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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Bush Declares Victory, Kerry Concedes; Republicans Dominate Congress; How the White House Appealed to Evangelicals
Aired November 03, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening. I'm Anderson Cooper.
The president remains the president, and Republicans are in full control.
360 starts now.
President Bush declares victory, John Kerry concedes. But what happens now? Can the country come together, or does a Republican mandate mean we split apart even more?
The Senate, the House, and the White House, how the Republicans mopped up in Washington, and how the Democrats got it so wrong.
Gay marriage, partial birth abortion, how the White House appealed to evangelicals, and why the Democrats couldn't capture the moral values vote. Tonight we go 360 with the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Jerry Falwell.
Bruised and battered, where does the Democratic Party go from here? Tonight, Ralph Nader and Al Sharpton square off on who the Democrats are and what they should stand for.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And a good evening to you.
Welcome to the mother of all political mornings-after. Did you awake gleeful or glum, red or blue, vindicated or crushed? The results show Mr. Bush got more than 59 million votes to Mr. Kerry's 55.4 million. So there are a whole lot of Americans who got what they wanted, and then nearly as many that didn't at all.
Which means that one of the following is guaranteed either to make you cheer or chill your blood. George W. Bush, the once and future president, made a victory speech this afternoon a couple hours after John F. Kerry, the president's Democratic challenger, conceded he had lost.
We'll be reporting all the angles tonight, victory and what it may mean, and defeat and what it may mean.
Standing by in Washington is John King, and in Boston, Candy Crowley.
To John King at the White House first. John?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this time last night, it was a worried White House. Now they're working on a new budget, the State of the Union, an international trip, four more years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): No recount, and no doubt about the winner this time. A rowdy Republican celebration, but also an attempt to set a new tone for a second term.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it.
KING: But make no mistake, the victors seek bipartisanship, but on their terms, and believed a clear majority of the popular vote and bigger Republican margins in Congress give them the upper hand.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Bush ran forthrightly on a clear agenda for this nation's future, and the nation responded by giving him a mandate.
KING: Celebration on this day, talk of cooperation will be tested early in the new term.
KEN DUBERSTEIN, FORMER REAGAN CHIEF OF STAFF: They'll be campaigning for the history books, for a legacy.
KING: The Iraq war still divides the parties, as does a second term agenda that includes tax simplification, health care changes Democrats say fall short, and revamping Social Security.
BUSH: I see a great day coming for our country, and I am eager for the work ahead.
KING: Senior Bush aides believe the first partisan dustup could come within weeks. Chief Justice William Rehnquist has cancer, and the White House is quietly preparing to name a successor. And cabinet and staff turnover is in the works after a first term noteworthy for stability at the top.
DUBERSTEIN: I think there will be, in fact, wholesale changes in a second Bush administration.
KING: Gone is the legitimacy debate of 2000, when Mr. Bush won the White House but lost the popular vote.
BUSH: The voters turned out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory.
KING: It was dramatic turnaround. Early exit polls spooked the White House. And as Mr. Bush watched the votes come in, Ohio met expectations, a nail-biter, and the decisive state. Mr. Bush went to bed at 5:00, confident of reelection.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Six hours later, a telephone call in the Oval Office. It was Senator Kerry calling to concede. Mr. Bush says he was extraordinarily gracious. That phone call sealing Mr. Bush's reelection and making clear that unlike his father, he will get a second term, Anderson.
COOPER: He certainly will. John King, thanks for that.
On now to the flip side of victory, because, of course, for every winner there must be at least one loser. And so to Boston, and a report from senior political correspondent Candy Crowley. Candy?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, in the wee hours of this morning, members of the Kerry campaign got together and began to make phone calls. They say they talked to Republicans and Democrats on the ground in Ohio, trying to figure out if there was any way mathematically that John Kerry could pull out the state.
In the end, around 9:30 in the morning, they figured there was no way, so Mary Beth Cahill, the campaign manager, called John Kerry to say, Even if we won all the votes, the margin of Bush's victory is too big. Kerry talked about it for some time with his running mate, John Edwards. They then decided it was time to call the president and concede, which John Kerry did, and then he went over to Faneuil Hall to talk to his supporters, most of them in tears, giving a very emotional address, some, a side of John Kerry we have not seen before.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I would not give up this fight if there was a chance that we would prevail, but it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted, which they will be, there won't be enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio. And therefore, we cannot win this election.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: ... many believe was one of John Kerry's finest moments, by telling his supporters that the votes weren't there, he was trying to tap down any kind of challenge that the vote was somehow fraudulent, to move the country forward. Aides say that's what he wanted to do, it's what he talked about with President Bush in that phone conversation.
What's ahead for John Kerry, he has four more years as the junior senator from Massachusetts. He promised his supporters that he would keep faith with them on the issues that he know means something to them, and also said to them, Anderson, that he would not forget the days that he spent on the rope line and the people who invested their hopes in him.
It's like a lot of other people who run for presidency, they go to change the country, and they wind up finding out that the country changes them, Anderson. COOPER: Candy Crowley, thanks very much. Long campaign. Thanks, Candy.
In addition to the White House victory, Republicans gained more power in the House and the Senate, landed a bruising punch to the Democrats at the same time. The stinger, Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, has lost to Republican John Thune. Daschle is the first Senate party leader in more than 50 years to face defeat.
Hours ago this man, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, announced he has enough support among his colleagues to become the new minority leader.
Now, here's a look at the new balance of power in the Senate. The GOP has 55 seats after victories in North Dakota, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, Democrats now have 44 seats, the independent party one.
In the House, Republicans control 231 seats, an extra four, Democrats 200, independents 1. Now, three races still undecided, just too close to call.
Voters decided on much more than a president and members of Congress, of course. In 34 states, 163 measures were also on the ballots. The hottest issue, gay marriage, a clean sweep. Voters have approved a ban on same-sex marriage and/or civil unions in all 11 states it appear on the ballot. Opponents are considering legal challenges.
In California, stem cell research approved by a 59 to 41 percent margin. Voters have backed a measure to pay out $3 billion over 10 years to fund the research. Proposition 71 was supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor also asked voters to oppose a measure to weaken the state's three-strikes measure. They listened. Fifty-five percent voted no, 47 yes. The governor said the measure would set free thousands of serious criminals who were already in jail.
Meanwhile, Alaskans voted against legalizing pot, while voters in Oregon opted not to expand the state's medical marijuana laws. Montana, however, became the 10th state to approve medical marijuana.
So you talk about stark divisions. Now, if we were discussing a marriage instead of the electorate, we would be using the phrase, irreconcilable differences, if I can even pronounce that. CNN senior -- well, it's been a long night. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us to paint a picture of exactly who voted in this race and how. Bill?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there are groups that George Bush made big breakthroughs with, and one of them was women. Women in 2000 voted for Al Gore over George W. Bush by 11 points. Let's look at how women voted this time. A bare margin for John Kerry. He beat George Bush among women by just 3 points, particularly because George Bush did very well with married women, those so-called security moms. A second group Bush made breakthroughs with, Latino voters around the country. He got 44 percent of the Latino vote. No Republican presidential candidate ever has gotten above 40 percent among Latino voters. That's a fast-growing group, and a major breakthrough.
One group he did not make a big breakthrough with was African- Americans. He got 9 percent of black voters last time, a little bit better this time, 11 percent, but no big gains.
Now, white evangelical voters were, of course, the Republican Party base. They delivered nicely, four to one, or nearly four to one, for Bush over Kerry. But the important thing is, their participation in the election went up a little bit from about 15 to 20 percent of the voters this time. So they paid off also.
And a group a lot of people were talking about, young voters, 18- to 29-year-olds. They voted 54 to 45 for Kerry. They are the only age group that voted for Kerry. The rest of the electorate did not vote for Kerry. They were 17 percent of the electorate.
Now, is that a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), is that a shift? Well, in 2000, they split their vote between Bush and Gore. So Kerry clearly made gains with young voters, but guess what? In 2000, they were also 17 percent of the voters. So they were the same percentage. They probably went up in turnout, but so did every other group, so they remained the same, 17 percent of the voters were young.
COOPER: Fascinating. All that talk about young voters pouring out to the polls I guess didn't happen, or at least not in the different percentage (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SCHNEIDER: That's right. They poured out to the polls, but the issue was, everyone else did too.
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as well, right. All right, Bill Schneider, thanks, fascinating.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
COOPER: Some breaking news now. There have been conflicting reports for the last hour or so about the health of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who was airlifted out of his West Bank compound, you see it here, last week for emergency medical treatment in Paris. Following reports by an Israeli newspaper and Israeli television, the Associated Press and Reuters are now saying that Mr. Arafat's condition has deteriorated.
Yet a Palestinian source close to Arafat tells CNN that is not the case, while another acknowledged Arafat's condition remained, quote, "difficult." We, of course, are going to be following this story throughout the evening, throughout this next hour. We'll bring you any updates as warranted. This could be a fast-changing story.
Coming up next next on 360, what did the Democrats do wrong and the Republicans do so right? Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson go 360 in the "CROSSFIRE." Also tonight, God and the GOP. Why do so many voters seem to believe the Republicans are the party of God? We go 360 with Jerry Falwell and Jesse Jackson.
Plus, Democrats, those still standing, are trying to figure out where to go from here. Ahead, Ralph Nader and Al Sharpton join us live to talk over the options.
