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Drama Building In Home Stretch; McConnell Ahead By A Nose In Kentucky; Iraqi Kurdish Troops Enter Kobani

Aired October 31, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to "Inside Politics" now with John.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: That was my read.

CAMEROTA: I know. Hi, John!

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Are you excited to get to me or just determined to get away from him? That's what I can't figure out here at the moment.

CUOMO: Thanks, John. Heh, heh.

KING: Four days. Four days to a big midterm election, and we're going to go through this. And trust me, folks, if you're not excited about this you should pay attention. We've got a lot of close races.

Before I get to them, with me to share their reporting and their insights this morning, Nia Malika Henderson of "The Washington Post"; Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times."

Look at this. The big battle on Tuesday is for control of the United States Senate. We'll wake up on election day, 55 Democrats, 45 Republicans. Two of those Democrats are independents who caucus with them. This is the state of play: 36 races across the country. But most of them are not competitive.

This is what we're looking at so far. These are 13 races, but there are three, Montana, South Dakota, and West Vriginia, the Republicans are pretty confident tey'er going to pick up those three. That would give you 45-45. And then what, 10 races. Look at this. From Alaska to New Hampshire, 10 races that are within single digits, two or three points, too close to call heading into the final weekend.

Out in Alaska, you've got the Democratic incumbent Mark Begich against the Republican Dan Sullivan. Sullivan is favored here, but remember, a lot of votes out in rural areas. We might be counting votes in Alaska not just Tuesday night, but into Wednesday and Thursday and Friday as well. Watch rthat one.

Out in Iowa, this is a blue state. President Obama won it twice. Joni Ernst is the Republican, who has a slight lead over Bruce Braley, the Democrat. If Republicans are winning those blue states, then that tells you they are having a big night. Not only to get control of the United States Senate, but maybe by a significant margin.

Just yesterday, I was up in New Hampshire the final debate last night, Democrat Jean Shaheen versus the former Massachusetts senator. Now a New Hampshire Republican Scott Brown, Democrats think that Jean Shaheen will eke that out, but again so close into the final weekend, you don't quite know.

That's where I want to start Nia-Malika Henderson, do you recall a cycle where you have ten, ten, usually they break about a week out they start to break. We have ten races you make educated guesses, but you can't be certain.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Right. We might not know for a while, right. These races, Georgia, Louisiana likely go into a runoff. You hear Republicans talk about if they're able to break-away in some of these states like Colorado or like Iowa and win outright victories.

That would be a good narrative for them because these are states, of course, Obama won. If they are able to win the purple/bluish states then that would be a good night for them.

KING: But that's what so fascinating, Jonathan heading into the final weekend. Again, ten races we just can't call. We can make educated guesses. But to Nia's point, if you look at the state of Georgia, this is Georgia. Georgia in what is supposed to be a Republican year.

Michelle Nunn has a prayer. I want you to listen. Here is a new ad from David Purdue. David Purdue has a brand new ad. He has been losing. If you don't get 50 percent plus one you get end up in a runoff.

The Georgia run off is in January. We could wait until January 6th to find out who controls the United States Senate, but look at David Purdue here trying in the end to essentially get it together. There's a lot of criticism of his campaign. Listen to this ad playing on fear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: The issue is trust? Do you trust President Obama and the Washington politicians to deal with the problems we face? Too much debt. Not enough jobs. Terrorism and Ebola coming at us from overseas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Is it enough, Jonathan Martin, after a campaign in which the Republican establishment had been mad at David Purdue, mad at his team saying, they are not running a good campaign, that there's no way Georgia should be close in a year like this.

JONATHAN MARTIN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": That race is probably going to be a runoff. All the strategists I talked to believe it. It's going to be decided in January. You're absolutely right about the overall trend. There is more suspense in this election that I can recall and I think it's for a few reasons.

I think that it's hard to poll people now increasingly, but I also think that people are just angry out there and they don't want to vote for either party in a lot of these cases.

I think that's one of the reasons why you're still seeing this late, John, in the election, so many undecided voters. Do those folks show up or do they stay at home? The answer to that could turn the election.

