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Tim Kaine, Corey Stewart Battle for VA Senate Seat; All Eyes on Florida's Governor & Senate Races; Abrams & Kemp Battle in Contentious GA Gov's Race; More Than 31 Million Cast Votes Early; Hannity Campaigns with Trump After Saying He Wouldn't. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired November 06, 2018 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to come down to turnout.

[05:58:32] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every last vote really does matter.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If the radical Democrats take power, they will take a wrecking ball to our country.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: This election is about whether we feel comfortable having a president who is a pathological liar.

MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've got a feeling that blue wave is going to hit that red wall all across America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people are going to the polls to say, "Our leader is engaging in conduct unbecoming a president."

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Security is on the ballot. It's time for action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, November 6, 6 a.m. here in Washington.

It is on. It is now officially election day as of this minute. Polls open in 12 states. Who will win? What will happen? We don't know.

What we do know --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

BERMAN: -- is that this is a defining election for the country and, really, for the president, as well. Thirty-one million people, by the way, have already cast early votes. The big question: the balance of power in Congress. Will Democrats flip the House? Maybe the Senate? Maybe Republicans keep control. Four hundred and thirty-five House seats at stake tonight, 35 seats in

the Senate. Governor's races, they're huge, as well, 36 of them. They can tell us, really, more than anything about the direction of the country.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So the elections today are also, of course, about President Trump. The president making his final pitch to save the Republican majority in Congress.

On Monday, he attended three rallies in three states, intensifying his anti-immigrant rhetoric. Sources tell CNN that the president hated the upbeat campaign ad that featured positive messages about the economy. He insisted his closing argument should be that hardline anti-immigration message that included that ad that was considered so racist and false, it was rejected by CNN and later pulled by NBC, FOX and Facebook.

So we're also watching severe weather that, of course, could impact voter turnout throughout the day.

We have reporters covering the key, House, Senate and governors' races. So let's go around the country. Let's begin with CNN's Brian Todd. He is live for us in Virginia. How is it looking, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, you and John just said the key phrase. It is on. The excitement is here after all the campaigning and all the talk.

Just moments ago, this polling station here in Loudoun County, Virginia, Park View High School, just opened.

Look, this is why we love covering these elections. It's because the voters are so committed. These people coming in here, and my photojournalist, Albert, and I can walk in here now, because now we're allowed in after 6 a.m. Eastern Time. The voters are so committed. These people were lined up, close to going out the door here at Park View High School.

You've got six voting stations here. People coming in here and registering.

Now, what's going to be interesting here, this is a key battleground. It's the suburban battlegrounds in places like northern Virginia here that are going to be so key in determining the House of Representatives.

This is the 10th District in Virginia where Barbara Comstock, the incumbent Republican, is trying to hold onto her seat. Challenger Jennifer Wexton putting up a very, very strong challenge to Barbara Comstock. So voter turnout is going to be key.

And here in Loudoun County in Virginia, and in this 10th voting district in Virginia, an explosion of new voters. I've talked to election officials all over this county the last couple days. They have added 76,000 new registered voters in Loudoun County alone over the past ten years. A very diverse demographic: Asian-American population growing here; Hispanic population growing in this area.

So this is kind of where the battleground is going to play out, the suburban battleground here in Northern Virginia. Can Barbara Comstock hold onto here seat? Well, these are the people that are going to determine that. The ballot is pretty simple. You vote for either Corey Stewart or Tim Kaine or Matt Waters for Senate. Barbara Comstock, Jennifer Wexton for House of Representatives. And then you've got about four ballot initiatives to vote on. So it's a pretty simple vote, and it's on right now.

John, back to you.

BERMAN: Brian Todd for us in Sterling, Virginia. It is on. Democracy at work right behind Brian, and good for those people, 6 a.m., braving the fluorescent lights.

Florida has two of the most contentious races, governor and Senate, also some big House races there. A lot of star power from both political parties canvassing the state to turn out the vote.

CNN's Rosa Flores live in Florida with more -- Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

I don't know if I should say that Florida is famous or infamous for its nail-biting elections; but races here are won by razor-thin margins; and this midterm is no exception.

