Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Once More To Ohio; Obama Works The Phones; Election 2012 And The History Books; Romney's Last Push For Pennsylvania; Champaign Ad Blitz 2012

Aired November 06, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: As we cross high noon in the East, we can now say, polls are open in all 50 states. And the first poll closures are now just seven hours away.

Hello and good to see you on this Election Day. I'm Brooke Baldwin live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Joe Johns in Washington. And this is Florida, the biggest of the battlegrounds you've heard so much about that almost certainly will decide the next president. But, don't forget, senators, representatives, governors, referendums are all ballots too from sea to shining sea. We'll cover them all, day and night, as long as it takes.

BALDWIN: Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney cast his ballot. Here he is with his wife this morning in Massachusetts. But right now he is in Cleveland for a meet and greet with campaign volunteers. Need I say, folks, Ohio. Later he will be visiting Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh.

JOHNS: Vice President Biden voted this morning in Delaware and once again suggested this would not be his last election.

Just moments ago, we learned he, too, has stopped in Cleveland en route to Chicago. That's where the President is. Mr. Obama cast his ballot early, freeing him up for some last minute phone bank duty at a Chicago field office.

BALDWIN: National elections are complicated in the best of times. And in New York City, really much of New Jersey, these are not the best of times. New Yorkers affected by Sandy are being allowed to vote at any polling state -- polling place, I should say, in the state. Displaced voters in Jersey can vote by e-mail.

And if you have not voted yet, and we should say much of the country has, please do. Locate your precinct, grab your I.D., ask for a ride if you need one, and make your voice heard. That's part of the message from Mitt Romney to voters and volunteers in Cleveland this hour. And that is where we find CNN's Jim Acosta. He's there.

And, Jim, before we chat, there you are at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport here.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BALDWIN: I want to just make sure everyone sees this very latest CNN poll of polls in, of course, the battleground state of Ohio.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BALDWIN: Here we see the three point advantage that the President has over Mitt Romney. And might that perhaps explain this Election Day visit by both not only Romney but his running mate Paul Ryan?

ACOSTA: That's right, Brooke. The Romney campaign is saying they're not going to leave anything on the field on this Election Day. And just to show you what's happening behind me right now, Brooke, let me just show you. This is pretty remarkable what's unfolding right now. Here you have the Romney plane behind me. That is the plane we just got off of about 30 minutes ago. It landed here in Cleveland about a half an hour ago. And in the background, way off in the background, about 15 minutes ago, Vice President Joe Biden's plane, Air Force Two, also landed, made a surprise landing here in Cleveland for a stop here in this battleground state.

BALDWIN: Look at that.

ACOSTA: Amazing. And then just a few moments ago, Brooke, if this tarmac could not get any more crowded, Paul Ryan's plane just landed, pulled up right next to Mitt Romney's plane and right now the vice presidential nominee for the Republican ticket -- am I right about this guys -- he has gotten off the plane. He has made his way over to the Romney charter to greet the GOP nominee, the man at the top of the ticket. All of this unfolding just in the last 30 minute on this tarmac in Cleveland. Needless to say, Brooke, Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. That's basically the name of the game today.

BALDWIN: Look at -- yes, they say a picture can mean a thousand words, and that perhaps is precisely what that is. If they're not feeling crowded on the tarmac, tell me how Team Romney's feeling right now. Are they exhausted? Are they pumped, hopeful?

ACOSTA: All three of those things, Brooke. They are predicting a clear and decisive victory tonight. And that includes in the state of Ohio. But I will tell you, though, that this event that's happening today is a reflection of the fact that they're not taking anything for granted. Mitt Romney's going to be here in Ohio. Paul Ryan, of course, just landed here as well. They're both going to be doing a variety of things here in this state. I can't tell you what those things are because the campaign has not disclosed them to us at this point. And then Mitt Romney goes to Pennsylvania. But of all the battleground states in this country, on this Election Day that is getting a visit from both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan it's Ohio.

Now, at the same time, I will tell you that, as you pointed out a few moments ago, this is a very close race in this state. And even though the polls show a slight edge for the President in a number of recent battleground polls, the Romney campaign is very confident in its get out the vote operation. I was talking to the finance chair of this campaign over the weekend. They've been sending out these fund-raising e-mails, as you may have noticed, in the last couple of weeks and wondered, why are they still sending those out? They are still raising money to pay for the vans, to get the supporters to the polls, to get the volunteers out in the neighborhoods, to canvas those neighborhoods and knock on people's doors and make sure people get to their polling sites. And so they are literally pulling out all the stops.

