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Midterm Elections; Biden Prediction; Virgin Galactic Crash; ISIS Kills Hundreds; Midterm Election Prep

Aired November 03, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much. Great to be with all of you on this Monday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

The election is tomorrow and the polls are breaking Republican. Should the GOP secure a net gain of six seats in the 100-seat Senate, then the Republican Party will own Capitol Hill, will control both houses of Congress, something Barack Obama has not yet faced in his nearly six years in the White House. But hold on though because you have to run these elections first, right? So here is the vice president speaking to CNN saying his Democrats still have hope. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First of all, I don't agree with the odd makers. I predict we're going to - we're going to keep the Senate.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You do?

BIDEN: I've been in 66, 67 races all told and I don't get the feeling that the odds makers are giving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Be that as it may, here is the bad news, Mr. Vice President. Bad news for Obama. In fact, bad news for the Dems. In Iowa, a Democratic seat the Dems have hoped to hold, Republican Joni Ernst has taken a seven-point lead in a Des Moines register poll. Georgia, another hope for the Democrats may be waning as a weekend poll showed Republican David Perdue outdrawing Michelle Nunn. And West Virginia, South Dakota, Montana, these are Democratic states right now but will not be after tomorrow. We can pretty much say that for sure. Three more takeaways and just do the math and the GOP owns the Senate.

Joe Klein with me, political columnist for "Time" magazine. That Joe Klein sitting with me here on set.

So nice to see you, sir.

JOE KLEIN, "TIME' MAGAZINE COLUMNIST: Good to be here.

BALDWIN: Let's just begin with - so you have the polls breaking Republican. You --

KLEIN: Sort of. BALDWIN: Kind of, sort of. But then you have the vice president

saying, no, we're going to hang on. Which is it?

KLEIN: I don't know. I mean, you know -

BALDWIN: Honesty. I like it.

KLEIN: Obviously the election sets up pretty good for Republicans. It looks like they're going to do it. But all -- there are all these states out there that are not runaways. A four-point difference in Georgia may mean nothing. You know, a lot of it depends on turnout. Polls down ballot from, you know, the presidency are notoriously inaccurate. Nobody's going to do what Nate Silver did four years ago -

BALDWIN: Called them all.

KLEIN: Who called them all, right. And so, you know, I would suspect the Republicans are going to take control of the Senate. But for people like me are stupidest when we say they're absolutely going to take control.

BALDWIN: We're not calling it. We're not calling it. We will have that moment when we wake up Wednesday morning when it's over.

KLEIN: Leave that to Wolf. Wolf will - Wolf will do that.

BALDWIN: We'll have it.

So, woke up this morning, read your piece, time.com, and the five things to watch for. So let me just begin with the first that jumped out at me. You talk about Democrats and women and you write this, point blank, "the alleged toxicity of Barack Obama has made it unsafe for Democrats to discuss much else." So are you saying the only thing that Democrats can bring to the table are so-called women's issues?

KLEIN: Well, that's pretty much the way it's looking around the country. I went on a road trip through the south and that was just about all Democrats we're talking about.

BALDWIN: Women.

KLEIN: Yes. They used to be able to talk about foreign policy, but that's gotten a lot more complicated over the last couple of years, especially with the rise of ISIS. And so they have clean arguments there, equal pay for equal work. It just sounds right, doesn't it? How can you be against that? And yet Republicans are avoiding that issue throughout the south and in other places. It's the democrat's strongest point. But I don't know whether you can pin a whole party and hang a whole party on that one issue.

BALDWIN: It's the women issue you point out is one of the five things to look for.

KLEIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: You also talk about where Democrats are really struggling. You talk about states where it's not surprising that they're struggling, so let me quote you here. "There is no excuse for the tight races that estimable Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Mark Udall find themselves struggling through in New Hampshire and Colorado." Do you think it is the president -- you mentioned before his toxicity -- do you think it's the president that's dragging them down?

KLEIN: It's the only issue.

BALDWIN: It's not anything else?

KLEIN: It's not anything else.

