Return to Transcripts main page

At This Hour

McConnell Poised for Big Promotion; Stock Bounce After GOP Win; Oregon, D.C. Vote to Legalize Marijuana; Voters Raise Minimum Wage; Jim Gilmore Talks GOP Win; Hickenlooper Re-Elected

Aired November 05, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A big red wave has come across the nation. We are now waiting to hear from two leaders that change in Congress will affect the most.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Mitch McConnell, he will be the next Senate Majority Leader. He will hold a news conference this afternoon at 2:00 Eastern and President Obama will speak about 50 minutes after that. Now we should say, the president apparently reached out to Senator McConnell after his reelection win, but left a message, apparently, I guess on his voice mail. Hi, Senator, it's President Obama --

PEREIRA: Beep, start again.

BERMAN: I'll be up for another half hour. Call me if you get this. All right. Senator McConnell is poised to lead this new majority, and obviously become one of the most powerful politicians -- he already is one of the most powerful politicians, in the country.

Still, Congress not so popular. 80 percent of Americans in the exit polls say they are not happy with Congress.

PEREIRA: Our Joe Johns is in Lexington, Kentucky, one of my favorite places. Seems voters weren't so much voting for McConnell as they were against Democratic control of the Senate. Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yeah, I think that's part of it, but quite frankly -- and we've probably made this point a few times on TV already -- Mitch McConnell is not necessarily very popular in the state of Kentucky, either. But the bottom line and a lot of the things we're hearing from people here is that people might not like him so much but they think he's very effective in Washington, D.C. They think he does his job very well and that's why they reelected him to another term and why he's likely to become the next majority leader because people in Kentucky think he does a good job for them -- John and Michaela?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joe, a lot of money was spent all over the country but a lot was spent in Kentucky and you talked to people who benefited from that cash flow.

JOHNS: Huge money, especially advertising. People are very happy to see those ads go away but I talked to one person here in the cafe in Lexington, Kentucky, who isn't happy to see that go away. As a matter of fact, she happens to be a radio advertising executive. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RADIO ADVERTISER: We have a lot of candidates this is year coming in and dropping a lot of money on political advertising. And then if they're competitors with money and advertising they would in turn invest more in advertising, so it was a heavy race as far as the advertising aspect goes.

JOHNS: So from your point of view, you probably hate to see this end because it was more money for the radio station?

RADIO ADVERTISER: It was a nice little draw for radio and it is -- it's sad to see it end. We get it about once every four years so once the big turn elections come, it's a nice boost for radio. Especially this year.

JOHNS: Otherwise, it doesn't make much difference who won or lost? Or does it?

RADIO ADVERTISER: I like to see the people who advertise with me win. I want them to know radio works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Mitch McConnell threw a lot of his own money into the state of Kentucky and there was a lot of outside influence as well. Once the dust clears we'll talk about the money in politics and whether it's a good idea -- John and Michaela?

PEREIRA: We today in the president was able to get through but McConnell has talked about the areas he'll have to work on, government shutdowns, Obama, et cetera. What are we hearing?

JOHNS: Yeah. I think what are the priorities for Mitch McConnell? We certainly know he's going talk about the Keystone XL Pipeline and how to get a vote in the United States Senate. I think the big question is whether the president of the United States is going to sign off on it. A lot of environmentalists are opposed to that idea. Probably some tweaks to Obamacare pretty clear that Mitch McConnell is a realist. He knows it's not going to be possible to push through a full repeal of Obamacare. Some conservatives are concerned about the possibility of Mitch McConnell trying to play small ball with these issues, also the issue of trade and a few others as opposed to going for -- swinging for the long ball. Interesting to see how he handles that and he's struck sort of a conciliatory tone at the top. We'll see if it holds because as you know we're starting the race toward 2016.

PEREIRA: We certainly are. Joe Johns, I know Berman was secretly hoping you'd go back behind the counter, maybe flip burgers or something but we won't ask that of you because we have our standards, OK, Joe?

JOHNS: You got it. All right. Good food here, by the way.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: No doubt.

We know the Democrats lost but you know what won? Pot! Not just pot, also the minimum wage. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: The market is surging this morning after Republicans racked up huge wins in Congress and in governments across the country.

