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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Last Day of Campaign 2002 Draws to a Close

Aired November 04, 2002 - 22:00   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.


AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening, again, everyone. We are in Atlanta tonight. We spent the weekend here knee-deep in politics getting ready for election day. And we'll be honest, we are excited about the coverage tomorrow.
Yes, you've heard this before. This election is huge. Control of the Congress is at stake and all that that means. Who sits on the nation's courts, how comprehensive, how expensive drug coverage for seniors. Those issues and many more will indirectly, at least, be decided tomorrow.

And all of this in the wake of one of the strangest campaigns imaginable. It has taken place in the aftermath, the shadow of the September 11 attacks of a year ago, an event that changed the country and changed the country' perception of its president. It is taken places the country stands on the brink of yet another war, this time with Iraq. A war that could be far different than the Gulf War of a decade ago.

And at the point where voters and many reporters were beginning to focus seriously on the campaign and the candidates, all of a sudden out of nowhere the sniper story dominated the news; in some cases, 24 hours a day for two weeks. And we agree with the Republican political operative who said the other day this was very damaging to the ability of the Democrats to get a coherent message out.

Tomorrow at this time we'll know a lot. But our best guess is we won't know everything and we may not know who truly controls the Congress for weeks to come. Tonight will set the stage for an Election Day for the history books.

And we, of course, start it with The Whip. Tonight, all things being political, we begin with Candy Crowley and an overview of a very hectic day, this last day of the campaign. Candy, start us off. A headline from you, please.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the first polls will open on the East Coast in just eight hours. And if some Americans have only just begun to pay attention to this campaign, some of these candidates have been at it for a year or more. We are going to take a look at their final 24 hours.

BROWN: Candy, thank you very much.

The president has been on the road now it seems nonstop for a while trying to get those candidates who are in very tight races across the finish line. Our Senior White House Reporter John King is with us tonight. John, a headline from you.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, no more speeches to give, no more money to raise for the president. He is in Texas tonight. His unprecedented midterm election effort on behalf of the Republicans is over. All the president can do now is his part in the morning when he will vote and then he'll wait.

BROWN: John, we'll be back to you in a moment.

One of the most fascinating of the Senate races -- and there have been a bunch of them -- is an election in Minnesota. They had their first and last debate this morning. Anderson Cooper has been tracking that story for us. So Anderson joins us from the twin cities -- Anderson, a headline from you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron, the six-day somber civil campaign to succeed the late Senator Paul Wellstone is nearing its end. It's in its final hours. Both candidates, the former Vice President Walter Mondale and Norm Coleman, are still out campaigning, still giving speeches, trying to rally their supporters, because they know this race is just too close to call -- Aaron.

BROWN: Anderson, thank you. Back with all of you shortly.

Also coming up tonight, the Republican and Democratic national chairmen join us to talk about what they hope for. I suspect we'll get some spin out of them tonight.

Echoes of an election past and the candidate who would become president. Filmmaker Alex Pelosi joins us to talk about her documentary, "Journeys with George on the Bus," which these days is often the plane with George W. Bush. This is one of those nice little films.

And, if a dead man can be elected to office -- that, in fact, happened in Missouri two years ago -- it's probably not that big of a stretch to think that a guy in jail can do it, too. We'll see. Jim Traficant, convicted felon, congressional candidate. All of that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin, of course, with politics. Lots of it. What do you do when all you have left are cliches? And we have a lot of cliche in an election that is too close to call. You can add up the cliches as we go.

It will depend on getting out the vote. Races are hanging by a thread. Things will go into extra innings. We're in the 11th hour.

You've heard all of these are right? Well, in this case they happen to be true, because this election in so many quarters tonight is so terribly close. We begin our look at the last day, with CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): It is the most electric time of the campaign. It's the day before election and there's a lot on the line. So the big draws are out, moving as fast as planes can fly.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're winding our way back to Texas. See, tomorrow is Election Day. And we intend to vote. And we're not undecided.

CROWLEY: The candidates are bone tired, and in the close ones they're worried. But the adrenaline as kicked in, and this game requires confidence.

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: We gained a lot of progress. You ain't seen nothing yet. With your help we're going to continue to move this city, this state forward in a way that the people haven't seen in a generation.

CROWLEY: They ride now on the fear they will wake up the day after election and know that one more thing would have done it, one last stop.

