeting to confirmation the accuracy of the election night vote tallies. These canvasses are required by law, and each electoral board, each local board's canvass takes between three to four days. Some smaller jurisdictions will complete their canvasses by the end of today. Some of the larger jurisdictions obviously need more time. And counties have until Tuesday, November 14th, to complete these canvasses.

The vote tallies that are confirmed by each electoral board at the conclusion of the canvass will be the final official results. What you see now on the state board of elections website are unofficial results. These canvasses often and commonly turn up mathematical mistakes and tabulation errors, juxtapositions of numbers, numbers being written in the wrong columns and attributed to the wrong candidates, and the canvasses correct those mistakes. Just this morning, for example, it turned out that the Hartwood precinct in Stafford County reported yesterday James Webb had received 1,969 votes, but this morning upon checking, the report was corrected and Mr. Webb's tally was reduced to 541 votes, a gain of 1,428 votes for Senator Allen.

Now, Virginians are familiar with this process. We went through it last year in our attorney general's race where Republican Bob McDonald, the current attorney general, was up by 3,000 votes over his opponent on election night. But by the next day, after the canvasses, that number had been cut in half. The margin was reduced to 1,500. And by the time the canvass was completed, Mr. McDonald's margin had been corrected downward to a certified vote of 323 votes. The canvass also counts provisional ballots, those cast by citizens who came to a polling place, but did not have the proper identification or maybe had the wrong address. Those votes will be set aside and will be reviewed by the canvassers as well.

State Board of Elections will certify the final vote count on November 27th. The fourth Monday of November. And then when the results are official, they will declare a winner in this contest and every other contest in the Commonwealth of Virginia that was held yesterday. Senator Allen and Virginians treasure our representative democracy and appreciate the Commonwealth's laws that protect the integrity of the electoral process, and we look forward to its completion. Thank you again for being here this morning. I am joined also by Lee Goodman, who is the general counsel of the Republican Party of Virginia. In case there are questions that are more technical in nature than someone...

HARRIS: OK, you've been listening to Ed Gillespie who is an adviser to the Allen campaign. And Heidi, I think what we clearly can see here is this is going to be -- look, the race has been contested, before we get into all that, pipeline, if you want to follow the rest of this briefing, this update from Ed Gillespie, you can go to pipeline at CNN.com/pipeline.

What we see here clearly, it's been a contested race throughout. And even in the counting of the votes, this will be contested to the very end here. Canvassing...

COLLINS: Which is November 27th,

HARRIS: That's right.

COLLINS: Apparently we heard Ed Gillespie saying. Interesting that they've already apparently say that one of the votes has been recounted. Senator George Allen picking up about 1,000 votes or so compared to what was counted previously there apparently, according to Ed Gillespie was some type of mistake. He's got to get about 7,000 though to actually pull ahead. I believe that's what we were just talking about with Jeffrey Toobin a while ago.

HARRIS: What's interesting is the whole idea of canvassing. Because, what happens here, it is just this process of going from precinct to precinct and checking the machines and making sure ...

COLLINS: Remember it well, don't you from a couple years ago?

HARRIS: Well, you can't forget it. So, that's the process to make sure that the numbers reported were actually the numbers that were in the machines, and it's a process that will go on for probably the next couple days, you would imagine.

COLLINS: Yes, I bet you're right on that.

Meanwhile, that balance of power certainly shifting in Washington. Democrats party and Republicans are doing a little bit of sweeping up the confetti. What now? We're going to find out from two political strategists coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to get to some new video straight away. You are looking at the new Speaker of the House. I should say Speaker of the House-elect to be perfectly proper, Representative Nancy Pelosi, the first female...

HARRIS: She's turned out today, huh?

COLLINS: She looks happy. Indeed, she does. She's actually just arriving here at Capitol Hill. She's going to be talking to -- there they are, seventh graders -- from Queens, New York. They are on a tour. So she's starting early, shaking hands with the folks as the speaker-elect to the House. All right, want to go ahead and listen to some sound here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: I feel very excited. And I think it's a good sign that coming here the first day, that these children are here. I think it's just wonderful because actually, the election is about the children; it's about the future.

It's always about the future, always about the future.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Think ahead! Think ahead!

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: We are the future.

PELOSI: You are the future.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I am the future.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: We will become someone.

QUESTION: What did Speaker Hastert say to you?