Now, at the same time, I will tell you I did talk to a Republican source that is close to the Romney operation here in Ohio and he said it is going to be close, quote, "very close." And so that's why you're seeing all of this out here on this tarmac right now.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Jim Acosta, we thank you. We'll be looking for and we'll be taking that event live, we should point out there, in Cleveland, where we will be seeing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. So we know where they are. And apparently now we know where the Vice President is as well.

So, where's the President? It's turning out to be a busy, busy Election Day here for President Obama. We mentioned he did make some campaign calls just a little while ago in Chicago. But he has also been in touch with DHS and FEMA. Sandy, of course, still very high on the radar for the administration. Let's go straight to Chicago to CNN's Dan Lothian.

And, Dan, tell me about Barack Obama's final Election Day.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, as you pointed out, you know, this is the balance that the President has had to make since Hurricane Sandy, dealing with his campaign, but at the same time dealing with the response to the hurricane. So as you pointed out, the President did take part in a briefing this morning on the latest movements, developments with the recovery efforts surrounding Sandy. Also got some updates, we are told, on another storm system that is approaching. So the President dealing with that.

But this, obviously, is Election Day. And just a short time ago I spoke with a senior campaign official who told me that they're feeling very confident about the election, how the results will come back tonight. At the same time, though, they still believe that it all will depend on voter turnout and that's why there are those teams in the key battleground states that are still going door-to-door, they're working the phones, trying to get out the vote.

And we saw the President jump in on that game as well, stopping off, an unannounced trip to a local Obama office here in Chicago where they were running a phone bank. The President himself jumped on one of the phones, was speaking to a volunteer. And she seemed surprised. Was not sure that the President was actually on the phone. But the President did make a number of calls thanking the volunteers for their hard work as they continue to try to get more folks out to the polls.

But the President also said that he felt good about the day and then had some good words and kind words to say about his GOP opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I also want to say to Governor Romney, congratulations on a spirited campaign. I know that his supporters are just as engaged and just as enthusiastic and working just as hard today. We feel confident we've got the votes to win. But it's going to depend ultimately on whether those votes turn out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: The President is also doing a number of radio and television interviews focusing on the key battleground states. He did one interview, though, yesterday that aired today with Ryan Seacrest, where the President talked about how he might be a little nervous about this campaign and the results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA (voice-over): Well, there's -- look, I think anybody who's running for office would be lying if they say that there's not some butterflies before the polls come in, because anything could happen. That's the -- that's the magic of democracy, is that it's up to the people to decide. But at a certain point you get calm because you know if you've done everything you can do, then the process is working the way it's supposed to, which is power now resides with individual voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Now the President and his team are big -- a bit suspicious (ph). And, in fact, the one time they did not play basketball before the New Hampshire primary, the President lost. And so they are not going to make that mistake this time around. The President will be taking part in a basketball game sometime today. I'm told that his former body man, Reggie Love, has been charged with getting this game together. So he will be playing basketball. And then, of course, will be watching the election results from here in Chicago.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, some hoops for the President. And we'll all be watching, won't we, Dan Lothian. Dan, thank you, in Chicago.

Joining me now from Rice University in Houston, Texas, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.

Doug, good to have you back.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let me just begin with -- let me begin with Mitt Romney. He, as we just were talking to Jim Acosta in Cleveland, he's add this stop in Ohio today, added this stop in Pennsylvania. We just talked to Dan Lothian. The President laying low in Chicago, playing basketball a little later because he's superstitious, making some campaign calls. Is this unusual? You have one candidate, Doug, out campaigning on Election Day. The other one, pretty much, just laying low, staying home?

BRINKLEY: Well, usually, they kind of lay low and stay home and vote. Barack Obama had voted early and he made a very dramatic event last evening in Des Moines where he really says he began his national campaign to be president and had a great close with Bruce Springsteen and has decided to take the day off. I would have thought he may have snuck up to Wisconsin there and did a few things, a little bit of hand shaking today. It might still happen yet.

But Mitt Romney is --

BALDWIN: But what about historically?

