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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Midterm Election For Control Of Congress; Missile Launches In Iran, A Quick And Forceful Response To The U.S. Re-Imposing Sanctions On Oil And Other Sectors. Aired: 3-4a ET
Aired November 06, 2018 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Midterm Election used to be like boring, didn't they?
They don't know what to do. They are going loco.
Speaker of the House Pelosi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE BRIGGS, ANCHOR, CNN: Time to vote, America. Polls open in just a few hours for a critical Midterm Election, the referendum on the President with massive stakes for the next two years. Good morning, everyone. Happy Election Day. Welcome to "Early Start." I am Dave Briggs.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, ANCHOR, CNN: I know, plan your time wisely. You've got to get to the polls today, if you haven't already and millions of people have already. I am Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, November 6th, Election Day. It is 3:00 a.m. exactly in the East.
They are here finally, the Midterm Elections, today across the United States. The polls open along most of the East Coast in just about three hours.
On Monday, President Trump campaigned for Senate candidates in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. The final pitch to this base, a mixtape of his greatest hits.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The key is you have to go out to vote. Because in a sense I am on the ticket. I shouldn't say this because I want to unite. I do, eventually want to unite, but the fact is, we're driving them crazy. We're driving them crazy. They don't know what to do. They're going loco. Loco.
Democrats are inviting caravan after caravan -- isn't that nice -- of illegal aliens to flood into our country and overwhelm your communities.
If the radical Democrats take power, they will take a wrecking ball to our economy and to the future of our country.
If you don't want to be saying the words, "Speaker of the House Pelosi."
The Midterm Elections used to be like boring, didn't they? Do you even remember what they were? People say midterms, they say, what is that? What is it, right? Now, it's like the hottest thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The border has been a key part of the President's midterm pitch for weeks now. CNN has learned he hated the main TV ad unveiled last week that closed out the campaign that featured an upbeat message on the economy, even featured one Christine Romans.
Republican officials say the President insisted on a hardline anti- immigration message to fire up the base, that ad, racist in tone and subject matter rejected by CNN and later by NBC and eventually, even Fox News pulled it. That was before the network's biggest star appeared on stage at the President's rally in Missouri, something Sean Hannity said for the record, he would not do.
ROMANS: Mr. Trump's constant talk about migrants and the caravan is weighing on the GOP ahead of the vote, a top Senate Republican aide tells us there are many in the Party who would prefer to win the midterms on the economy quote, "without dehumanizing and fear mongering." And the President may be getting the message, at least, a bit. He signed an op-ed for Fox News that said this, "Now, America faces a critical choice whether to build on the extraordinary prosperity that Republican policies have delivered for our nation or whether to allow Democrats to take control and take a giant wrecking ball to your economy and your future."
BRIGGS: The most noteworthy thing the President said Monday was not on stage. In an interview with CNN's Sinclair affiliate in Washington, he said, he may have one regret.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything as you look back at your first almost two years, that you regret, that you wish on you that you could just take back and redo?
TRUMP: Well, there would be certain things. I'm not sure I want to reveal all of them, but I would say, tone -- I would like to have a much softer tone. I feel to a certain extent I have no choice, but maybe I do and maybe I could have been softer from that standpoint.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Rare acknowledgement there. Last month the President said he would not be to blame if Republicans lose the House, but yesterday, he said he is ready to own whatever happens.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's really about the candidate, but if they want to give me the credit or the liability, I'll be willing to take it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Ahead of today's vote, the President warned against illegal voting without any evidence of any significant threat. Meantime, the U.S. Intelligence Committee is in a ready-set-go posture prepared to protect voting systems against any actual threats and Facebook said last night it has taken down dozens of Instagram and Facebook pages acting on a tip from U.S. law enforcement about online activity that may be linked to foreign entities.
BRIGGS: All right, let's bring in CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood live in Washington. Sarah, thank you for not sleeping.
ROMANS: Good morning, Sarah.
BRIGGS: We appreciate you being here on Election Day. Happy to get on with the voting. What to you is the biggest issue as we arrive on Election Day?