There is a deeply involved electorate here in Florida. Of the about 13 million registered voters, more than 5 million have already voted.

Now, the breakdown is fascinating here, because it's considered a 60 percent increase from 2014; and if you look at the breakdown by party, it is indeed nail-biting. Take a look at this.

Of the -- of the voters who have voted so far, 40.1 percent are Republican, 40.5 percent are Democrats; and then the rest, no party affiliation or other, are 19.3 percent.

John, as you mentioned, there are multiple races here with national implications. The Senate race, which could tilt the balance of power in the U.S. Senate; the governor's race which is being looked at as a glimpse into 2020; and several House races, as well.

Now, here's one other thing if you're not already biting your nails so far. More -- about 1 million new voters have registered since President Trump took power -- since President Trump got elected. Now, there's this misconception that most of the voters in the state of Florida are seniors. This year, 52 percent, Alisyn, are millennials, Gen X-ers or Gen Z-ers. Meaning that this younger bloc of voters, it's more diverse, have more power than they might think. But of course, to unlock that power, they have to go out and vote today.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Rosa. I mean, honestly after the -- this year of pontificating that we've all been a part of, today the voters have the power. So thank you very much for breaking all of that down for us. [06:05:04] Meanwhile, the Georgia governor's race is among the most

contentious in the country. It's a race roiled by voter suppression concerns and allegations of abuse of power. That's where we find CNN's Gary Tuchman. He is live in suburban Atlanta for us.

What's the scene at this hour, Gary?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we're at a polling place in Cobb County, Georgia, this polling place and every other one in this state, in the 159 counties in the state opens up at 7 a.m.

But the fact is, they've been opened up for a long time. There is a very extensive early voting system here in the state of Georgia. In some of the counties, this is actually day 20 of voting. So people have been voting since October 15.

More than 2.1 million votes have already been cast here in the state of Georgia. Compare that to four years ago, the last midterm election; 900,000 votes were cast at this point. So you could see the extensive interest in this race.

And this could be an historical race. That's because the Democratic candidate, Stacey Adams, if she wins in this race, which is too close to call right now, she would be the first African-American woman to ever be a governor in the United States of America.

The Republican candidate Brian Kemp, he's very interesting, because he's not only running in the election, he helps run the election. He's the secretary of state of Georgia. And that's led to some controversy. He's been accused of trying to suppress the vote. Judges have already ruled against him.

Meanwhile, Brian Kemp and his office already leveled some accusations of their own, saying that Democrats are responsible for hacking the computer voting system. That has been denied by Democrats who say there's absolutely no evidence that's been presented of that whatsoever.

Alisyn, John, back to you.

CAMEROTA: Gary Tuchman, thank you very much.

OK. Joining us now we have our CNN political analysts and commentators. We have David Gregory. We have the host of CNN's "SMERCONISH," Michael Smerconish. We have the senior writer for "The Federalist," Mary Catherine Ham; and former Ohio state senator Nina Turner all with us at the table. It's great to have you all on this very exciting morning.

So we just heard from all of our reporters, Michael, that early voting is up, it's up considerably, notably. Something is happening out there. We just don't know what. How can we tell what this means?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, HOST, "SMERCONISH": Well, I think it means folks are passionate, right? At both ends of the extreme. Those who are antagonistic towards the president, they're probably already in the ballot booth, recorded, as long as their state permits it. And the same with the other side.

But we still don't know whether that necessarily translates to some extraordinary turnout when all is said and done. I think it's clear that it will exceed 2014, but how far in excess of 2014, we really don't know.

We know that people who are committed, they're already held accountable.

BERMAN: It's so interesting. One of the things we do know is that the president has been trying to stir up passion in his base. We have that reporting from Jeff Zeleny that he was mad about a rosy ad on the economy. What he wanted was the anti-immigration message, which spawned that commercial, which CNN would not air. NBC and FOX pulled it, albeit after they ran it on football.

