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American Morning

America Votes 2010; Tea Party Successes; Republicans Win the House, Democrats Keep the Senate

Aired November 03, 2010 - 08:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: CNN's live coverage from the election center in New York continues.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. We are back at AMERICAN MORNING, a very special edition on this Wednesday, November 3rd, the day after the midterm elections. And what a midterm elections it was, huh?

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely. There are still a few races we don't know the outcome of and we may not in the coming days or even perhaps weeks, three Senate races there.

But let's check out right now what's going on -- where the balance of power stands this morning.

This is quite a busy election night, as we said. A lot of races still up in the air. Seven governor races and three Senate races still up in the air, including Colorado, Washington and in Alaska. But we want to show you some key races tonight.

Let's begin right now with the headline of the balance of power shifting this morning. And let's take a look in the Senate right now, where the balance of power has shifted somewhat although Democrats did manage to survive barely -- their majority, though, dwindled to just a minimum of 51 seats.

We are looking at the Alaska Senate race here. Lisa Murkowski was the write-in candidate. Right now, it shows her with a lead. They're still going to be counting, though, provisional ballots and other ballots, as well, in Alaska.

All right. Let's take a look at the Nevada Senate race right now as well. In Nevada, this was a nail-biter, down to the wire for Harry Reid. He ended up pulling out the win and beating Tea Party favorite candidate Sharron Angle. Sorry that we're not able to show that to you.

OK, here we are. We see Harry Reid ultimately, with 99 percent of the precincts reporting, pulling out 50 percent compared to 45 percent.

Let's see what we're going to look at next. And in Colorado, the state of Colorado, where we don't know the Senate -- the senator from the state this morning. Ken Buck was the Tea Party-favored Republican candidate up against the incumbent Michael Bennet. Right now, you see this race just literally 5,568 votes separating the two candidates with 88 percent of the precincts reporting.

Where are we going to check out next?

All right. Right now, we're going to talk a little bit more about the balance in the power of House because that did change hands overnight. Sixty seats gained by the Republicans. All they needed was 39, or in the earlier hours after one Democratic seat ended up being held, they needed 40, and they certainly got that and then some, Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, boy, did they? Yes, this was a blood bath. And this is the kind of thing -- you don't see that often in politics. Although I have to tell you, Kiran, with what we're seeing now, maybe we're going to see a lot more of this. It's kind of crazy.

Forget about all the details for a minute and let's just look at the big picture. If you're one of the Washington players right now, or you're a voter out there and you wonder how it's going to play, just look at this. Yesterday, we looked at this board and it was covered with blue, blue, blue, blue.

You see them all over here now with the check marks, all these things. The one that is are pulsing there, those are the ones that have changed. And most of them is changed, have changed to red.

This is the class of 2008. These are the people who came in with President Barack Obama. They rode that wave in. This was the army that he brought to make change happen. And look at it, it's been decimated.

Move back to 2006, you see more of the same. People just wiped out by this whole thing.

And, Kiran, I want to walk over here and look at the big maps of the Senate, too, because this really matters. You can look at it that way. You can also look at it as just plain color.

This is the map of the House yesterday. Now, with these changes, look what happens. We take off the change. All of that blue out there, red and ocean of it coming in there.

In the Senate side, same time. Let's go back to the incumbent. This is the way it was before yesterday. Real gains based on what Barack Obama had done before. The Senate had a lot of gains. This is it today -- much more red.

The governorships. This is what it was and this is what it is. The simple question now, though --

CHETRY: They picked up 10 governor's races.

FOREMAN: Oh, my gosh. I mean, this is a big change. This is a genuinely big election no matter where you are in this country and this will affect a lot of the programs out there that are being talked about. Very interested in what Harry Reid said a few moments ago, the senator, the Senate majority leader, when he asked about the idea of reopening health care. Not really saying I want to, but at the same time saying, well, you know, we want to talk.

The question will be: How do Democrats respond to this ocean of red in all of these different places here? Do they respond by drawing the line or say, this is telling us that we better get really into the game of compromise or we'll get hit even harder later on?

Nobody knows right now, but trust me, that ocean of red is really -- as you said before, this is a decimation of an army, a political army.

CHETRY: And the governorships have huge implications moving into the presidential election, as well.

FOREMAN: Oh, my gosh.

CHETRY: So, for 2012, this is -- this certainly puts the Democrats at a disadvantage.