All that ahead. First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: So I remember it was like it was yesterday. Actually it was Monday night. But there we were, me, Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson. And I asked them who was going to win. Begala said Kerry by 5 points, Tucker also said Kerry. So the question is, what went wrong? Well, I asked the "CROSSFIRE" guys that earlier today.
Paul, what did the Bush camp understand about America that the Kerry camp didn't?
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": That you can actually change the composition of the electorate. I mean, Kerry did his job. He got all the Democrats, he even won the independents. But what the president did was trump all that by finding, identifying, motivating, and then delivering to the polls millions of new Republican voters. A very, very difficult thing to do. I've got to give ultimate congratulations to the president, but then also to his team, Karl Rove, Mark MacKinnon, Matthew Dowd, that whole staff...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... that Kerry did his job, but, I mean, they were focusing on getting new voters, on young voters and stuff, but they were wrong.
BEGALA: Well, they got beat. No, they were right to try to get new voters in as well, but they just got out-hustled, out-organized, out-whatever, out-motivated by the Bush staff. I mean, Kerry's job was to motivate Democrats and to persuade independents. He did that. But the president just simply did a better job at his game.
And I think that you got to give the president credit for that. He raised issues in the right way, he found those folks, he motivated them, he got them out to vote, and now's got, you know, now he has a real mandate. I spent four years saying that he wasn't fully legitimate. He's fully legitimate now. And he's got a majority of the vote in a high-turnout election. There's nothing more legitimating than that.
(CROSSTALK)
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": ... I do agree with that. I think he also -- and I think, you know, the Bush campaign ran a pretty good campaign, very good campaign. And when we get the exit poll data back, we get the exit interviews back, we'll know exactly how they did it, or have a better sense of how they did it.
But I do think he had an advantage, because of the underlying issues. A lot of Americans just agree with Bush's position on things. I mean, you know, a huge majority of Americans think partial birth abortion ought to be illegal. The Kerry campaign doesn't.
I mean, it's not something you -- you know, people in the press talk much about, but it's something that people in the country care a lot about, same with gay marriage, same with terrorism, which a lot of people see as a completely black-and-white issue. You know, they're evil, we're good, that's it, end of conversation. That's the Bush administration's position, and a lot of people just agree with that.
And it's sort of hard, if you live on the coasts, to keep that in mind, since, you know, people don't so much agree with that on the coasts where we live. But in the center of the country, they absolutely do.
COOPER: Well, I mean, is that one of the stories of this election, just sort of how off the media was? I mean, whether it's, you know, a liberal media or sort of just a coastal media, you know, everyone was seemed focused on terrorism, on Iraq, on, you know, even domestic, domestic issues, the economy, taxes. And yet, you look at some of these exit polls, and the majority of people, some 22 percent, at least, among those polled, said that moral values were the issues that they were voting on.
BEGALA: Well, that was part of the Bush campaign doing its job. They didn't want to come to you or to me or to the what they call the dominant media and talk about things like gay rights or stopping advancement of gay rights or abortion or things like that. In the debates, the president was very careful, very cautious as he talked about those social issues.
But then they delivered their message through other means. They sent mailings to people in West Virginia saying, If the Democrats get in, they'll ban the Bible. Well, you know, all's fair in love and war and politics. Democrats had a right and an opportunity to respond to that. I don't think there's anything -- I'm not aghast by that, that's fine with me.
But you don't want, if you're Bush, you don't want to have the whole country debating these things. You just want your voters targeted, and then you want to deliver the message to them. Karl Rove, before he became this great guru, was a direct mail consultant. He knows how to find people, get to their homes, and motivate them.
CARLSON: Yes, but part of it is, I don't think there's a liberal media conspiracy to hurt Bush. But the fact is that almost all journalists are against Bush. You know, that's the world I live in. Almost everyone I know is a journalist. I know virtually no journalists who voted for Bush. That's just a fact.
COOPER: Do you really think that's true?
CARLSON: Oh, I, oh, I, oh, I know absolutely it's true. I've been in this my whole adult life. I grew up in a, you know, journalism family, and I know for certain. I don't think that journalists are out there trying to spin the news to help the Democrat necessarily at all, which is why I said I reject the idea of a conspiracy. But the fact is, a vast majority of reporters are liberal, particularly on social issues.
And in this election, the vast majority of reporters opposed Bush, didn't vote for him. And so it does create this kind of echo chamber. Even people like me, I mean, I'm not voting for Kerry. Obviously I'm very conservative. But the fact is, I, you know, I go to work, I go out to dinner. And every single person I know from my job or from this world I live in thinks Bush may lose. And it just has a self-reinforcing effect, I think, on people who cover politics. I know it does.
BEGALA: But to what effect, right? I mean, the liberal median conspiracy-...
CARLSON: Well, that's right.
BEGALA: ... and, of course, the president won. He won a 3 million vote majority. So I think what's interesting to me is, how do you keep this going? Right, if you're the president, if you're Karl Rove? I mean, they're not just going to, like, walk gently into that good night and all this garbage today about unity and healing, forget it. They have a real majority, they have a real mandate. They have the House, they have the Senate, they have the White House, they have the Supreme Court, with perfect legitimacy.
I don't think they're going to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, OK? I think they're going to come right at the country with their agenda. And good for them. And the question is, will the Democrats have the courage to stand up to them, or will they accommodate?
CARLSON: But who are the Democrats? Who runs the Democratic Party? I'm serious, I'm nothing mean, I'm being serious. I mean, who is in control of the party? Tom Daschle lost, a sort of, you know, a footnote on another day, it would be the headline. It's a big deal, though. And who is in charge of the party, and what does the party stand for?
COOPER: And...
CARLSON: If nothing else, this is the time for the Democrats to rethink that. It will probably make them stronger, it will definitely make them stronger in the long run, but I think it's going to be pretty unpleasant in the short term.
COOPER: We're going to be talking about that a lot a little bit later on in the program. Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, thanks.
CARLSON: Thanks.
BEGALA: Thanks, Anderson. COOPER: Coming up next on 360, we all know the president isn't popular overseas. So how did his victory play in Paris, in London, and Baghdad? Our chief international correspondent, Christian Amanpour, joins us live.
Also tonight, values and the evangelical vote. Both pushed President Bush to victory. The Reverends Jerry Falwell and Jesse Jackson weigh in on why one party seems to have a lock on moral issues.
And a little later, the Democrats in disarray. Al Sharpton and Ralph Nader weigh in.
In a moment, today's 360 challenge, how closely have you been following today's news? Find out ahead. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, needless to say, the whole world was keeping a very close eye on the election. From Tokyo to Timbuctu, millions, if not billions, were waiting to see who would be declared the leader of the free world. As expected, opinion around the globe was decidedly mixed.
Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has more now from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush's staunchest ally was among the first to offer congratulations and warnings.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: A world that is fractured, divided, and uncertain must be brought together to fight this global terrorism in all its forms, and to recognize that it will not be defeated by military might alone.
AMANPOUR: Prime Minister Blair listed poverty and especially the raging conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as the root cause of terrorism, and called for action, along with a second Bush administration.
In Iraq itself, the issue that has divided the world, more violence and little interest from the average citizen, who's concerned with making it through another day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We as Iraqis pay no heed to whether Bush or Kerry wins. American foreign policy in the Middle East is firm, and the election is only a change of faces.
AMANPOUR: The ayatollahs in neighboring Iran, delighted that two major enemies have been eliminated, Saddam Hussein and the Taliban regime, welcome a Bush win, even though he includes them in the axis of evil. Across the hall of this volatile Middle East region, the people are overwhelmingly anti-Bush. But the governments are not necessarily. Many like continuity, and despite Bush's staunch pro- Israel stance, Arabs like to say that Republicans are better for the region than Democrats are.
Italy, Russia, and Israel heavily back Bush, but the Palestinians, who have been officially ignored by the Bush administration for the past four years...
SAEB EREKAT, PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER: Now we hope that the American administration will focus on developing the peace process.
AMANPOUR: Sentiment across Europe is also strongly anti-Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We always had a really good relationship with America, but not these four year with Bush.
AMANPOUR: But French and German leaders are looking to a better working relationship with the U.S. after the long bitterness over the Iraq war.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: So President Bush has really been spectacularly unpopular around the world, and people are very, very concerned about the foreign policy. There's been an awful dramatic rise in anti- Americanism or anti-American policy, and everybody's wondering whether a second Bush administration will act any differently in terms of the agenda that it pursues, which has been very controversial.
I'll give you just an idea of the spectrum of opinion and reaction today. Here in England, again, this America's staunchest ally, show you "The Independent" newspaper, which is saying "Four More Years," of this, essentially, showing some of the most shocking images of the last four years, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and, of course, the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Other publications which staunchly support President Bush and supported the war, they are wondering whether, openly wondering now, whether this administration is up to actually pulling victory out of the deteriorating mess that is Iraq right now.
So a lot of questions on people's minds everywhere, Anderson.
COOPER: Certainly seems that way. Christian Amanpour, good to see you. Thanks, Christiane.
Gay marriage, partial birth abortion, how the White House appealed to evangelicals and why the Democrats couldn't capture the moral values vote. Tonight we go 360 with the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Jerry Falwell.
Bruised and battered, where's the Democratic Party go from here? Tonight, Ralph Nader and Al Sharpton on who the Democrats are and what they should stand for. And are you ready for the 360 challenge? If you think you know news, get ready to take our current events quiz when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, for months, the presidential campaigns and pundits have debated whether the driving issues of this election would be Iraq or the economy. Turns out it was neither. Moral values ruled this election, with 22 percent of voters citing moral issues as their number one concern.