SEN. JEAN CARNAHAN (D), MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE: They can come here from Washington and try to tell us how to vote, but they can't vote. You can.

CROWLEY: One last air assault to keep the other party home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... but now, Attorney General Mark Pryor is avoiding questions, questions that he allegedly paid an employee in cash to evade the law requiring that he pay Social Security and income taxes.

CROWLEY: A final grip and grin to remind your district you've been there for them and they need to show up for you. And if you have not sealed the deal, maybe somebody else can.

BILL MCBRIDE (D), FLORIDA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: And I'm proud as I can be that Jimmy Buffet's campaigning with me all over Florida, and you all should be so, too.

CROWLEY: Inside the campaigns across the states, the ground war has opened up. Phone calls, pamphlet, tomorrow the knock and drag. Volunteers going door to door and taking voters to the polls. Maybe it all eases the uncertainty, but old hands know it's done.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MAJORITY LEADER: I think it's that internal peace, that internal sense of belief that you've done everything you can do. We've had great candidates, our volunteers, are supporters have been wonderful. The resources have been there.

CROWLEY: Which is why this is both a wistful kind of day and one of the best nights in a democracy.

DOUG FORRESTER (D), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: We're closing, the race is tightening, and I have no doubt we're going to win tomorrow.

CROWLEY: Election night is the last night underdogs can dream.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: It would be easy to say that all of the words have been spoken but, of course, this is politics, so they haven't. But tomorrow, the loudest sounds will be those at the voting booth -- Aaron.

BROWN: And then the question becomes do the voting booths work? And do they work in all those places where they hadn't worked before, whether there's new technology. And then do we get it right, and you have a role in that.

CROWLEY: Absolutely. You know, I'm tempted to join your list of cliches and tell you stay tuned, but what I will tell you is that we have put an extra layer into the system. We're using not only the voter news system, which all the networks use, which takes a computer model and puts statistics in it. CNN has also put several hundred people out into the field who will be collecting votes in the precincts. And when those tallies come in, feeding it into a separate thing so we can match them one against the other.

So the system has some backup. They really believe the system was good to begin with. They think it's better now.

BROWN: And by the end, Candy, of tomorrow night, we'll all be able to explain that, every one of us in about 10 seconds. We'll have so much practice.

CROWLEY: Right. Look up now the theory of probability. Start there and I'll talk to you tomorrow night.

BROWN: Thank you very much. And I'll see you in about five minutes. We'll talk some more about this stuff. Candy Crowley with us tonight.

More now on the president's role in the campaign and the unwritten space he occupies on the ballot. The administration hopes to make tomorrow's vote a referendum on a very popular president at this stage in his term. Give us control of both Houses of Congress, the argument goes, and you'll get more of what you like so much in George W. Bush.

The Democrats have had a more difficult time making a case. A national issue like the economy that they could ride to make it even harder, there's been close races everywhere. The power of the president in a close race, almost literally any president, is an awfully good trump card to have in your hand. Here's our Senior White House Correspondent, John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): One last day of urgent campaigning. One eye on getting out the vote.

BUSH: See these elections, they're kind of tight. And a tight election means you can have a tremendous influence on who wins.

KING: Another on what comes after the votes are counted.

BUSH: The best way to encourage job growth is to let you keep your own money and, therefore, I need people in the Senate, in the House of Representatives, who will make the tax cuts permanent.

KING: Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas drew the president on the final day. His smile, a reflection of the White House's belief that Republicans will at least break even in the fight for Congress.

BILL MONTURFF, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: This country has the lowest consumer confidence it's had in nine years. The majority of the country is saying wrong track, and yet we're poised to elect a Republican House and maybe have a shot at picking up the Senate.

KING: Not that Republicans don't think there isn't an important lesson from the president's campaign travels.

MONTURFF: He has to say, look, I was all over this country, I've heard you. Believe me, Iraq is important, believe me, this country's security is my number one job. But I know that you are hurting and that you want to us focus on the economy. And that's what this presidency is going to be about.

KING: New economic proposals are being prepared for January's state of the union address. By then, some Republicans are voicing hope there also will be a new Bush economic team.

SCOTT REED, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The president cannot be forced into this position of being out there has his economic spokesman every day. He needs a team. And you can't go into a reelect without that team in place. So it's important that it gets fixed in the next couple months.