FOREMAN: Sure. And plus, you talk about redistricting right now. It will come out of the census, the governors play a role in deciding how you redistrict. And redistricting, you now, can shape the future races, the future congressional races. There are a lot of things now going the Republicans' way.

I will say, as we've said all along, it's not because they're popular. The public right now is not much happier with Republicans than they are with Democrats.

CHETRY: Just as quickly as we saw it flipped in 2008 --

FOREMAN: That's exactly right.

CHETRY: -- flipped back in 2010 -- looking ahead, could flip back again.

FOREMAN: That's exactly right.

CHETRY: I thought it was interesting when some of the voters said they're on probation with me. I'm going to give them a chance.

FOREMAN: Right.

CHETRY: But, if I don't see changes --

(CROSSTALK)

FOREMAN: I'm not as convinced which party figures that out and really takes to that to heart may be the one that can turn it into a longer term thing, because like John Boehner was saying yesterday, look, be careful about celebrating right now, because there were people who two years ago, two years ago, came and said, ah, we're going to change everything, and now, washed away in the sea of red. It could be a sea of blue coming back in a couple more years.

CHETRY: Interesting stuff.

FOREMAN: Yes.

CHETRY: Those red (ph) on this map. Thanks a lot, Tom Foreman.

John?

ROBERTS: Well, it's first time in a while that we have had a split power in Congress. So, what does that mean going forward for at least the next couple of years?

Our Brianna Keilar has been walking the halls of Congress for a couple of years now. And she a good idea of exactly what might happen.

Brianna, what are we expecting when John Boehner comes in in January and becomes speaker of the House as is assumed will happen and Harry Reid is leading the Senate. We heard Harry Reid a moment ago saying, got to work together. Is that going to happen?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think the expectation, John, is that there's going to be a considerable amount of gridlock. That said, there's also this question of, it's not as if absolutely nothing can get done here in the next Congress, right? So, what are we talking about?

One of the big objectives, of course, of some of these Tea Party Republicans who have swept in to the House of Representatives, they have talked about repealing health care. And that's kind of coming up against that reality that you mentioned which is that Democrats still in control of the Senate, Republicans, obviously, far from that filibuster-proof majority. So, whatever happens in the House where Republicans have control, they're gong to come up against that reality.

But what about the issue of spending? This is something that people are talking a lot about. I just spoke we Eric Cantor, number two Republican in the House. And he was saying that he thinks that this is an area where they could find some common ground and that the message of this election is that Washington needs to rein in its spending and there is this question of whether certainly Democrats have gotten that message, too, because of the outcome of this election if they can find some areas or it's politically advantageous to both of them to cut spending, John.

ROBERTS: So, we're seeing a number of new members come in, as well, who are carrying the Tea Party flag. How are they expected to get along with establishment Republicans and are we going to see perhaps some interparty wrangling going on over the next couple of years?

KEILAR: This is very interesting because what you have is some of these more conservative Republicans who have taken aim at certain things like cutting the Department of Education or saying, you know what, if President Obama doesn't agree to some of these spending cuts we want, well, hey, we'll shut down the government. And those are things that obviously some other Republicans might have a difficult time swallowing.

I asked Cantor that when I was talking to him a short time ago, and he really didn't address specifically those concerns. But he said, look, the lesson of this election is that spending is out of control. This is something that we're all on the same page as. But certainly, we're going to be waiting to see if we can't -- maybe, you know, maybe that's some of the drama that's going to play out.

We are going to hear from John Boehner, presumed speaker of the House, soon to be speaker of the House and, Eric Cantor. They're going to having an event here in about an hour. They're going to be taking questions and, hopefully, we can bring you some new information about what they're saying, John.

ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward that that. Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill this morning -- Brianna, thanks.

Kiran?

CHETRY: All right. Well, still to come, Christine O'Donnell's bid for Delaware state Senate seat ended in defeat. But she was certainly one of the most talked about candidate. She's going to join us to tell us what went wrong and where she goes from here when she joins in three minutes from Dover.

We're also going to be talking with House Republican leader, Indiana's Mike Pence, about the electoral wave that rolled across the country yesterday. Can we expect anything more than Washington gridlock or is this perhaps a new call to work together?

You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twelve minutes past the hour now.