Josh Dawsey of the "Washington Post" had a bit of a confrontation or had a chance to question the president on that. I want to play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know about it. I mean, you're telling me something I don't know about. We have a lot of ads, and they certainly are effective, based on the numbers that we're seeing.

JOSH DAWSEY, "WASHINGTON POST": Well, Mr. President, a lot of folks have said that ad was offensive. Why did you like that ad? What were you trying to --

TRUMP: Well, a lot of things are offensive. Your questions are offensive a lot of times, so, you know --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: There are like eight different things that went on in that answer. There was an attack on the press at the end.

CAMEROTA: He claimed that he didn't know about that ad.

BERMAN: There was the claim he didn't know about the ad.

CAMEROTA: The reporting is that he supported it. He liked this one best.

BERMAN: It was -- he was the inspiration to go anti-immigrant instead of rosy message on taxes.

And Mary Catherine, we know there's a discussion inside the Republican Party about whether this was the right move or not.

MARY CATHERINE HAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think it may work some places and it won't work other places, right? And that is the issue with this president all the time. And I'm just talking about pure political efficacy at the moment. But I think it's clear if you look at the spending in most of these

races from Missouri, for instance, where he's delivering this more punchy message there, clumsy, I think, heavy-handed message there. All of the Republican ads are on taxes. Democrat ads are on healthcare. This is not what the candidates themselves actually want to be talking about.

And I think especially somewhere like Virginia 10, where you've got these ex-urban, suburban college-educated white women who the Republican Party is losing, or at least turning into swing voters. This kind of message is perfectly tailored to make them either stay at home or turn the other direction, I think.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is, I think, a big question. One of the things that we knew in 2016 is that a lot of the predictions were wrong. We have to reinforce that in emphasizing what we don't know. Is this a story of a huge Democratic day and night? Or is it a story of Republican perseverance in ways that have not all become clear?

But in 2016, candidate Trump confounded all of us by expanding the playing field. Right? He got people who didn't otherwise vote to come out to vote. He also brought home Republicans in a way that wasn't expected.

[06:10:00] Here what the polling suggests going in, is that that electorate around him is shrinking, you know, that there's a lot of Republicans in suburban areas, a lot of college-educated Republicans who are turning away from him. And a surge of interest among millennial voters, if that pans out; among minority voters if that pans out, as well. They could be incredibly big for Democrats.

And so I think that's his message about talking more about the economy yesterday, talking about how he'd like a softer tone if -- you know, after the midterms, I think, is an indication of where he's rattled about how the -- how the terrain has kind of narrowed for him and for the Republican Party.

CAMEROTA: Nina, as a Democrat, what are you looking at today?

NINA TURNER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, well, certainly, Georgia and Florida, especially Georgia and Florida.

But something that the president said when he said, you know, "Eventually, I want to unite, but I'm driving them crazy." For him it is more important to drive people crazy, to drive hate instead of drive hope.

And the fact that today is going to be a day of reckoning for the president, and he has said it time and time again, that this is really about him and not necessarily about the people that he's supporting.

And then in terms of at least one good thing we can say about this midterm election compared to 2014 is that the voter turnout is up. We know that 2014 was the lowest voter turnout since World War II. And in a sense of big "D" democracy, it is a good thing that more people are out there saying, "I want to vote, and my vote articulates my vision."

GREGORY: Yes, I think that's exactly right. I mean, you have -- you have engagement, and you have people who are engaged on so many different levels, where it is specific to issues. So many Democrats motivated by healthcare. The president saying, "No, we're not going to take away preexisting conditions," but a lot of Republicans have talked about that and gutting Obamacare. People saying no.

There is definitely a progressive vision that you see, as you mentioned in Florida and in Georgia. You have really good candidates who are running as progressives, which obviously, people who are going to run in 2020 are going to pay attention to.

But it is very much this referendum on the president and not just style, not just tone, but the extent to which people feel he has divided the country and has taken and projected America not just at home but abroad in a way that makes people deeply, deeply uncomfortable.

President Obama, who's been out there, his campaign has said this is really about the character of the country, the values of the country. I think there are people who will be motivated, frankly, on both sides to that.