KING: Top White House economic aide, Larry Lindsey, is said to be considering moving on soon. But senior officials do not anticipate any other major changes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: In Crawford, Texas tonight, and here at the White House, cautious optimism that the Republicans will keep the House and perhaps take back the Senate. That optimism, though, tempered somewhat by the president's own experience two years ago on this night, Aaron. Monday night election eve Mr. Bush was told two years ago he would win the presidential race convincingly.

Of course, on Tuesday, Election Day, he lost the popular vote. Became president only after the Supreme Court decided the winner. So you will forgive the president if he waits patiently for the votes to be counted, maybe twice in some places.

BROWN: That's not a bad idea for all of us, count the votes and wait patiently. The White House, it seems to me at least, has set up a sort of heads we win, tails you lose argument, that no matter how it shapes tomorrow, unless the Republicans get trounced and no one anticipates that happening, the White House can claim victory. KING: You're right, they have. And the Democrats will quickly say, well, one of the reasons the president didn't lose a lot of seats, if that is the case, is that he didn't bring a lot of people into Washington with him, as Ronald Reagan did, say, in 1980. But the White House has set up this argument that the president is going to do pretty good tomorrow no matter what happens.

And they also set up this argument: he raised $200 million, he campaigned in 40 states and if he hadn't done that, it would have turned out a lot worse no matter how it turns out.

BROWN: John, thank you. We'll talk you to tomorrow, too. Our Senior White House Correspondent, John King.

On to the balance of power in the Senate. There are races tomorrow in 34 states, very close races in at least a half a dozen. And the late pollings show that many of those close races, as they often do at the end game, appear to be tightening even more. We'll take a look at just a couple tonight.

First the race in Minnesota. This has been a fascinating couple of weeks. All because, of course, the untimely and tragic death of Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane accident. But it is more than that, more than just the story lines, the personalities and the ghosts. There was, after all, today the debate.

Here again, CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): In the final hours of this too close to call campaign, Republican Norm Coleman may be focusing on his future but he's talking about Walter Mondale's past.

NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA SENATOR CANDIDATE: Anybody want to go back to a future of double-digit inflation, 18 percent inflation? Anybody want to go back to a future when America was weak and not strong and was held hostage by our enemies? Does anybody want to go back to that kind of future?

COOPER: The former vice president, flanked by the sons of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, urged supporters to get out the vote.

WALTER MONDALE, (D), MINNESOTA SENATOR CANDIDATE: Promise me that you'll do everything you can, you'll call everybody you know and you will make certain that every one of them shows up to make a difference for Minnesota tomorrow.

COOPER: Hoping to convince the estimated 10 percent of Minnesotans still undecided, both candidates earlier met in their first and only debate. Separated by a small table, they were far apart on the issues. Iraq...

MONDALE: We were telling the world we were going to go on our own. That is not strength, Norman. That's weakness. COLEMAN: What's the best way to get that broad multilateral coalition? And the reality is that 77 senators, 77 senators, broad bipartisan on both sides of the aisle, said the way to do that is to come together as Americans to show our resolve.

COOPER: Campaign reform...

MONDALE: You have a campaign here that is a poster child for what is wrong in politics. You've taken not thousands but millions of dollars from the special interests, from the Enrons.

COLEMAN: Mr. Vice President, let me say very, very, very respectfully, when we talk about special interests and support from corporate America, that's been your world. That's the world in which you've lived. That's the world for the last eight years. Serving on boards...

COOPER: Overall, the tone was civil. But on abortion, the debate got personal.

MONDALE: I believe in choice. I think these issues should be decided by the women and the family. You have been an arbitrary right to lifer.

COLEMAN: I would take exception -- I'll use a kind word -- to the description of an arbitrary. My wife and I have had two children who were born -- the first son and the last daughter -- they died at very young ages. I have a deep and profound respect for the value of life.

COOPER: At the same moment the debate began, Minnesota's Independent Governor, Jesse Ventura, held a protest press conference. Angry that a third-party candidate wasn't invited to debate, he named an independent, Dean Barkley, to serve as interim senator until January.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And it has been a very interesting day, indeed, Aaron. And, at this moment, it is not over. Norm Coleman is driving around the state, hitting about 15 cities in an RV. He's going to return to St. Paul to vote here tomorrow morning.

