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Voters Hitting the Polls; Rust Belt States Vote; Investors on Edge; Battleground Virginia; Fight for New Hampshire; Mexico Watches Presidential Race; Russia Monitors Presidential Race. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 08, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: As a third party candidate, took over the Republican Party and changed the message of that party in a national election.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Not only that, but he ran a campaign like no other, right?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He did run a campaign like no other, there's no doubt about that. And, look, he beat, what, 16 Republican opponents. That was historic.

I think the big difference, is he an outsider, is he a member of the establishment? Look, he's a New York billionaire. Yes, he's an -- in some way he is a member of the establishment.

What distinguishes him from Hillary Clinton is experience in governing. He, obviously, has no experience in governing, and if he wins, it will obviously be a sign that the American people have just decided that experience is something that's maybe a net negative overall in our leadership because he has never had an experience in elected office. And over the course of this campaign perhaps the thing that I've been most surprised about with Donald Trump is he really hasn't focused on acquiring any of this experience, any of the policy experience. He never -- he, frankly, didn't learn a whole lot over the course of this campaign. He was struggling to answer questions in the last few weeks on basic policy matters in the debates that most people would have --

COSTELLO: That's right, because he ran -- he ran his whole campaign on emotion, right? It wasn't really about policy with him, it was all about emotion. He ran as a national candidate, too, didn't he?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there was sort of a guttural, primal scream, you know, almost from Trump. But to Ryan's point, I -- you know, you sort of expected at some point he would adopt some of the norms of our political expectations. Of sort of -- how we expect a candidate to behave. The debates showcased that more than any other moment where, you know, he sort of shrugged off any type of preparation. And it did seem to show. And I think his supporters are certainly with him regardless, but it didn't do much to win over sort of those undecided people who are watching that and sort of expect the veneer of presidential. And you want to sort of see some aspect of it. LIZZA: And that -- this gets to your point, Carol, about the -- what

-- what takes away from the historic nature of Hillary is she -- a victory if she wins tonight is, you know, she ran against this very unconventional candidate and the way to beat him that they adopted early on that no doubt was the best strategy was to argue that he's unfit to be -- to sit in that -- that building back there, right? And I think that took away a little bit from -- from her making the affirmative argument of why she should be president and what she would do as president. And that's something she'll have to grapple with if she wins is making the case that I didn't -- I didn't win just because you couldn't trust Donald Trump, I won because I told the American people I would do these three or four things in my first year.

COSTELLO: And I can actually do them.

I have to leave it there. Thanks to all of you. Thank you so much for coming by on this historic day.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me from beautiful Washington, D.C. It is day -- it is e-day, right, Election Day? Rust belt voters hitting the polls. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been battling for that crucial vote using two very different tactics, but with one main theme, bring jobs back.

Our team is out with voters right now. CNN's Miguel Marquez is near Pittsburgh, Martin Savidge is just outside of Cleveland, Jessica Schneider is in Detroit.

Miguel, though, we begin with you.

Good morning.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

We are in North Strabane Township, Washington County, just south of Pittsburgh. This is an area that Trump needs his voters to turn out in a big way. It's a county that has more Democrats than Republicans. Typically votes Republican though. Hillary Clinton making a play for these voters by having an office here.

Look at the line. It's about an hour -- 45 minutes to an hour at this point. This is the last thing that voters see, thus a bit of politicking that the voters see before they go into the voting booth. Gives you a sense of the conservative nature of this county.

This gentleman, I am guessing, is voting for Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am.

MARQUEZ: Just a --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so is my wife.

MARQUEZ: Just a guess. And I want to show you what the line looks like. And it's been like this most of the morning. In fact, it's been longer earlier in the morning. This guy's a -- also, I can't tell who he's Trumping -- voting for, but --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm voting for you.

MARQUEZ: They're voting -- and these two are voting for me, thankfully. They're write -- she's writing me in.