BERMAN: Yeah. The Dow is up 63 points right now, not the biggest increase ever. But earlier, it did manage to set a new record.

Want to bring in our chief business correspondent, also the anchor of "Early Start," Christine Romans.

So, what's going on? Why is Wall Street so happy?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Stock guys are happy. They say they stocks have been great, great for a few years now. The Obama economy has been low-interest rates. It's been a recovering economy. It's been great corporate profits. Now they think a GOP-controlled Congress will add to that, maybe for the banking sector, for example, new leadership in the Senate banking committee, the finance committee. Maybe they'll take some of the teeth, the fangs out of the Dodd-Frank regulations after the financial crisis. For energy, for example, maybe there will be blunted regulations on finding new information in the united domestic energy sources in the United States.

BERMAN: Keystone Pipeline.

ROMANS: The Keystone Pipeline, exactly. So there's this feeling that that will be good for all.

There's also this feeling -- and I think Mitch McConnell alluded to this in the interview he just did -- that quite frankly you're less likely to have a debt default or a big debt showdown on the watch of Republicans in both chambers.

BERMAN: On the watch of him. I think he's very, very anti-shutdown.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: We're going ask you to hang tight. We want to bring in our Evan Perez to talk about ballot initiatives.

Good to have both of you here with us.

Decidedly red states, Arkansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Alaska, they all voted yesterday to increase the minimum wage. This is why I wanted you to stick around, Christine Romans.

An issue that President Obama has been trying his hardest to get pushed through a gridlocked congress.

It's not just the minimum wage. Also another "M" word, Marijuana, Oregon, the District of Columbia voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use. It looks like Alaska heading in the same direction. The votes there still being counted.

Evan, state by state, marijuana seems to be winning.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It almost looks inevitable. John. It looks like this is the way the states are going. And the federal government is sort of dragging its feet. The federal government still classifies marijuana as one of the most dangerous substances out there, including alongside heroin.

What's interesting about the D.C. law is obviously this is the backyard of the federal government. The DEA is here. The Justice Department said they're not going to interfere as long as states abide by certain rules. So the Congress, the republican Congress could well try to block the D.C. law early nest year. So we'll wait and see if that takes effect, maybe next March.

PEREIRA: I think that's one that gets me the most, Evan, is that that happened in Washington, D.C., in the fed's backyard. I can't get over that, the irony there. Also, just the logistics of how they'll manage that because the area of the district is owned by the feds, how are you going to manage those laws and enforcement, et cetera?

PEREZ: It's still illegal to smoke marijuana or possess it in the federal property and half of downtown is federal property, national parkland. But, you know, the president's own neighbors, Attorney General Eric Holder's own neighbors, those precincts that surround them all voted overwhelmingly for this law. So it's going to be interesting to see how the government tries to live with legal marijuana here in the capital city.

BERMAN: Christine Romans, it's a big night for the minimum wage. The minimum wage increased in state after state after state. If someone had told you six months ago the minimum wage would do really, really well on a night when Democrats did really, really badly, you would have said "no way."

ROMANS: These voters showed up and voted in Republicans, Republicans who don't agree with raising the minimum wage, the same voters then turned around and raised the minimum wage. 600,000 people will see raises starting next year. Polls are very clear. 72 percent of Americans think the minimum wage should be raised. The business community doesn't think it should be raised, the Republican Party doesn't, but people do. The real irony here is that this is a signature Obama administration initiative that has failed in Washington but that Republicans around the country are voting in, Republicans and Democrats.

PEREIRA: Now most of these will surpass the federal minimum wage which is $7.25. Amazing.

ROMANS: 29 states have raised the minimum wage in the absence of federal reaction.

PEREIRA: Christine Romans, Evan Perez, thank you so much for joining us today.

PEREIRA: Let's bring in former Republican governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore. He was also the chairman of the RNC and the founder of the conservative super PAC called Growth.

Governor, thank you for being with us.

Let's start off by asking you about the minimum wage. Isn't it interesting that, again, in state after sate the minimum wage was increased. Voters chose to increase the minimum wage while voting in Republicans?