During the past few months, Christine O'Donnell received more national media coverage than any politician in America except for the president. Her attempt to win Vice President Joe Biden's old Delaware Senate seat ended in defeat with the election results coming in last night.

So, what is next for the Tea Party upstart?

Christine O'Donnell joins us this morning from Dover, Delaware.

Thanks very much for joining us, Christine.

CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), FORMER DELAWARE SENATE NOMINEE: Thank you for having me this morning, Kiran.

CHETRY: You said in your concession speech last night, quote, "We were victorious because we changed the Delaware political system and the Republican Party. Our voices were heard and this is the beginning."

Is this the beginning of another campaign for you personally?

O'DONNELL: Well, I don't know about another campaign, but it's the beginning of a great movement here in Delaware. A lot of people had their voices heard. We brought issues to the forefront of the course of public debate here in Delaware. You know, whether it's our farmers, small business owners who haven't been part of the political process.

Here in Delaware, agriculture is our number one industry and but they haven't had a representative in Washington in 20 years and, unfortunately, they still don't. But it's the beginning of having the people's voice heard and the political process. It is the beginning of the end of the back room deals in politics as we know it. And that to me is a wonderful thing to me.

CHETRY: You know, your loss, Carl Paladino in New York, Sharron Angle in Nevada, some of the critics are saying that it was your conservative views, perhaps a few shades too conservative to get elected in a national election. Do you agree with that?

O'DONNELL: Absolutely not. In my race, we have done everything we could to transition as quickly as we can, but when you look at our ticket, it was a straight ticket loss for the top statewide Republicans. If it were about me personally, my margin would have been much greater than it was. This, honestly, what I think it was is it's a symptom of Republican cannibalism.

In other areas where the establishment Republicans didn't win their primary, the local Republican parties united right away, solidarity goes a long way. Unfortunately, that never happened in Delaware. And I think we felt the impact all the way down ticket.

Had the leadership reached out or accepted my reaching out to them, we would have united much quicker, but we spent the first several weeks reaching out to other Republican leaders, earning their support. By the time we did earn, not necessarily the party leadership's support but some prominent figure support, we had about two weeks left.

So, you know, it was a heavy lift for just our campaign to do, and, you know, we also contributed to the local state legislature candidates, trying to help create a grassroots network that our state party simply was not able to do.

So, I think one of the greatest things that's coming out of this election is there's a cry for reform -- reform of the Delaware Republican Party.

CHETRY: But let me ask you, if you think it was more about --

O'DONNELL: And I think that we are going to emerge a lot stronger. CHETRY: Do you think it was more about the establishment butting up against the, you know, an insurgent candidate here or do you think it was more personal? Do you think that you, as a candidate, in some ways the Bill Maher tapes coming out and you having to answer and defend yourself against all the comments. I mean, do you think that got in the way of a victory?

O'DONNELL: Yes. I think it was a little bit of both because had when all that staff come out, the establishment come out and helped carry that load, helped deflect some of that. So, it wasn't on just on us to defend these ridiculous accusations, this mischaracterization of who I am. You know, Senator Cornyn says, you know, there was nothing we can do. We didn't have enough money.

You know, but if he and Karl Rove had said, look, she is articulate on the issues as many people after watching our debates were able to say. If she had said, you know, hey, they're just trying to create a distraction, there was verbal support that they could have offered as pundits, so to speak, that they those not to for whatever reason. Sore feelings, whatever. But I think it was a combination of all of the above, but again, I don't take it personally because I'm very proud of our results.

And when you break it down, my opponent had the White House batting for him. He had the Democratic Senatorial Committee batting for him. He had the DNC batting for him, as well as the state party and his own campaign.

CHETRY: Quickly, you mentioned Karl Rove because I think -- I think this is really interesting because you did mention Karl Rove and what he said about you at the time, and he did take some heat for it, but he said, look, with picking Christine O'Donnell, we're looking at eight to nine seats in the Senate. Now, we're looking at seven to eight, in my opinion.

Basically, counting you out before this started. What do you say to that? Do you regret perhaps not talking to the national media a little bit more than you did and trying to get your own story out there?

O'DONNELL: No. And had had Karl Rove been more supportive, we wouldn't have had a lot of that pressure, but again, like I started to say, my opponent had five powerful heavy hitters, all focusing here on Delaware. President Obama was here just about a week ago. Biden was here the night before the election. So, our margins should have been a lot greater. We should have lost by a lot greater, and I think that had Karl Rove immediately come out to support us, had the NRC even just helped verbally, we would have been able to close the gap because polling shows we have almost as many independents as we do Republicans.