PELOSI: Let me just finish. I just spoke to the speaker. He was very gracious. He congratulated me, and he said he offered his services and that of his staff for any needs we may have here in the transition. I told him despite however you characterize our relationship, I considered him a friend and would appreciate any advice that he had. And I said, you know, I enjoyed so much giving him the gavel that I was looking forward to him having that pleasure himself.

QUESTION: And President Bush?

QUESTION: What about your conversation with Bush?

PELOSI: With President Bush, we had a nice conversation. He congratulated me as well. I told him though what I said last night, that I looked forward to working in a bipartisan way with him, that the success of the president is always good for the country, and I hope that we could work together for the American people. He said that he thought that that would happen. And that we would talk about it over lunch tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, everybody. Thanks, everybody.

(CROSSTALK)

PELOSI: Well, I think we identified with the concerns of the American people, whether it was for jobs, health care, education, energy independence, dignified retirement, and making our country safer. And nowhere is that direction more needed than, of course, the war in Iraq. So our six for '06 I think captured the concerns of the American people, and we certainly have a mandate for making this place more honest, making it operate in a more civil and bipartisan way and doing so in a way that does not heap mountains of debt onto future generations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: So, there you have it, Representative Nancy Pelosi on her way to being the first female Speaker of the House. Want to let you know that she will be having a news conference that will be coming our way in about 15 minutes or so. Our extended coverage of CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be following that for you. We'll bring it to you live when it happens.

And, meanwhile, changes in the corridors of power, the Democrats are celebrating big wins. With us now to discuss it all, CNN political contributor Paul Begala in New York. Hi there, Paul.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Heidi.

COLLINS: And in Washington, Republican strategist Frank Donatelli. Thank you Frank for being here.

FRANK DONATELLI, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.

COLLINS: All right you guys, we're going to do something different. The election's over, some of the counts aren't all the way in. But election's over, so no spin, OK. Let's go straight to the heart of the matter. Frank, you answer the question first. Is this a Democratic win or a Republican failure?

DONATELLI: Well, it's always a little of both. I guess I would just note that our -- I mean, I would take note that our failures were that we didn't have the highest ethical standards with some of our members. And most importantly, we got away from our reform agenda, which got the Republicans the majority in 1994, and we were too interested about spending more money and not taking abilities to talk about the priorities that we had back then.

I would also say, though, and it would just be offered in the spirit of advice that the Democratic agenda was discussed this year was not exactly expansive. The minimum wage and lobby reform are really not, I think, number one on the priority of a lot of Americans. So I think when it comes down to it, both parties have to work together now. The Democrats control the House. We don't know who controls the Senate. And the Republicans control the Executive branch, and we have to work together to see if we can do the people's business the next two years.

COLLINS: So Paul, Democratic win or Republican loss?

BEGALA: Well, I think Frank's exactly right. I think the Republicans dropped the ball, but the Democrats were able to recover it. I'll try to put the sports metaphors away after that Heidi, I'm sorry about that.

COLLINS: OK, thank you. BEGALA: I'm a little tired. And I think Frank's also right that the winner here will be the one who gets to the middle first. Right, the one who is most authentic about reaching out in a bipartisan fashion. Let's watch and see what our president does. You know, Frank worked for President Reagan and he worked wonderfully with Tip O'Neill, they were bitter partisan opponents, but they worked well together for the country. When I was working for Bill Clinton, we lost the Congress. I know exactly how they feel. But President Clinton worked well with Newt Gingrich, even as Newt was trying to impeach him.

Now can the president rise up? You know, the optics we just saw matters. We just saw Ed Gillespie, former Republican Party chairman, former Enron lobbyist, standing up in a very partisan way saying we're going to contest this election. Well, you know they lost Virginia by 8,000 votes. It is over. And then contrast that ...

COLLINS: Yes, but according to the law, to be fair, Paul, according to the law, it's not over -- it's within the 1 percent.

BEGALA: Right, but according to the laws of reality. As Jeff Toobin was pointing out before, the attorney general's race they recounted and didn't even move 300 votes. They're not going to move 8,000 votes.

COLLINS: I think if you were an adviser to that campaign, you would be waiting and you would be recounting as well.

BEGALA: You know what I would be saying? No, there's 8,000 votes separating us. The last recount didn't even move 300. The winner here is the first who looks more bipartisan. Now, who looked more bipartisan -- former party chairman Ed Gillespie, very Republican, or Nancy Pelosi, who just then was talking about how she met with the Speaker, talked with the Speaker, and how gracious the Speaker was, how she's reached out to the president, how they had a good talk together. At least, round one, Nancy Pelosi's is cleaning their clock because she looks like the bipartisan kind of Speaker of the House we need.