BRINKLEY: Historically, presidents take the day off.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BRINKLEY: It's usually a day where you just go to spend time with your family and heal and get ready to gather. But, you know, Mitt Romney going -- so I find it interesting. Romney is really doing a flurry of trips into Ohio. And that northern Ohio has been very elusive for Mitt Romney because of the article he wrote, let Detroit go bankrupt, and because, you know, he's promoting doing away with a lot of regulations with EPA and all. But that northern tier of Ohio had the Cuyahoga River on fire. The EPA was kind of created because Lake Erie was dead and it's come back. But there's more fishing in Lake Erie than all the other great lakes put together. Cedar Point by Sandusky, Ohio, is the great amusement park in America. There's much more tourism up there. So, on one hand, those northern Ohio people like the fracking message, we're going to get the natural gas out, turn northern Ohio into an oil field.

BALDWIN: Sure.

BRINKLEY: On the other hand, a lot of people up there are in the tourist business and then people in the automobile industry has a, you know, dislike Romney. So he's trying to meet as many Ohioans as he can to kind of shake away the Axelrod image of him.

BALDWIN: He's trying to. He's there right now. Forgive me jumping in. We just saw those live pictures of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan hopping in that SUV en route to the appearance, which we will take here any minute now. I just wanted to point that out to the viewer.

I also want to talk to you about, look, we've seen these long lines, Doug. I'm probably about to get in one in about two hours to vote myself. And I think it's, you know, it's worth pointing out that voter participation is on the upswing here in America, which is great. You know, you look back in 1996, 51 percent turned out. Participation went up in 2000. You see the numbers. Went up in 2004. Went up again in 2008. Up to 63 percent.

So, you know, while we hear Americans, they grouws (ph) about all the money involved. We're talking, what $6 billion here for all the races together this past -- this past election cycle.

BRINKLEY: Yes.

BALDWIN: The ads, which many people are griping about. The length of the campaign season. And of that, is it just that people are complaining all way to the polls? It's a good thing.

BRINKLEY: Well, it is a good thing. And it's also good, although those lines are too long in Florida and we've got to learn -- find ways to fix that. On the other hand, there's no evidence that people are walking away. Everybody's demanding their right to vote. They're waiting in long lines. Our country's done miraculous things with early voting in the past years. And even Andrew Cuomo today is trying to find ways for people to vote by e-mail if they've been hit by Sandy and are feeling unable to get to a polling place.

BALDWIN: Right, anywhere in New York.

BRINKLEY: So, ever since 2000 and what happened in Florida with those dangling chads, there's a hyper consciousness to make sure people aren't disenfranchised.

BALDWIN: Douglas Brinkley, have you voted already?

BRINKLEY: I early voted in a grocery store in Austin, Texas.

BALDWIN: Good for you. Good for you. I'm jealous.

BRINKLEY: I felt clean and good doing it.

BALDWIN: I'll think of you in my line, Doug Brinkley. Thank you very much.

BRINKLEY: Yes.

BALDWIN: In Rice University in Houston.

Speaking of Florida and those lines, frustrations are high. Take a look at some of these pictures here. Folks -- some folks were told their bailing, they're heading home. And now the parties are pointing fingers. Coming up next, Ashleigh Banfield, she is standing by in the thick of things. We're going to talk to her there in Florida.

Also speaking of Florida, Ali Velshi monitoring some voting problems there. And issues across the country, including one scenario we've talked about this in Ohio that could, could, drag things out.

This is CNN's special coverage of Election Day 2012.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: And welcome back to our special CNN Election Day 2012 coverage.

I'm Jim Acosta, standing on the tarmac at the Cleveland airport in Ohio where just in the last hour we have seen Mitt Romney's campaign plane, Paul Ryan's campaign plane and Vice President Joe Biden's plane, Air Force Two, all land on the same tarmac at the same -- well, not at exactly the same time, but within the last hour and it's something to behold here in this battleground state of Ohio.

I can tell you that, just a few moments ago, the GOP nominee, his running mate, Paul Ryan, they met a few moments ago inside the Romney campaign plane. They then boarded some SUVs along with rest of his motorcade and then they sped off to a location that has not been announced yet by the campaign.

He is expected to talk to supporters here in this state at various get-out-the-vote offices. That's according to his campaign and, so, we'll be watching all of the developments until we get more information. We don't have that for you, but when we do get that information, we'll pass that along.