People are in very, very good moods. They are thrilled that this election has finally come to this day where it's over.

This morning, this line went all the way around this thing, around the parking lot here. It was taking about an hour for people to get through. One guy said he had to come back later because he was going to be late for work. Very, very high enthusiasm. Pennsylvania has been hard fought for both campaigns, but the people here glad that this is the final stretch and this day will finally be over at 8:00 p.m. tonight. No early voting in Pennsylvania. And not even a lot of absentee voting either. So everything happens today.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Miguel Marquez live from Pittsburgh. Thanks so much.

Let's head to my home state of Ohio. Martin Savidge is with voters in Parma, near Cleveland.

[09:35:01] Good morning, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, and Parma is located just to the south of Cleveland. Still in very heavy Democratic territory of Cuyahoga County. By the way, we're sort of hemmed into a corner here at this elementary school, so we don't have the freedom to move around as much as Miguel does.

But there aren't any lines here. That's another difference you'll see visually different. Pennsylvania, of course, they don't really have early voting. Ohio had 29 days of early voting. So people have been voting in this state for quite some time, but, of course, this is Election Day. There was a line when the doors first opened, but since then it's just been a steady stream of voters that are coming in.

Now, let me tell you why we are here in Parma. It is because you've heard of blue collar Democrats, of course. Well, these are the blue collar maybe Trump fans. This is one of those areas in Ohio that Donald Trump has been playing to. It's an area where there used to be a lot of manufacturing jobs. Now you've got a lot of retirees and a lot of people who don't have the job they used to have. He's been appealing to them by talking about changing the trade deals that he says were unfair. He's also talked about bringing jobs back, re- energizing America's manufacturing base.

That message really hits home to a lot of these people here. It's not the only reason that they seem to like Donald Trump, but it's one of the primary reasons. And that's why you've seen a crossover. And that's why this area in particular has been crossing over in the Republican favor and what normally would be staunch Democratic territory. That's not good news, of course, for Hillary Clinton when it comes to her hopes of winning Ohio, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Martin Savidge, we'll check back. Thanks so much.

Now let's head to Michigan. CNN's Jessica Schneider, just outside of Detroit.

Good morning, Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

We're just outside the polling place. We've seen a steady stream of people since the polls opened. The line inside, about 45 minutes long, but Michigan has become the focal point out here just in the past week or so. The candidates bearing down here. Multiple campaign stops over the past few days.

I've spoken with a few voters out here. Interestingly, one woman, 37 years old, telling me this is her first presidential election that she's ever voted in. She cast her ballot this morning for Donald Trump. Another man saying he's been both exhilarated and exhausted by this campaign, casting his ballot for Hillary Clinton. He's a lifelong Democrat.

We've seen a flurry of activity from the candidates and their surrogates over just the past few days. Donald Trump held his final rally in Michigan, the western part of the state, last night. Actually, early this morning at 1:00 in the morning. Hillary Clinton was also here yesterday. President Obama rallying in Ann Arbor. So they have seen a lot of action in just the past few days.

Of course, no early voting here, so it all depends on what the turnout is, one day only, today. The polls open 7:00 this morning until 8:00 tonight.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jessica Schneider reporting live from outside of Detroit, Michigan.

The opening bell, by the way, rang just moments ago on this Election Day. So let's head to the New Your Stock Exchange to check in with CNN's Alison Kosik.

Hi, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

We are watching stocks slip, but barely making a dent in the rally that wowed everybody yesterday when we saw the Dow jump 370 points. The S&P 500 jumping 2 percent, snapping a nine day losing streak, the longest slump since 1980.

Now, we have been seeing stocks struggle because the polls were getting close, but then the FBI put out its letter that it cleared Hillary Clinton in this e-mail investigation and, bam, investors voted with their portfolios. It's not that investors love Clinton, it's just that the markets hate uncertainty and many people believe Donald Trump's unpredictability with his policies like trade could bring disruption to the market and ultimately to the economy. Clinton is predictable. She represents more of the same and is seen as the continuity candidate.