HAM: That's one thing I want to add. One thing I've seen in the numbers is that the Republican enthusiasm has never dipped as much as one would think if you just sort of listen to conventional wisdom. And that is not to say that Democrats are not super excited. They are. But Republicans have always been a little bit closer to parity. And I think, since the Kavanaugh hearings, come even closer. And so that, to me, indicates that the engagement is there on both sides.

And I also think there's this issue of how much people sort of compartmentalize Trump.

GREGORY: Yes.

HAM: Because there are a lot of people voting for their home congressman who think -- or congresswoman, who think, "OK, well, things are going pretty well on the economy. I'm a little bit wary about where the Democratic Party is going." That's why Claire McCaskill, for instance, in Missouri references crazy Democrats in one of those ads. Right? She's trying to distance herself from that part of the party. And so I think some people are able to compartmentalize that so it doesn't become a referendum on him.

BERMAN: That's so interesting what we said the first time around, which is there is a campaign out there that's about healthcare and taxes --

HAM: Right.

BERMAN: -- that's being run by the candidates, and then there's this campaign being run by the president which is about "me, me, me, me, me immigration," and I think it could have an effect that counters each other. And Smerc, you're sort of on the front lines. I think this is an

election about the parameters of Trumpism. I think tonight will define how far it will and can go. Geographically speaking, there are races in your home state in Pennsylvania which will tell us.

SMERCONISH: Well, one in particular, but let me go to your first point. Maybe those numbers that we're studying that speak to deep division among women and men, among folks of color, Latinos and those who are not, actually validate his approach in the last couple of weeks. There's this tendency for us to take a look and I'm not morally defending the way in which the president has gone nativist.

But perhaps he knew those numbers all along, knew he couldn't reach a certain segment of the electorate and, therefore, quadrupled down on those that were most inclined to come out and support him to begin with.

To answer your question, we're all looking at a particular race or a series of races. The congressional district in which I was born and raised and still spend a tremendous amount of time is now called Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District.

BERMAN: Also called Smerconishville.

SMERCONISH: Not to some. But this is a race where a very moderate Republican, if there are such things left in the House, Brian Fitzpatrick, former FBI agent. His brother was the congressman for several terms. He retired, and in now comes Brian Fitzpatrick.

I drove the district last weekend. The yard signs that are up for him tout his independence and his ranking as the most incompetent Republican congressman.

If he can't hang on tonight, take a look at Pennsylvania's 1st, because if Scott Wallace should win that race, that's a very ominous sign for Republicans everywhere.

[06:15:08] GREGORY: You know, but you mentioned the limits of Trumpism; and I think that's a good framing for all of this. Because again, as I mentioned, the shrinking of the Republican electorate, if they have parity among men overall, the fact that Democrats and Republicans would be really tight is a really good sign for Democrats.

If it's 2-1 Democrat support, women support Democrats, these are huge indicators.

But the perseverance point, you finally saw last night on FOX and other places, the idea of, well, people may not like Trump, but he's delivered. Promises made, promises kept. It raises the question of in some of these tight races, is there some perseverance that Republicans show around what Trump has been able to accomplish, even if people compartmentalize and say, "Yes, I don't like how he expresses himself, but we like what he's done"?

BERMAN: Friends, stick around. We're going to talk about a lot more, including with Nina about what will drive Democrats to the polls, what will get them out, maybe, in this bad weather wisdom, which is coming, as well.

CAMEROTA: CNN's "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA" coverage begins at 5 p.m. Eastern. Then join us extra early tomorrow as NEW DAY will begin at 5 a.m.

BERMAN: At least -- at least 5 a.m. Eastern.

CAMEROTA: You need to be here at 5.

BERMAN: At least 5 a.m. Eastern Time.

GREGORY: OK.

BERMAN: President Trump, he had a campaign companion last night, someone who said he would not get up and campaign with the president.

CAMEROTA: For a minute.

BERMAN: He was going to go just cover the president. We'll talk about that and much, much more.

CAMEROTA: And the body language of that.