But, now, speaking of battleground states, I want to send this down to my colleague, Ashleigh Banfield, who is watching some long lines at a voting location down in Florida.

Ashleigh, can you hear me and how are things going down there?

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I hear you. Hi, Jim Acosta.

We've got lots of traffic and lots of people. Let me put it that way. The Vento (ph) family has just arrived. In fact, they've got their iPad clock here. It says seven minutes and 20 seconds.

They brought an umbrella, very wisely. Any idea how long you think you're going to be here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About three hours, I think.

BANFIELD: So, she's wise, Mrs. Vento (ph). OK, we're going to keep checking in with you throughout the afternoon.

But look at this line. It snakes all the way around. A little shorter than it was an hour ago when I came to you, but good golly. If you're going to be out here in the Florida sun and you're going to have to wait -- as I go behind the cars that are parked up on the grass -- if you're going to have to wait, you better make friends because, luckily, a lot of folks here have actually done so.

Luckily also, about 40 percent of those who are registered in this state voted early, voted absentee or voted early. But here's the deal. When you break that down, it's 1.74 million of those were Democrats and 1.91 were Republicans, so when it comes to early voting, whether it's absentee or whether it's in-person early, more Democrats will do that.

When it comes to these folks coming out in person, going to the polls, more Republicans do that. What does that tell you? I cannot tell you because we have no idea what the turnout is actually going to be today.

In fact, when we talked to the Department of State they said we have no idea how to predict the actual turnout today. But what they did say to us this. This is Chris Cate. "Very good reports. It's running smoothly with a high turnout so far." That was at 10:30 and then we heard a report from "The Miami Herald" -- and come on this way as I continue to walk you down this long, snaking line. Hold on one second.

Excuse me. How long have you been waiting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For about over two hours, I would say.

BANFIELD: Over two hours by this point. Thank you.

So the report came in at 10:30 that all was smooth and then we heard from the -- via "The Miami Herald" that 700 absentee ballots had been thrown out in Broward County.

Sometimes that is a factor of a signature that's missing. In this case, we don't know why those 700 were actually thrown out. We're trying to cable so that we can get you all the way to the end of the line.

How are we doing, Jerry (ph)? Do you think we can just make it before the end of the live shot? I think he's stuck. Hold on. We'll get a wide shot anyway.

You see where the fire and rescue is right up here? These folks are probably about half an hour from getting inside the polling place and being able to cast their ballot.

But once they get in there, it's a nine-page ballot which for some people has taken up to a half hour to fill out which might be an indication as to why the lines are so long.

And there you have it, the magical entrance.

ACOSTA: All right, Ashleigh. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

I want to show you something that you don't see very much out on the campaign trail. We're still on the tarmac in Cleveland.

That is the wife of the vice presidential running mate, Paul Ryan. That's Janna Ryan playing football with her kids -- there goes a car that just goes by here at the airport -- with her kids and some of the other relatives of the Ryan family. They've all been riding on the Ryan charter all day long.

And, so, just the lighter side of the campaign trail that you don't see very often. And, obviously, a moment for the Ryan family to let off some steam and some pressure, as this is pressure-cooker time here in the state of Ohio, Brooke, and I'll send it back to you.

BALDWIN: Yeah, a little football for one family, a little basketball for another here, maybe diffusing some nervous energy all the way around.

Jim Acosta, thank you. We'll head back to you live in Cleveland in just a moment, but we have to talk Ohio. Ohio, Ohio, everyone needs to know about this because we could go -- look, we could be going to bed tonight or perhaps waking up tomorrow morning, saying, you know what? This thing's not over.

Ali Velshi is with me because we're going to talk about a possible scenario. We chatted about this yesterday, provisional ballots. The provisional ballot situation in Ohio, first, just explain to me why would someone get a provisional ballot?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you get a regular ballot. Everybody gets one mailed to them.

If you didn't get your ballot or there's something that doesn't match with your address or whatever the case is, the way Ohio handles it is you get a provisional ballot and you have 10 days in which -- 10 days after the election in which to prove that you're really that person or you're entitled to vote or this is actually you.

In the meantime, the secretary of state added a layer to this and that is that, if you vote with a provisional ballot. you have to fill out a different form. We've taken a look at the form. It's argued that it's a little more confusing than it needs to be.

And, if you fill out the form incorrectly, so, you say you provided a driver's license when, in fact, you provided a different document, they say your ballot is void.