And polling shows that on the fiscal issues, the issues that are important to Delawareans, they're with us. They're concerned about these tax hikes. Harry Reid is saying, you know, just for the top 2 percent. Ignoring that, according to the NFIB, small business owners fall under that top 2 percent. If we raise taxes on the small business owners, we're going to lose more jobs.

So, there are a lot of people who are very concerned about what this administration is proposing to do and had we united as a party from top all the way down, we could have articulately gotten that message out, but instead, there was this infighting and that's what we could have done differently. We could have, you know, taken a lesson from the Democrats when, you know, Hillary immediately got behind Obama after that bloody primary.

CHETRY: Right.

O'DONNELL: You know, we should have done that.

CHETRY: Christine O'Donnell, it was great to get a chance to talk to you this morning. Thanks for your time -- John.

O'DONNELL: Thank you very much, Kiran.

CHETRY: Sure.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Kiran. The new political landscape this morning, the sea of red. Where does the tea party fit in? More from the best political team on television coming up next. It's currently 19 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-two minutes after the hour. We're back with the best political team in television. Former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card is with us along with Republican strategist, Leslie Sanchez, David Gergen returns, Kate Zernike from the "New York Times" and also the author of "Boiling Mad Inside The Tea Party" is here, Democratic strategist, Cornell Belcher, as well James Carville, who's the co- chair person of the committee to launch the Super Bowl in New Orleans. And what's the year again? 2013?

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: 2013, 2013. We're fired up. We're ready to go, John.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: And we're still looking for tickets.

CARVILLE: I have two end zones ticket for me.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: Thank you. At the place to be. I want to talk about the tea party this morning, and they did have a fairly successful night. The senate, they have five wins, two losses, two races still undecided. Gubernatorial races, two wins, two losses, two still to be decided. Thirteen wins in the House with four losses and two undecided, and of course, one of the losses they had in the Senate was Christine O'Donnell who was just talked to Kiran a second ago.

And Leslie, you were listening to what she said about why she didn't win. What do you think of it?

LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I don't think she's focused on the right area. I think she ran a campaign that energized a lot of individuals. She got a lot of media attention, but I think to put the focus on Karl Rove is really misguided. There's a tremendous amount of voter sentiment right now that they want change in Washington. And it was a very difficult race, sure, but I just don't know that that's where the focus should have been.

ROBERTS: Andy?

ANDY CARD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Karl Rove gets blamed for a lot of things that he shouldn't get blamed for. He is a very smart, very competent, but he is not the dominant force in politics today. I think she didn't win because she wasn't a quality candidate. That's what it comes down to, and it was a very discerning electorate this year. I think that they were not only electing people out of frustration, they were also electing people to make government work.

And they're sending people to Washington, D.C. with an expectation that they will make it work. It's going to be a challenge. But this was not an election about perfection. This was an election about frustration.

ROBERTS: That's what the tea party's all about. No question they had some wins. They had some profound losses, as well. Sharron Angle didn't make it. Christine O'Donnell didn't make it either. There are more. Joe Miller may lose to Lisa Murkowski, but, David, are they really a force here in American politics? Eighteen months ago, no one knew who the tea party was and wasn't a tea party really to speak of, and now, they're so influential.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I can't remember a time when a group of people have come out of nowhere and elected so many candidates so quickly. I mean, you've written a whole book about this, but I mean, it is a spontaneous uprising that is (INAUDIBLE) but does not have a leader and yet have put five people in the United States Senate and in the House in addition to the people you talked about.

I think there are another two dozen people in the House who ally themselves with the tea party. To come this much of a force this quickly, extraordinary.

ROBERTS: So, the tea party was boiling mad, and that's really how they pick out and got on the national platform. Well, now, they're governing. So, can they still be boiling mad or do they now have to put up or shut up?

KATE ZERNIKE, AUTHOR, "BOILING MAD INSIDE THE TEA PARTY": Well, I think on the boiling mad point, I mean, look, the tea party, I think you can say the tea party only had 13 wins in the House, but I think it's how you define a tea party candidate. I mean, as David said, there are many more candidates who align themselves with the tea party. There's no doubt that the tea party, you know, if you look at --

ROBERTS: I guess Michele Bachmann could be considered --

ZERNIKE: Well, but even there are people, more challengers than that. And they're defined as tea party candidates because they got so much energy from the tea party movement as the Republican Party did this year. And in many cases, you know, Florida 22, Alan West won despite the Democrats saying he's crazy. He's out there saying, you know, grab your musket and grab your bayonet. He won. He won by a sisal (ph) margin. And Democrats thought he was too extreme.

ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE)

ZERNIKE: Well, you know, the Democrats --

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: And only he had that really wild look in his eyes. But do you think that now they're in a position where they have to start writing legislation? They have to start governing.

ZERNIKE: Well, they do, but I think, how, you know, what that looks like is a very open question. And when you talk to the tea party people, they'll say, sure, I'm open to compromise, but then you say, what does compromise look like? Well, we want permanent extension of the tax cuts. We want full repeal of the health care. We want a balanced budget as Rand Paul in Kentucky says within a year, and that's a very tall order.

ROBERTS: James, your thoughts?

CARVILLE: My thoughts, two things happened undeniably is that the Republican Party was lethargic party that didn't have much energy. It was not thought to be going anywhere, and the tea party rose up, and now, the Republican Party is believed to be an energized party that just won a big of year election. That happens. The second thing is everything in American politics is nothing compared to a presidential year.

The tea party says, we have saved the Republican Party. We have picked you up. We have saved you from ourselves, and there's only one thing that we're interested in and that's a presidential nominee. This is going to make for the most interesting presidential cycle on the Republican side we ever had. They feel like that they have saved American political party and their just reward for doing that is to continue to forge ahead with the way they do business. And then --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: And Democrats are going to have to work with them.

CORNELL BELCHER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I mean, to pivot on James' point and taking this forward, I mean, you do -- it is remarkable what they've done. However, if you -- you have to ask the question, can they expand the electoral map? And when you look at where they've been most successful, they've been sort of red states. When you look out west, Colorado is still up for grabs and we saw what happened in Nevada.

Look. You know, we won independent voters last time around which helped to take us there. They blew us away with independent voters right now, and there's a drop-off among those independent voters supporting Republicans nationally versus what they did in Nevada.

ROBERTS: We have to take a quick pause, but we will be back in about ten minutes to discuss more of this. So, hang on to that thought.

CARVILLE: Yes. The thing is, we did a --

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: Kiran, let's send it over to you.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Still to come, we're following some other news besides the election today. The FBI says they've been called in to investigate the discovery of box cutter blades on a Delta Flight to Oregon. We're going to get to the bottom of that still ahead.

And also, Majority Leader Harry Reid still has a job this morning. How the top Senate Democrat managed to knock of tea party- backed Republican Sharron Angle ahead. You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) )

ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour now. Let's get a quick check of the other stories making news this morning. Our Alina Cho is looking at the headlines. Good morning to you.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John. And here's a look at this morning's top stories.

Yet another close call with air cargo. Greece has suspended all air shipments for the next two days after packages containing explosives were found in Germany and Italy. Those packages were addressed to the leaders of those two countries and sent from Greece, a country that has seen a wave of attempted bombings.

Here in the United States, the FBI is opening a criminal investigation after box cutter blades discovered on a Delta flight from Tokyo to Portland, Oregon. A spokeswoman said the passengers were interviewed, sent through customs and released. Authorities are still looking for a suspect.

Moving on now to our next story, the controversial community organizing group ACORN is declaring bankruptcy. Congress cut off funding for them last year after highly edited videos appeared to show workers advising conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute.

ACORN was also at the center of numerous investigations, including illegally attaching incentives to voter registration drives. In that case a former field director pleaded guilty. In a statement on the group's website, a CEO writes, quote, "The ongoing political onslaught caused irreparable harm."

New York's Madison Square Garden has been shut down following fears of asbestos. Last night's Knicks' game postponed after traces of a substance were found falling from the ceiling. Crews discovered the cloudy debris during a routine overnight cleaning of asbestos- related materials. It's all part of a renovation of the garden. It's unclear if the garden will reopen in time for Friday's home game.

Some encouraging news on the health front -- certain drugs used to treat diabetes could also prevent and contain lung cancer. That's according to a new study out of Ohio. Researchers found that patients who routinely took diabetes medications were less likely to have lung cancer spread. Scientists say one day it may be possible to use it to prevent lung cancer in smokers.