BALDWIN: Wow.

KLEIN: I mean Jeanne Shaheen is a legendary politician in New Hampshire. I was just up there yesterday, Hillary Clinton was there campaigning for -

BALDWIN: Lots of women you were saying.

KLEIN: Yes. In fact, New Hampshire is the future. A women governor, sitting governor now, two women senators, two women congresspeople or congresswomen.

BALDWIN: Congresswomen.

KLEIN: And Jeanne Shaheen is a legend. She's the only woman who's ever been both a senator and a governor and she's very, very strongly regarded up there and she is in a knockdown, drag-out, one-point differential race with Scott Brown, who, you know, is a carpet bagger. He came from Massachusetts. So -

BALDWIN: So singularly playing (ph) out the president.

KLEIN: Yes, I mean people look -- people do not understand where this president has gone. And especially in this fall with Ebola and, you know, the summer and fall with ISIS -

BALDWIN: Yes.

KLEIN: And, you know, people don't feel the impacts of Obamacare because it only affects very few people, but it's a bad label to have hung around your neck even though the program's kind of succeeding.

BALDWIN: And we were talking earlier, and we'll talk a little bit more, on just about how the economy's so, so, so much better -

KLEIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Yet people still aren't totally feeling it. Joe Klein, thank you so much. A pleasure having you on.

KLEIN: My pleasure.

BALDWIN: So, back to Joe Biden. He is certainly defying the odds makers. Says his Democrats will hold on to the U.S. Senate. Gloria Borger asked him essentially, what if you're wrong? Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: But what if that were to be the case?

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't think it will change anything in terms of what we're about. We know we have to get done the last two years and quite frankly going into 2016 the Republicans have to make a decision whether they're in control or not in control or they're going to begin to allow things to happen or they're going to continue to be obstructionist. And I think they're going to choose to get things done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, she joins me now live from Washington, our chief political analyst.

And so did the vice president offer specifics as to how the White House would approach this post-election reality in which both houses are run by the opposition.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: No. No, I - I think what we see is - I think what we see is the beginning of a strategy here, Brooke. You know, he's sort of putting out his hand and saying, OK, yes, we can work together and he said to me, we're willing to compromise and if they are willing to deal. And what he did say, which kind of surprised me, was that he admitted that the White House really needs to do a better job of communicating what it's doing to the American people. I mean, he wouldn't say that what they were doing was at all wrong or bad or anything else. He just said, look, we effectively haven't been telling our story as well as we need to tell our story.

BALDWIN: All right. So all this talk of compromise, Gloria Borger. You have the vice president, 71 years of age, talking as though he just might have another election left in him.

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Maybe for the white house. Roll that sound bite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORGER: It's not about Hillary?

BIDEN: No. Well, it really is not. I mean you know me too well. I mean if I run, I'm confident I will be able to mount a campaign that can be financed and it will be credible and it will be serious.

BORGER: Would you run if she runs?

BIDEN: Absolutely. That's not the reason not to run or to run. The question is, am I - do I -- am I convinced I am best positioned of anyone else to lead the country the next four years. BORGER: Are you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Uh-huh. Does it - I mean he's considering it. he is considering it. Does that surprise you?

BORGER: Yes, he is. Look, first of all, he's not going to say it right now because -- let's say he decides not to run. He's not going to say it right now because he doesn't want to be a lame duck, right? I mean the president has that problem, why should he have that problem, right?

Then, what did surprise me, though, Brooke, was when I asked him whether he was -- didn't like all the attention that Hillary is getting. And he's the sitting vice president and he's not getting the attention and Hillary Clinton, everybody's buzzing about her candidacy. He said, you know, I really don't feel badly about that. He said, even when I say it, it doesn't sound real, but that's actually how I feel. I don't feel badly about it. So he wasn't giving away any secrets there but, you know, not closing any doors, at least not yet.

BALDWIN: How about just in the final moment I have you, you know, when the cameras weren't rolling and, you know, when you were talking, as we reporters do, anything, you know, on the record that he shared with you that you want us to know?

