Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

President Bush Speaks With Incoming Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi; Virginia Recount?; Montana Senate Race.

Aired November 08, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And it's a new day dawning on Capitol Hill as Democrats are poised to now take back the House. The first time that's happened in 12 years.

M. O'BRIEN: As for control of the Senate, a virtual tie, 49-49. Two races still being counted as we speak.

S. O'BRIEN: This morning we're going to talk to the Democrat who might be the new House majority leader, and we'll talk to the Republican who some say might be to blame for some GOP losses.

We've got those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you, Wednesday, November 8th.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Thanks for being with us.

M. O'BRIEN: It is 8:00 a.m. in the East Coast here in the U.S. Here's what's happening this morning.

The Democrats roll up huge wins in the House. CNN projects at least 28 seats to regain control, while the U.S. Senate is still undecided at this hour. The Democrats did pick up four of six seats needed to control there, locking in a win for Claire McCaskill in Missouri overnight. And we'll talk with her straight ahead.

But the true battlegrounds this morning, Virginia and Montana. The winners of those races will determine who controls the Senate.

We're getting word that President Bush called Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi this morning. She is expected to become the first female speaker of the House. We'll hear from the president at a news conference slated for 1:00 Eastern this afternoon -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We're also going to keep you updated as those results come in throughout the morning. We've got reporters in those two undecided states. Ed Henry is in Virginia for us. Chris Lawrence is in Montana. We've got Dan Lothian, who is covering a couple other surprises as well, although he's not there in that list you're looking at. But Andrea Koppel is. She's going to show us the face of the incoming Congress. And Elaine Quijano is at the White House to talk about the power shift in Washington, D.C., as well.

And, in fact, as we just mentioned, President Bush just spoke with the incoming majority leader, Nancy Pelosi.

Let's get to Elaine Quijano with some details on that.

Elaine, what do you know?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I just talked to Deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, who says that that conversation between President Bush and Nancy Pelosi took place around 7:15 Eastern Time. It lasted several minutes. And we're told that the president congratulated Nancy Pelosi and her candidates on their wins, also pledging to work together. He invited her to lunch tomorrow, as well as other members of the Democratic leadership.

Now, at the same time, of course, the president making a phone call, as well, to the outgoing House speaker earlier, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, thanking him for his work as well. He said that they ran good campaigns, and saying while they came up short, they are committed to working with Democrats to get things done for the country.

But certainly disappointment in the West Wing, Soledad, over those losses in the House. They are still holding out hope for the Senate, but the president clearly trying to reach out and strike a conciliatory tone this morning -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Which is an interesting thing at this point. And, you know, when you saw the president -- and you reported a lot because you were traveling with him -- the president campaigning on behalf of lots of candidates, and it didn't seem to work.

QUIJANO: Well, that's exactly right. The president obviously understands full well the political reality. His approval ratings in the 30s, the unpopularity of the Iraq war.

And we saw reflected in his campaign itinerary that he visited those states friendly to Republicans, red states, states that he won in 2004. An acrimonious tone throughout this campaign, but the White House clearly signaling here that it is time to settle that aside.

The president talking about the conversations. We're told by White House aides there was a "strong spirit of goodwill in the conversations." They're strategizing about how to get things done in the next Congress.

As for the overall mood here in the White House, a senior aide saying that the president is not the first president to see a Congress change, he certainly won't be the last. But also, they're looking at the clock here. This official saying that while they have plenty of time to get a lot done, they don't have enough time to waste a single day -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. But maybe it's "The Daily News" that sums it up the best. They have a picture of the president, his back, at least, and it says, "Ouch, This Hurts."

That's the case.

QUIJANO: They're certainly feeling it here.

S. O'BRIEN: I bet. Elaine Quijano for us at the White House this morning.

Thank you, Elaine.

In Virginia, the race between George Allen, the senator there, and Jim Webb, could be heading toward a recount.

CNN's Ed Henry is in Richmond this morning.

Hey, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

That's right, you just heard about the president's phone calls this morning because of that power shift. The power shift may not be over. Democrats already capturing the House. Depending on how this Senate race goes, the Senate could also flip to the Democrats, so much at stake.