[03:05:05]
SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, CNN: Well, look, I think that there are just so many interesting races across the country. Two of them Kentucky 6 and New York 22 will be some of the races that I think White House aides and the Republicans will be watching the most closely because those are two races where the President won by double digits in 2016.
It's Trump country by any measure, but Republican candidates are really struggling and so it's not just in these suburban districts where Republicans are said to be trailing the Democrats the most like in Virginia and California, it's also in Trump country and so that just shows you how exposed Republicans are across the country and Republicans exposure runs the gamut from districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016 to districts that President Trump carried by 16 points or more.
BRIGGS: Yes, that Kentucky district of particular interest because you have the type of candidate the Democrats think will run well given her military background in this environment. Also, in the East Coast poll that we should get a good indication early on about where this might break.
ROMANS: We also are interested in that Arizona Senate race, some of the Senate races will be really interesting. There's so much - so much talk about the House and will the House go to the Democrats, but some of these Senate races are really compelling.
WESTWOOD: That's right and Arizona is a really interesting race because for one, there's been just a tremendous amount of spending in that race, a tremendous amount of attention, the polling as you know, within the margin of error. It really could go either way. Martha McSally for Republicans is a candidate straight out of central casting. She's a veteran, an Air Force pilot. She's a sitting Republican Congresswoman.
She's someone that should, by all accounts, be running really strongly for the Republicans, but Kyrsten Sinema, she has also attracted national attention and Republicans, they have tried to keep the focus on her more liberal background when she was in the state legislature, but she does have a pretty moderate record as a Democratic Congresswoman, so that's one of those races that will decide the tilt of the Senate because it's one of the few pickup opportunities for Democrats that are still looking potentially likely tonight because, of course, we have no idea what will happen but Arizona for Democrats is perhaps a bright spot in the Senate right now.
BRIGGS: The closing message is a familiar one for the President and it is particularly focused on border security with a new twist that this border security issue is one that plays well for women. The big concern is for House Republicans in those tough battleground districts that educated affluent women are going to break the other way, but here's what the President says about border security as related to women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Border security is also very much a woman's issue. Women want security. They want financial security, but they want security.
Women want safe neighborhoods for their families, great schools for their children and they want violent predators like we're talking about to be thrown in jail or thrown the hell out of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Looking at the numbers, talking to people, do you buy that that is a women's issue and will be today?
WESTWOOD: Well, immigration is certainly not helpful for the Republicans everywhere certainly in those suburban districts in suburban Virginia for example. Dave Brat's district and Barber Comstock's district in California. There are a cluster of Republican seats around the LA media market where Republicans had hoped that an economic message might be more effective because those are certainly not Trump districts, those are districts where Republicans were always going to have a difficult time. That immigration message is really a turnout message.
And that's something that will be more helpful perhaps for those Senate races where the President has even said he is focusing more of his attention, but as we know, Trump has been warned by his aides, has been warned by fellow Republicans that perhaps focusing on the economy would have been a better way to go here at the end to try to keep those races close where Republicans are most at danger.
ROMANS: Yes, I mean that was the ace up his sleeve this whole time and it's been just so interesting to watch him. I mean, he admitted on the campaign trail this weekend that it's not exciting talking about the economy, so he wanted to go, you know, go after immigration.
We know that he was unhappy with that ad that we just showed you and he wanted to do a hard line immigration ad. One wonders how energized his base is here this morning and how energized women are in particular whether they will be the deciding factor. Thirty five million early votes already cast.
BRIGGS: Massive numbers.
ROMANS: What do you make of the early voting, Sarah?
WESTWOOD: Well, it depends state-by-state. I mean it shows that there's a lot more engagement in the 2018 midterms than there was in 2014, the last time we had a midterm election. Both sides have sort of pointed to early voting in certain races and said it's good for us, it's -- you know, for example in Arizona, there's been a lot of Republican early voting so the McSally team has tried to hold that up as a sign that they're doing well.