KING: And I think a subplot to that -- I'll bring up the state of Kentucky. I was just there the other day is that people who are decided, they know how they would vote if they vote. But they just don't feel the excitement.

Whether you sent 100 Democrats to the Senate or 100 Republicans to the Senate, you know, Washington won't get much done. I think this is a fascinating test of the two big dynamics in the country. Anti-Obama sentiment, I was in Kentucky, trust me, it's real.

Yet so is anti-Washington and anti-incumbent, and Mitch McConnell, the long-time Republican leader is the poster child for Washington and for Democrats who say the poster child for gridlock. Brand new bluegrass poll out as I come back over the table, look at this one here.

Alison Grimes has kept this close. African-American said they're going to surprise us in Lexington and Louisville, and get into this race here. If you believe these numbers, anyway, a lot of races break late. When they break in a big midterm year, often they break in one direction, is that a clue?

HENDERSON: Perhaps. I mean, it's a race going up-and-down with Mitch McConnell mostly in the lead. It probably will break late. I think a victory for Democrats in some ways even if they lose is if they can do better than Bruce Lunsford did last go round.

I think Mitch McConnell got something like 53 percent. Lunsford got something like 47 percent. Alison Lundergan Grimes, she's ran a pretty good campaign. She's got a future there in Kentucky, but it's always been an uphill climb for her.

KING: The great part about the last week of the campaign is that everybody, every candidate will win apparently. Everybody publicly tells you we're going win. We're doing great. Privately they share their fears and their nerves about it.

I want to go back to the Iowa race. Bruce Braley is the Democratic candidate. Democrats handpicked him thinking he would be the best candidate. I think they're having second thoughts about that. But Joni Ernst is running a very smart campaign.

She's on the farm, she grew up on saying she want to go Washington to clean up the mess. Here is Bruce Braley with his closing ad responding to that clearly taking Joni Ernst struck a chord about let's go to Washington and change things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE BRALEY (D), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: We need to build bridges and get results, and stop letting the extremists from either party get in the way. I'm Bruce Braley and I'm running for Senate to make a difference for Iowa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Tell you about a race when you know the midterm election, the biggest thing is gin up your base, get all the liberals and conservatives to turn out. He's talking about the extremists in both parties trying to reach to the middle.

MARTIN: Yes, look, I think he is trying to appeal to the disaffected Obama voter who maybe has concerns about Ms. Ernst because of her conservative views. The challenge he has in that state is if you look at the two senators they have sent to Washington for the last 30 years, they're of a certain profile.

They're both sort of down home, very relatable type Iowans. She and that question wins out who are they. Now the question is, do candidates in campaigns matter or the structure matter more? Is there a better operation in the state? We'll see.

KING: We'll see. At the moment Republicans feel confident about the early vote totals, but again, so many of these races, so close heading into the final days. It does matter who votes. I know, it's a cliche but it does matter.

This is about 2014 and about 2016. Hillary Clinton campaigning for the gubernatorial candidate the Democrat in Maryland but watch this, President Obama, remember promised to pass immigration reform. Here is Latino activists taking it out on Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm so proud. I'm so proud that Governor O'Malley, you know, if they had just waited a little while I was getting to the dream act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It's not going away and it does tell you, A, Republicans have an opening, but B, Democrats have a credibility problem with the fastest growing segment of the American population that was a huge part of the two big Obama wins.

MARTIN: President Obama promised it in the first term, it hasn't happened yet. The final two years of his last term, they're fed up.

HENDERSON: They want something done in this lame duck. It's going to be a fight.

KING: As we get back to you in New York, Jonathan and Nia-Malika are going to take magic wand or a magic wall? If you want to practice this at home, we have my magic wall at cnn.com. You can play around. You can take your stylist. Pick it up. Have a little fun.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Tilt toward us a little more.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's awesome! I love the at-home version of "Inside Politics."

KING: On election nights, you get the live results as fast as I do. Check them out. Have some fun.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, John. He's moving the mystique.

CUOMO: Nobody is as good, though, as going through the machinations of the moment on election night as he is.

CAMEROTA: With a few days left before the 2014 midterm elections, make sure to join John King and his "INSIDE POLITICS" panel this Sunday live at 8:30 a.m., they will be looking at all the key races and which ones to watch on Election Day.