Right now Republican Senator George Allen is trailing. I'm standing outside the headquarters where he watched those returns come in. A lot of frustration in the Allen camp last night. They had a razor-thin lead throughout the evening, but it kept getting chipped away, chipped away by Democrat Jim Webb, who now is holding a slight lead into this morning.

What has to be frustrating to Republicans across the country is that this race in particular was supposed to be a cakewalk for George Allen. He was going to easily get re-elected, then run for president in 2008. They thought he had a good shot at it.

Instead, he had a lot of miscues, especially that "Macaca" moment. He was tied to President Bush, the unpopular war in Iraq, as well. Jim Webb hitting those issues very hard.

Now this seat is very much on the brink for George Allen. Jim Webb last night claiming victory, even though he's only up 8,000 votes with some six precincts still uncounted as of this morning. Republican George Allen not conceding anything. But what they both can agree on is that there's going to be a lot of scrutiny of these votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: We're still counting votes. It seems like every time there's a new e-mail, you know, there's some more votes coming in.

There's absentee precincts. There are some counties that say, well, they'll get to counting the ballots later on today. In other words, they've gone home and they'll come back tomorrow and count those precincts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE: Stay with us on this. I've been in a lot of fights in my life. This is nothing new. And we've got people right here who know how this process works. I just want all of you to know it's going to take a while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, under Virginia law, a recount is not automatic, but it's obviously very likely in this case. There's some precedent here. Just last year, in the state attorneys general race, that went to a recount. And to give you an idea of how long this may go, that one lasted for over a month -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Could see the same thing this time around, too.

Ed Henry for us this morning.

Thank you, Ed -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The other crucial race which could tilt the balance of power in the Senate is in Montana. That's where votes are still being tallied in the race between Democrat Jon Tester and Republican incumbent Conrad Burns. Tester as of now is ever so slightly ahead.

We get the latest now from Chris Lawrence, who is live from Billings, where there's been quite a wrinkle in the electronic voting system there -- Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles. What happened was, here in Yellowstone County, they had some problems implementing the software to use in their new -- the counting machines. So that when they encountered a glitch and tried to fix it, it reset everything to zero and they had to go back and start counting Yellowstone County ballots again from scratch.

Now, what was a tight race has certainly got a lot tighter. Democrat Jon Tester's lead has been narrowed now to about 1,500 votes over incumbent Republican senator Conrad Burns.

Now, Democrats need Tester to hold on in this race. They need to take this race to make Virginia relevant. And if Webb holds on there, they would take control of Congress.

Republicans are looking at this as if, if Conrad Burns can somehow change those numbers in the last few precincts and pull out a win here, it would, in effect, make Virginia irrelevant. Because if the Republicans win here, there would be no way for the Democrats to have the numbers to take control of the Senate. It was really two contrasting styles here. Jon Tester campaigned as an agent for change. Republicans painted him as someone who would raise taxes.

Conrad Burns campaigned on his experience and his support for President Bush, but that may also have hurt him amongst some voters who looked at his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. And the Democrats trying to paint him as part of the culture of corruption there in Washington -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence in Billings.

Thank you very much. The counting continues there -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Control of the House means the Democrats get to set the agenda and have the potential to make history.

Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel live for us on Capitol Hill this morning.

Good morning, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And the potential to make history, because now that Dems have the majority in the House, Nancy Pelosi is poised to become the first woman speaker in U.S. history. And for months now out on the campaign trail, her mantra has been that a vote for Democrats is a vote for change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: Tonight is a great victory for the American people. Today the American people voted for change, and they voted for Democrats to take our country in a new direction.

KOPPEL (voice over): Now that Democrats have won the House, what will they do?

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We're going to move this country in a new direction.

KOPPEL: In a recent interview with CNN, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, now poised to become the next House speaker, promised to use that clout to push an ambitious agenda in her first 100 hours in power. It includes enacting all 9/11 Commission recommendations on national security; increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour; eliminating corporate subsidies for oil companies; and allowing the government to negotiate Medicare drug price; as well as cutting interest rates on college loans and imposing new lobbying restrictions.