[03:10:01]
WESTWOOD: In other places, Democrats are saying, you know, our side has cast a lot more ballots. Truly we won't know obviously until the votes start getting counted later tonight, but that just shows you that the energy and enthusiasm level is up on both sides to a remarkable degree for a midterm election and both sides are claiming that that is a good thing what the President is hoping that this immigration message it's not a persuasion message, it's a turnout message and he's banking on that being the driving force today.
BRIGGS: And conventional wisdom suggest that Republicans will do well in the Senate because the numbers are certainly on their favor. Good math for them in the House. It looks like a win, a flip for the Democrats, but we shall see. Again, anything could happen. If they have a better than expect night, Democrats in the House -- why will that be in your opinion?
WESTWOOD: If the Democrats have a better than expected night, Democrats have a huge fundraising advantage for one. They've been able to outspend, outraise Republican incumbents across the country. Republicans are also just very overexposed in the Obama years. They won a lot of seats running on his unpopularity among Republicans, Obama's that is -- and now they are holding a lot of seats that have traditionally been Democratic, that Clinton carried in 2016 that are likely to flip back into Democratic hands.
There's just so many areas where they are on defense and Democrats have sort of rode this wave of anti-Trump sentiment around the country, people who are dissatisfied with his tone to be able to capitalize on the unfortunate position that Republicans find themselves in.
BRIGGS: All right, our next half hour, we will ask you if Republicans have a very good night. Why is that? Sarah Westwood. Thanks. See you in about 30 minutes.
ROMANS: Thanks, Sarah.
BRIGGS: All right, in Georgia, the Republican candidate for Governor standing by his claim the Democratic Party attempted to hack the state election system. Brian Kemp who also oversees the election as Georgia's Secretary of State. So he essentially turned a report of an alleged vulnerability in the system into a potential political weapon.
Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams calls the investigation quote, "witch hunt." Familiar language. Accusing Kemp of abusing his power, but Kemp says accusations, he has a conflict of interest don't bother.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R), GEORGIA: I'm not worried about how it looks, I'm doing my job. This is how we would handle any investigation when something like this comes up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A bitter race even harsher and its final hours of robo-call emerging paid for by white supremacists. It features a crude impersonation of Oprah Winfrey who campaigned for Abrams last week.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where others see a poor man's Aunt Jemima, I see someone white women can be tricked into voting for especially the fat ones, and so I promise that every single person who votes for Stacey Abrams, you're going to get a new car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The actual Oprah responded on Instagram.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, AMERICAN ACTRESS: Jesus don't like ugly, and we know what to do about that. Vote. Tomorrow, show up and show out and vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Note, there's a third party candidate in the Georgia Governor's race. If neither Kemp nor Abrams reaches 50%, there will be a runoff in December.
BRIGGS: So we might not be even close to being done with this one. Buckle up, folks. The President may not want to talk about the economy, but it's a strong suit heading into the midterms, mostly. What you need to know before you vote, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:15:00]
ROMANS: Midterms and money, the President may not think it's exciting to talk about the U.S. economy, but the fact is, the economy is booming. Will that influence voters today? I've got five charts for you to keep in mind as you head for the polls.
Number one here, unemployment. The unemployment rate is at 3.7%, a 49-year low and the jobless rate has been below 4% for months now. At the same time, the economy added a quarter million jobs last quarter, 250,000 in October alone.
That means the labor market is strong and tight, which means higher wages -- it should mean higher wages. Wage increases have been slow. The missing link during the recovery until now. In October, wages grew 3.1%. That is the strongest wage growth since April 2009, since the financial crisis. That's good news for workers, but investors -- investors worry higher costs will cut into companies record-setting profits, but don't feel too badly for Wall Street.
Now, despite a rough October, stocks are still up more than 25% since the election of 25%, solid gains but a little context here. The S&P 500 is at more than 3% since its low -- 300%, I should say since its 2009 low and this recent rise is just the tail end of a nine-year old bull market.