CUOMO: The president and his defense secretary at odds, really? A critical memo from Chuck Hagel blasting the White House strategy in Syria, we'll get with the spokesman for the Pentagon and see what is going on here. Are they really not seeing eye to eye and if they aren't, why?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Breaking overnight, Iraqi Kurd forces entering Kobani. That's where ISIS has been holding ground against coalition airstrikes for now, about six weeks.

This comes as reports surface of a secret memo written by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel criticizing the president's strategy in Syria suggesting a tougher approach is needed specifically with the Assad regime. Hagel was asked about the memo Thursday. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: That's a responsibility of any leader and because we are a significant element of this issue, we owe the president and we owe the National Security Council our best thinking on this. It has to be honest and it has to be direct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: So let's get some more honesty and directness from Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby. Admiral, thank you for joining us this morning. Why is the Pentagon and the White House not on the same page when it comes to Syria?

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Look, I won't get into talking internal discussions and correspondents that the Pentagon shares with the national security team. I think you can understand that.

What I can tell you is that we here in the Pentagon, we believe the strategy is working and we believe it's the right strategy. We're executing it just as effectively and efficiently as we can and we are having a pretty good impact on ISIL and their ability to maneuver and to communicate, to coordinate, to command and control their forces.

But like any strategy, you want to constantly reassess and review and talk about it and make sure that in the execution of it that you're doing it right way. I think that's what the secretary was talking about yesterday.

CUOMO: The secretary likes it except that he doesn't like it. He doesn't think he's doing enough with respect to the Assad regime. What does he think should happen?

KIRBY: Yes. I'm not get into internal discussions at the national security level, Chris. I don't think that will be a wise thing to do. But I can tell you that every member of the national security team has taken the challenge that we are facing against ISIL very, very seriously.

There's a constant robust discussion about the strategy and moving forward every single day. And I think that's what the secretary is talking about. Everybody in the national security team owes the president their best most candid advice and recommendations going forward.

CUOMO: The reason that you don't want to get into those discussions is because you don't want to create dissension, but doesn't it matter that we know what the range of options are?

KIRBY: What I don't want to do is talk about internal discussions in a public setting. I don't think that would be beneficial to anybody. Look, everybody understands that the situation in Syria is complicated. The situation against ISIL is complicated.

We understand that Assad is a big part of the problem here. One of the reasons why ISIL has had the freedom to maneuver inside Syria, and develop safe havens and sanctuaries is because the Assad regime has lost all legitimacy to govern.

So the Assad regime has always been a factor in the strategy as it was developed and as its being executed. Again, we always want to review and assess our strategies to make sure that we're executing them in the best most effective way.

CUOMO: When the president asked to have bombings in Syria about a year or so ago, didn't happen because of Congress. Did the Pentagon think that that was the right move at the time?

KIRBY: The Defense Department supports the commander-in-chief, Chris. I won't get into, you know, a past discussion or debates that might have occurred at that time. But our job is to execute the policy that the commander-in-chief sets forth. That's our job. That's what we're focused on. CUOMO: All right, one quick status update now, battle for Kobani now in its sixth week, the Peshmerga just getting in there. ISIS, so far, has been able to stand their ground. What does it say about the airstrikes and the need for more or just what the realities are on the ground?

KIRBY: It's interesting when you just asked the question. I thought you were going say is that the Kurdish fighters inside Kobani have been able to stand their ground because that's exactly what's happened. We believe that the fighters inside Kobani are in possession of the great majority of the city.

That doesn't mean ISIL still doesn't threaten it. We're continuing to conduct airstrikes why it's important that these Peshmerga fighters have been able to get access there with some heavy equipment to reinforce them.

I have to tell you the fighters that are in that city, we still believe that they have the greater majority of it and the situation right now is fairly static.

CUOMO: Let me just ask you about the quarantine real quickly. How are you able to get away with one when the White House is so obviously the president specifically against the idea of one?

KIRBY: Well, it's not about getting away with one. This is a decision that the Defense Secretary Hagel and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs as well as all the Joint Chiefs felt was in the best interest of our troops and their families.