As for Iraq, Democrats say they'll make 2007 a year of transition. SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Where we redeploy our troops, putting many if not most of them outside harm's way, both in and outside Iraq.

KOPPEL: On the campaign trail Republicans warned Democrats would increase taxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: IF Democrats take over Congress, they will raise taxes by $2.4 trillion.

KOPPEL: Pelosi's response, yes, but only for the wealthiest Americans.

PELOSI: We will revisit the tax cuts at the high end, but in order to give tax cuts to the middle class.

KOPPEL: Complicating matters, a new batch of moderate and conservative Democrats just elected who will force their party to shift towards the center.

THOMAS MANN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: The trick for Pelosi and the other leaders is going to be to find issues that -- that unify the various wings of the party.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: And that's one reason why experts say once Pelosi starts legislating early next year, she's going to want to try to find issues, at least to begin with, that all Democrats agree on. Among them, minimum wage and returning to a budget rule that's known as pay- go, which means that you will pay, you will find money for any spending that you do or any tax hikes.

Miles, back to you -- or Soledad.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: We're both O'Briens. We answer for each other.

M. O'BRIEN: Any old O'Brien will do.

S. O'BRIEN: Like a married couple, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, ma'am.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks.

Andrea Koppel on Capitol Hill for us this morning.

You can hear more from the next expected speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, this afternoon. She's going to be a guest on "THE SITUATION ROOM". You can catch her at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time -- Honey.

M. O'BRIEN: Democratic control of the House, possibly an evenly- split Senate, and 24 months until the next election. What happens next?

Well, for Candy Crowley, what happens next is a little sleep. But after that it gets into the real fun season for her.

Good to have you with us. And thanks for staying up late, early, whatever you want to call it.

Let's talk about Nancy Pelosi. You've got, you know, Conyers, and Rangel. You've got these, you know, old school liberal Democrats at the top of the party, and most of the Democrats who were elected to give them the majority, these so-called blue dog Democrats, much more conservative.

How's that little -- there's going to be stress within the party, isn't there?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is going to be on social issues, for sure. But Andrea is perfectly right. The first thing Nancy Pelosi is going to do is find something they can agree on. And minimum wage is kind of a no-brainer. Even if Republicans don't go for it or the president vetoes it, which I sincerely doubt, it's a good issue for them.

So she's going to find things. And it's going to be really interesting.

A lot of us said, oh, you know, Nancy Pelosi, she's a San Francisco liberal, and she's, you know, got the most liberal district in the world. But this is a whole different thing.

I mean, there's a reason that Tom Daschle no longer represents South Dakota is because the minute he became leader of the Democrats in the Senate, his agenda became the caucus, as opposed to his state. Nancy Pelosi's agenda now becomes her caucus, not her district.

M. O'BRIEN: And now the Democrats have the burdens of expectations. You know, being the minority power -- minority party out of power, you can throw bombs and the bar is set pretty low.

What about the expectations?

CROWLEY: Yes, somebody once said to me it's easier to throw grenades than catch them.

M. O'BRIEN: There you go.

CROWLEY: And so they're back doing that.

Look, the expectations are pretty high, and I think that's going to be interesting, because no matter how you look at it, the president still has veto power, and they don't have enough -- enough for an override of a veto. So, you can look at it and think, you know, this is a recipe for gridlock. And in large part it is, because you add on top of that, you know, 10 percent of the Senate is running for president. So they're going to have their own agendas.

And I'm not kidding. That's probably a low percentage.

M. O'BRIEN: About the number, yes.

CROWLEY: And so -- but you look at the president, and he's in the last two years. And this is when presidents' minds turn to legacy. And his legacy, obviously, is the Iraq war. But perhaps he wants to do something on the domestic side. Immigration seems like something that might happen.

So maybe they'll find something, but it's not going to be big things.

M. O'BRIEN: The White House says he's going to go to his Texas playbook, bipartisan, whatever. Is that going to happen?

CROWLEY: OK, well, we'll see. I mean, it's just -- you know, my mother said, "Oh, you've gone to Washington and you've gotten all cynical." And that's probably true. I mean, I hear them all the time. I mean, I was here when they changed last time and they were all going to work together, and then two weeks later, they aren't.