All right, now, not all Americans own stocks, but almost everyone drives a car, so this is that economic indicator that really matters here and gas prices are near four-year highs. You can blame volatile energy prices. You can blame higher prices for oil, for the higher prices at the pump that's really largely due to those oil sanctions on Iran. Those went into effect yesterday and Iran is the world's fourth largest producer of oil.
Finally, overall, this is a number that doesn't get enough attention. Overall, a fairly rosy picture, but I want you to look at this one last chart. The Federal deficit -- $779 billion this year. The highest in six years. Typically, deficits shrink during boom times, but thanks to tax cuts and huge new defense spending, the U.S. is spending so much more than it takes in. We're actually selling record amount of IOUs, right, we're borrowing money from the rest of the world so that we can cover the shortfall for what we're spending and what we're earning in this country.
[03:20:01]
BRIGGS: No sense that voters are concerned at all about deficits though.
ROMANS: We'll have to see. If it is played as giving tax breaks to big companies, right, and rolling up the deficit, the American people are going to pay for later that could be something that plays, I think longer term.
BRIGGS: Fitting that fiscal hawk, Paul Ryan is exiting in stage left.
ROMANS: That's right. That's right.
BRIGGS: With deficits there. Thank you, Romans. It's all about turnout today. One major wild card and that is the weather, folks. Could it keep some voters home? The stormy forecast is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:25:00]
BRIGGS: All right, it's Election Day, on top of everything else, another huge Election Day variable and that is the weather, which could affect turnout in several key states. Right now rain and storms in the forecast from Alabama all the way through New England during voting hours. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with the latest.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Christine, Dave, yes, a very busy Tuesday here when it comes to Election Day weather. You take a look at the northern plains, we do have snow showers in the forecast. In the northeast, it is all about the severe weather and that does extend all the way south towards portions of the southeast as well.
But we'll start you off around the northeast where this morning, it's across places such as Ohio, Western PA, Western Virginia, Michigan, and the New York State. That's where the wet weather and some of the gusty winds associated with the storms are confined to and then for the afternoon and evening hours, it will begin to extend that on into the I-95 corridor, New York City Metro, Boston, Washington all the way down towards the Philly area going to see some of these stronger storms and that's really the best bet in that zone for the strongest storms as they begin to push through.
And notice this, when your temperatures into the evening hours are around the mid-60s in the heart of November here, that's when you know we have activity here and the instability into the atmosphere to support these storms and the south is certainly not out of the risk zone and morning hours, looking at the northern portion of Alabama on into Georgia, portions of Tennessee into Louisiana and Mississippi, but by the afternoon and evening hours, we expand that on to the Carolinas and the Florida panhandle. Temps by this afternoon should be into the 80s around central portions of the Carolinas, 70s widespread across the southeast, guys.
BRIGGS: All right, don't let bad weather stop you. Get out and vote. It's easy -- easier said than done, but --
ROMANS: All right, the midterms are finally here. Will the House flip? Will the GOP hold the Senate? The President's final pitch and what races you should be watching next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The midterm elections used to be like boring, didn't they?
They don't know what to do. They're going loco.
Speaker of the House Pelosi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Time to vote. Polls open in just a few hours for a critical Midterm Election, a referendum on the President with big stakes for the next two years. Welcome back to "Early Start." I am Christine Romans. BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Thirty minutes after the hour, those ads
running non-stop on your TV. They're almost over. They're about to go away. We are finally here, Midterm Elections today across the United States. The polls open along most of the East Coast in just about two and a half hours.
On Monday, President Trump campaigned for Senate candidates in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. The final pitch to his base essentially a mixtape of his greatest hits.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The key is you have to go out to vote because in a sense I am on the ticket.
I shouldn't say this because I want to unite. I do eventually want to unite, but the fact is we're driving them crazy. We're driving them crazy. They don't know what to do. They're going loco. Loco.
Democrats are inviting caravan after caravan -- isn't that nice -- of illegal aliens to flood into our country and overwhelm your communities. If the radical Democrats take power, they will take a wrecking ball to our economy and to the future of our country.
If you don't want to be saying the words, Speaker of the House Pelosi.