BORGER: No, I think, you know, he's sort of the eternal optimist. And, you know, when I asked him the first question, you know, can the Democrats - you know, what - everyone's says the Democrats aren't going to win, he really even privately is not giving up on that. And, you know, I think they've got an awful lot at stake there and they understand that and they know that. And I think what we're all going to be talking about after election night is the strategy and the question of whether all these red state Democrats should have kept the president out as much as they have because could they have gotten the base out more with the president out there on the campaign trail and will the base stay home? And I think that's a worry that everyone in the White House is having right now.

BALDWIN: Something we may be talking about in 48 hours from now.

BORGER: Right.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, thank you so much, and for that interview with the vice president. Thank you.

You know, this is the election that will shape the nation for the next two years. Make sure you join us tomorrow night here on CNN for "Election Night in America." We will be here until that final vote is counted.

Next here on CNN, Virgin Galactic's CEO Richard Branson speaking out after last week's crash of Spaceship II. Why he says he still plans on being the first passenger going into space on his company's crafts. And next, the terror group ISIS tweeting out absolutely gruesome photos of death and destruction at their hands in Iraq's Anbar province. How they're using these pictures to recruit scores of new members. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

The co-pilot who survived Friday's deadly Virgin Galactic crash is said to be alert, he is talking, but doctors say Peter Siebold is not well enough yet to tell federal investigators what went so wrong some 4,500 feet up in the air.

So we know this. We know the NTSB has been watching this video. They have been collecting clues from the wreckage strewn across the Mojave Desert. And although it is still very early here, investigators say the co-pilot prematurely moved this crucial lever unlocking the so- called feather mechanism. So if you don't understand, it's feathering. It causes the wings to pivot upward, slowing down the spacecraft. Now this crash, which killed pilot Michael Tyner Alsbury, leading to questions about the future of Virgin Galactic's space tourism program. Here's CNN's Poppy Harlow. She just talked to the company's founder, Richard Branson, just a short time ago.

Poppy, what did he say?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Brooke.

Well, Richard Branson told me that he will not speculate about what caused the crash. He said he still is moving forward. They still want to send civilians to space and that he will be the first to go up. And I asked him, given the tragedy on Friday, is the risk worth it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD BRANSON, FOUNDER, VIRGIN GROUP: Yes, the risk is worth it. And as I say, Mike would have been the first to say that. I'm sure his parents and his wife and his sisters would not say that, but test pilots would say that because they know the risk they're taking. They know the importance of what they're doing. We know the importance of what we're doing. And, you know, if we - if test pilots hadn't taken risks, we wouldn't have had the 747. You know, the -- two of the comets (ph) blew up in the early days of airline travel and now airline travel is as safe as anything. We've got to go through the difficult testing stage of creating a space line in order to make it safe for travelers who want to travel on that space line in the years ahead. And, you know, we will persevere and we will succeed.

HARLOW: CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien, this morning, said that you and Virgin Galactic, he believes, have, quote, "consistently underestimated to the public what it takes to get to space, the risk involved." He said that there has been really a gloss painted on this that does not reflect reality. What is your response to that?

BRANSON: There have been some incredible things said over the last two days since the accident. When you have incidents, you're going to get people who are quick to criticize, you know, what is a pioneering program. We have 400 of the best engineers in the world working on this. They are diligent, hard-working, doing something which is cutting edge. And I support them 100 percent.

HARLOW: I -

BRANSON: So, you know, we have to accept the occasional knock, but we'll brush it down and move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Now, Brooke, I asked him if they will send more test pilots up in the other spaceship that they're building right now before the NTSB investigation is done. He said that the NTSB has actually told them to move forward, so it appears that they are going to do that. There's been a lot of talk about the new fuel mix that was used in SpaceShipTwo on this flight. Richard Branson denied any claims that that had anything to do with this crash.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Poppy Harlow, thank you so much.