Walter Mondale is also still out working. He has a rally with some supporters. And they are going to be working all night, dropping off leaflets, trying just to remind people to vote first thing in the morning -- Aaron.

BROWN: You had a debate that aired I think at 10:00 Minneapolis time out there. What is -- it's not a time when people generally turn on their TVs to watch it. So they're dependent on, to a certain extent, the spin of the debate. So what has the spin been from the media?

COOPER: Well, that's a good question. It wasn't on a time when a lot of people could see it. It was really the only time that both sides could agree to meet, the only time their schedules will allow. And, not surprisingly, both sides are spinning this thing, saying that they were very successful.

Walter Mondale wanted to show that he still had it. That at age 74 he could be aggressive, and he was very aggressive throughout the debate. Norm Coleman wanted to show that he was both respectful and yet firm, not wanting to back down in the face of the political icon that is Walter Mondale. Both sides said they were successful. Now it's up to the voters.

BROWN: It is up to the voters. Thank you, Anderson. It looks like you got some good Minnesota November weather there as well. Anderson Cooper in St. Paul tonight.

On to North Carolina, where we suspect it's a bit warmer. And two candidates for the Senate there. The Republicans, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of historic Salisbury, North Carolina. The Democrats a favorite son of Greensboro. Well actually, that's the impression they'd like voters to have, but we are talking about Elizabeth Dole and former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, both of whom probably know Washington as well as they know Raleigh.

Mrs. Dole clearly had the better name recognition going in. And for a while, a formidable lead, but that lead has dwindled. And what had looked like a long-shot run for Bowles tonight looks within reach. Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of the busy spots in Ketaba (ph) County, North Carolina, the unemployment office. Layoffs in textiles, furniture and fiber optics sent the jobless rate here skyrocketing 549 percent in one recent 21-month period. Here there is one issue in this election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jobs. For me particularly, jobs.

MESERVE: The candidates have gotten the message.

ELIZABETH DOLE (R), NORTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: Jobs, jobs, jobs. Better jobs, more jobs.

ERSKINE BOWLES (D), NORTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm going up there to get this economy moving. I'm going up there to help us create some jobs.

MESERVE: It is unclear who the jobs issues is going to benefit. Bowles like to tout his experience balancing the budget as President Clinton's chief of staff. But it isn't issues or experience that are turning some voters away from Bowles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More to him doing being a close associate of the pervert.

MESERVE: That would be...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clinton.

MESERVE: Several top name Republicans, including the president, have zipped in to campaign on Dole's behalf. Monday it was former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

RUDY GIULIANA, FMR. NEW YORK MAYOR: Elizabeth Dole will support President Bush and we know that her opponent will not.

MESERVE: The Bowles campaign responds that Dole will be more interested in pleasing the president than representing the people of north Carolina.

(on camera): When this all started, Mrs. Dole, a megawatt political star here in her home state, enjoyed a towering double-digit lead. But this race has been very expensive, it has been very nasty, and now it is close. The polls give Mrs. Dole the lead, but we'll find out Tuesday if Mr. Bowles can edge her out at the finish line.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Charlotte, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A lot more politics ahead tonight. We'll try to sort out some of the important issues in the election with our CNN experts in a little bit.

Up next, the heads of the Republican and Democratic parties join us. One last go at it before the votes begin. This is NEWSNIGHT from Atlanta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: So the voters look to the candidates and the candidates, at least some of the time, look to the two men who join us now in Washington. They are respectively the Chairman of the Democratic and Republican National Committees, Terry McAuliffe and Marc Racicot. Welcome to both of you.

Mr. McAuliffe, if I may start with you, it seems, in some respects, the Republicans have a natural built-in issue, support the president on national security, let's go from there. Would you agree that at least the Democrats had a tougher time making the economy their issue?

TERRY McAuliffe, CHAIRMAN, DNC: Well, sure. I mean, we've been talking about the economy now for two years, but obviously it's been very difficult. After September 11, the discussions on the war on Iraq to get our message out. But if you look at the public polling today, Aaron, people say that they're going to go vote tomorrow on economic issues.

Who do they think will do a better job of creating jobs in this country, who do they think will do a better job of preserving Social Security, fighting for education, fighting for prescription drug benefit? And we have a lead in all those polls. So it has been... BROWN: Well, you may be right. I apologize. At least polls that I saw today on the question of the economy, if there's a lead, it is a very small lead in the polling.