So we'll see.

M. O'BRIEN: Candy Crowley, one of the best here, one of the best cynics on our team, as a matter of fact. And part of the best political team on television.

Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: And that's a compliment.

M. O'BRIEN: And that's a compliment -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, the tight Senate battle between George Allen and Jim Webb. We've been talking about it all morning. Will it end up in court? We're going to chat with our senior legal analyst, Jeff Toobin, about that.

And we'll also talk to the former congressman Tom DeLay. Some think that it was his ethics scandal that really kicked off the Republican collapse in Congress. Well ask him about that straight ahead.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The Democrats are ready to take charge in Congress for the first time in 12 years. Do they have a plan for victory in Iraq? What other ideas do they have now that they again have a chance to lead?

Representative Steny Hoyer from Maryland could have a leadership role in the new Congress. Already, he's taken a call from the president this morning. He's currently the House minority whip. He joins us live from Capitol Hill. Congressman Hoyer, good to have you with us this morning.

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MINORITY WHIP: Good morning, Miles. Good to be with you.

M. O'BRIEN: Are you vying for the majority leader job? Is that what you're looking for?

HOYER: Yes, I will be a candidate for majority leader.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. You're going to run up against probably John Murtha. Give me your campaign pitch against him.

HOYER: Well, I don't have a campaign pitch. What I do have, Miles, is a sense that the American people have asked the Democrats to take us in a new direction, to have a change in Washington. They've also asked there to be a check and balance in Washington, D.C.

They were very concerned about the fact that there was no check on the executive department, no oversight. So I am very focused, Nancy Pelosi, our next speaker, is very focused on the effort to work together to accomplish things for working people in this country.

M. O'BRIEN: But when it comes -- when it comes to John Murtha, where you're really at odds with him is on the conduct of the war.

HOYER: Well, you know, I'm not so sure that we're so at odds. About six months ago in March, the Democratic Party put forth a real security agenda, and in that we said that 2006 ought to be a year of transition. It was clear to all of us, clear to me, clear to Jack Murtha, and clear to everybody that the "stay the course" policy was not working, and that whatever we were doing in Iraq was not bringing stability or security and was continuing to expose our troops to great risk. And tragically this last month, to one of the largest losses of life that we've had during this war.

So clearly, the Democrats are united. And we've written three letters to the president over the last four months in which all of us have been signatories, saying, "Mr. President, we need to change policy."

The Baker-Hamilton task force will be reporting very shortly. And I'm hopeful that Speaker Pelosi, myself and others can work together with the president to make a change of course, bring a transition, so that we can get our troops out of harm's way.

M. O'BRIEN: But what can you really do though? Even your own party chairman, Howard Dean, says there's not a lot you can do really to affect the outcome in Iraq.

What really can you do specifically?

HOYER: Well, the fact is we can sit down and talk about next steps. You said I had a call from the president. The president indicates that he wants to do that. We didn't discuss any specific issues, certainly not Iraq specifically, but we did discuss the fact that we needed to work together to solve the problems. One of the big challenges in our country is the quagmire -- and I use that word advisedly -- the chaos that we confront in Iraq.

We need to move forward. We need to involve our allies. We need to make it very clear to the Iraqi government that there's going to be a transition and they need to take responsibility. And we need to work with the United Nations as well.

So we're prepared to work with the president to bring a change in policy that will obviously bring us some degree of success, certainly bringing our troops out of harm's way. But bring in some degree of stability to Iraq.

M. O'BRIEN: Would you rule out at this point, now that Democrats will have control of the gavels, party chairmanships, a series of subpoenas and investigations of Republicans, the White House, whatever?

HOYER: I wouldn't rule out our oversight function being properly carried out. The Constitution clearly contemplates that the Congress has oversight responsibility. It passes the law, it appropriates money and gives that to the executive. But then its responsibility is to make sure that those laws and monies are properly carried out and spent.

Clearly, that function has not been carried out over the last six years. It has been a complicit, complacent Congress in many respects. The American public voted for change in that as well, to restore checks and balances to our system. And I would certainly expect us to perform that function, as we did, frankly, with Democratic presidents.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much for your time.