JIM GILMORE, (R), FORMER VIRGINIA GOVERNOR & FORMER RNC CHAIR: Well, I think it's a localized issue and it's been under some discussion but I think that the real issue that we've got to do here is to try to think about the people who will probably be thrown out of work now as a result of the increase in the minimum wage. We have to be making plans to accommodate those further unemployed people.

In the meanwhile, the real thrust of what we need to do is build up the economy and create more jobs for people and get wages coming up. I think part of the reason for this result that we saw yesterday is because people are frustrated because wages are not going up in the United States.

BERMAN: Hang on one second here, Governor, because we have some breaking news just into CNN.

CNN can now project one of the races that has been outstanding. Governor John Hickenlooper, Democrat from Colorado, we project he has been re-elected defeating Bob Beauprex. This race so close. Hickenlooper named as a possible presidential contender for the Democrats. But watching this tight race in what has been a tight race. Mark Udall lost there, but Governor Hickenlooper outperformed him and we now project he has been re-elected.

PEREIRA: Let's turn back to our guest, former RNC chairman, Jim Gilmore.

You want to react to that news?

GILMORE: Well, yes, congratulations to Governor Hickenlooper. I know Bob Beauprex ran a good race but we saw astonishing results across the country. The Republicans won the governorship in Massachusetts, which I think is pretty amazing and in Maryland, which is even more amazing. Governor Scott was reelected in Florida but the main story as we know today is that the national move towards the direction of the nation was carried out by the Republicans taking over the United States Senate, including, by the way, the Colorado seat. PEREIRA: I want to refer back to something that happened on our show.

We just had the first black American female voted in, in your party, as a Congresswoman in the state of Utah. She's very excited. She's looking very much forward to getting to work and we talked about some of her plans. I'm curious in light of that what you think looking forward to 2016, what your party can do to embrace more and include more at the table, black, Latino, female voters.

GILMORE: I think we need to have a positive national program that includes everybody including African-Americans and Latino voters and women and young people, people who are suffering under the policies of this administration. People are being deliberately thrown out of work, people who are having flat wages. This is the national challenge and this is what the voters told us, not only at the polls but in the exit polling saying they have a lot of anxiety about the economic conditions of the country. They're insecure because of the world crisis that we're facing and the potential for danger here in this country. They don't think that the next generation will do as well as the last.

That's un-American, Michaela, and it's got to change. And I propose that what happens in Congress now is an affirmative direct program to build up jobs and growth in the United States economy. A growth policy has to be the Republican program and it incorporates everybody including the groups you're talking about.

BERMAN: Governor, I am old enough to remember when you ran for president. As we come out of this election in 2014 and look forward to 2016, I wonder if you could tell me which Republican potential candidate you think is in the best position today.

GILMORE: I don't think that our field at this point has emerged and I don't think that the people who have been talked about are talking about the right things. And the right things are the growth of the American economy, jobs, growth, opportunity, a real forward motion for what this country really stands for. This is why I formed the Growth PAC and we bought television and radio advertising in Iowa and New Hampshire and Virginia and radio in North Carolina because we want to project this idea of a growth and positive economy for the United States and that is what has to be done for '16. You can get into all kinds of personality contests and that's been the sideshow and circus up to this point, but at the end of the day, yesterday, the voters of America said, wait a minute, we care about our future, we care about the future of our children and we're going to take affirmative action to get things on the right track. That's the lesson we saw yesterday, not some circus or sideshow for 2016 that we've seen up to this point.

PEREIRA: Jim Gilmore, thanks so much for joining us. Hope to talk to you again sometime.

GILMORE: Good, thank you very much.

BERMAN: Let me remind you of the news we broke moments ago, CNN projects that John Hickenlooper has been re-elected as governor of Colorado, the Democrat elected to a second term in that state despite the fact that the Democratic Senator there, Mark Udall, lost his bid for re-election. This will be a small glimmer of good news for the Democratic Party.

PEREIRA: Ahead, are voters sending a message to D.C. that the country becoming more conservative? We'll talk with newly elected Democrat, Chris van Hollen. Is it possible for his party to rebound after this major loss? We'll discuss with him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY: Some I imagine also is a message that the American public is tired of gridlock. They want to see something happen and I want to be part of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was Republican Senator Rand Paul promising less gridlock now that we have even more divided government with Republicans in charge of the Senate as well.