MCAULIFFE: Right. But a lead's a lead and we'll take it. I think that's why our candidates are going into the elections tomorrow. In the Senate, every one of our incumbent senators is now going in with a lead, albeit a very close lead, Aaron.

We're going in with a lead, and our challengers are now up in New Hampshire and Colorado and Arkansas. So we're looking forward to big day tomorrow.

Our governors are doing well all over the country. We're going to have a majority of the governorships. And we have some very competitive House races. A lot of incumbents we think we can knock off tomorrow.

BROWN: Mr. Racicot, what will keep you up tonight? What are you most worried about tonight?

MARC RACICOT, CHAIRMAN, RNC: I'm not worried tonight, to be very honest with you, Aaron. We've embraced the domestic agenda. That's what President Bush ran on as an agenda, that's what he advanced to Congress, that's what was dealt with by the Republican House. And the work of the Republican House and this president lie dormant at the doorstep at the United States Senate. So we've embraced those issues with great enthusiasm.

And frankly, we've worked exceptionally hard. We have great trust in the intuition of the American people.

BROWN: So there's no state that you're worried about? You're not going to go to bed tonight going, man, I hope Arkansas doesn't get away from us?

RACICOT: No, I don't mean to indicate that I think that all of those races are over, because they're not. The fact of the matter is, we've said from the very beginning that these are very, very close races, all the way across the country, particularly in the United States Senate. And I believe that ultimately at the end of the day a great deal is going to be determined by voter turnout and the intensity of voters and how much they're looking to vest their confidence in those who they think can do the things that are important in their individuals lives, that focus on the economy, jobs, health care, those kind of issues. We feel very comfortable with those issues.

BROWN: Mr. McAuliffe, anything going to keep you up tonight? Or are you going to tell me that you're feeling great about everything, too?

MCAULIFFE: I feel great, but I'm going to be up all night. Sure, I worry. We have a lot of close races all over the country. It's going to come out who is going to have the better get out the vote operation. Many of these House races, gubernatorial, senatorial elections could be won or lost by a 1,000 votes. The Democrats traditionally have done a much better job of getting our base out, doing our get out the vote efforts, but we literally have people all over this country.

We have millions of pieces of literature out. We have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) phone calls going on, we have our grassroots activists all over the country. I just left the national headquarters where I've been for the last five hours. Our final preparations are in place.

Sure, I'm very nervous. I'll be up most of the night making sure and thinking in my mind have we gotten everything done that we could. We've done unprecedented funding of our coordinated campaigns, double than we've ever done in the past, but sure you worry.

BROWN: Just a last question to both of you. No matter how you look at the country right now, if you look at how Congress is split, if you look at who controls statehouses around the country, this is a country that is almost literally evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. Mr. Racicot, let me start with you.

Why do you think it is, given that the parties are quite different?

RACICOT: Well, I believe, first of all, the world is much more complex, Aaron, than it ever has been before. In addition to that, I think the American people require that the candidates and parties carry the burden of proof in establishing that competence ought to be vested in individual candidates or in a party.

And as a consequence of that, I see that there's a great deal of parity, there's a great deal of interest in these issues. But there are small, small margins for error.

BROWN: And, Mr. McAuliffe, I'll give you the last word. Why does the country seem precisely split down the middle between two very different parties?

RACICOT: I think there are about an equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the country, and then you have the independents, which we all reach out to. That's what we're trying to focus out tomorrow, is to get the independents to go out and vote.

But there is a big difference on issues. I think the Democrats are making great progress in becoming the majority party in America. If you remember, the Republicans have not netted (ph) a House seat since 1994. They haven't netted (ph) a Senate seat since '96. And, we won the popular vote in the last three presidential elections.

But unfortunately, due to the debacle around the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore is not sitting in the White House today. But I think after tomorrow's election, we add several Senate seats, we win the House back and we add all these governorships. I think we're well on our way to getting our agenda moving forward for working families. And we will be the majority party. BROWN: Gentlemen, we wish you both good luck tomorrow. We hope it's a short night. We don't expect it will be. Thank you both.

Chairmen of the Democratic and Republican Party. We'll talk a little more politics with our team after a short break. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we leave politics for a while, we've gathered together a few of our wise men and women. Candy Crowley is in New York. Bill Schneider, Jeff Greenfield with us here in Atlanta to chew the political fat a little bit.