BERMAN: The body -- I'm dying to know --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:25] BERMAN: So there was really a remarkable moment in journalism last night. Sean Hannity --

CAMEROTA: I think you're stretching the use of "journalism."

BERMAN: -- who hosts -- Sean Hannity hosts a television show on the FOX News Channel and had been tweeting all day that, while he was going to be at a Trump event in Missouri, he wasn't going to get up onstage and campaign with the president. But wait, but wait, he said that, "I'm not going to get up on stage and campaign with the president," and then this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's all right. Go ahead.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: By the way, all those people in the back are fake news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. I have a lot to say about this. He's going -- he's going to say one more thing. He's going to say one more thing. Listen to this. He says --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Mr. President, I -- I did an opening monologue today, and I had no idea you were going to invite me up here. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: None!

CAMEROTA: No idea.

BERMAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK. Now we can discuss this.

Who does he think he's fooling? Who does he think he's fooling by saying that he had no idea he was going to be invited up there?

And here's what's going on at FOX. They know vaguely that they're not supposed to have one of their hosts endorse a candidate or a party, but Sean Hannity can't help himself. And so the whole, like, "Oh, shucks, me? You want me to go up here?" After he had originally said, I believe, that he was going to be involved in the campaign.

They're having a schizophrenic moment over there, trying to figure out what their role is supposed to be with the Trump presidency. I could go on.

BERMAN: Please do. I'm enjoying it.

CAMEROTA: Here's the last thing I'll say. I won't bring it up right now. Can you -- what are you guys all doing here?

Nina, can you imagine Don Lemon campaigning for Stacey Abrams?

TURNER: Oh, no.

CAMEROTA: Don Lemon being able to take the podium?

TURNER: Absolutely --

CAMEROTA: When people say that there is no difference, and when FOX tries to consider itself a news organization, they have some complications at moments like this.

TURNER: You hit the snail on the head. And listen, Sean Hannity has never hidden the fact that that's his guy. And he made it crystal, crystal clear, if it wasn't clear before, that the president is his guy and will even go above and beyond and skirt some of the rules to show that the president is his guy.

And that was no surprise. That was totally planned.

SMERCONISH: Can I say this is an encapsulation of the partisan division in the country and how we got here, because now things have come full circle.

The political leadership in the GOP does not control primary voters, and they're no longer the forces responsible for getting out the vote. So this is -- I'm not defending that, but this is a likely conclusion of where we've been building for years. And if you want to know why the loudest voices in the room carry so

much sway, it's because media mouthpieces are able to so encourage the primary voters to come out to vote and determine who the candidates will be.

BERMAN: I'm just happy for Sean Hannity. He looked smitten there.

TURNER: He did.

BERMAN: When he was called up there, it looked like it was a very special moment for him.

Nina, what's going to get Democrats out today? Is it going to be Donald Trump? Because there's been this relentless focus on him up until very recently. Yet they're campaigning on healthcare. What's going to be the motivating factor?

TURNER: Well, partly that. I mean, Democrats have never stopped campaigning against President Trump. Since he took the oath of office, Democrats have been campaigning against the president. He certainly has made it easy with his rhetoric of hate and xenophobia and all the other negative things that he has put out into the universe.

But it really is on the other side, Democrats can't just always be anti-Trump. We have to have a vision. And you see that kind of vision permeating in states like Florida, in states like, you know, Maryland, in states like Georgia. So it really is healthcare.

And we know that most Americans, by several polls, really do believe, even, you know, the polling here that healthcare is No. 1 for them and it's across the political spectrum. Seventy percent of Americans across the board -- independents, Republicans -- if there is just one issue that we can agree upon in this country across our political ideology, it is healthcare.

GREGORY: Can I -- I think you're right, and I think that if there's really positive leadership out there and Democrats are saying, you know, "We know what we're organized against. We know that we want this to be a resistance." But the big struggle now and going into 2020 is who, then? You know, who leads the way?

The thing about President Obama as a candidate is that -- is that voters projected a lot of their hopes and dreams onto him as a vehicle for those dreams. And so he was so positive and he had such widespread approval across the political spectrum.