The Midterm Elections used to be like boring, didn't they? Do you even remember what they were? People say Midterms. They say, what is that? What is it? Right? Now, it's like the hottest thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The border has been a key part of the President's midterm pitch for weeks now. CNN has learned he hated -- hated that main TV ad unveiled last week to close out the campaign that featured an upbeat message on the economy. Republican officials say the President insisted on a hard line anti-immigration message to fire up the base. That ad, racist in tone and subject matter rejected by CNN, later by NBC and eventually even Fox News would not accept money and run it anymore. That was before the network's biggest star appeared on stage at the President's rally in Missouri, something Sean Hannity said he would not do.
BRIGGS: Mr. Trump's constant talk about migrants, the caravan is weighing on the GOP ahead of the vote. A top Senate Republican aide tells us there are many in the party who would prefer to win the midterms on the economy, quote "without dehumanizing and fear mongering" and the President may be getting the message at least, a bit. He signed this op-ed for Fox News that said this, "Now, America faces a critical choice whether to build on the extraordinary prosperity that Republican policies have delivered for our nation or whether to allow Democrats to take control and take a giant wrecking ball to your economy and your future."
ROMANS: But the most noteworthy thing the President said Monday was not on stage. In an interview with CNN's Sinclair affiliate in Washington, he said, he may have one regret.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything as you look back at your first almost two years, that you regret, that you wish on you that you could just take back and redo?
TRUMP: Well, there would be certain things. I'm not sure I want to reveal all of them, but I would say, tone -- I would like to have a much softer tone. I feel to a certain extent I have no choice, but maybe I do and maybe I could have been softer from that standpoint.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Last month the President said he would not be to blame if Republicans lose the House, but yesterday, he said he is ready to own whatever happens.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's really about the candidate, but if they want to give me the credit or the liability, I'll be willing to take it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:35:03]
BRIGGS: Ahead of today's vote, the President warned against illegal voting without any evidence of any significant threat. Meantime, the U.S. Intelligence Committee is in a ready-set-go posture prepared to protect voting systems against any actual threats and Facebook said overnight it has taken down dozens of Instagram and Facebook pages acting on a tip from U.S. law enforcement about online activity that may be linked to foreign entities.
ROMANS: All right, let's bring in CNN White House reporter, Sarah Westwood again live in Washington. Good morning, the President with all these rallies, had more than 40 of them. I actually lost count at 40, but these rallies had been sort of a hallmark of the President's strategy here in the midterms and last night, he was announcing his daughter, Ivanka Trump on stage and there was this moment that got a lot of attention especially since we're talking about women being such an energized part of the voting base. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The truth is, she's a very, very -- you're not allowed to use the word beautiful anymore when you talk about women. You're not allowed. No, no it's politically incorrect.
No, no, it's politically -- I will never call a woman beautiful again and every man here -- every man here raise your hand, you will never ever say your wife, your girlfriend, anybody is beautiful, right?
So I'm not allowed to say it because this is my daughter, Ivanka, but she's really smart. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Okay, so you can call a woman beautiful, you just can't sexually assault a woman. That's what this year we have learned. You can't touch a woman. That's the bottom line. You can see on stage there in Indiana, Fort Wayne, Sarah Sanders, Kellyanne Conway so the President did have, you know, sort of his right hand women there on stage with him and Ivanka Trump, I will say went on to give a very kind of detailed analysis of the economy. You know, very straight, very smart. How was the President here with women in this final moments of midterm campaigning?
WESTWOOD: I think what we saw there is a return to some of the themes that Trump thinks put him in the White House attacking political correctness is something that he probably thinks helped attract a lot of support to his presidential campaign, and we've seen him return to some of the inflammatory themes that at first made his campaign stand out from Republicans -- immigration -- this hard line and sometimes very controversial comments about immigration, that's the kind of thing that distinguishes his campaign from all the other strings of the GOP primary in 2016.