And is a happy meal still happy without the toy? You be the judge. San Francisco's board of supervisors approved legislation yesterday banning toys from fast food restaurants unless the meals meet certain nutritional standards.

The ordinance heads to Mayor Gavin Newsom's desk. The mayor is not expected to sign the ordinance but the city apparently has enough votes to override time. If passed, the law requires kids' meals to include fruits or veggies. Can't say that's a bad idea.

CHETRY: I guarantee if they take the toys out, the kids --

CHO: Not going to fly with the kids.

CHETRY: They'll buy something else. Thanks, Alina.

CHO: You bet.

CHETRY: All right, still ahead, we're talking about Democrats in the house licking their wounds and held on to the crucial Senate and in part that was because of Senate majority leader Harry Reid pulling out a win in Nevada against Tea Party-favored candidate Sharron Angle. There's the final numbers in Nevada, 50 percent to Reid, 45 percent to Sharron Angle.

Joining us is Jim Acosta live in Vegas this morning. He looked like he was in pretty big trouble. How did he pull off a win?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kiran, he manned up. The polls showed that Sharron Angle was ahead in the race but more than just a couple of percentage points in the final days of the campaign, and you just mentioned the margin of victory there.

How did Harry Reid do it? He brought out minority voters in force for Harry Reid. Other exit polling shows interesting figures -- moderates, 65 percent to 31 percent preferred Harry Reid to Sharron Angle in this race. They viewed her as too extreme. If you get down into the weeds of the exiting polling, it breaks it down in terms of how people satisfied with the Obama administration. People somewhat dissatisfied, 48 percent for Harry Reid and 48 percent for angle. So people unhappy with the president's handling of the job in the state voted for Harry Reid.

He holds a press conference later today to get back to the business of the Senate Democrats in Washington. He was on "American Morning" earlier this morning striking a bipartisan tone and talked about wanting to work together with the Republicans in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID, (D-NV) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: All of us who are going to be in the Senate have to work together. That's the message from the American people. We must work together. And I am looking forward to that. I have a good relationship with Mitch McConnell, I have known John Boehner for many years. I think this is a time to set aside the speeches and start rolling up our sleeves and have a little sweat on our brow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Well, you heard the bipartisan tone there struck by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He will have to deal with a Senate minority leader in Mitch McConnell who said he wants to make it his mission in life to make President Obama a one-term president. We'll see how long the bipartisan spirit lasts in Washington, Kiran.

CHETRY: We'll wait and see. Thanks so much, Jim Acosta for us in Las Vegas this morning. Let's go to John.

ROBERTS: All right, thanks.

We talked with Harry Reid a little while ago. Mike Pence, who said that he was going to wait until after the election to decide whether or not he's going to run for president, is coming right up. We'll talk to him about what Republicans have to do over the next couple of years, not only to set up for 2012 but, heck, to get something done in the American people. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's 40 minutes after the hour. A look at what happened in the state of Indiana where Mike Pence easily won his sixth consecutive term in office. He beat the Democratic challenger Barry Welsh handily 67 percent to 30 percent.

One question is, though is he going to stay in Congress, one open question though is he going to stay in Congress. We'll ask him as Mike Pence joins us this morning from Indianapolis. Congressman, congratulations on your win last night. Good to see you.

REP. MIKE PENCE, (R) INDIANA: Thank you, John. We're very grateful to the people of eastern Indiana for the opportunity to serve again, and it's good to be with you this morning. ROBERTS: You said of the results of the election last night, quote, "Republicans have been given a second chance."

PENCE: That's right.

ROBERTS: Is there going to be real pressure on you now in the coming months to deliver?

PENCE: Well, I think so. But I have to tell you. I think that the message coming out of last night's historic election is that the American people want to see an end to this era of runaway federal spending under both political parties, an end of bailouts and government takeovers.

And they want to see the national government turn back in the direction of fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, and limited government. And Republicans are going to roll our sleeves up and do everything in our power to be worthy of this second chance the American people have given us.

ROBERTS: I think there's a loud message sent yesterday that the American people want to see something get done and tired of gridlock and hyper partisanship and bickering and the zero sum game in Washington.

So can you say with commitment today that the House is going to work with Democrats in the Senate to actually get things done in the next two years and that this is not just going to be some grand run-up to the 2012 election?