Representative Steny Hoyer, live from Washington.

HOYER: Thank you. Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Tune in tonight for our post-election special. It begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Wolf, Lou and Paula break down the results, what they mean to you.

Then Bill Maher shares his take on the elections with Larry at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

10:00 Eastern, a special post-election edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360".

It all begins 7:00 Eastern right here on CNN. Stay with us.

S. O'BRIEN: And of course the big stories we're watching for you this morning.

Virginia leading the fight for control of the Senate. The heated race between Senator George Allen and Jim Webb is not over yet.

Plus, just hour after her acceptance speech we talked with Missouri's new senator-elect, Claire McCaskill.

That's straight ahead. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, corruption leads the list of motivators from voters. Did former congressman Tom DeLay's ethics investigation play a role? We'll ask him.

Plus, the fight for Virginia. Will the Senate race between George Allen and Jim Webb be decided in court?

Our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, with more on that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: America votes this morning and Democrats are set to take back the House of Representatives. President Bush now offering congratulations.

S. O'BRIEN: No celebrating yet, though, in the Senate. The votes in Virginia and Montana are still coming in. Already the talk is turning to recounts on this AMERICAN MORNING. Welcome, everybody -- it's the day after, Wednesday, November 8th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us. A complete turn-around in the House of Representatives this morning. Democrats picking up many more seats than they needed to control the House.

In the Senate, it's dead even, 49 to 49. Two races still undecided. They're counting by hand now in Montana where Democrat John Tester leads Senator Conrad Burns by just 1500 votes. And in Virginia, Democrats Jim Webb holding a slim lead over Senator George Allen -- that race could be headed for a recount -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Checking a few other races as well from overnight. In Tennessee, former Chattanooga Mayor and Republican Bob Corker defeated Harold Ford, Jr. for Senator Bill Frist's old seat. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown tops the two-term Senator Mike DeWine. Ohio also has a new governor -- Democrat Ted Strickland. He is the first Democrat who will lead Ohio in 16 years. In, Maryland, Democratic Congressman Ben Cardin defeated Michael Steele. Maryland also going Democratic in the Statehouse as well as Baltimore's Mayor Martin O'Malley defeated the incumbent Governor Bob Ehrlich.

S. O'BRIEN: Tom DeLay left Congress back in June. Many observers though say it was his corruption scandal that was one of the reasons behind the Republican collapse last night. Mr. DeLay joins us. he's in Washington, D.C. this morning. Nice to see you, sir, as always. Thanks for talking with us.

TOM DELAY (R), FORMER HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Nice to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Let's get right to it. Clearly you were to blame for the loss of your seat, which went to a Democrat, Nick Lampson last night. Do you think you're culpable for more than the loss of that one seat?

DELAY: No, I think the corruption issue was really important in about nine or ten different seats. FBI investigations, sex problems. I think that in those particular seats, they did have an impact. But, on all the other seats, the ones that really made the Democrats the majority, I think it was different. We took a whipping last night and we understand that. But those of us and those Americans that want to win the war on terror, want fundamental tax reform, want to stop the culture of death, want to stop judicial activism, we're going to have to wait now until we -- until '08.

S. O'BRIEN: So what you're saying is that people misinterpreted how the voters spoke last night by voting for Democrats in and lots of Republican incumbents out?

DELAY: Well, I don't think the Democrats won. I think the Republicans lost. Republicans staying home, Republicans disgusted with Republican leadership. Republicans did not appeal to the independents. This country is still right of center. Even though we're pretty evenly divided, there are more conservatives in this country than liberals. And if the conservatives come out and vote for their people, they win. I believe that. So the Democrats didn't win. The Republicans lost.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, so how about the role of the war in Iraq and the president's sort of staying the course, although he kind of changed the wording the last couple of weeks. What kind of a role do you think that had in the Republican losses last night?