We have the largest cohort of people down in Liberia. We are up over 1,000 right now, could grow to 4,000 before this mission is over. That's a lot of people. They're doing a lot of things not connected to actual treatment of patients, but they're still down there in great numbers.

We believe it's a prudent, safety, conservative approach for right now. I would remind you that the secretary told the Joint Chief they need to come back with an implementation plan to see if it's something that we can or should sustain.

And then after 45 days we're going to reassess this policy to see if it makes sense going forward. It may not. But right now given the fact that we have the largest numbers there and logistics of flowing our people to and from Liberia is critical. It's a safe move. It was supported by many family members as well.

CUOMO: Admiral John Kirby, thank you for getting in front of the issues today. We appreciate it, as always.

KIRBY: My pleasure.

CUOMO: Have a good Halloween and a good weekend, sir -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris, more international relations to talk about. Tensions are rising again between Israel and the Palestinians. We'll show you the latest drama causing another round of unrest in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians once again escalating in the Middle East. Israel has partially reopened the temple mount in Jerusalem for Friday prayers after closing the site Thursday for the first time in decades following an assassination attempt on an activist rabbi.

All of this coming after an off-color comment from an American official about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So is there a way to avoid another escalation in that region? CNN's Erin McLaughlin is live in Jerusalem for us -- Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, there was a concern about possible clashes in East Jerusalem. So far I have not seen any evidence of that. The torrential downpours seeming to have driven people indoors. The situation here is very calm outside the Damascus gates.

Security forces for the large part have packed up and gone away. There was a heavy security presence earlier in the morning, but now Friday prayers are over. Now I did see a group of men praying in the streets, this despite the damp conditions.

And that's because of the restrictions on the noble sanctuary, also known as the term mount, only men over the age of 40 and all women were allowed inside the site to pray today and yesterday for the first time in 14 years, this site was completely closed to all worshippers, a move that infuriated many Muslims.

With the spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saying it was in fact a declaration of war, but Israeli Security Forces saying they closed the site based on a security and intelligence assessment -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Erin, thank you very much for the reporting situation. Obviously it has to be monitored and we will do so, but right now we want to talk to you about a special feature we have here at CNN, Anthony Bourdain has another spectacular, great, what do you want to call it, extravaganza coming your way.

It's not just about the food. It starts with food, but always about culture and this time he's going one of the most obscure landscapes you can go to, he's going to Iran and going to try to look beyond the politics and look at the people there, and figure out what they're all about, and of course, also the food. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": I'm so glad to be here. Thank you, hello, hi. It's good to meet you. People have been ridiculously nice to us. Aren't you supposed to be the axis of evil?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're demonized by the media outside. You show black and white. People are demonstrating and killing and bombing and this and that and you see and this and that, but you never talk about the real people who are actually living peacefully inside the country.

You know, eventually in the future of the world, we and Americans have a very special place in this. We cannot play a game without considering who we are, as a friend.

BOURDAIN: One of Faroque's many passions is ancient Persia. How do you pronounce the specialty?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vizi which is the name of the pot.

BOURDAIN: Like an earthenware.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, and one of the dishes. It goes back to Mesopotamia, 6,000 years ago.

BOURDAIN: Potato, chickpeas, water, lamb, cooked together, add a little fat, mash it up with potatoes and chickpeas. That's good. What do Iranians want to eat today? It's a home cooking culture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we didn't have the culture of eating out. This is a culture of sacred food in the house. Things which aren't unheard of, is not in the book.

BOURDAIN: That's really interesting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Anthony Bourdain, one of the few men to ask if Iran is the axis of evil and still leave the country, very nice to know.

CAMEROTA: It was fascinating, too.

CUOMO: "PARTS UNKNOWN" Sunday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, obviously a journey you're going to want to follow.

CAMEROTA: Good, we will be tuning into that.

After seven weeks on the run, a suspected cop killer captured and hauled off in handcuffs. The moments leading up to his arrest coming up for you in a live report.

Plus a CNN exclusive this morning, we are talking live with two of Nurse Kaci Hickox's closest friends. They'll tell us what she's going through, what he's thinking, how she's feeling and what she's planning today after being forced by the state into quarantine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)