PENCE: Well, look, any time there's an opportunity for authentic agreement, authentic common ground, I can assure you the House Republicans won't let partisan politics stand in the way of reaching real agreement.

But I got to tell you, John. I don't think the message last night is that the American people want Congress to get along better with the administration. I think Congress gets along fine with the administration.

I don't think the message is that they want Congress to get stuff done. I think they want a lot undone and end the borrowing, the spending, the bailouts, the takeovers. House Republicans are determined to repeal Obama care lock, stock and barrel.

We just have to get back to what we know works which is allowing the American people to keep more of their money and enforcing real fiscal discipline and reform in the long term to put our fiscal house in order.

ROBERTS: On the subject of health care, and I know that the Republicans want to undo a lot of what the president and the Democratic Congress did in the last couple of years, Senator Harry Reid told us just a little while ago he would be open to some as he called it "tweaking" of the health care. Do you believe you can work with the Senate majority leader and Democrats in the Senate to make substantial changes to health care as you would like to see them done?

PENCE: Look, the substantial change to Obama care the American people voted for last night is repeal and start over. The American people don't want to be mandated to purchase health insurance whether they want or need it or not. They don't want the new taxes with it.

You know, look, Obama care was roundly rejected last night by the American people. We need to rip it up, root and branch, and House Republicans are determined to do that.

But we're also, John, determined to replace their government takeover of health care with the kind of health care reform that is will lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government.

We can do that giving people more choices, purchase health insurance across state lines, pass medical malpractice reform, cover preexisting conditions and with the savings we realize from the malpractice reform.

But the American people rejected their government takeover of health care last night and House Republicans are determined to repeal it and replace it.

ROBERTS: So, the Senate majority leader says I'm open to tweaking. You say you want it lifted uproots and all. You don't have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, so does that mean that this will be talked about for two years and won't be any changes?

PENCE: Well, with great respect, John, I do respect you very much, you're leaving somebody out of the equation. That's the American people. You know, I don't see last night as so much of a victory for one political party or another but for the American people.

And I think the American people are going to stay engaged in this process. They know we can do better on health care reform. They know we can put our fiscal house in order and get this economy moving again going to time-honored, time-tested American solutions.

And that's what Republicans are going to continue to advance. We're going to -- we're going to work hard every day in 112th Congress to be on the side of the American people.

ROBERTS: Congressman Pence, what happens with tax cuts?

PENCE: Well, look. I think there would be no higher priority for this incoming class of -- of Congress to -- than to make sure that no American sees a tax increase --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: So you're going to -- are you going to insist -- PENCE: -- in January 2011, not one.

ROBERTS: -- are you going to insist then that the -- the Bush tax cuts stay in place?

PENCE: Well, you know, that's a good start. What we ought to do is make sure that all the current tax relief stays in place, but obviously, in the worst economy in 25 years, it's -- it's clearly not enough to get the economy moving again so what we need to do is make sure no American sees a tax increase in January, not one --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: Yes.

PENCE: -- and then look for additional tax relief that will -- that will release all of the trapped inherent capital and energy in this economy to begin to create jobs. Add into that real fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C.

And I'll tell you. Out here in Indiana, we know -- you get government under control, you've got government out of the way, this economy will come roaring back.

ROBERTS: And I've got to ask you this question because you said you're going to wait until after the midterm elections to talk about this. You won the Values Voters Summit not too long ago. We talked to you about that. Are you going to throw your hat in the ring for the 2012 presidential chase or at the very least are you going to take a good, hard look at it?

PENCE: Well, let me say the focus of my little family has been exclusively on doing everything in our power to elect a Republican majority to Capitol Hill. We've done that. And starting today, we're going to -- we're going to try and roll our sleeves up and prayerfully consider where -- where we might be able to also contribute to the life of our state and the life of our nation.

But we'll keep you posted, John.

ROBERTS: So is -- so is that a yes or a maybe?

PENCE: We're always going to look for where we can make the most difference for what matters most to us. And I know that in the last year that where we could make the most difference was to come alongside these courageous men and women who are running for Congress --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: Sir, understood --

PENCE: -- all over the country. We've done that and frankly, we're grateful to these candidates and grateful for the opportunity the American people have given us to lead our nation back to fiscal discipline and limited government. ROBERTS: Ok. So we'll take that as a maybe.

Congressman Mike Pence, it's good to talk to you this morning. I appreciate it.