According to the exit polls, of those voters, 81 percent of them chose President Bush. Why? That's the subject of tonight's raw politics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): From church stops to the debates, President Bush campaigned as a deeply religious man.
BUSH: I pray for strength, I pray for wisdom, I pray for our troops in harm's way.
COOPER: Made no secret of his beliefs and his values.
ANDREW CARD, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: President Bush has not compromised on his pro life position. He believes in the sanctity of life.
COOPER: Bush was portrayed of a hater of evil, a protector of morals.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: America is under attack by depraved enemies who oppose our every interests and hate every value we hold dear. It is the great test of our generation and he has led with great moral clarity and firm resolve.
COOPER: Republicans spent time, money and energy appealing to their conservative base, convincing voters Bush felt more strongly than Kerry about traditional values. And the president fared best among those who said moral values mattered most.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Religious voters, conservative voters, stem cell research, same-sex marriage, partial birth abortion, those values got a lot of people out to vote for President Bush.
COOPER: Exit polls showed Bush carried weekly church-goers, voters calling themselves evangelicals or born again Christians, went for the president three to one. And chief strategist, Karl Rove, is credited with getting millions of evangelicals to the polls.
Among Catholics, Bush and Kerry were evenly split. But wait, Kerry is Catholic.
KERRY: I'm a Catholic, raised a Catholic, I was an altar boy. Religion has been a huge part of my life.
COOPER: So, what went wrong for Kerry? Well, gay marriage for one. Bush supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. And in 11 states, voters approved anti-gay marriage initiatives. In Florida, Republicans strategists said voters simply felt more comfortable with the president's values.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think a lot of people relate to bush because bush is openly religious. I think a lot of people are able to relate him just because of that alone.
COOPER: Relating to a candidate's values, a key to this election and to Raw Politics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Whether you believe that one party has a lock on moral issues or not, it seems clear from the exit polls plenty of Americans do. The question is why? On 360 we don't take sides, we like to look at all the angles. So, tonight, the Reverend Jesse Jackson will join us, but first Liberty University founder and Chancellor the Reverend Jerry Falwell joins me from Lynchburg, Virginia. Reverend Falwell, thanks very much for being with us.
REV. JERRY FALWELL, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: Thank you for letting me come.
COOPER: First of all, I guess, I should say congratulations. I know you worked very hard to see President Bush re-elected. You predicted all along that evangelicals were going to turn out with more energy than really we've seen in decades. Did the Democrats underestimate the moral climate in America?
FALWELL: No question about it. Not just the Democrats. The most -- of the political pundits. Last night as I watched Dan Rather and Peter Jennings and the different networks at 7:00, they -- I could tell they had, with the exit polls pretty good assumption that Mr. Kerry was going to sweep the swing states. We felt just the opposite, because we felt we would have 10, 15 million people out at the polls who had not been there before voting Christian, pro life, pro family, strong national defense, i.e. George Bush.
COOPER: What is it do you think that the Republican Party understands about American morality, the way it is right now, that perhaps the Democrats do not?
FALWELL: Well, I think there are two major burning issues. They're not the only ones. But clearly the sanctity of unborn life, the -- we believe Christians believe, evangelicals, conservative Catholics, orthodox Jews, that life begins at conception and therefore that abortion is wrong.
And secondly, we believe the family consists exclusively of a unit that begins when a man and a woman legally marry, period. That means diverse family forums polygamy, same-sex marriage, et cetera, are all unacceptable and the president introduced a federal marriage amendment to hopefully, and we hope we can bring it back up again in January, to define family permanently.
COOPER: But Democrats argue look, John Kerry doesn't support gay marriage. I mean he doesn't want a constitutional amendment about it, but he didn't support gay marriage. Why is it that the Republicans have been able to benefit from that whereas the Democrats did not? Is it simply the question of the constitutional -- the federal amendment?
FALWELL: Well, nobody believes John Kerry on that because his voting record, pro choice, his voting record on the family issues, does -- belies his statement. And the fact that he would not support a federal marriage amendment, it equates in our minds as someone 150 years ago saying I'm personally opposed to slavery, but if my neighbor wants to own one or two that's OK. We don't buy that.
COOPER: It seems like of the evangelicals who came out and overwhelmingly supporting President Bush, it seems a motivating factor, correct me if I'm wrong, is that they feel perhaps their beliefs or way of life is under threat, whereas you don't have an equivalent belief among religious Democrats. Do you think that's fair to say?
FALWELL: Well, I don't want to just brand all Democrats, because I know many Democrats who are God fearing men and women and who believes the same things that I do. I just think they make a mistake when they profess an abiding faith in Christ and allege to believe the Bible and then yet go out and vote for a pro choice person who doesn't support the traditional family. It's rather contradictory. But we don't question the genuineness of their faith.
COOPER: I know you think, no doubt, a lot of Republicans are saying the president has a mandate a clear victory. What happens now? Are you hoping to overturn Roe V. Wade? How -- where does President Bush go with his mandate? Where do you want him to see him go?
FALWELL: Well, there has never been a question about pro life people, if they're genuinely pro life, that we do want to overturn Roe V. Wade. That can only happen by the appointment of Supreme Court justices that are committed to the sanctity of life, born and unborn, and the strict interpretation of the Constitution.
We are hopeful that in these next 4 years, the president may get two, three, four appointments to the court and we believe -- we all trust George Bush. We believe in George Bush. I personally think he's the most overtly and open Christian that's been in the White House in my lifetime. I thank God for almost everybody who's been in the White House since I've been alive in 71 years has been a Christian, but this guy openly shares his faith unashamedly and he does it all over the world.
We like that. We're evangelicals. We like someone who shares his faith. We don't believe he's perfect by any means, but we believe that he and Laura are wonderful role models for couples all over the world.
COOPER: And voters certainly came out in record numbers to prove that point. Reverend Falwell, appreciate you joining us. Thanks very much.
FALWELL: Thank you.
COOPER: Now for another point of view, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Earlier today, we talked about the Democratic Party's struggle to win over those who base their vote on moral values.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Reverend Jackson, yesterday 81 percent of the voters who said that moral issues were the most important thing to them voted Republican, voted for President Bush. Is the Democratic Party just out of touch with the American morality?
REV. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW PUSH COALITION: No. I think that in 13 states Republicans put the gay issue on the ballot associating that issue with Democrats. The fact is both Mr. Kerry and President Bush are against gay marriage and both are for civil unions.
We must engage in the moral struggle, define this. I was hungry and you fed me or you fed me not. I was clothed -- naked and you clothed me or not. We cannot avoid the moral struggle defined as how you treat the least of these and turn those values into public policy.
COOPER: But the Democrats don't seem able to define the moral struggle as you would like it to be defined. I want to read you a quote from Barack Obama. He said, "the Republicans have been successful in framing themselves as the defenders of American traditions, of religious traditions, family traditions, and I think they have successfully painted the Democrats all too often as contrary to those values."
JACKSON: And he's absolutely correct. We must, again, become a 50 state party, not a 17 state party driven by 17 states and the electoral college votes. We must become the party of 50 states of people. We must engage in fighting for a constitutional right for all of the vote, not just an electoral college way of looking at America.
But our values of raising minimum wages and protecting overtime, pay for overtime work. You look at the south, for example, the biggest region, richest soil, poorest people. We must take on the south. We can never again retreat from fighting the fight for values and economic security in the south.
COOPER: I want to read you another quote I read in an article in Reuters today. It says, "in many ways the Democrats have become a coalition of minorities, blacks, homosexuals, Jews, the unmarried and the unreligious." Does it seem to you that the current Democratic Party, I mean is afraid of talking about moral values?
JACKSON: You know, that's interesting that 20 percent of the gays and lesbians voted for Republicans, for example. Speaking of stereotyping. It is true that Mr. Bush, 80 percent of his vote was white. So there is a great racial coalition, polarization and the growing gap between the top 10 percent and the rest of America. We must, in fact, close those gaps. But Democrats must assert the very language of values. Feed the hungry, clothes the naked, defend the poor, deliver the needy.
COOPER: But is it possible that the Democrats are simply, not in tune with where American morality is?
JACKSON: You can't define morality so narrowly. For example, at one point morality was defined as justifying slavery. Slave obey your masters. It was defined as segregation. Martin King said the most segregated isle in America was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) church service.
So we've seen values often get warped by cultural values as opposed to moral values. Moral values are how you treat the least. We cannot be as moral as we want to be and get trapped in a world where Saddam is in jail, bin Laden is doing private movies to threaten us, 1,100 Americans are dead, and thousands of Iraqis are dead. That is something immoral about it. We're losing lives, a billion dollars a week, losing allies and sinking in sand in Iraq. There are moral implications that we must be willing to articulate.
COOPER: We're going to have to leave it there. Reverend Jesse Jackson. Appreciate you joining us.
JACKSON: Thank you, sir.
COOPER: 360 next, Democratic soul searching. Does the party know what it stands for. Al Sharpton joins us live to talk about where Democrats go from here. Also tonight Ralph Nader weighs in on what happened last night. And in a moment, today's 360 challenge, how closely you've been following today's news. Find out next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, the sound of rustling around you might have heard today could have been the sound of Democratic soul searching. It's already begun. Who are the Democrats? What do they stand for? Some of the questions. The answers are as varied as the people you ask. Tonight we turn to one man who knows what it's like to run for president, come up short, former presidential candidate The Reverend Al Sharpton. Thanks for being with us. I know last night was a surprise for you, I'm sure. You were famous for saying that the Democrats can't forget who they are, that, they, quote, "we can't act like elephants in donkey jackets." Is that the problem you think with the Democratic party today?