Jeff, start with you. Any sense of what they're nervous about, pessimistic about? You don't hear this from the guys who run the party anyway.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Yes. The Republicans are very pessimistic about Arkansas. One went so far as to say it's gone.

BROWN: This is Tim Hutchinson.

GREENFIELD: Tim Hutchinson against Mark Pryor, the attorney general, son of former senator. Tim Hutchinson divorced wife, married staffer, not so good for family values.

I think the Democrats, really, are pessimistic about Georgia. This thing was supposed to be put away. It closed over the weekend, and I think there's a lot of head shaking going on about Max Cleland losing to Congressman Saxby Chambliss on Defense and National Security issues, even though he is a veteran and decorated, and a triple amputee from the war.

BROWN: In many ways, maybe the toughest -- under the circumstances -- the toughest ad of the campaign was an ad that Chambliss ran, essentially challenging Cleland on National Security, this is a guy who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam. Very tough ads.

GREENFIELD: He also has a bunch of veterans under an American flag just standing there endorsing him, which is the positive side of that. This is one race where the National Security issue may really hurt the Democrats.

BROWN: Bill, let me turn to you, since you're sitting next to me. Tomorrow at this time, where do you think we'll be? What will we -- what will surprise you, what do you think might surprise you?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I don't think I'll be surprised to discover there are lots of voting problems in the state of Florida.

BROWN: You suspect them again?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, we're hearing horror stories about half a million voters in Broward County and 3,000 voting machines, and it is going to be an 11 page ballot. Takes 15 minutes per voter. Do the math, it can't be done. So we're going to hear a lot of problems there. People have been lining up for hours to vote early in Florida. That's likely to be the story of the afternoon.

BROWN: Again.

SCHNEIDER: Again. Again. And not just Florida. It is going to be in other places, because they have these new voting machines, and they're very complicated. You ever buy a new computer or telephone, and you look at it and say, it does all these wonderful things, how does it work? You have got to read the manual. Voters can't do that.

BROWN: This stuff starts in the afternoon in Florida, that has the potential, I suppose, to be damaging.

GREENFIELD: Already started, in the early voting. And they're having problems in Arkansas, having problems, perhaps, in South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri. This is going to be an interesting afternoon and evening.

BROWN: Maybe Oregon has it right, just vote by mail, and be done with it. Candy -- you've been out there probably more than any of us over the last year. Is there any single moment in this campaign that seemed to define for you this election?

CROWLEY: You know, probably a series of single moments, because they're all kind of separate races, but I think before I went out, I thought OK, well this is about George Bush and it's about Iraq, and -- because that's sort of where it went, and that's what dominated the national dialogue.

But the truth of the matter is, every state I went to, both candidates, Republican and Democrat, I'd say what's the issue here, and they'd always say the economy.

So for all the polls that we kept seeing saying what Americans are most concerned about is the war on Iraq and the homeland security and being safe, even early on, people were saying -- well, you heard in Jeanne's piece. Jobs. It never was a question at the state level that what the candidates were talking about was not Iraq, it was about the economy.

SCHNEIDER: And the astonishing thing is that the Democrats really have not managed to make political capital on that issue. It's their issue.

BROWN: And why -- there are a number of sort of traditional Democratic issues...

GREENFIELD: Because if you're the opposition party, and you want to make a credible, coherent case, you have to fill in the blank that answers the following question -- If you put us in power, here's what we'll do.

(CROSSTALK) GREENFIELD: Reagan answered it. Reagan answered it in 1980, Clinton answered it in '92. The Republicans answered it in '94. If you put us in power, Democrats say we will -- what?

BROWN: So, in that regard, you agree absolutely with the Republican charge that the Democrats essentially never made an argument in support of their position that they would fix the economy?

GREENFIELD: Yes, and more important, there were a number of Democrats, including one of Al Gore's top advisers who made the precise same case this morning. They couldn't because the lever was the tax cut, which a lot of Democrats think was crazy, except 12 Democrats including all the incumbent senators in trouble voted for it.