And now you're seeing him return to the areas where he's most comfortable. He's turned everything into a culture war and he's hoping that that kind of inflammatory argument can drive turnout. The problem is that what's helpful in some of the states where he's been visiting and some of the Senate races like for example in Arizona where immigration is a top issue and immigration could drive turnout, that's not helpful in the suburban districts where women and other voters are not culturally conservative and are not going to respond to an us-versus-them cultural argument that the President is trying to make.
So while he may be helpful in some of the states where Republicans are trying to pick off a Democratic incumbent senator and that's where the President's rally schedule has been focused here at the end of his campaign tour, it's not helpful where Republicans are most exposed.
BRIGGS: I want to ask you about those three states that the President was in yesterday, but first let me just say you're both beautiful women and I'm comfortable saying that on camera. You're allowed to and I do firmly believe that.
Those three states like most the President has visited in recent days, he has nationalized this election. Is there a risk in making it a national and not local elections?
WESTWOOD: That's a huge risk. I mean, Republicans have been encouraging candidates to focus on their districts to highlight their voting records if they're incumbents or to focus on what they've done for their communities if they're not and not get sucked into the daily back and forth of what the President has tweeted and done and nationalizing the midterm so much has put some Republicans in uncomfortable positions.
For example, in that Kentucky 6 race, one of the most closely watched House races in the country, Andy Barr, the incumbent Republican had to come out and say that he did not support the President's last minute call to cancel birthright citizenship and he had to come out and he has also criticized tariffs because they've impacted his district.
And so these Republicans have to walk a fine line between not alienating the Trump voters in their districts that they need to win, but also trying to keep the focus local and not get dragged into a national conversation and you see a lot of Democrats running in Republican districts doing this same, highlighting their centrism, not necessarily trying to go after Trump as aggressively as perhaps the National Democratic Party wants them to, but there is this pressure on candidates because this midterms, it's so nationalized.
[03:40:02]
ROMANS: I'll be watching very carefully Iowa and that the old you know so called blue wall that turned so decisively for President Trump in the general election, you know, you've got a Governor race there, a couple of -- all the House seats are up and this is where tariffs, the President's tariffs have really been felt and Iowa farmers, in particular have given the President, an awful lot of leeway here, but you do get soybeans that are being stored. They are hoping to sell before they rot. I'll be really interested to see what happens in Iowa, Sarah.
WESTWOOD: That's right and for David Young and Rod Blum, the two imperiled Republican Congressmen in Iowa, they've interestingly not taken a very hard line against President Trump when it comes to tariffs, even though their constituents have been very much affected by those policies and that's a risk. That'll be interesting to see if it pays off because you know, they do need those Trump voters in districts.
Trump won both of their districts in 2016, but you know, this is a policy that's unpopular among a lot of soybean farmers and so their embrace of President Trump is going to be tested against the reality of what's happening in their districts. That'll be an interesting litmus test of Trump-ism in the midterms tonight.
BRIGGS: All right, we asked you last half hour if Democrats do well, why? Now, it's your turn to tell us if Republicans have a very good night if they defy expectations? Why is that?
WESTWOOD: I think if Republicans over perform tonight, it'll be because of the economy. The unemployment rate is that a 49-year low, wages are going up and a lot of analysts have remarked that you know, it's kind of crazy, but Republicans are in such a vulnerable position even though under their leadership, the economy is doing so well, it speaks to sort of the anti-Trump drag that is affecting a lot of Republicans and historically, the party in power does typically lose seats in the first Midterm Election of a presidency.
But the economy is doing very well and also, if Republicans do well, it could be a sign that nationalizing the midterm elections ultimately was helpful because it drove Republican voters who might have otherwise been complacent to the polls because obviously, as the old trope goes, it all does come down to turn out.
ROMANS: It sure does.
BRIGGS: So maybe it's about James Carville. Is he still right after all these years?
ROMANS: It's the economy, stupid. All right, thank you so much. Nice to see you Sarah. Come back in a few minutes, 42 minutes past the hour on this Election Day, everybody.