Coming up here on CNN, these gruesome pictures tweeted out by ISIS. Victims killed by this terror group in Iraq's Anbar province just west of Baghdad. How these photos are being used to recruit new members.

Also ahead, President Obama campaigning with just one Democratic Senate candidate. One. Was isolating the president the right strategy? Our political experts weigh in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: ISIS has carried out another display of brutality, this time in Iraq. We'll show you these pictures that ISIS tweeted out. But just to warn you, they are very, very graphic. Let me explain. ISIS forces slaughtering dozens of Sunni tribal members in Anbar province, you see the map, right, so this is just west of Baghdad, these pictures, look at this, show the aftermath. These victims pulled from their beds in the middle of the night and executed. Iraq says ISIS may have killed 200 members of the tribe in all including women and children.

While the U.S. led air strikes continue, the ground fighting, particularly in that Syrian border town of Kobani, has been mostly the responsibility of Syrian Kurdish military forces. They have thus far managed to keep Kobani from falling, but have failed to push ISIS out completely. Well now reinforcements have arrived.

Let's go to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh. He is in southern Turkey for me.

And let's talk about those Iraqi Kurds, the Peshmerga. They have arrived in Kobani. What are they bringing to the fight? Is there a dent in ISIS' power there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. In fact, what we've seen in the last 24 hours, according to the Kurds we've spoken to, what we saw this morning is those Peshmerga, the Iraqi Kurds, who brought with them a lot of heavy weaponry, hardware, vehicles, rocket launchers, mortars, heavy machine guns, using that weaponry to provide cover for the Syrian Kurds and some Syrian rebels to push forward.

Now, they're telling us this morning that they pushed far out to the east. That's traditionally where ISIS has had a strong hold. And they pushed out far to the west as well. Three to four kilometers one claimed.

Now, we saw ourselves a lot of heavy firing on (INAUDIBLE) on to ISIS positions. One particular collection of houses getting hit very hard as well. We can still hear the coalition in the sky. (INAUDIBLE) for the daily air strikes we've seen today. The Kurds very much on the advance and confident, in the words of one of them, perhaps a little premature. The optimism here, but confident they might clear the city of ISIS in the next two to three days, Brooke.

BALDWIN: That is confidence if that's expected perhaps in the next couple of days. We'll continue watching the status of Kobani closely. But, Nick, I have to ask you about the gruesome photos we showed a moment ago. That mass execution of the Sunni clan. What was this about? Was this ISIS expanding territory or clearly sending some kind of message?

WALSH: Well, this doesn't really make sense on the surface. You remember the ISIS are a Sunni extremist group. That's the Sunni-Shia divide in Iraq causing so much of the conflict there. And these are Sunni tribe members they're executing.

But the reason for this is that part of the Albunima (ph) tribe, and they have been making rumblings about resisting ISIS' presence in their area, talking to the Iraqi government about getting arms from them to fight against ISIS. Now the idea of Sunni tribes turning on ISIS is a key plank of the coalition's strategy to push ISIS out of north and western (ph) Iraq, without which they pretty much accept they haven't got much of a chance. Air strikes along won't do it.

Now, these executions, many say, possibly 300, although reports of women and children still to be confirmed, these potentially, these executions, are designed to sway these tribes, Sunni tribes, away from that resistance against ISIS. It's a key moment of decision. And two things rest upon it. Do the tribes still have the stomach for that fight after these executions? They probably do. Are they going to get the weapons they need from the Iraqi government to begin that fight? The U.S. wants that to happen badly as well. A lot resting on what happens in the next few weeks there.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick Paton Walsh for us in Turkey. Thank you so much, Nick.

Coming up, Election Day tomorrow. Will we see President Barack Obama campaigning out and about for the Democratic hopefuls or will he be noticeably absent? Also ahead, I traveled to a neighborhood here in the New York area,

it's known as little Liberia. Many, many Liberian refugees who live on Staten Island. I talked to these wonderful people who are from Liberia. And one woman told me she feels like she is still in Liberia with Ebola because of the stigma here in the states. Don't miss this conversation.

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