REV. AL SHARPTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that's been part of the problem. I think that clearly we cannot keep running, imitating the Republicans or trying to play to what they define as the center, which is really the far right. I think when you confuse the public on your message and then react to the other message it gives a subliminal message that the other side is more firm in their beliefs and more sure in what they're saying.
I think that in the last several weeks, John Kerry defined himself very well and came on strong, but I think a lot of damage was done early with the party kind of not being very clear. I think we made a mistake at the convention of not taking Bush on, which I tried to do because I think you cannot define why we want to see a president unseated without taking them on and attacking exactly what he's done to the country.
COOPER: There are going to be some Democrats and this soul searching will go on for a long time, there are going to be some Democrats who say look, we need to move to the left, we need to sort of re-energize our traditional core constituents, others are going to say we need to move more to the center, a la Bill Clinton. After Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton really brought the party to the center and arguably the most successful Democrat of recent times.
SHARPTON: But we won the White House with Bill Clinton and never won the Congress or the Senate, so did the party benefit or the fact Ross Perot was in the race and Clinton was able to get the majority of the votes a plurality of the votes at that time. I don't know that that's a successful strategy. I think since Mondale we've been moving to the center, and it hasn't worked. If it had worked the party would have regained the Congress, Newt Gingrich's revolution would have never worked. I think that we have got to now start moving toward what we are as Democrats. That's not moving left, that's moving to the will and wishes of the people that we represent.
COOPER: But is it the wishes of what Americans want? I want to read you a University of Texas political science -- Bruce Buchanan said this about this cultural divide. He said, quote, "the Democrats' positions on guns, God, and gays has alienated millions of suburban and rural voters. The party needs to find a way to talk to them again if it's going to win the national elections but it won't be easy."
In Georgia eight years ago Democrats were relatively competitive, now it's not even close.
SHARPTON: But I think the problem is we've allowed the Republicans to define guns, God and gays. One, what kind of god are we worshipping that allows us to go to war on a lie and have 1,100 soldiers dead? We're not saying that. We're not saying that in terms of gays, the issue is not people's lifestyle. The issue is in a democracy people have a right to choose. Jesus said don't stone the woman at the well because all of us were guilty of sin. I think we're not taking the argument on. We're too busy being defensive because we're really not being surefooted on what we stand for. I think in this soul searching we're going to have to come to terms with that and some of us will make sure of that before we go up again in four years.
COOPER: Reverend Al Sharpton, are you going to go up again in four years?
SHARPTON: No telling what I'm going to do. I'm still getting over the loss of last night.
COOPER: All right. I appreciate you joining us.
SHARPTON: Thank you. COOPER: Reverend Al Sharpton. Unlike four years ago Ralph Nader did not play spoiler this time around. He got only a fraction of the votes he gained in 2000. He's vowing to continue to fight. Ralph Nader joins me now from Washington for his reaction to the election. Mr. Nader, thanks very much for being with us.
RALPH NADER (I), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're welcome.
COOPER: You garnered less than 1 percent of the vote. Was it all worth it?
NADER: It's always worth putting before the American people the necessities, the solutions, the future directions for our country and its relation with the rest of the world that the two parties either ignore or make worse.
COOPER: I want to read you a quote from a "New York Times" columnist Nicholas Kristof. He said "one of the Republican's party's major successes over the last few decades has been to persuade many of the working poor to vote for tax breaks for billionaires. Democrats are still effective on bread and butter issues like health care but they come across much of America as arrogant and out of touch the moment the moment the discussion shifts to values. Where do you think the Democratic party goes from here?"
NADER: I think they have to decide who they're standing for and who they're kneeling in front of. They should be standing for working families, living wage for all, 47 million workers, a lot of voters, don't have a living wage, health insurance for all, not some (UNINTELLIGIBLE) complex tax subsidy scheme, a strategy to get out of Iraq, but above all, shifting power back to the people from the excessive corporate power that "Businessweek" and others in the business media have documented.
And if they don't do that, if they continue to compete for the same corporate dollars for their campaigns, they continue to surround themselves with the same corporate campaign consultants and financiers, then they're going to blur instead of draw a bright line on many issues with the Republican party which is very good at flattering, fooling, and tricking a lot of people because a lot of people, let's face it, a lot of people do not do their homework as voters. If they don't do their homework as voters, they're very susceptible to voting for the rhetoric rather than the record of the miserable President George W. Bush who's turned his back on so many working Americans while he flatters them.
COOPER: But Mr. Nader, what works in a Democratic primary does not necessarily work in a national election for president. I mean what can get you the nod in the primary doesn't necessarily mean that's what voters are going to want.
NADER: Well, I think 47 million workers, the Wal-Mart workers, the single moms, I think they deserve something better than 6 or 7 or $8 an hour. I think people who have to pay or die or pay or get sick because our health commercial system is fitted that way, I think they'd like a full Medicare for all the way their elderly parents have. They're not clear. The Democrats are not clear. They're very ambiguous and very torn. For example on the morals issues, what kind of morals is it for Bush to elect corporate crime fraud and abuse that you guys document all the time off the hook. What about the morality of corporate crime, the morality of dangerous workplaces and deaths from air pollution and bad hospital practices that destroy all kinds of lives? What's the morality of telling Cuban-Americans in the south of Florida they can't visit their relatives in Cuba except once every three years? Is that family values?
COOPER: We are definitely going to have to leave it there. A discussion we would like to have continue down the road. Thanks very much, Ralph Nader.
NADER: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Coming up next on 360, sweating exit polls from key states for all the wrong reasons. We're going to take that inside the box. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Four years ago the one word that summed up TV coverage of the election was mistake. This year, the one word, caution. CNN's Brian Todd takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It seems everyone got the memo.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: We don't even have a result in New Hampshire yet, much less do we have results in the Midwest yet. It's just because it's not incompetence on anybody's part. It's caution.
TODD: That was the watch word throughout the night according to one network executive. The broadcast and cable news networks determined not to repeat those bold calls and corrections of 2000.
HOWARD KURTZ, "CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES": Nobody wanted to be out there with a prediction that turned out to be wrong, and as a result they were slower, they were more deliberate, they didn't go out on a limb.
TODD: With two exceptions. Between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time Fox News, then NBC made the boldest projections.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This race is all but over. President Bush is our projected winner in the state of Ohio.
TODD: The other networks stayed away from that call all night.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": Too close to call in Ohio.
TODD: How much of a stretch was that projection for Fox and NBC? REM RIEDER, "AMERICAN JOURNALISM REVIEW": It was a little bolder than most of the night, but I don't think, you know, there was a journalistic crime or anything like that.
TODD: Still for that growing constituency of viewers who flip around the dial it did add some confusion. Which network do you believe? Most news organizations got their results from one central consortium called the National Election Pool. It was then up to the network's own experts to interpret those numbers.
KURTZ: It's kind of like letting people inside the news room, they can see the raw process, they can see the judgment that different networks make, some being cautious, some being not so cautious, and they can make up their own minds about who's right, who's wrong, and what remains to be seen.
TODD: Network executives and news watchdog groups tell CNN they generally believe the cautious approach worked, even though it made for long stretches of not exactly breathless television.
RIEDER: You have great anticipation. You want to know who's going to win. 7:00 you turn on the television, you're fired up and then except for a few predictable states being awarded takes a long time to learn anything.
TODD: Media critics tell CNN the networks may get a little bolder with projections next time, but don't look for them to move anywhere near where were they four years ago. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Next time. Who can think about next time. All that election coverage. Did you stay up late hoping for a verdict? 360 next, campaign fatigue to the Nth Degree. Plus, the 360 challenge. Another look at tonight's questions. Number one, how did the youth vote in 2004 compared to 2000? Talking about percentage. Higher, lower, the same? Number two, how many states voted to ban same-sex marriage and finally, raw politics, what block of voters favored Bush by a ration of 3-1.
Have you been paying attention? Log on to CNN.com/360. Click on the answer link to play.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time now for the answers to today's 360 challenge. Number one. How did the youth vote in 2004 compared to 2000? The answer, the same. Number two, how many states voted to ban same-sex marriage? 11. Finally, what block of voters favored Bush by a ratio of 3-1, evangelicals. First person to answer all three questions correctly will be sent a 360 T-shirt. Tune in tomorrow, find out if you're the one. Monday's winner, Rebecca Dixon of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Another 360 challenge, another chance to win tomorrow.
Tonight taking fatigue to the Nth Degree. So are you punchy? We're punchy, everybody we know is punchy. Very little sleep. Strange dreams. I feel as if I spent the night standing up in front of weird wallpaper that kept changing trying to make sense of a lot numbers. Something about electing a president. I heard disembodied voices in my ears every few minutes and Wolf Blitzer kept appearing before my eyes without any warning at all. Yours too? Scary. Remember seeing people up against plate glass, a lot of people at first, politically enthusiastic seeming people, and then fewer and fewer the later it got. And not so much politically enthusiastic as just people hanging out way too late banging on a window.
What does that mean, do you suppose? And something must have gone really wrong with the telephones because everybody kept saying too close to call, too close to call. Maybe only long distance was working and you couldn't get through to the guy right next to you. So too close to call.
You stay awake through the whole thing? I believe I recall Wolf shutting the lights saying out of air or off the air or need some air, I don't know, something like that. And then it was morning. Of course none of that actually happened, but, boy, I could have sworn. Thanks for watching 360. I'm Anderson Cooper. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
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Aired November 3, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening. I'm Anderson Cooper.