PEREIRA: Before and after. This was the balance of power in the Senate yesterday. And let's press the switch. There it is. A day later after the election, big gains in the House, in the Senate and in the governor's races.

So what happened? Where did Democrats go wrong?

Congressman Chris van Hollen was one of the Democratic bright spots defeating Republican challenger, Dave Wallace. He joins us on the phone.

Congressman, can you hear us OK?

REP CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, (D), MARYLAND (voice-over): I hear you fine. Good to be with both of you.

PEREIRA: Good to be with you.

Other than obviously your personal victory, talk to us about the bigger scope, the bigger picture of what happened to Democrats last night. What happened?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, there's no doubt it was a very rough night for Democrats. Clearly, the country is frustrated with the gridlock in Congress. The great irony of the results last night is that a lot of the issues that have been blocked in Congressman, like increasing the minimum wage, won on ballot initiatives in places like Arkansas, in places like South Dakota and Nebraska. And I say irony because those initiatives that passed in those red states have been blocked in Congress. In the House, we haven't been able to have a vote on that Democratic initiative. And yet somehow that obstruction on popular issues ricocheted onto the president and we saw the results last night.

So, look, I think we all need to come together. I think Democrats need to focus on their core economic message, equal pay for equal work, trying to provide student debt relief and other core issues, and I certainly hope Republicans will join us in that effort and stop blocking some of those measures.

BERMAN: Congressman, we expect to hear from President Obama in about three hours. What do you think he needs to say? Do you think that the full scope of what voters said last night has sunk in at the White House?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, I'm interested to hear from the president. I think the president will continue to invite the Congress to work with him on some of these important issues. The public has heard the president reach out to Congress in the past. On some of these key issues, he says, if you Republicans in Congress have a different way to do it, let me know, I'm happy to meet you halfway. Instead, he was rebuffed. This is a two-way street. I think the president is more than willing to continue his efforts to reach out. I am a little concerned that in many of the House races, you've got Republicans coming to Congress who actually ran on a platform of no compromise. And if you're going to deliver on a platform of no compromise, it means more dysfunction. So I hope that's not the case. And we'll just have to see how we move forward here.

PEREIRA: And that's the question of moving forward. I think there's one aspect of how the Congress works together to sort of give the people what they need for this country. But I want you to talk about 2016 in terms of where your party needs to be. Talk to me about that.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, again, if you talk to the American public -- and I've spent a lot of time in my district talking to people going door to door -- the things they care most about are the things that all of our neighbors care about. They want to make sure their kids have a chance to get a good education. They want to send them to an affordable college. They want to make sure there are job opportunities. So we need to get back to those proposals. And we're going to have a big discussion coming up on the budget for the country. And the budget is a reflection of our values and priorities. And we're going to continue to put forward proposals that, for example, would get rid of a lot of the special interest tax breaks that create these perverse incentives for companies to move jobs overseas and use the savings from closing those tax breaks to invest in modernizing our infrastructure at home. That's what we need to do going forward.

BERMAN: Congressman, we have about 30 seconds left. I wonder if I can get a yes or no answer here, do you think it was a mistake for the president to essentially stay on the sidelines in this election. Do you think there would have been a different result had he gotten more involved?

VAN HOLLEN: The answer is I think some of our Senate Democratic candidates made a mistake in simply saying that they disagreed with the president whereas they could have said, here are the policies where I agree with the president. I agree on the money image increase, equal pay and equal work. Here's where I disagree with the president. Instead of simply making it about whether you like or dislike the president. There are policies to support. There are policies not to support. We should have been focusing more on those policies because on the policies Democrats have advanced on the economy, the public is with us on those issues, as indicated in these referendum on the minimum wage increase.

PEREIRA: Sir, we have to leave it there. Thanks for joining us. Chris van Hollen, congratulations on your win last night. We'll be watching.

Thanks for watching us here. I'm Michaela Pereira.

BERMAN: Our special coverage with Ashleigh Banfield starts right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)