Missile launches in Iran, a quick and forceful response to the U.S. re-imposing sanctions on oil and other sectors. CNN is live in Tehran, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00]
BRIGGS: Iran has responded forcefully to the U.S. re-imposing sanctions on Tehran. Overnight, the Iranians staged a large scale military exercise involving two homegrown missile systems. U.S. has also revealed the eight countries getting exemptions from the oil sanctions. They are China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. That means six of Iran's biggest oil buying customers can keep making purchases without penalty, at least for now.
Let's go live to Tehran, bringing in CNN's Fred Pleitgen for the latest. Fred, good morning
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, good morning, Dave and you know, the U.S. putting those waivers on some of these countries is something that the Iranians say is essentially a defeat of the Trump administration by Iran. It was so interesting to hear Hassan Rouhani come out and say that Iran is going to remain defiant and also saying that he believes that the fact that these waivers are in place is something that obviously is very positive for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
And as you mentioned it, these are some of the biggest importers of Iranian oil, and the one everybody is looking specifically to, is of course, China. By far, the biggest importer of Iranian oil and the Chinese have come out very forcefully against the Trump administration saying that their ties to Iran are legitimate and they don't believe that the U.S. should be infringing on those ties.
Meanwhile, the Iranians remaining defiant and flexing their military muscles. You alluded those military drills. One of the things that the Iranians apparently did at those military drills, they say is test a new surface to air missile system, which they say has a range of 100 miles and also a new and advanced radar and all of these comes as CNN is reporting that apparently, the Pentagon turned down a request by Central Command to beef up military resources of the United States in the Persian Gulf region believing that possibly, there could be a reaction by the Iranians to these new sactions.
There is no evidence of that happening at this point in time, but one of the things the Iranians have threatened in the past, Dave, is to close the vital Strait of Hormuz through which 20% of the world's oil is exported again.
So far, there is no sign of that happening, but it's something the U.S. has feared could happen in the past, Dave.
BRIGGS: Major impact on gas prices around the world. Fred Pleitgen live for us Tehran. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right, 48 minutes past the hour of this Election Day. It's all about turnout for today's Midterms. One big wild card, the weather. Could it keep some voters at home? A stormy forecast, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:50:06]
ROMANS: On top of everything else there's another huge election day variable, the weather which could affect turnout in several key states right now, rain and storms are forecast from Alabama through New England during voting hours. Look at the Midwest there, the upper Midwest as well. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest.
JAVAHERI: Christine, Dave, yes, a very busy Tuesday here when it comes to Election Day weather. You take a look at the northern plains, we do have snow showers in the forecast. In the northeast, it is all about the severe weather and that does extend all the way south towards portions of the southeast as well.
But we'll start you off around the northeast where this morning, it's across places such as Ohio, Western PA, Western Virginia, Michigan, and the New York State. That's where the wet weather and some of the gusty winds associated with the storms are confined to and then for the afternoon and evening hours, it will begin to extend that on into the I-95 corridor, New York City Metro, Boston, Washington all the way down towards the Philly area going to see some of these stronger storms and that's really the best bet in that zone for the strongest storms as they begin to push through.
And notice this, when your temperatures into the evening hours are around the mid-60s in the heart of November here, that's when you know we have activity here and the instability into the atmosphere to support these storms and the south is certainly not out of the risk zone and morning hours, looking at the northern portion of Alabama on into Georgia, portions of Tennessee into Louisiana and Mississippi, but by the afternoon and evening hours, we expand that on to the Carolinas and the Florida panhandle. Temps by this afternoon should be into the 80s around central portions of the Carolinas, 70s widespread across the southeast, guys.
[03:55:10]
BRIGGS: Pedram, thanks. Folks, get out there. Don't let the rain stop you. Meanwhile, North Korea could restart its nuclear activities if the U.S. doesn't ease crippling economic sanctions. A source says continued pressure by the U.S. to enforce those sanctions and a resumption of military exercises with South Korea are the perfect excuse for Pyongyang to threaten to go nuclear again. U.S. Intelligence believes North Korea has never stopped its nuclear activities, though a source says Kim Jong-un needs a breakthrough to carry ongoing talks further.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo due to meet with his North Korean counterpart in New York this week.