The president remains the president, and Republicans are in full control.
360 starts now.
President Bush declares victory, John Kerry concedes. But what happens now? Can the country come together, or does a Republican mandate mean we split apart even more?
The Senate, the House, and the White House, how the Republicans mopped up in Washington, and how the Democrats got it so wrong.
Gay marriage, partial birth abortion, how the White House appealed to evangelicals, and why the Democrats couldn't capture the moral values vote. Tonight we go 360 with the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Jerry Falwell.
Bruised and battered, where does the Democratic Party go from here? Tonight, Ralph Nader and Al Sharpton square off on who the Democrats are and what they should stand for.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And a good evening to you.
Welcome to the mother of all political mornings-after. Did you awake gleeful or glum, red or blue, vindicated or crushed? The results show Mr. Bush got more than 59 million votes to Mr. Kerry's 55.4 million. So there are a whole lot of Americans who got what they wanted, and then nearly as many that didn't at all.
Which means that one of the following is guaranteed either to make you cheer or chill your blood. George W. Bush, the once and future president, made a victory speech this afternoon a couple hours after John F. Kerry, the president's Democratic challenger, conceded he had lost.
We'll be reporting all the angles tonight, victory and what it may mean, and defeat and what it may mean.
Standing by in Washington is John King, and in Boston, Candy Crowley.
To John King at the White House first. John?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this time last night, it was a worried White House. Now they're working on a new budget, the State of the Union, an international trip, four more years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): No recount, and no doubt about the winner this time. A rowdy Republican celebration, but also an attempt to set a new tone for a second term.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it.
KING: But make no mistake, the victors seek bipartisanship, but on their terms, and believed a clear majority of the popular vote and bigger Republican margins in Congress give them the upper hand.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Bush ran forthrightly on a clear agenda for this nation's future, and the nation responded by giving him a mandate.
KING: Celebration on this day, talk of cooperation will be tested early in the new term.
KEN DUBERSTEIN, FORMER REAGAN CHIEF OF STAFF: They'll be campaigning for the history books, for a legacy.
KING: The Iraq war still divides the parties, as does a second term agenda that includes tax simplification, health care changes Democrats say fall short, and revamping Social Security.
BUSH: I see a great day coming for our country, and I am eager for the work ahead.
KING: Senior Bush aides believe the first partisan dustup could come within weeks. Chief Justice William Rehnquist has cancer, and the White House is quietly preparing to name a successor. And cabinet and staff turnover is in the works after a first term noteworthy for stability at the top.
DUBERSTEIN: I think there will be, in fact, wholesale changes in a second Bush administration.
KING: Gone is the legitimacy debate of 2000, when Mr. Bush won the White House but lost the popular vote.
BUSH: The voters turned out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory.
KING: It was dramatic turnaround. Early exit polls spooked the White House. And as Mr. Bush watched the votes come in, Ohio met expectations, a nail-biter, and the decisive state. Mr. Bush went to bed at 5:00, confident of reelection.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Six hours later, a telephone call in the Oval Office. It was Senator Kerry calling to concede. Mr. Bush says he was extraordinarily gracious. That phone call sealing Mr. Bush's reelection and making clear that unlike his father, he will get a second term, Anderson.
COOPER: He certainly will. John King, thanks for that.
On now to the flip side of victory, because, of course, for every winner there must be at least one loser. And so to Boston, and a report from senior political correspondent Candy Crowley. Candy?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, in the wee hours of this morning, members of the Kerry campaign got together and began to make phone calls. They say they talked to Republicans and Democrats on the ground in Ohio, trying to figure out if there was any way mathematically that John Kerry could pull out the state.
In the end, around 9:30 in the morning, they figured there was no way, so Mary Beth Cahill, the campaign manager, called John Kerry to say, Even if we won all the votes, the margin of Bush's victory is too big. Kerry talked about it for some time with his running mate, John Edwards. They then decided it was time to call the president and concede, which John Kerry did, and then he went over to Faneuil Hall to talk to his supporters, most of them in tears, giving a very emotional address, some, a side of John Kerry we have not seen before.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I would not give up this fight if there was a chance that we would prevail, but it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted, which they will be, there won't be enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio. And therefore, we cannot win this election.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: ... many believe was one of John Kerry's finest moments, by telling his supporters that the votes weren't there, he was trying to tap down any kind of challenge that the vote was somehow fraudulent, to move the country forward. Aides say that's what he wanted to do, it's what he talked about with President Bush in that phone conversation.
What's ahead for John Kerry, he has four more years as the junior senator from Massachusetts. He promised his supporters that he would keep faith with them on the issues that he know means something to them, and also said to them, Anderson, that he would not forget the days that he spent on the rope line and the people who invested their hopes in him.
It's like a lot of other people who run for presidency, they go to change the country, and they wind up finding out that the country changes them, Anderson. COOPER: Candy Crowley, thanks very much. Long campaign. Thanks, Candy.
In addition to the White House victory, Republicans gained more power in the House and the Senate, landed a bruising punch to the Democrats at the same time. The stinger, Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, has lost to Republican John Thune. Daschle is the first Senate party leader in more than 50 years to face defeat.
Hours ago this man, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, announced he has enough support among his colleagues to become the new minority leader.
Now, here's a look at the new balance of power in the Senate. The GOP has 55 seats after victories in North Dakota, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, Democrats now have 44 seats, the independent party one.
In the House, Republicans control 231 seats, an extra four, Democrats 200, independents 1. Now, three races still undecided, just too close to call.
Voters decided on much more than a president and members of Congress, of course. In 34 states, 163 measures were also on the ballots. The hottest issue, gay marriage, a clean sweep. Voters have approved a ban on same-sex marriage and/or civil unions in all 11 states it appear on the ballot. Opponents are considering legal challenges.
In California, stem cell research approved by a 59 to 41 percent margin. Voters have backed a measure to pay out $3 billion over 10 years to fund the research. Proposition 71 was supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor also asked voters to oppose a measure to weaken the state's three-strikes measure. They listened. Fifty-five percent voted no, 47 yes. The governor said the measure would set free thousands of serious criminals who were already in jail.
Meanwhile, Alaskans voted against legalizing pot, while voters in Oregon opted not to expand the state's medical marijuana laws. Montana, however, became the 10th state to approve medical marijuana.
So you talk about stark divisions. Now, if we were discussing a marriage instead of the electorate, we would be using the phrase, irreconcilable differences, if I can even pronounce that. CNN senior -- well, it's been a long night. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us to paint a picture of exactly who voted in this race and how. Bill?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there are groups that George Bush made big breakthroughs with, and one of them was women. Women in 2000 voted for Al Gore over George W. Bush by 11 points. Let's look at how women voted this time. A bare margin for John Kerry. He beat George Bush among women by just 3 points, particularly because George Bush did very well with married women, those so-called security moms. A second group Bush made breakthroughs with, Latino voters around the country. He got 44 percent of the Latino vote. No Republican presidential candidate ever has gotten above 40 percent among Latino voters. That's a fast-growing group, and a major breakthrough.
One group he did not make a big breakthrough with was African- Americans. He got 9 percent of black voters last time, a little bit better this time, 11 percent, but no big gains.
Now, white evangelical voters were, of course, the Republican Party base. They delivered nicely, four to one, or nearly four to one, for Bush over Kerry. But the important thing is, their participation in the election went up a little bit from about 15 to 20 percent of the voters this time. So they paid off also.
And a group a lot of people were talking about, young voters, 18- to 29-year-olds. They voted 54 to 45 for Kerry. They are the only age group that voted for Kerry. The rest of the electorate did not vote for Kerry. They were 17 percent of the electorate.
Now, is that a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), is that a shift? Well, in 2000, they split their vote between Bush and Gore. So Kerry clearly made gains with young voters, but guess what? In 2000, they were also 17 percent of the voters. So they were the same percentage. They probably went up in turnout, but so did every other group, so they remained the same, 17 percent of the voters were young.
COOPER: Fascinating. All that talk about young voters pouring out to the polls I guess didn't happen, or at least not in the different percentage (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SCHNEIDER: That's right. They poured out to the polls, but the issue was, everyone else did too.
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as well, right. All right, Bill Schneider, thanks, fascinating.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
COOPER: Some breaking news now. There have been conflicting reports for the last hour or so about the health of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who was airlifted out of his West Bank compound, you see it here, last week for emergency medical treatment in Paris. Following reports by an Israeli newspaper and Israeli television, the Associated Press and Reuters are now saying that Mr. Arafat's condition has deteriorated.
Yet a Palestinian source close to Arafat tells CNN that is not the case, while another acknowledged Arafat's condition remained, quote, "difficult." We, of course, are going to be following this story throughout the evening, throughout this next hour. We'll bring you any updates as warranted. This could be a fast-changing story.
Coming up next next on 360, what did the Democrats do wrong and the Republicans do so right? Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson go 360 in the "CROSSFIRE." Also tonight, God and the GOP. Why do so many voters seem to believe the Republicans are the party of God? We go 360 with Jerry Falwell and Jesse Jackson.
Plus, Democrats, those still standing, are trying to figure out where to go from here. Ahead, Ralph Nader and Al Sharpton join us live to talk over the options.
All that ahead. First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: So I remember it was like it was yesterday. Actually it was Monday night. But there we were, me, Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson. And I asked them who was going to win. Begala said Kerry by 5 points, Tucker also said Kerry. So the question is, what went wrong? Well, I asked the "CROSSFIRE" guys that earlier today.