DELAY: Well, certainly the Democrats put together a coalition of their base. Democrats voted against the Republicans because they hate the war, period. They don't want to fight this war, and we all know that. Then you match that up to conservatives that want to win this war and want to win it overwhelmingly and don't want to play games. That's a coalition that is a prescription for defeat.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question about what John McCain had to say last night. This I thought was pretty interesting. He said it's a wakeup call. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: This is a wakeup call of the Republican Party. We've got to change our practices. Some of our people think we came to Washington to change government and government changed us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Do you think that's true that government changed you and a lot of your colleagues in both the House and the Senate?

DELAY: Absolutely not. I disagree with John McCain. What didn't happen is we didn't articulate what we believe in and when you play not to lose, you're going to lose. We need to regroup, stand up for what we believe in, fight for what we believe in. The American people will support that.

S. O'BRIEN: Some analysts will say actually it was articulated clearly. For example, the Vice President Dick Cheney over the weekend saying, that in fact, it was full speed ahead on the plan to stay the course, essentially, in Iraq. But, that that was very clearly articulated and in fact, that articulation is what drove voters away from Republican candidates and into Democrats.

DELAY: Soledad, that's not what he said, and you know it. What the vice president said was we're going to win this war. We're going to fight it to win. We're not going to turn tail and run. That's what the vice president was talking about. It had nothing to do with staying the course or using old ideas. We all know that. The president is trying to win this war. They adjust to the conditions on the ground, and they have a different world view than the Democrats have. They want to cut and run. Many in America want that to happen. I think that's really unfortunate. I'm sure they will defund the war on terror. I think that makes us less safe in America, and when the American people realize that, they'll turn on them in '08 and kick them out.

S. O'BRIEN: Think Karl Rove is still a genius?

DELAY: Oh, yes. Just because you lose one ballgame doesn't remove your genius?

S. O'BRIEN: Really, you think that -- this is kind of a big ballgame to lose. Some people might say, yes, but if you lose the big one, it actually could chip away at your title.

DELAY: Well, no. Listen, there's plenty to do over the next two years. Many of these seats that the Democrats won are going to be one-term Congressmen. In a presidential year in '08, the Republicans will have every opportunity to take the House back and turn this all around.

S. O'BRIEN: I guess we'll wait and see for that. Tom DeLay joining us from Washington, D.C. Nice to see you sir, thanks for talking with us.

DELAY: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's shift gears from politics for just a moment and talk about the weather. The Pacific Northwest is recovering from downpours and dramatic floods. More rain is in the forecast. CNN's Ted Rowlands live for us from Mount Vernon, Washington with more on this -- Ted. TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, behind me is a 1400- foot-long pile of sandbags. It's a line of defense that volunteers built here in Mt. Vernon to protect the city from the Skaggat River, which is one of many rivers that is running dangerously high in this region after days of pounding rain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Record-breaking rainfall left rivers overflowing and roads and bridges washed out. Hundreds of people had to be rescued and rescue crews, including the National Guard, worked around the clock using helicopters, boats, and vehicles to evacuate the stranded caught off guard by rising water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The waters come up really fast and the fire department came and took us all out.

ROWLANDS: In Louis County, about 80 miles south of Seattle, a 20-year-old man was killed after his pickup truck was swept away by a swollen river.

BILL BINGLE, WITNESS: The bank washed away where he was at and took him on down the river.

ROWLANDS: In the city of Mt. Vernon, 60 miles north of Seattle, volunteers spent two days building a wall of sandbags trying to protect the city from the overflowing Skaggat River.

TED ANDERSON, COUNTY COMMISSIONER: What this means is, if you're anywhere in Hamilton, get out.

ROWLANDS: Records for rainfall in a 24-hour period were set in several Washington cities on Monday and states of emergency were declared in 18 Washington counties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried to get as much valuables up off -- you know, to try to ease the pain of the homeowner. Nothing is going to be more frustrating than coming home to this.

ROWLANDS: Flooding shut down schools for thousands of students around the region. Two polling places had to be relocated, but state officials said this had no series impact on the election.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: It's obviously not raining right now. For the next two days, forecasters say that the region will get a much-needed break. But just talking with the guys at the CNN weather center -- they are expecting major downpours again for this weekend, not the forecast people in this region were hoping -- Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the Senate battle between George Allen and Jim Webb in Virginia. Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin will look at whether this is all headed to court.