So, this -- last time 200,000 people used provisional ballots, 40,000 of them were voided. So, if this is a tight race in Ohio, they are going to matter and they don't get counts for 10 days after the election.

BALDWIN: That's the thing. That's what I want to get to.

So, if the margin of victory in Ohio -- and, look, you look at the latest CNN Poll of Polls, it was a three-percent advantage for Obama.

If the margin of victory is within 200,000, you mentioned the 10 days ...

VELSHI: Ten days.

BALDWIN: ... that it will take to manually go through these things ...

VELSHI: Well, no, it's not even that. You have 10 days to go and prove that you shouldn't have a provisional ballot, that it should be made a regular ballot.

So, they don't even start counting them. The provisional ballots do not get counted until 10 days after the election because you've got 10 days to go -- it's like, you know, when you get a ticket for having your headlight out and you have ten days to go in and tell them that your headlight's fixed.

That's what this is. I've 10 days to prove who I am. BALDWIN: OK, so, provisional ballots could be one story.

VELSHI: Right, so there's -- that's -- there are court cases about that now, but this won't be litigated before tonight. So, if Ohio is close, the provisional ballots matter and that could hold a decision up.

BALDWIN: All right, Ali Velshi, thank you.

And, Jim Acosta, back out to you in Cleveland.

ACOSTA: Hi, Brooke, that's right. Yes, we still have the Ryan family playing football behind me on this tarmac in Cleveland.

A little political football on this Election Day and, coming up next here on CNN, we'll be looking at some of the turning points in this campaign as our CNN special Election Day coverage continues right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And you are watching special Election Day coverage on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin in the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

There you have Jim Acosta, flanked by planes there on the tarmac in Cleveland as we're awaiting this event that, of course, we will dip into live, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan in Cleveland before they head to Moon Township just outside of Pittsburgh here on this Election Day.

Jim, we'll head to you here in just a moment, but first, an estimated $6 billion spent on the run for the White House. $6 billion, but we're not going to talk money here. We're going to talk about what money cannot buy, as in the unexpected turn of events that can be game changers for one candidate or the other.

And for that, we're going to go to CNN contributor and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and CNN contributor and editor-in-chief of Redstate.com Erick Erickson. Welcome. Welcome to both of you here. Happy Election Day.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: Let's listen first, I just want to play the sound to the October surprise. This is from one week ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: And I cannot thank the President enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state.

And I heard on the phone conversations with him and I was able to witness it today, personally.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Erick Erickson, Mr. Redstate.com, here you have, you know, Republicans' favorite governor, Chris Christie, heaping praise on the supposed political enemy here, Barack Obama.

You say this was a turning point for the President?

ERICK ERICKSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. You know, I actually didn't think that Hurricane Sandy would overall give the President a big bump, but it clearly did. If you look at the Gallup poll which had been plus-five for Mitt Romney until this past weekend where it was only plus-one for Mitt Romney, all of the gains that Barack Obama made in the Gallup poll and several other polls for that matter came from the East Coast.

The West and the Midwest and the South, they stayed stagnant in the polling. So clearly something happened in the East that gave Barack Obama a bounce. The only thing that happened was Hurricane Sandy.

BALDWIN: That something being Sandy.

Maria, do you attribute a potential turning point to the hurricane? Or do you think it's a little bit more than that?

CARDONA: I think it's more than that, Brooke. I absolutely agree that it certainly gave the President a boost and especially with the independents and perhaps some undecideds. This is the stuff that they love.

BALDWIN: But? I'm hearing a "but" coming.

CARDONA: Yes. But you can't discount, if President Obama wins, there are two things. First of all a lot of the polling and a lot of the analysts had been saying that when Sandy arrived, Mitt Romney's bounce had already stopped, had already stagnated, and the President was starting to basically equal what he had lost and he had already made some gains that he had lost in those battleground states.

And, so, if he does win, if the President wins, you also can't discount the "47 percent" remark from Romney, the "let Detroit go bankrupt" if he loses Ohio. I think those will be key turning points for Romney if the President ends up winning.

BALDWIN: It's interesting you bring up Ohio and, also, keep in mind, that the President really didn't bring up that "47 percent" comment until the very, very end. I want to say it was that last debate.

Erick Erickson, I mean, let's talk about the debates because, you know, everyone agrees, including the President -- I feel like the President sort of jokingly said, yep, I was asleep during debate number one.