Paul, what did the Bush camp understand about America that the Kerry camp didn't?
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": That you can actually change the composition of the electorate. I mean, Kerry did his job. He got all the Democrats, he even won the independents. But what the president did was trump all that by finding, identifying, motivating, and then delivering to the polls millions of new Republican voters. A very, very difficult thing to do. I've got to give ultimate congratulations to the president, but then also to his team, Karl Rove, Mark MacKinnon, Matthew Dowd, that whole staff...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... that Kerry did his job, but, I mean, they were focusing on getting new voters, on young voters and stuff, but they were wrong.
BEGALA: Well, they got beat. No, they were right to try to get new voters in as well, but they just got out-hustled, out-organized, out-whatever, out-motivated by the Bush staff. I mean, Kerry's job was to motivate Democrats and to persuade independents. He did that. But the president just simply did a better job at his game.
And I think that you got to give the president credit for that. He raised issues in the right way, he found those folks, he motivated them, he got them out to vote, and now's got, you know, now he has a real mandate. I spent four years saying that he wasn't fully legitimate. He's fully legitimate now. And he's got a majority of the vote in a high-turnout election. There's nothing more legitimating than that.
(CROSSTALK)
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": ... I do agree with that. I think he also -- and I think, you know, the Bush campaign ran a pretty good campaign, very good campaign. And when we get the exit poll data back, we get the exit interviews back, we'll know exactly how they did it, or have a better sense of how they did it.
But I do think he had an advantage, because of the underlying issues. A lot of Americans just agree with Bush's position on things. I mean, you know, a huge majority of Americans think partial birth abortion ought to be illegal. The Kerry campaign doesn't.
I mean, it's not something you -- you know, people in the press talk much about, but it's something that people in the country care a lot about, same with gay marriage, same with terrorism, which a lot of people see as a completely black-and-white issue. You know, they're evil, we're good, that's it, end of conversation. That's the Bush administration's position, and a lot of people just agree with that.
And it's sort of hard, if you live on the coasts, to keep that in mind, since, you know, people don't so much agree with that on the coasts where we live. But in the center of the country, they absolutely do.
COOPER: Well, I mean, is that one of the stories of this election, just sort of how off the media was? I mean, whether it's, you know, a liberal media or sort of just a coastal media, you know, everyone was seemed focused on terrorism, on Iraq, on, you know, even domestic, domestic issues, the economy, taxes. And yet, you look at some of these exit polls, and the majority of people, some 22 percent, at least, among those polled, said that moral values were the issues that they were voting on.
BEGALA: Well, that was part of the Bush campaign doing its job. They didn't want to come to you or to me or to the what they call the dominant media and talk about things like gay rights or stopping advancement of gay rights or abortion or things like that. In the debates, the president was very careful, very cautious as he talked about those social issues.
But then they delivered their message through other means. They sent mailings to people in West Virginia saying, If the Democrats get in, they'll ban the Bible. Well, you know, all's fair in love and war and politics. Democrats had a right and an opportunity to respond to that. I don't think there's anything -- I'm not aghast by that, that's fine with me.
But you don't want, if you're Bush, you don't want to have the whole country debating these things. You just want your voters targeted, and then you want to deliver the message to them. Karl Rove, before he became this great guru, was a direct mail consultant. He knows how to find people, get to their homes, and motivate them.
CARLSON: Yes, but part of it is, I don't think there's a liberal media conspiracy to hurt Bush. But the fact is that almost all journalists are against Bush. You know, that's the world I live in. Almost everyone I know is a journalist. I know virtually no journalists who voted for Bush. That's just a fact.
COOPER: Do you really think that's true?
CARLSON: Oh, I, oh, I, oh, I know absolutely it's true. I've been in this my whole adult life. I grew up in a, you know, journalism family, and I know for certain. I don't think that journalists are out there trying to spin the news to help the Democrat necessarily at all, which is why I said I reject the idea of a conspiracy. But the fact is, a vast majority of reporters are liberal, particularly on social issues.
And in this election, the vast majority of reporters opposed Bush, didn't vote for him. And so it does create this kind of echo chamber. Even people like me, I mean, I'm not voting for Kerry. Obviously I'm very conservative. But the fact is, I, you know, I go to work, I go out to dinner. And every single person I know from my job or from this world I live in thinks Bush may lose. And it just has a self-reinforcing effect, I think, on people who cover politics. I know it does.
BEGALA: But to what effect, right? I mean, the liberal median conspiracy-...
CARLSON: Well, that's right.
BEGALA: ... and, of course, the president won. He won a 3 million vote majority. So I think what's interesting to me is, how do you keep this going? Right, if you're the president, if you're Karl Rove? I mean, they're not just going to, like, walk gently into that good night and all this garbage today about unity and healing, forget it. They have a real majority, they have a real mandate. They have the House, they have the Senate, they have the White House, they have the Supreme Court, with perfect legitimacy.
I don't think they're going to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, OK? I think they're going to come right at the country with their agenda. And good for them. And the question is, will the Democrats have the courage to stand up to them, or will they accommodate?
CARLSON: But who are the Democrats? Who runs the Democratic Party? I'm serious, I'm nothing mean, I'm being serious. I mean, who is in control of the party? Tom Daschle lost, a sort of, you know, a footnote on another day, it would be the headline. It's a big deal, though. And who is in charge of the party, and what does the party stand for?
COOPER: And...
CARLSON: If nothing else, this is the time for the Democrats to rethink that. It will probably make them stronger, it will definitely make them stronger in the long run, but I think it's going to be pretty unpleasant in the short term.
COOPER: We're going to be talking about that a lot a little bit later on in the program. Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, thanks.
CARLSON: Thanks.
BEGALA: Thanks, Anderson. COOPER: Coming up next on 360, we all know the president isn't popular overseas. So how did his victory play in Paris, in London, and Baghdad? Our chief international correspondent, Christian Amanpour, joins us live.
Also tonight, values and the evangelical vote. Both pushed President Bush to victory. The Reverends Jerry Falwell and Jesse Jackson weigh in on why one party seems to have a lock on moral issues.
And a little later, the Democrats in disarray. Al Sharpton and Ralph Nader weigh in.
In a moment, today's 360 challenge, how closely have you been following today's news? Find out ahead. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, needless to say, the whole world was keeping a very close eye on the election. From Tokyo to Timbuctu, millions, if not billions, were waiting to see who would be declared the leader of the free world. As expected, opinion around the globe was decidedly mixed.
Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has more now from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush's staunchest ally was among the first to offer congratulations and warnings.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: A world that is fractured, divided, and uncertain must be brought together to fight this global terrorism in all its forms, and to recognize that it will not be defeated by military might alone.
AMANPOUR: Prime Minister Blair listed poverty and especially the raging conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as the root cause of terrorism, and called for action, along with a second Bush administration.
In Iraq itself, the issue that has divided the world, more violence and little interest from the average citizen, who's concerned with making it through another day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We as Iraqis pay no heed to whether Bush or Kerry wins. American foreign policy in the Middle East is firm, and the election is only a change of faces.
AMANPOUR: The ayatollahs in neighboring Iran, delighted that two major enemies have been eliminated, Saddam Hussein and the Taliban regime, welcome a Bush win, even though he includes them in the axis of evil. Across the hall of this volatile Middle East region, the people are overwhelmingly anti-Bush. But the governments are not necessarily. Many like continuity, and despite Bush's staunch pro- Israel stance, Arabs like to say that Republicans are better for the region than Democrats are.
Italy, Russia, and Israel heavily back Bush, but the Palestinians, who have been officially ignored by the Bush administration for the past four years...
SAEB EREKAT, PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER: Now we hope that the American administration will focus on developing the peace process.
AMANPOUR: Sentiment across Europe is also strongly anti-Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We always had a really good relationship with America, but not these four year with Bush.
AMANPOUR: But French and German leaders are looking to a better working relationship with the U.S. after the long bitterness over the Iraq war.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: So President Bush has really been spectacularly unpopular around the world, and people are very, very concerned about the foreign policy. There's been an awful dramatic rise in anti- Americanism or anti-American policy, and everybody's wondering whether a second Bush administration will act any differently in terms of the agenda that it pursues, which has been very controversial.
I'll give you just an idea of the spectrum of opinion and reaction today. Here in England, again, this America's staunchest ally, show you "The Independent" newspaper, which is saying "Four More Years," of this, essentially, showing some of the most shocking images of the last four years, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and, of course, the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Other publications which staunchly support President Bush and supported the war, they are wondering whether, openly wondering now, whether this administration is up to actually pulling victory out of the deteriorating mess that is Iraq right now.
So a lot of questions on people's minds everywhere, Anderson.
COOPER: Certainly seems that way. Christian Amanpour, good to see you. Thanks, Christiane.
Gay marriage, partial birth abortion, how the White House appealed to evangelicals and why the Democrats couldn't capture the moral values vote. Tonight we go 360 with the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Jerry Falwell.
Bruised and battered, where's the Democratic Party go from here? Tonight, Ralph Nader and Al Sharpton on who the Democrats are and what they should stand for. And are you ready for the 360 challenge? If you think you know news, get ready to take our current events quiz when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, for months, the presidential campaigns and pundits have debated whether the driving issues of this election would be Iraq or the economy. Turns out it was neither. Moral values ruled this election, with 22 percent of voters citing moral issues as their number one concern.