BROWN: Or say they will if they get -- quickly, who gets the blame if the Democrats get hammered tomorrow?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, this is my favorite part of the campaign, recriminations. And then what happens, is the Democrats are going to say how did we blow it? But I think then what's going to happen is rank and file Democrats are going to say, you blew it because you didn't stand up to George Bush. You gave in on his tax cut, the party split on that issue, you never said, We want to modify this, we want to change it. Too many Democrats voted for it, and you didn't stand up to him on Iraq. A lot of Democrats were intensely frustrated because they said there were lots of places where Bush could have been argued with on Iraq, including the argument we should go it alone, and endangers the war on terrorism, and the Democrats just rolled over. There is going to be a strong argument on that.

BROWN: Thank you. I see Jeff rolling his eyes just a wee bit.

GREENFIELD: Sounds right to me, you know.

BROWN: We will perhaps have some time tomorrow to talk about that when you all join us again. Thank you for coming and staying late on a long night.

Still to come on the program tonight, we'll touch some of the other nonpolitical stories, indeed there were some, including the latest on the sniper investigation, an attack on alleged al Qaeda members in Yemen and more. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN, the night before the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Quick update on the sniper suspects tonight. John Lee Malvo was in court today, magistrate ordering him held on federal charges. But because he is a minor, a juvenile, those charges are sealed. His companion, John Muhammad, will appear in federal court again tomorrow.

Couple more developments in the case. Police in Prince George's County, Maryland are now looking at two more shootings that occurred in early September to see if there's a connection to the sniper suspects. And on the question of which jurisdiction will get first crack at prosecuting the pair, sources tell CNN the Justice Department will make that decision sometime this week.

We're thinking of getting this one trademarked: O.A.O.N.. On any other night. Stories that otherwise would have run much higher and gotten more time, as it turns out.

Starting with the U.S. rocket attack in Yemen. A spot in the desert all that's left of a car believed to have been carrying six members of al Qaeda, once of them al Qaeda's top man in Yemen, the one believed responsible for the planning of the bombing of the USS Cole. Sources tell us an unmanned CIA drone did the deed using a helpfire (ph) missile. There would be the first U.S. attack on al Qaeda outside Afghanistan since the war began. No comment on any of this from the Pentagon or CIA.

No comment either from Israeli officials on a car that exploded in the West Bank city of Nablus. The blast killed two people, including the local Hamas leader. It appeared the car had been booby- trapped. Later in the day, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a shopping mall just outside of Tel Aviv. He killed two others in the attack. Islamic jihad claiming responsibility.

And Ariel Sharon's minority government is hanging on in Israel tonight by a parliamentary thread. Knesset today voting down three no confidence motions. Mr. Sharon is required to hold elections next October, and virtually no one expects the government in Israel to survive that long.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the candidate who is campaigning from jail. And up next: what it's like to spend a year on the campaign with George W. Bush. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Tell the truth -- you probably spent about as much time with the candidates as you can bear in 10 and 20 and 30-second long increments on TV. So if someone proposed to you that you spend pretty nearly every waking moment with a campaigning politician for, oh, let's say 18 months or so, what exactly would you say to that?

Alex Pelosi is the daughter of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, a one- time producer for NBC news said, Oh boy, yeah, I would really like to do that. She came away with an extraordinary documentary that offers a compelling look at what campaigning is really like and what one campaigner, in this case, George W. Bush, is really like.

Miss Pelosi joins us in a moment but first a little bit of the film.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDRA PELOSI, PRODUCER, "JOURNEYS WITH GEORGE": Do you think that you've evolved as a candidate?

BUSH: Evolved as a candidate? PELOSI: I mean, how has your life changed in a year?

BUSH: I'm losing hair. My hair's more gray.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alex, you're losing hair as well.

PELOSI: Yeah, my hair's falling out because I became a vegetablearian.

BUSH: Then I suggest you start eating meat.

PELOSI: Tell us how you changed in the last year.

BUSH: Well, let's see, I started off as a cowboy. I'm now a statesman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: "Journey with George" is on HBO tomorrow. Miss Pelosi is with us tonight in New York. It's nice to see you.

Thank you.

PELOSI: No, thank you.

BROWN: OK. That's probably -- you're probably right about that. Anyway, what surprised you about George W. Bush?

PELOSI: God, you're going to have to watch the movie for this one. I'm putting in my plug here now.

What surprised me was that he was a real human being. I know most people have a problem thinking of George Bush as a human being.

But over the course of a year and a half, I managed to think of him as a human being. You know, I was indoctrinated in the Democratic party so I came into this with a really, sort of, not the best impression of George Bush going into it. And in the end I found him to be just a really decent guy.