Now, one strategist is putting it this way. The devil that we know, meaning Clinton, is still preferable to the devil we can't begin to fathom. Something to think about on the Election Day as we see stocks in the red. The Dow down 30 points.

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Alison Kosik reporting live from the New York Stock Exchange. Thanks so much.

So, what do you do if your president and it's Election Day and you know you're headed out soon? Well, this is what President Obama did this morning. He shot some hoops with friends. This is at Port McNair. These shots taken just moments ago. Oh, he's carrying coffee. So he's getting a little caffeine rush before he takes a few shots with his friends. So that is what President Obama is doing this morning.

We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:51] COSTELLO: It is a critical battleground with 13 electoral votes up for grabs. Hillary Clinton hoping her running mate's home state stays blue. CNN's correspondent Brian Todd is live in Ashburn, Virginia. Virginia is the state I'm talking about.

Good morning, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

And voter energy has been the theme this morning here in Loudoun County, Virginia. This is a swing country. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been fighting hard to take this county because it could go either way. Steady turnout all this morning. These lines here have snaked out the door here, outside it, and sometimes around the building in the almost four hours since the polls opened today.

You come in here. You check in, presenting a photo I.D. here. You get a ballot ticket at this table here. And, look at this, these voting stations here have been almost full all morning long.

Then you come around here to the lines. These lines have also been pretty steady all morning. This is the line to get your vote scanned right here at the optical scanner. It's a long ballot. Eight boxes to fill in, including president and, of course your local congressional district. You've got to get it scanned here. It takes a picture of both sides of the ballot. So very steady turnout here so far this morning. Early voting has also been a big theme in Virginia. More than 530,000

voters have cast their ballots even before we got to today. And the turnout here in Loudoun County at this precinct, very, very good all morning.

[09:45:10] Here's a local voter, Patty Cuskelly. She's lived here and voted here for 20 years.

Patty, what motivated you to come out this morning to vote after 500 plus days of a long and divisive campaign?

PATTY CUSKELLY, LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA VOTER: It has been a long campaign. I came out to vote for my freedom. Not sure we all like where the country is right now and I had to come out for my kids, to support their lives, because I just -- gosh, I don't even have --

TODD: Well, what do you think of the tone of the campaign? I mean it's been nasty on both sides.

CUSKELLY: It's been ugly, you know? And I just want to see this world in a better place, our country in a better place. I believe the person that I voted for, I think he's going to make some good choices and bring in Supreme Court people that will make a difference. Like I said, my kids. They're in college right now and they're out there voting and it scares me that, you know, they don't want to bring more kids into this country right now because they're scared. And we've got to make a difference. And I've got a child that's handicapped. He's got mild cerebral palsy and his life, you know, it would be a shame if he wasn't here today.

TODD: Well, Patty, thank you very much. Good luck. Thanks for talking to us.

CUSKELLY: Thank you so much.

TODD: Good luck to you and your family.

CUSKELLY: Thank you.

TODD: Guys, this has been a very tightly contested county. It went narrowly to President Obama in 2012, but Republicans and Democrats think it could go either way. Donald Trump came here late Sunday night to make a last-minute appeal. Thousands of people were waiting in line to see him then. A lot of energy here in Loudoun County. Again, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump counting on this county to maybe just pull them through the finish line in the state of Virginia, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Brian Todd reporting live from Ashburn, Virginia. Thanks so much.

The voting began nearly ten hours ago in the state of New Hampshire. CNN correspondent Chris Frates live in Manchester.

Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. Well, as you can see, the voting getting underway behind me. Over 900

people have already come through the doors today. The election officials here telling me they think they might get a record in this precinct. And that's because New Hampshire, really a battleground. It's a small state. There's only about four electoral votes up for grabs. But it's mighty.