Plus, a lighter take, on election night glitches, including a squirrel that nearly threw one election into chaos. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Going into Election Day, the polls told us the closest Senate race of them all was in Missouri, but Claire McCaskill ended up winning pretty handily by about 40,000 votes. Senator-elect McCaskill joins us from St. Louis this morning. I suppose you like the sound of that, Senator-elect. Congratulations to you on this morning after. Tell us, you did better than anticipated in the rural areas of Missouri. What happened there?

SEN.-ELECT CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: Well, we made a very concerted effort to campaign all over Missouri. Democrats traditionally have just campaigned in St. Louis and Kansas city. And I realized what a mistake that was after the governor's race two years ago that I narrowly lost. We spent a lot of time in rural Missouri listening. And people's frustrations out there were real. I think they sensed how badly I wanted to represent them too. And I think in the ultimate, the end game, it made a big difference.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, the way you win in rural Missouri, you have to be a pretty moderate voice. You are a moderate voice. Generally speaking, the leadership of your party from the chairman Howard Dean, to many other leaders of the Democratic Party are to the left of where you sit. Is that going to be trouble for the Democrats as they try to take control maybe of the Senate, but certainly of the House?

MCCASKILL: Well, as a former prosecutor and an auditor who spent the last eight years finding out the ways that government behaves badly and wastes our money, I think it's important that I go to Washington and try to make sure that the Democrats understand that we have got to appeal to the middle of America. We've got to find that middle ground. I think, unfortunately, both the Democrats and Republicans in Washington have been so anxious to make each other look bad, they haven't been as worried as they should be about solving problems. That's what I want to bring to the table.

M. O'BRIEN: In a race all throughout the country that was dominated by Iraq and other issues, your race got into the issue of stem cell research. Voters there, in fact, endorsed a proposal that would actually support stem cell research. And of course, Michael J. Fox, the actor, got into the mix and Rush Limbaugh responded and all that. How do you explain that in Missouri. Missouri, once again, pointing out, it's a conservative place, and yet they're in favor of the stem cell research.

MCCASKILL: Well, what people need to realize is Missouri is a mood mirror for the country. We reflect the country because demographically we match it. Urban, rural, economically, ethically, and so really what happened yesterday, by a narrow margin, but nonetheless, they said we should not turn our back on medical research. I'm grateful that Michael J. Fox was so committed and courageous. That he was willing to be as vulnerable as he was on that television commercial. It wasn't the whole campaign, but it was definitely a part of the campaign that I think made a difference. It made Missourians realize what really is at stake with stem cell research.

M. O'BRIEN: Senator-elect Claire McCaskill, thank you.

MCCASKILL: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN. Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: As you point out, she must like the sound of that this morning.

CNN "NEWSROOM" is just a couple minutes away. Tony Harris is at the CNN center. He's got a look for us at what's ahead for them. Good morning.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, good morning to you. We've got these stories on the NEWSROOM rundown this morning: Voters clean house handing the chamber to the Democrats. Control of the Senate still up in the air. Nancy Pelosi, the woman who will presumably will become Madame Speaker. President Bush both talk live today in the NEWSROOM about Washington's new reality. And a politically charged atmosphere in the Supreme Court this morning. Justices about to hear a major case on the controversial late-term abortion procedure. Join Heidi Collins and me in the "NEWSROOM." We get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN --Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Tony Harris, we'll be there. Thank you. Coming up this morning, the funny side of last night's election. Jay Leno takes aim at one party's troubles. John Stewart pokes a little fun at a story you might have seen right here on CNN. That's ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The elections are over. The outcome, though, might be fodder for the pundits for lots of time to come.

CNN's Ali Velshi has a look at some of the late-night laughs that came out of the midterm elections.

Hey, Ali. Good morning again.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, the elections go on too late for a lot of the late night shows now, so most of them weren't on the air. David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Ferguson, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel were all repeats. But Jay Leno was live, and he was some poking fun at recent scandals that hit the Republican Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": The GOP was concerned about Republican turnout. And in fact, between the Congressmen and the preachers, this will be the first year more Republicans came out than turned out. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Jon Stewart with "The Daily Show" was also live last night. He poked a little fun at us. I was doing some reports on voter irregularities yesterday, and some glitches. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Forty-one laptops at 55 voting sites were affected, and it has something to do with a squirrel.

JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW": There you have it, folks. American ingenuity won the Cold War, and now we've been beaten by a squirrel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Fortunately, Soledad, he didn't catch on to the fact that I had my information a little bit wrong. There was a problem with laptops, and in fact there was a squirrel, but the squirrel was in Oklahoma, and that squirrel is no longer with us.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's what I've heard. He's dead. All right, Ali Velshi for us this morning. Thanks, Ali.

M. O'BRIEN: Sacrificed himself for our Democracy, right? Let's think of it that way.

The election was not perfect, but it wasn't a hanging chad debacle either. But there are two very tight senate Races right now where things are so close that no ballot will go unturned, so to speak. So will there be any legal challenges? Pretty safe bet, I suspect.

CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin has been up all night.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: My election has just started.

M. O'BRIEN: That's right. You are, you are, the day after kind of guy.

Let's talk about Virginia first. And in that case, it's a close race. No reports of any irregularities at the polls, any significant...

TOOBIN: Nothing dramatic.

M. O'BRIEN: Nothing dramatic. But it is close enough where George Allen could demand a recount.

TOOBIN: Absolutely. The rule in Virginia is if the margin is less than 1 percent, and the margin of 7,000 votes is clearly less than 24,000 votes, which would be 1 percent, so yes, Allen would be within his rights to demand a recount, although given recent history in Virginia, looks unlikely he'll succeed. M. O'BRIEN: Well, tell us a little bit about that, because they had a recount.

TOOBIN: They just had a recount last year in the attorney general's race, where the margin on election night was 323 votes. The Republican was ahead. There was a recount. It took a long time. It wasn't decided until December 22nd. After all that activity, the Republican gained 27 votes to win by 360 votes. But that doesn't suggest that a 7,000-vote deficit could be made up.

M. O'BRIEN: But this could drag on for quite some time.

TOOBIN: Absolutely, depending on what his decision is.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's go to Montana now. A little different scenario there. It seems to be a closer race, but it doesn't meet the tipping point or the margins to demand a recount.

TOOBIN: Right, and Montana, of course, is a much smaller state, so you're dealing with smaller numbers. John Tester, at the moment, is ahead of Conrad Burns by about 1,600 votes.

M. O'BRIEN: And 1,600 votes is a lot of votes up there.

TOOBIN: Well, it's not exactly a landslide, but certainly it's -- under Montana law, it has to be within a quarter of 1 percent to get a recount. It's not within that. So at the moment, that looks like no recount will take place. But certainly you want to wait a day or two until the secretary of state certifies it, and then we know for sure that it's done, because a lot of people will be...

M. O'BRIEN: And they did have problems with their electronic machines. They didn't set them up right.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: Right. But it does seem to be a fairly clean election as well. No major irregularities, and that looks like pretty close to the final result.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's good we can say, at the end of the day, that we don't have any huge problems.

TOOBIN: Absolutely. And for those of us who lived through Florida, it was immediate acknowledgment that there were all sorts of problems, and that doesn't seem to be the case.

But you know, just think about Al Gore today, for all that we're talking about close elections, Florida with six million votes cast and a 500-vote difference. So that was way closer than anything we're talking about tonight.

M. O'BRIEN: Puts it in perspective. Jeff Toobin, thank you very much.

Tune in this afternoon. Nancy Pelosi, likely to be the next speaker of the House, the first woman to hold that position, will be the guest of Wolf Blitzer on THE SITUATION ROOM. 4:00 and 7:00 Eastern is when you can watch for that.

Coming up at the top of the hour, the Democrats poised to take the House. Now, what will they do with their power? Big question. And will problems at some polls mean some legal challenges, as we just discussed. We'll talk live with an election law expert. Of course, there's no better expert than Jeff Toobin, but another expert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: That's it. We're out of time. That's it for us on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning.

"CNN NEWSROOM" with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now.

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