ROMANS: Navy officials are accusing the Russians of intercepting a U.S. reconnaissance plane in an unsafe and unprofessional manner over the Black Sea. Monday's incident lasted 25 minutes according to three Defense officials, the Russian jet passed directly in front of the American plane at a high speed with the U.S. crew reporting turbulence.
The Russian plane then made a second pass and applied its after burner causing a vibration, a Twitter account for the Russian Embassy of the U.S. says its fighter jet crew followed all necessary safety procedures.
BRIGGS: The U.S. Olympic Committee moving to revoke U.S.A. gymnastics as the sports' governing body in the wake of the Larry Nassar sex scandal. In an open letter to the gymnastics community, Olympic Committee Chief, Sarah Hirshland writes, "Everyone now faces the difficult reality of belonging to a national organization that continues to struggle to change its culture to rebuild its leadership and to effectively serve its membership. You deserve better."
Hirshland says the U.S. O.C. has taken the first steps to shut down U.S.A. gymnastics adding, the decertification process does not guarantee particular outcomes.
ROMANS: After a search and a year to find a location for second headquarters, Amazon has apparently decided on two locations. According to "The New York Times," the company is close to a deal to move HQ2 to Queens, New York and the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia. Amazon already has more employees in those two places than anywhere else outside of its home base of Seattle.
The need to hire tens of thousands of high tech workers has been a key criteria in the search. The "Wall Street Journal" first reported Amazon's decision to pick two locations instead of one.
Global markets are mixed right now as investors await for U.S. Midterm Election results. The NIKKEI up 1.1%, Shanghai down slightly. The Hangseng up a little bit. European stock markets opening mostly lower. The DAX, the FTSE and the CAC barely lower here.
On Wall Street, futures are up ahead of the Midterm Elections. On Monday, the Dow closed up 191 points, that's just shy of 1%. The S&P 500 also higher, but the NASDAQ lost a little bit. It was tech stocks that fell like Apple in particular. Apple lost another 3% after Friday's steep sell off.
Shipping with FedEx is going to get more expensive. FedEx announced it would raise rates by an average of 4.9% as of January 7th that matches the increase FedEx put in place at the start of this year. Why are costs rising? Well, higher fuel prices. FedEx reported supported that the quarter ended in August, its fuel costs were 40% higher than a year earlier. Labor costs were up 11%, FedEx rival UPS is yet to announce its rate increase for next year.
7-Eleven is trying to speed up checkouts to keep up with its rivals, the world's largest convenient chain is piloting a self-checkout feature on its mobile app at 14 stores in Dallas, 7-Eleven's scan and pay option will allow customers to ring up Slurpees and snacks without waiting in line.
The test comes as big retailers included Walmart and Target are experimenting with different ways to make checking out easier for shoppers including having employees with mobile scanners in high traffic aisles during the Holidays. Walmart also testing a cashier- less Sam's Club now in Dallas. 7-Eleven has not announced any plans for a cashier free stores, all together.
BRIGGS: You had me at Slurpee. White Cherry is my particular favorite. You have one?
ROMANS: You know my kids mix all of the flavors together which is just disgusting.
BRIGGS: That's just awful, and the color is particularly awful.
ROMANS: It's like black.
BRIGGS: Yes, yes. I've had that. All right, "Early Start" continues right now on Election Day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Midterm Election used to be like boring, didn't they?
They don't know what to do. They are going loco.
Speaker of the House Pelosi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Time to vote. Polls open in just a few hours for a critical Midterm Election, a referendum on the President with big stakes for the next two years. Good morning everyone and welcome to a very early, "Early Start." I am Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: It was a very early, "Early Start." I'm Dave Briggs, it's Tuesday. It is November 6th. It's finally here, Election Day, it is 4:00 a.m. in the East. Welcome to all of you in the U.S. and around the world. Those ads, round the clock on your TV just about done. They are finally here. Midterm Elections today across the United States. Polls open along most of the East Coast in just about two hours.
On Monday, President Trump campaigned for Senate candidates in Ohio ... [04:00:16]