If Mitt Romney wins, how much do you think that that first debate will play as a factor?

ERICKSON: I think the first debate was actually pretty significant for Mitt Romney. I think there were several factors along the way leading up to the debate.

You had this Republican caricature, if you will, of Barack Obama, starting really with Clint Eastwood, the whole empty chair thing and it didn't seem to resonate with people until that first debate and, suddenly, a lot of people thought, wow, he really is disengaged; maybe they're right. And it caused a number of independents, in particular, to shift their opinion.

Now, to Maria's point earlier, I do think by the third debate Romney had captured everything he could potentially capture from that first debate. But when you look at polls between October or September and that debate, there was a huge gap with the President leading by a significant margin and then a massive plummet for the President at that debate.

BALDWIN: It was tough. I mean, let's remember that that final debate was, you know, foreign policy and I think a lot of people agree that Mitt Romney didn't really hammer the President as much as expected when it came to that horrendous attack in Benghazi.

Maria, do you think that final debate really -- I don't know -- helped the President, hurt Romney?

CARDONA: Yes. There's no question about that, Brooke, that, after the first debate and the President joked about it himself, you're right about that -- the President did not show up.

The second debate he was very, very strong. And the third debate, I think, sealed it for anybody who had any doubts after the first debate that this was a president who was a fighter, that this was a president who knew his stuff from a foreign-policy standpoint and I think that he hammered Romney the way that he needed to if he wanted to continue to come back and enjoy the lead that he had before coming into the first debate and I think that's exactly what happened.

BALDWIN: Maria Cardona, Erick Erickson, thanks for the chat on the turning points. We shall see what the voters and what the electoral college has to say here. Thank you both.

And, of course, CNN, we're all over it. We're covering the election for you all day long, but be sure to watch our special coverage. That begins at 6:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

Jim Acosta, to you in Ohio.

ACOSTA: Hi, Brooke, I'm going to stand out of the shot right now so we can show you this image of Election Day 2012. And do you need a better image than this?

Zooming in from the Romney charter to Air Force Two that was carrying Vice President Joe Biden earlier this morning, all three of the campaign planes are on this tarmac right now, Mitt Romney's plane, Paul Ryan's plane and Air Force Two right now in Cleveland, Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.

We'll be talking about the latest polls with our CNN's Paul Steinhauser in just a few moments right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: And welcome back to CNN's special coverage of Election Day 2012. I'm Jim Acosta, standing on the tarmac in Cleveland, Ohio, the ultimate battleground state, and we've been watching all morning long, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Joe Biden their respective planes landing here in Cleveland. It's been quite a sight to behold.

And it's a great segue to our next segment with our CNN's Paul Steinhauser. We want to talk to you, Paul, about these latest polls, obviously, but Ohio's obviously very important.

But the national picture is also very interesting, as this race is now winding down.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yeah, Jim, everybody's been saying it's close. You want close? Take a look at this.

Here's our CNN Poll of Polls, nationally. There were eight surveys out over the last two days. You average them all together, here's what you get -- 49 percent for the President, among likely voters, 48 percent for Mitt Romney.

But, hey, we both know this is a race that's going to be won in the states as it's a battle for their electoral votes and three states really stand out in particular. Let's go to Florida. That's one of them, 29 electoral votes at stake, and you can see here among likely voters -- it's from "The Wall Street Journal" and Marist, it's a very close race.

But a Mason-Dixon poll in Florida shows a very different story. It shows the President down by six points to Mitt Romney.

What about Virginia? The last poll to come out was just about 24 hours ago from NBC/"Wall Street Journal." Jim, look how close that is, 48 percent for the President, 47 percent for Mitt Romney, 13 electoral votes at stake in Virginia.

And let's end with Ohio, where you are. Here's our CNN Poll of Polls. We took the three most recent polls in Ohio averaged them all together, the President with a three-point advantage. That's very, very close.

That's what the public opinion polls say, Jim. You're there in Ohio. You've been there a lot. What are you hearing?

ACOSTA: That's right. Well, what I'm hearing, Paul, I talked to a top Republican source who is close to the Romney operation here in Ohio and what I was told is that you know they are very confident. They believe they're going to win this state, but they know it's going to be close and, in the words of this Republican official, very close. And, so, obviously watching this state.