PENCE: Thank you, John.

ROBERTS: We've got 47 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's ten minutes to 9:00 here in New York this morning. It's a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING, the morning after the historic midterm elections.

The White House spent a lot of time campaigning in Ohio but to no avail. Republican Rob Portman cruised to victory in the senate race with a nearly 20-point victory over Democrat Lee Fisher. Then in the race for governor, Republican John Kasich defeated the Democratic incumbent governor Ted Strickland in a very tight race.

Carol Costello is live in Westchester, Ohio, this morning with reaction to the Republican wave. Very interesting stuff. Well, you finally got in the diner, thank goodness.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I finally got in the diner and there are people here now and we did talk to some people here. Ohio definitely will not be President Obama's firewall. As you say, he visited the state what, 12 times since he became president. Twice in the last few weeks all in an attempt to get that Democratic governor back into office because let's face it, it would have made things much easier for the president in 2012. The political groundwork would have been laid and he would have had a Democratic governor in Ohio talking him up.

But instead Ohio voters chose to put a Republican in the governor's chair; John Kasich, a long time Congressman who's been out of politics for a while. He ran on a campaign to cut taxes and to bring jobs back to Ohio.

First you're going to hear John Kasich and then the outgoing governor, Ted Strickland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KASICH (R), GOVERNOR-ELECT, OHIO: Ohio has said it wants to ran our state in a new way. A way that is good for jobs, good for families and good for our future. And we rejected the doomsayers and said, let's get together and build the kind of future we want for our beloved state.

We succeeded because we stayed true to what we believe. Ohioans are worried about their futures so we gave them solutions. I'm very proud of the fact that it was ideas and values that drove this campaign and they are the only things that will drive my administration.

And I want you to understand we don't owe anything to anybody. We're going to do it the right way and turn the page on American politics.

GOV. TED STRICKLAND (D), OHIO: This is my last campaign and I have seen a lot and I have lived a lot in nearly 70 years. But I have never given up hope in the will, the wisdom and the goodness of people.

I have never stopped believing in Ohio. And I never will. I love you. I thank you. God bless you and God bless the great state of Ohio.

Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It's hard to believe, Kiran, just four years ago Ted Strickland won with 60 percent of the vote. This time he's on the losing end of the spectrum. On whether John Kasich can make a difference, Republicans in the state are certainly hoping so and I must say Democrats are hoping, too. They want 400,000 jobs lost since 2007 to come back to the state of Ohio.

CHETRY: Well, all right. Carol Costello for us this morning. Thanks so much.

We're going to take a quick break. It's 53 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Fifty-five minutes after the hour.

Forget those midterm elections. They're so yesterday. Let's look ahead to 2012 because it was one of the questions, actually, few of the questions that we asked --

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

ROBERTS: -- in our exit polling last night.

And Christine Romans has got an app for that. And she's got the information for us.

ROMANS: I sure do.

Iowa Republicans, who would they like to see win the caucus, in Iowa? Let's just all look ahead right folks? This is who they say. There you go. Mike Huckabee, 21 percent; Mitt Romney, 21 percent; Sarah Palin, 18 percent; and Newt Gingrich, comes in, John, at seven percent. You've got name recognition and then you've also got the political machine of -- of Huckabee and Romney still at play here.

Well, let's talk about New Hampshire. Boom, who would they like to see win the New Hampshire primary in 2012? You still have a good showing overall for Huckabee and for Romney. There they go, voila. And it rolls down again ending with our friend Newt Gingrich. Now, good name recognition for Newt Gingrich.

Now, South Carolina, Sarah Palin --

ROBERTS: This is interesting.

ROMANS: Yes, Sarah Palin tops this one here. You've got Sarah Palin with 25 percent; Huckabee with 24 percent; Romney, 20 percent; and Gingrich comes again there at 10 percent.

A lot of this is just name recognition. It is personality. Sarah Palin, the big personality and also supporting Tea Party candidates in the south. And it's all conjecture, too because a lot can change in a year and a half.

ROBERTS: Oh, absolutely. And it's Christian conservatives in South Carolina, as well. But it's been said that if she could do really well in Iowa, maybe win it, that could propel her particularly with those numbers in South Carolina into being the nominee. So we'll see how that goes should she decide to run.

ROMANS: Should she decide to run.

ROBERTS: Christine thanks so much.

Four minutes to the top of the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)