You know, if you look at Georgia, if you look at Florida, these are very positive and effective progressive leaders in Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum, who are having a real effect on voters.

[06:25:12] And I think that for the first time if they prevail, and Beto O'Rourke in Texas, as well, I think there's a glimmer of hope for Democrats to say, "I think we may know who leads us, not just what we're -- what we're kind of railing against." And I think that would be an important moment for Democrats. HAM: Can I say also one of the features of those two candidates,

particularly Stacey Abrams, is that she does not let Trump drive her crazy. When she talks about him, she does not run to the other side, because she knows exactly who she needs to appeal to; and she is doing the hard work to do that. So I think that's one feature when Democrats are looking for a leader, because he is going to continue --

GREGORY: Right.

HAM: -- to drive them insane, someone who can fight that.

BERMAN: It's a super power. It is a super power, and he's used it very well the last few years.

I want to play one more bit of sound from another hard-hitting interview that the president did. There was the Sean Hannity moment, that interview onstage there, and also he did an interview with Sinclair Broadcasting, which we should note is also extremely --

CAMEROTA: Inclined.

BERMAN: -- inclined to support the president. But it did raise this interesting moment. Let's listen.

(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)

BERMAN: So Mary Catherine, can I -- can I take your smile as you believing that he means that 100 percent?

HAM: No, it's just I think it's funny. It's like, "I guess I could. Maybe it's in my control." I mean, it is within his control. Like look --

CAMEROTA: He sets the tone.

HAM: Yes, yes. But he also -- it's fine for him to fight back. It's fine for him to do all the counter punching. That's part of the game. But the idea that he can't just have control of his tone is just silly. Like, he can.

GREGORY: He's constantly producing the -- the Trump show. I've never heard a political figure who thinks out loud like this. I mean, anything that's been said to him, he's just repeating. "Well, yes, maybe I should change the tone."

CAMEROTA: Or not.

GREGORY: "Maybe I can, maybe I can't."

HAM: Processing in real time.

SMERCONISH: It's belied by what he then said on the stage.

GREGORY: Right.

HAM: Exactly.

TURNER: It's a shell game. It's definitely a shell game. I mean, the president is playing the con; and he always does. So he's going to say, "Yes, maybe I should change the tone." And then tomorrow he'll be back out there, you know, slapping people around, because this is what motivates him the most.

GREGORY: But I'm not convinced that he doesn't believe it for a period of time. In other words, if you look at the final pitch, you know, he's had women out there. He looks at something that someone may have just told him of some vulnerability and says, "Yes, maybe I should change my tone." And then he crosses it off the list.

TURNER: It's not in his heart. So he's saying those things out loud, but what is in his heart always comes out.

GREGORY: The fight is what's always there.

TURNER: But it's the way he's doing it, too. I mean, I do agree that part of this is part of the game, but I think right now people are tired of the game. And they're tired of the type of game that, again, presses people to the lowest level here in this country. And that is really what he's pulling out, and that is the part of this that people don't like.

People get, "I'm going to advocate for my side. You advocate for your side."

I still believe that you should do everything to win and not anything to win. And we are in a territory in our political discourse that people feel that it is OK to do anything to win.

BERMAN: The final word here.

SMERCONISH: Final word is maybe it's not as complicated as sometimes we've been making it out to be. He's underwater, a party whose president is underwater in an election like this typically loses in the mid-30s. And if that's what happens, that will be the outcome in the House.

BERMAN: That's a really great point to close on there, because it could be this is an incredibly traditional midterm.

SMERCONISH: Maybe. Who knows?

CAMEROTA: Or nothing is traditional. HAM: Could be.

BERMAN: Or nothing matters.

CAMEROTA: We just don't know. We just don't know this morning, but we will very soon.

OK. Thank you all so much for your perspectives.

So there are these severe storms, and one has turned deadly on this election day. How will all of this impact voter turnout? We'll give you the updated details. Chad Myers will have our forecast next.

BERMAN: I'm going to agree with Smerc on this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)