But, Paul, you mentioned Virginia, which is also very interesting. Mitt Romney was on one of the radio stations there in Northern Virginia in the Washington, D.C., area, WMAL, earlier this morning, and he said that he may know how he's going to do tonight based on what happens in Virginia.

He thinks that's crucial to his stakes and what happens in the overall outcome later on tonight. So, Virginia's also very important.

But, of course, it is sometimes all about Ohio and this Election Day is shaping up to be that way, as well.

And, Brooke, I want to toss it back to you now, but I'm just going to let you know that we think within the hour or so we're going to see Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan return to this airport at some point.

We should have a read on exactly where the GOP ticket went off to. They made a campaign stop here in the Cleveland area and we should get details and, when we do get them, we'll get them to you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So, are they going somewhere without cameras?

ACOSTA: They have a small group of pool reporters with them, so there is a -- there will be cameras with them. And, so, we'll get all of that footage, all those pictures and the information when they get back.

BALDWIN: All right, Jim Acosta, it's nice have a live presence. Nice to have you join me here in Ohio, battleground Ohio.

That state has voted for the winner in every presidential election since 1964. So, what about 2012? Just ahead, John King shows us how Ohio's pick could come down to one county.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let's break down the Buckeye State just a little bit more for you. Ohio, critical to deciding this presidential race.

Keep in mind there are 18 electoral votes up for grabs and, as John King is about to show us, it really could all come down to this one county there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The reason Ohio is such a good bellwether is because it is America. It has cities. It has agriculture. It has rural areas. It has small cities. It has suburbs. And it has exurbs.

This state of Ohio has been right in every presidential election since 1964, meaning whoever has won Ohio and every election since then has gone on to win the presidency.

A few things I want to do. This is the '08 map. President Obama carried it, 52-to-47, right? I want to show you a few areas. I'm going to circle up here Lake County -- That's just outside of Cleveland -- Hamilton County down here in the southwest corner. So, the northeast to the southwest and then I'll circle here in the middle.

There are other places to watch, as well, but let's just focus on these three. Lake County, these are the suburbs right outside of Cleveland. You see the President carried them last time, just barely, mind you. Just barely, but the suburbs in close elections send a signal.

Go back to '04, President Bush carried them barely. So, that's one place to watch.

Let's bring the state back into full focus, come back to 2008. In the Columbus area, this is where the President, second to Cleveland, will get a big African-American turnout right here. He won 60-39 in Franklin County, the suburbs right around Columbus, also very important.

And then, Erin, I'll close here. Going down to the southwest corner, I just talked to a Republican in Hamilton County, a very smart organizer there. I said, in a word, how do you feel today? Nervous, was the reply.

Nervous because the President carried Hamilton County, Cincinnati and the suburbs, the President carried it by a big margin last time because of the African-American vote in Cincinnati. Some Obama supporters waited more than four hours to wait today.

You see that county down there in the corner? In '04, it was red. In '08, it was blue. My guess is the color that county is tomorrow night tells you who wins Ohio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: There's John King for you.

Now, both presidential candidates desperately want to win Ohio, but somebody has to lose. We all know that.

One candidate has to come up with a backup plan, a Plan B, if you will, and that Plan B is Pennsylvania.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want you to take a look here at the CNN electoral map, which, by the way, you can find if you go to cnn.com and you can click on your different states to see which candidate gets to 270. But I just want to point out, you know, some of these lighter shades here, the pink, the lighter blue, you know, that basically means that while it's not quite a safe bet, it is leaning toward one particular candidate. Obviously you have the red here for Romney and the blue for Obama.

Now, recently, some are wondering just how light the blue for Pennsylvania actually is after all the, you know, campaign movement going on in this particular state. And of these scores of campaign stops Romney has done, his last one, this upcoming afternoon, will be in, of all places, Pennsylvania. Just yesterday the President's campaign big gun, Bill Clinton, visited not only Pittsburgh but Philadelphia as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We're going to choose hope over fear. We're going to choose unity over division. And we're going to prove that we are neither as dumb nor as selfish as some people think we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk Pennsylvania with Alice Stewart. She's live for us in Washington.

Alice, nice to see you.

You were the spokeswoman for the presidential campaign of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. And, you know, this state, it's been called fool's gold and the holy grail for Republicans. You look at the demographics. They look great for Republican, but it keeps going blue. Why do you think -- what makes Romney think, let me put it that way, what makes Romney think he can turn Pennsylvania around?