And to give you some sense of how consequential it can be, in 2000 if Al Gore had won New Hampshire, he wouldn't have needed to win Florida to win the White House. So the Clinton folks remembering that history and they've been out trying to get the vote out all weekend long. In fact, they've knocked on over 1 million doors. They've called 2 million people, 12,000 Clinton volunteers swept out across this state over the weekend and Hillary Clinton herself was here on Sunday. We saw President Obama hit New Hampshire yesterday to make a closing argument for Hillary Clinton.

And on the Republican side, Donald Trump also trying to turn this blue state red. He knocked on 1.8 million doors and did 1.7 million calls. So the turnout here is going to turn on independents, Carol. There are more independents in New Hampshire than registered Democrats or Republicans. To give you some sense of it, in 2012, 43 percent of registered voters were independent. It broke for Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton hoping they'll break for her. Donald Trump trying to turn those around and get New Hampshire into the Republican column.

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Chris Frates reporting live from New Hampshire this morning.

You know, there's so much about this election that has been unprecedented, but never in American history has a major party candidate so rigorously claimed it's rigged. With me now to talk about that is Kenneth Gross. He's an election law expert.

Good morning.

KENNETH GROSS, ELECTION LAW EXPERT: Hi. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm good.

So let's dive right in, shall we?

GROSS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Twenty-eight states will have polling monitors from the federal government.

GROSS: Yes.

COSTELLO: What exactly will they do?

GROSS: Well, they're going to make sure that there's no intimidation going on there, that there's no discriminatory practices at the polls. There's some limitations on them. We had more special monitors before the Supreme Court ruled section two of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional a couple of years ago, but still the Department of Justice will be out there in force as you say (INAUDIBLE).

COSTELLO: So will voters be able to detect them?

GROSS: No. No, they shouldn't be able to detect them. They're not in uniform or whatever like that. They should be very discrete and they shouldn't feel like they're being watched by the federal government.

COSTELLO: I'm just curious about, like if they see something suspects, do they walk up to that person and say, hey, I'm the Fed?

GROSS: No, they should -- if they see something's funky going on, they should go to the people who are running the polls in that district.

COSTELLO: And then they'll go to these -- these monitors, these polling monitors?

GROSS: If it's appropriate, yes.

COSTELLO: Gotcha. OK.

So I want to talk about voter intimidation, because there's been a lot of talk about that this election season, right?

GROSS: Yes.

COSTELLO: This past weekend in Virginia, a Trump supporter was at a polling station in Loudoun County. He was carrying a gun. It's an open carry state. Perfectly legal.

GROSS: Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: Other voters in line said it was rather intimidating. So is that -- is that voter intimidation in itself?

GROSS: No, not in and of itself, it's not. But this is a very fragile day in our society. The voting -- the day we vote -- and it must be respected to make sure that no matter what your code or creed or religion is, is that you can go to the polls without feeling uncomfortable, without people breathing down your neck, and it's an area of concern. But, you know, if the law allows you to walk into the polls with a gun, then I suppose that's OK.

[09:50:20] COSTELLO: So you should try not to feel intimidated.

GROSS: Yes.

COSTELLO: State officials in Arizona and in Pennsylvania, they're so concerned they've issued these notices to voters. And I'm going to read the notice. The secretary of state in Pennsylvania put this one out last month. Quote, "discouraging anyone from having their voice be heard in the process, whether by intimidation, suppression or deception, is absolutely unacceptable and wrong." And then the notice went on to say, "the individual who conspired to interfere with a person's right to vote can face up to ten years in prison." So what would an individual have to do to warrant being placed under

arrest for voter intimidation?

GROSS: I think they would literally have to be close to the polling station, unless something happened, you know, a little bit further away, and literally threatened in -- verbally or perhaps in an extreme case with a weapon, regarding their vote and make -- you know, we don't want you voting here. We don't want your kind here. That kind of thing will bring the police in and, if necessary, take appropriate action. It's very important.