COLLINS: Frank go ahead there.

DONATELLI: Can I extend the sports metaphors just one more time to say -- it's never over until it's over, which is what Yogi Berra said. And there are recounts and there are re-canvasses allowed under the law. I think Senator Allen should avail himself to that. But to come back to the issue of bipartisanship for just a second. Here's somewhere maybe where the parties can come together. The president is going to be having, I understand it, a meeting tomorrow with the new speaker. And hopefully he's going to reach out and talk about one of the big issues that were important in this campaign, Iraq. People are dissatisfied with our lack of progress.

Hopefully if the president could extend a hand for Democratic help and in return the Democrats would drop the rhetoric about just pure withdrawal, or as they say, redeployment, and really work with the administration to find a way that we can make progress in Iraq, because as all Americans, we have an interest in seeing a stable country when we finally leave there.

COLLINS: Let's talk quickly, if we could, too, gentlemen, aside from the issues now, when we look at this election, we talk about kingmakers. It's always interesting to know who's behind things like turnout, things like voter confidence and so forth. And some of these names that come up -- Howard Dean is the head of the DNC, we've got Rahm Emanuel, and then we've got on the other side, Karl Rove. Who was running, if you will, this midterm election, Paul?

BEGALA: The MVP here is Rahm Emanuel. He's the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He recruited really talented candidates in races nobody thought he had a chance in. And then when the wave came, he had people who were ready to capitalize. He raised the money, he raised the issues, he found the good candidates. Now, Karl and I go back over 20 years. We've always gotten along very well. But, somebody's going to wake up and do the math and say well wait a minute, Karl, 9/11 gave your president a 93 percent approval rating and you wrote it down to 35. And Newt Gingrich gave you a Republican majority and you seem to have squandered that. And so, where's the genius, Karl?

COLLINS: Frank?

DONATELLI: I'd have to say Rahm Emanuel did a terrific job. What he did, I think, that really helped the Democrats a lot is he recruited very strong candidates in what were thought to be Republican districts, and he expanded the playing field. So kudos to him for that. As far as the Republicans are concerned, you know what, I think when we look at the final turnout numbers, we'll see that Republicans probably turned out pretty strongly.

I think what happened was that among independents, they broke decisively for Democrats, and that's where reclaiming our Republican conservative agenda is so important. Because that's where we can make a difference.

COLLINS: All right, well, I think that was a very civil discussion. And I appreciate it from both of you.

BEGALA: It will never happen again, Heidi. I'm sorry about that.

COLLINS: Never again. Paul Begala and Frank Donatelli, thanks again guys.

HARRIS: Well, an emotional issue drives turnout in Missouri. Voters narrowly approve a state constitutional amendment protecting stem cell research. The measure drew support, strong support in fact in urban areas and wide-spread opposition in rural counties.

You know, we want to take a moment to clarify something we have been showing throughout the morning here on CNN, some eagle-eyed viewers, you, you, have asked why our graphics show the Senate's balance of power as equally divided between Republicans and Democrats? Well, they correctly point out that the numbers should read 47 Democrats and two independents. The reason we lumped them together is that those independents have said they will caucus with the Democrats.

A new Supreme Court, an old but controversial issue. The abortion debate, arguments before the high court today ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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COLLINS: All right, some more video that we want to show you once again here. This is the Northwest flooding situation. Thirty inches of rain, these people have gotten in the area and it continues to come. Not looking all that great over the next couple of days, so really watching out, people trying to save their homes like this one.

As you see, they're trying to put gravel and sandbags all over the place. It is absolutely unbelievable as we watch some of these rivers crest and go over their sides.

Chad Myers standing by now to tell us a little more about this. How much more rain is really likely here, Chad?

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HARRIS: Well, a protest outside, arguments inside. The Supreme Court steps square in the middle of the abortion debate this morning. Justices are considering the constitutionality of a federal ban on a late-term abortion procedure. It's commonly referred to as partial- birth abortion.

The court has covered this legal ground before. Six years ago, justices invalidated a similar law in Nebraska by a vote of 5-4. But since then, the makeup of the court has changed with the additions of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both appointed by the president. Abortion opponents hope the personnel changes will bring about a different outcome this time around.

CNN NEWSROOM continues. We'll be coming up, joined by Don Lemon and Kyra Phillips over the next hour. We're going to be talking all about election coverage. Don't miss it. It's starting at noon, everybody.

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