According to the exit polls, of those voters, 81 percent of them chose President Bush. Why? That's the subject of tonight's raw politics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): From church stops to the debates, President Bush campaigned as a deeply religious man.
BUSH: I pray for strength, I pray for wisdom, I pray for our troops in harm's way.
COOPER: Made no secret of his beliefs and his values.
ANDREW CARD, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: President Bush has not compromised on his pro life position. He believes in the sanctity of life.
COOPER: Bush was portrayed of a hater of evil, a protector of morals.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: America is under attack by depraved enemies who oppose our every interests and hate every value we hold dear. It is the great test of our generation and he has led with great moral clarity and firm resolve.
COOPER: Republicans spent time, money and energy appealing to their conservative base, convincing voters Bush felt more strongly than Kerry about traditional values. And the president fared best among those who said moral values mattered most.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Religious voters, conservative voters, stem cell research, same-sex marriage, partial birth abortion, those values got a lot of people out to vote for President Bush.
COOPER: Exit polls showed Bush carried weekly church-goers, voters calling themselves evangelicals or born again Christians, went for the president three to one. And chief strategist, Karl Rove, is credited with getting millions of evangelicals to the polls.
Among Catholics, Bush and Kerry were evenly split. But wait, Kerry is Catholic.
KERRY: I'm a Catholic, raised a Catholic, I was an altar boy. Religion has been a huge part of my life.
COOPER: So, what went wrong for Kerry? Well, gay marriage for one. Bush supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. And in 11 states, voters approved anti-gay marriage initiatives. In Florida, Republicans strategists said voters simply felt more comfortable with the president's values.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think a lot of people relate to bush because bush is openly religious. I think a lot of people are able to relate him just because of that alone.
COOPER: Relating to a candidate's values, a key to this election and to Raw Politics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Whether you believe that one party has a lock on moral issues or not, it seems clear from the exit polls plenty of Americans do. The question is why? On 360 we don't take sides, we like to look at all the angles. So, tonight, the Reverend Jesse Jackson will join us, but first Liberty University founder and Chancellor the Reverend Jerry Falwell joins me from Lynchburg, Virginia. Reverend Falwell, thanks very much for being with us.
REV. JERRY FALWELL, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: Thank you for letting me come.
COOPER: First of all, I guess, I should say congratulations. I know you worked very hard to see President Bush re-elected. You predicted all along that evangelicals were going to turn out with more energy than really we've seen in decades. Did the Democrats underestimate the moral climate in America?
FALWELL: No question about it. Not just the Democrats. The most -- of the political pundits. Last night as I watched Dan Rather and Peter Jennings and the different networks at 7:00, they -- I could tell they had, with the exit polls pretty good assumption that Mr. Kerry was going to sweep the swing states. We felt just the opposite, because we felt we would have 10, 15 million people out at the polls who had not been there before voting Christian, pro life, pro family, strong national defense, i.e. George Bush.
COOPER: What is it do you think that the Republican Party understands about American morality, the way it is right now, that perhaps the Democrats do not?
FALWELL: Well, I think there are two major burning issues. They're not the only ones. But clearly the sanctity of unborn life, the -- we believe Christians believe, evangelicals, conservative Catholics, orthodox Jews, that life begins at conception and therefore that abortion is wrong.
And secondly, we believe the family consists exclusively of a unit that begins when a man and a woman legally marry, period. That means diverse family forums polygamy, same-sex marriage, et cetera, are all unacceptable and the president introduced a federal marriage amendment to hopefully, and we hope we can bring it back up again in January, to define family permanently.
COOPER: But Democrats argue look, John Kerry doesn't support gay marriage. I mean he doesn't want a constitutional amendment about it, but he didn't support gay marriage. Why is it that the Republicans have been able to benefit from that whereas the Democrats did not? Is it simply the question of the constitutional -- the federal amendment?
FALWELL: Well, nobody believes John Kerry on that because his voting record, pro choice, his voting record on the family issues, does -- belies his statement. And the fact that he would not support a federal marriage amendment, it equates in our minds as someone 150 years ago saying I'm personally opposed to slavery, but if my neighbor wants to own one or two that's OK. We don't buy that.
COOPER: It seems like of the evangelicals who came out and overwhelmingly supporting President Bush, it seems a motivating factor, correct me if I'm wrong, is that they feel perhaps their beliefs or way of life is under threat, whereas you don't have an equivalent belief among religious Democrats. Do you think that's fair to say?
FALWELL: Well, I don't want to just brand all Democrats, because I know many Democrats who are God fearing men and women and who believes the same things that I do. I just think they make a mistake when they profess an abiding faith in Christ and allege to believe the Bible and then yet go out and vote for a pro choice person who doesn't support the traditional family. It's rather contradictory. But we don't question the genuineness of their faith.
COOPER: I know you think, no doubt, a lot of Republicans are saying the president has a mandate a clear victory. What happens now? Are you hoping to overturn Roe V. Wade? How -- where does President Bush go with his mandate? Where do you want him to see him go?
FALWELL: Well, there has never been a question about pro life people, if they're genuinely pro life, that we do want to overturn Roe V. Wade. That can only happen by the appointment of Supreme Court justices that are committed to the sanctity of life, born and unborn, and the strict interpretation of the Constitution.
We are hopeful that in these next 4 years, the president may get two, three, four appointments to the court and we believe -- we all trust George Bush. We believe in George Bush. I personally think he's the most overtly and open Christian that's been in the White House in my lifetime. I thank God for almost everybody who's been in the White House since I've been alive in 71 years has been a Christian, but this guy openly shares his faith unashamedly and he does it all over the world.
We like that. We're evangelicals. We like someone who shares his faith. We don't believe he's perfect by any means, but we believe that he and Laura are wonderful role models for couples all over the world.
COOPER: And voters certainly came out in record numbers to prove that point. Reverend Falwell, appreciate you joining us. Thanks very much.
FALWELL: Thank you.
COOPER: Now for another point of view, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Earlier today, we talked about the Democratic Party's struggle to win over those who base their vote on moral values.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Reverend Jackson, yesterday 81 percent of the voters who said that moral issues were the most important thing to them voted Republican, voted for President Bush. Is the Democratic Party just out of touch with the American morality?
REV. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW PUSH COALITION: No. I think that in 13 states Republicans put the gay issue on the ballot associating that issue with Democrats. The fact is both Mr. Kerry and President Bush are against gay marriage and both are for civil unions.
We must engage in the moral struggle, define this. I was hungry and you fed me or you fed me not. I was clothed -- naked and you clothed me or not. We cannot avoid the moral struggle defined as how you treat the least of these and turn those values into public policy.
COOPER: But the Democrats don't seem able to define the moral struggle as you would like it to be defined. I want to read you a quote from Barack Obama. He said, "the Republicans have been successful in framing themselves as the defenders of American traditions, of religious traditions, family traditions, and I think they have successfully painted the Democrats all too often as contrary to those values."
JACKSON: And he's absolutely correct. We must, again, become a 50 state party, not a 17 state party driven by 17 states and the electoral college votes. We must become the party of 50 states of people. We must engage in fighting for a constitutional right for all of the vote, not just an electoral college way of looking at America.
But our values of raising minimum wages and protecting overtime, pay for overtime work. You look at the south, for example, the biggest region, richest soil, poorest people. We must take on the south. We can never again retreat from fighting the fight for values and economic security in the south.
COOPER: I want to read you another quote I read in an article in Reuters today. It says, "in many ways the Democrats have become a coalition of minorities, blacks, homosexuals, Jews, the unmarried and the unreligious." Does it seem to you that the current Democratic Party, I mean is afraid of talking about moral values?
JACKSON: You know, that's interesting that 20 percent of the gays and lesbians voted for Republicans, for example. Speaking of stereotyping. It is true that Mr. Bush, 80 percent of his vote was white. So there is a great racial coalition, polarization and the growing gap between the top 10 percent and the rest of America. We must, in fact, close those gaps. But Democrats must assert the very language of values. Feed the hungry, clothes the naked, defend the poor, deliver the needy.
COOPER: But is it possible that the Democrats are simply, not in tune with where American morality is?
JACKSON: You can't define morality so narrowly. For example, at one point morality was defined as justifying slavery. Slave obey your masters. It was defined as segregation. Martin King said the most segregated isle in America was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) church service.
So we've seen values often get warped by cultural values as opposed to moral values. Moral values are how you treat the least. We cannot be as moral as we want to be and get trapped in a world where Saddam is in jail, bin Laden is doing private movies to threaten us, 1,100 Americans are dead, and thousands of Iraqis are dead. That is something immoral about it. We're losing lives, a billion dollars a week, losing allies and sinking in sand in Iraq. There are moral implications that we must be willing to articulate.
COOPER: We're going to have to leave it there. Reverend Jesse Jackson. Appreciate you joining us.
JACKSON: Thank you, sir.
COOPER: 360 next, Democratic soul searching. Does the party know what it stands for. Al Sharpton joins us live to talk about where Democrats go from here. Also tonight Ralph Nader weighs in on what happened last night. And in a moment, today's 360 challenge, how closely you've been following today's news. Find out next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, the sound of rustling around you might have heard today could have been the sound of Democratic soul searching. It's already begun. Who are the Democrats? What do they stand for? Some of the questions. The answers are as varied as the people you ask. Tonight we turn to one man who knows what it's like to run for president, come up short, former presidential candidate The Reverend Al Sharpton. Thanks for being with us. I know last night was a surprise for you, I'm sure. You were famous for saying that the Democrats can't forget who they are, that, they, quote, "we can't act like elephants in donkey jackets." Is that the problem you think with the Democratic party today?