COSTELLO: So we've been taking our voters to polling stations all across the country. It all looks very peaceful right now. So perhaps is our fears of voter intimidation overblown?

GROSS: I hope so. I hope they're overblown. But it doesn't take much for people to come out there and cause a disturbance. It's -- it would be very localized, of course. But we have to be diligent. We have to be vigilant in order to make sure that none of this goes on anywhere in the country.

COSTELLO: Kenneth Gross, thanks for stopping by.

GROSS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

Want a chance to be featured on CNN's Election Day coverage? Tag your voting Instagrams with #myvote and let us know who you voted for and where. We'll be showing some of them throughout the day right here on CNN.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's not just the United States, the world is watching this presidential election. We're heading to Mexico and then to Russia for reaction.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:34] COSTELLO: Today is the day, a nail-biting presidential race in the United States that is also being watched around the world. Following the outcome closely, Mexico. The U.S. election is headlining many of the country's newspapers this morning. CNN's Ed Lavandera live in Mexico City.

Hi, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, it won't come as any surprise to anyone who's been following this election very closely, but anyone you talk to here on the streets of Mexico City really rooting for Hillary Clinton at this opponent. In fact, there was a survey of the Mexican people done yesterday, released yesterday that suggested that about 95 percent of the Mexican population supported Hillary Clinton in this election. So it's very difficult to find Trump supporters. And what Mexican people tell you is that they feel that Donald Trump catapulted himself to the top of the Republican field and this close to the presidency in large part by insulting Mexican immigrants and that has really left a scathing mark here.

In fact, one of the most popular exhibits around the city right now is that the Caricature Museum in the historic part of Mexico City where cartoonists have gathered over the last couple of weeks to display the scathing cartoons that they've made of Donald Trump. This has become a very popular location for people interested in the U.S. election. And, Carol, there's talk even tonight here, we're in the Angel of Independence Plaza. This is one of the most historic centers in Mexico City. Many people expected to turn out to celebrate a Hillary Clinton victory here tonight.

COSTELLO: All right, Ed Lavandera reporting live from Mexico City in Mexico.

On the other side of the world, Russia, accused of trying to influence this election and many there are openly vocal on who they prefer, the GOP candidate Donald Trump or the democrat Hillary Clinton. CNN's Clarissa Ward live in Moscow.

Hi, Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Well, here in Moscow, a very different situation to what Ed is seeing there in Moscow. People here have been dining out on this election. They see it as demonstration of the epic failure of western democracy. We've seen propaganda spots depicting Abraham Lincoln crying tears of blood. And basically people here believe that shadowy authorities in the U.S. will not allow Donald Trump to become president. They've even gone so far as to say on the media that perhaps he will be assassinated.

But if you head to the Russian tourism stands and take a look at these famous Matryoshka, or nesting dolls, you can find only ones of Donald Trump. You will not see any of Hillary Clinton. Trump here is seen as a charismatic maverick. But really the main point is not so much the love that Russian's have for Trump, but the hatred that they have for Hillary Clinton. It is intense, Carol. They see her as aggressive. They see her as anti-Russian. And they see her as a war monger who will be bad for U.S./Russian relations.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Clarissa Ward reporting live from Moscow.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carl Costello, in our nation's capital on this Election Day.

It's finally here. The nation now just hours away from electing a new president. And Hillary Clinton, she cast her vote a short time ago near her home in suburban New York, in Chappaqua, and soon Donald Trump is expected to do the same in New York City. Voting now underway across most of the country. We're already seeing lines at many of the polling stations.

[10:00:00] Here in yellow are the states opening their polling sites this hour. Most are already up and running in the eastern and central time zones. The weather, it should not play a huge role in today's turnout, but there could be some rain showers in a few key states in the Midwest and the Great Lakes.