ALICE STEWART, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, a lot of it has to do with what he's feeling out there on the ground. And I've spoken with Rick Santorum. He's been campaigning vigorously in Pennsylvania and across the country for the Romney campaign because energy independence is a big issue in Pennsylvania. And with the Obama campaign's all of the above, meaning above the ground, wind and solar support, that doesn't sit well with people in Pennsylvania. They want someone that will support coal, oil and gas. And that's exactly what Mitt Romney does. And he will support energy independence from day one. And that's what the people of Pennsylvania want to hear, as well as someone who will get in there from day one and work to create jobs and turn the economy around. And they feel confident that Romney can do that.

BALDWIN: We pointed out he's going to be in Moon Township, about a half hour drive from Pittsburgh, later this afternoon. You were the communications director for Santorum, an underdog in Pennsylvania. What do you think is going on in the Romney campaign here as they see polls that show again and again Romney slightly behind?

STEWART: Well, I think what we're seeing, you know, all your guys have been talking with Jim and John and Joe and Paul, they've been out there. They've seen the numbers and they've seen what's on the ground. But what we're going with is the polling data that we've seen over the past 24 hours where there is unsatisfactory feelings toward the President. And that bodes well for Mitt Romney in terms of the independents and the undecided.

And the polls are closing ever so tightly. But the good thing is, we've had more than 50 million voter contacts on the Republican side, reaching out to not just the base, but the low propensity voters. And that's critical to getting out to people that ordinary might not have voted. So we're making good contact with them and we're turning them out to the polls because they want someone that will do something about turning the economy around. They're not satisfied with what we have right now in terms of someone who won't reach across the aisle. And they know that Mitt Romney will -- has done that in Massachusetts and will do that when he gets to the White House.

BALDWIN: We will see if Mitt Romney can turn Pennsylvania red or not a little later on. Alice Stewart, thank you so much, in Washington for us.

STEWART: Thanks, Brooke. Thanks.

BALDWIN: You know, after today, the barrage of TV political ads, they will end. But which states were hit the hardest by campaign ads? Christine Romans has the breakdown next. And, let me tell you, it's pretty shocking.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: To all of you sitting there today, voting from a swing states, take a deep breath. The campaigning is over. That means it's now safe to turn on your TV and not be bombarded with political ad after political ad. How bad was it this election cycle you ask? CNN's Christine Romans breaks down which states got hit the hardest.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, take a look at the magic wall of just how much saturation in these swing states there's been of television advertisements. More than 1 million times these ads have run and this is where it's been focused.

I want to first show you Mitt Romney. Team Romney has focused their ads here. The President has focused his here. You see those swing states? Add in now the Republican PACs and the Democrat PACs and this is what the country looks like.

Let's zero in here on Iowa first. The President and the PACs on his behalf really focusing in on these major markets in this swing state. And maybe it's working because you look at the most recent "Des Moines Register" poll, the President has a lead that is past the margin of error.

Now let's go down to Florida. You cannot, in Florida, watch television without being inundated with these ads. More than a million times these ads have run across the country. I was just in Tallahassee. No commercial break, no commercial break was free of lots of lots of ads.

And now let's go up here to Ohio. This has been a really important battleground. You keep hearing that no -- no one's going to get to the White House without getting Ohio. All roads to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue lead to Ohio. This is what Romney's ad saturation looks like in the state. Here's what Obama's looks like. Taking them together, you can see that people in Ohio have been hearing nothing but election for the past year.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: I know. They're over it, over it, and over it. Christine Romans, thank you very much. Thousands of people still suffering, though, from the impact of Superstorm Sandy. Look at these pictures. Very much so in harm's way again. Coming up next, Deborah Feyerick shows us how this new weather worry could impact voter turnout.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is 1:00 p.m. in the East, 10:00 in the morning on the West Coast. Election Day from sea to shining sea. For more than half the country now, this really is the culmination of weeks and weeks of elections days. Millions of votes, they're already cast. And, tonight, they get counted. In fact, the very first poll closures now just six hours away. Hello on this Election Day. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Good to see you. I am in Atlanta at the CNN world headquarters. And I am joined by Jim Acosta, live on the tarmac in Cleveland, Ohio.

Jim Acosta, we are emphasizing the importance of Ohio.