REV. AL SHARPTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that's been part of the problem. I think that clearly we cannot keep running, imitating the Republicans or trying to play to what they define as the center, which is really the far right. I think when you confuse the public on your message and then react to the other message it gives a subliminal message that the other side is more firm in their beliefs and more sure in what they're saying.
I think that in the last several weeks, John Kerry defined himself very well and came on strong, but I think a lot of damage was done early with the party kind of not being very clear. I think we made a mistake at the convention of not taking Bush on, which I tried to do because I think you cannot define why we want to see a president unseated without taking them on and attacking exactly what he's done to the country.
COOPER: There are going to be some Democrats and this soul searching will go on for a long time, there are going to be some Democrats who say look, we need to move to the left, we need to sort of re-energize our traditional core constituents, others are going to say we need to move more to the center, a la Bill Clinton. After Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton really brought the party to the center and arguably the most successful Democrat of recent times.
SHARPTON: But we won the White House with Bill Clinton and never won the Congress or the Senate, so did the party benefit or the fact Ross Perot was in the race and Clinton was able to get the majority of the votes a plurality of the votes at that time. I don't know that that's a successful strategy. I think since Mondale we've been moving to the center, and it hasn't worked. If it had worked the party would have regained the Congress, Newt Gingrich's revolution would have never worked. I think that we have got to now start moving toward what we are as Democrats. That's not moving left, that's moving to the will and wishes of the people that we represent.
COOPER: But is it the wishes of what Americans want? I want to read you a University of Texas political science -- Bruce Buchanan said this about this cultural divide. He said, quote, "the Democrats' positions on guns, God, and gays has alienated millions of suburban and rural voters. The party needs to find a way to talk to them again if it's going to win the national elections but it won't be easy."
In Georgia eight years ago Democrats were relatively competitive, now it's not even close.
SHARPTON: But I think the problem is we've allowed the Republicans to define guns, God and gays. One, what kind of god are we worshipping that allows us to go to war on a lie and have 1,100 soldiers dead? We're not saying that. We're not saying that in terms of gays, the issue is not people's lifestyle. The issue is in a democracy people have a right to choose. Jesus said don't stone the woman at the well because all of us were guilty of sin. I think we're not taking the argument on. We're too busy being defensive because we're really not being surefooted on what we stand for. I think in this soul searching we're going to have to come to terms with that and some of us will make sure of that before we go up again in four years.
COOPER: Reverend Al Sharpton, are you going to go up again in four years?
SHARPTON: No telling what I'm going to do. I'm still getting over the loss of last night.
COOPER: All right. I appreciate you joining us.
SHARPTON: Thank you. COOPER: Reverend Al Sharpton. Unlike four years ago Ralph Nader did not play spoiler this time around. He got only a fraction of the votes he gained in 2000. He's vowing to continue to fight. Ralph Nader joins me now from Washington for his reaction to the election. Mr. Nader, thanks very much for being with us.
RALPH NADER (I), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're welcome.
COOPER: You garnered less than 1 percent of the vote. Was it all worth it?
NADER: It's always worth putting before the American people the necessities, the solutions, the future directions for our country and its relation with the rest of the world that the two parties either ignore or make worse.
COOPER: I want to read you a quote from a "New York Times" columnist Nicholas Kristof. He said "one of the Republican's party's major successes over the last few decades has been to persuade many of the working poor to vote for tax breaks for billionaires. Democrats are still effective on bread and butter issues like health care but they come across much of America as arrogant and out of touch the moment the moment the discussion shifts to values. Where do you think the Democratic party goes from here?"
NADER: I think they have to decide who they're standing for and who they're kneeling in front of. They should be standing for working families, living wage for all, 47 million workers, a lot of voters, don't have a living wage, health insurance for all, not some (UNINTELLIGIBLE) complex tax subsidy scheme, a strategy to get out of Iraq, but above all, shifting power back to the people from the excessive corporate power that "Businessweek" and others in the business media have documented.
And if they don't do that, if they continue to compete for the same corporate dollars for their campaigns, they continue to surround themselves with the same corporate campaign consultants and financiers, then they're going to blur instead of draw a bright line on many issues with the Republican party which is very good at flattering, fooling, and tricking a lot of people because a lot of people, let's face it, a lot of people do not do their homework as voters. If they don't do their homework as voters, they're very susceptible to voting for the rhetoric rather than the record of the miserable President George W. Bush who's turned his back on so many working Americans while he flatters them.
COOPER: But Mr. Nader, what works in a Democratic primary does not necessarily work in a national election for president. I mean what can get you the nod in the primary doesn't necessarily mean that's what voters are going to want.
NADER: Well, I think 47 million workers, the Wal-Mart workers, the single moms, I think they deserve something better than 6 or 7 or $8 an hour. I think people who have to pay or die or pay or get sick because our health commercial system is fitted that way, I think they'd like a full Medicare for all the way their elderly parents have. They're not clear. The Democrats are not clear. They're very ambiguous and very torn. For example on the morals issues, what kind of morals is it for Bush to elect corporate crime fraud and abuse that you guys document all the time off the hook. What about the morality of corporate crime, the morality of dangerous workplaces and deaths from air pollution and bad hospital practices that destroy all kinds of lives? What's the morality of telling Cuban-Americans in the south of Florida they can't visit their relatives in Cuba except once every three years? Is that family values?
COOPER: We are definitely going to have to leave it there. A discussion we would like to have continue down the road. Thanks very much, Ralph Nader.
NADER: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Coming up next on 360, sweating exit polls from key states for all the wrong reasons. We're going to take that inside the box. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Four years ago the one word that summed up TV coverage of the election was mistake. This year, the one word, caution. CNN's Brian Todd takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It seems everyone got the memo.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: We don't even have a result in New Hampshire yet, much less do we have results in the Midwest yet. It's just because it's not incompetence on anybody's part. It's caution.
TODD: That was the watch word throughout the night according to one network executive. The broadcast and cable news networks determined not to repeat those bold calls and corrections of 2000.
HOWARD KURTZ, "CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES": Nobody wanted to be out there with a prediction that turned out to be wrong, and as a result they were slower, they were more deliberate, they didn't go out on a limb.
TODD: With two exceptions. Between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time Fox News, then NBC made the boldest projections.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This race is all but over. President Bush is our projected winner in the state of Ohio.
TODD: The other networks stayed away from that call all night.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": Too close to call in Ohio.
TODD: How much of a stretch was that projection for Fox and NBC? REM RIEDER, "AMERICAN JOURNALISM REVIEW": It was a little bolder than most of the night, but I don't think, you know, there was a journalistic crime or anything like that.
TODD: Still for that growing constituency of viewers who flip around the dial it did add some confusion. Which network do you believe? Most news organizations got their results from one central consortium called the National Election Pool. It was then up to the network's own experts to interpret those numbers.
KURTZ: It's kind of like letting people inside the news room, they can see the raw process, they can see the judgment that different networks make, some being cautious, some being not so cautious, and they can make up their own minds about who's right, who's wrong, and what remains to be seen.
TODD: Network executives and news watchdog groups tell CNN they generally believe the cautious approach worked, even though it made for long stretches of not exactly breathless television.
RIEDER: You have great anticipation. You want to know who's going to win. 7:00 you turn on the television, you're fired up and then except for a few predictable states being awarded takes a long time to learn anything.
TODD: Media critics tell CNN the networks may get a little bolder with projections next time, but don't look for them to move anywhere near where were they four years ago. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Next time. Who can think about next time. All that election coverage. Did you stay up late hoping for a verdict? 360 next, campaign fatigue to the Nth Degree. Plus, the 360 challenge. Another look at tonight's questions. Number one, how did the youth vote in 2004 compared to 2000? Talking about percentage. Higher, lower, the same? Number two, how many states voted to ban same-sex marriage and finally, raw politics, what block of voters favored Bush by a ration of 3-1.
Have you been paying attention? Log on to CNN.com/360. Click on the answer link to play.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time now for the answers to today's 360 challenge. Number one. How did the youth vote in 2004 compared to 2000? The answer, the same. Number two, how many states voted to ban same-sex marriage? 11. Finally, what block of voters favored Bush by a ratio of 3-1, evangelicals. First person to answer all three questions correctly will be sent a 360 T-shirt. Tune in tomorrow, find out if you're the one. Monday's winner, Rebecca Dixon of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Another 360 challenge, another chance to win tomorrow.
Tonight taking fatigue to the Nth Degree. So are you punchy? We're punchy, everybody we know is punchy. Very little sleep. Strange dreams. I feel as if I spent the night standing up in front of weird wallpaper that kept changing trying to make sense of a lot numbers. Something about electing a president. I heard disembodied voices in my ears every few minutes and Wolf Blitzer kept appearing before my eyes without any warning at all. Yours too? Scary. Remember seeing people up against plate glass, a lot of people at first, politically enthusiastic seeming people, and then fewer and fewer the later it got. And not so much politically enthusiastic as just people hanging out way too late banging on a window.
What does that mean, do you suppose? And something must have gone really wrong with the telephones because everybody kept saying too close to call, too close to call. Maybe only long distance was working and you couldn't get through to the guy right next to you. So too close to call.
You stay awake through the whole thing? I believe I recall Wolf shutting the lights saying out of air or off the air or need some air, I don't know, something like that. And then it was morning. Of course none of that actually happened, but, boy, I could have sworn. Thanks for watching 360. I'm Anderson Cooper. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
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