BROWN: How did this happen? How were you able to make this deal given your political background? Did you just walk up to him one day and say, I'd like to make a movie?

PELOSI: Well, I'm a journalist first and foremost. You know, genes aside. I'm an accomplished journalist in my own right. And NBC, after five years of being at NBC, they assigned me one of the most coveted jobs in journalism: a seat on the bus. And I brought this little handycam along and I just started shooting. And I just decided I'm going to keep shooting until somebody tells me to stop. And basically, no one told me to stop. So I just -- it's a real accidental documentary.

BROWN: And he seemed to enjoy it all. Enjoyed you, enjoyed the banter with reporters, enjoyed that part of the process quite a lot, didn't he? PELOSI: He sure did. I mean, here's the one thing you don't know about George Bush. He's a lot of fun to go on a road trip with. He was a really, you know, quick witted and charming and a lot of fun.

BROWN: The -- I wonder, actually have I an opinion on this but I'll ask you...

PELOSI: Oh, good, share. Come on. Come on. Bring it on. I'm ready.

BROWN: I'll ask it as a question anyway. Do you think that access, when a candidate gives access to reporters in the way that George W. Bush did on the campaign, it ultimately gets him better coverage because Gore, Vice President Gore, did not like going to the back of the plane one bit.

PELOSI: I do think one of the theories in "Journeys With George" is that the press was a lot nicer to George Bush because, in the words of Richard Wolf (ph) from "The Financial Times," he charmed the pants off of us.

He spent a lot of time on the plane getting to know the reporters and making them think of him as a human being. He gave good plane and, yes, I think that affected the overall coverage that he got on the campaign trail.

BROWN: How do you think it affects it?

PELOSI: Well, I think, you know any time you can think of someone as a human. Look, I'm out promoting my movie. And every reporter I have to meet with one on one and tell my story over and over and over again. And the more time you spend with a reporter, the more fair a story is going to be. That's just the truth of -- you know, when you're as far away from the candidate as we were for the first six months of the campaign, they're going to write whatever they want. And they don't care.

But once you start talking to them and sharing your point of view, people are going to start being a little nicer to you.

BROWN: Has he seen the movie, do you know?

PELOSI: I saw him once since he's become president. I went to the White House for a Congressional barbecue and he said that everyone who had seen the movie at the White House really enjoyed it.

So, he didn't say that he personally had seen it, but he said that everyone at the White House who had seen it really liked it.

BROWN: Are you surprised at all -- is the George Bush you saw in the plane and on the buses and in the debates and in the hotels and in all those places for all of that time, is he the same person who is the president of the United States?

PELOSI: No. I think we've all grown a lot over the course of the last -- remember, this started in the summer of 1999 that he himself said, "I started off as a cowboy and now I'm a statesman." I look at this as like a little period piece. You know, it's a document -- I'm real nostalgic when I watch some of this video, because it's a totally different place and time. And you know, we all evolved over that time.

BROWN: And when you see him, when you see him walking down a ramp or you see him coming out to make a statement or sitting with a head of state, do you say, you know, in a weird way that is not the same man?

PELOSI: You know, I'm not a pundit and I don't want to be a pundit and I'm not any kind of expert on George Bush, nor do I want to be. I'm just a girl who sat on a bus for a year and a half with my camcorder. So you know, I really don't know. You're going to have to ask the experts and the pundits for that.

BROWN: We'll take a look at the film. Actually, it begins tomorrow, right, on HBO?

PELOSI: Yeah. I want to put my plug. Don't watch CNN tomorrow night, watch HBO, "Journeys With George."

BROWN: The wonderful thing about HBO is they'll air it more than once. Nice to see you. Good luck with it.

PELOSI: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Good luck. You're very welcome. Alex Pelosi.

When we come back, one more political story -- the run from the big house. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight, you know how candidates attract attention, the stump speeches, the whistle stop tours, the hand shaking, the baby kissing, the photo ops. And then there are the unconventional ways to attract attention, like banging a tin cup against steel bars. We end tonight with the candidate from cell block C.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, TRAFICANT CAMPAIGN AD)

JAMES TRAFICANT, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: Now, they say I can't win a congressional race behind bars. Let me tell you something, you want to send a message to Washington, you want to straighten this mess out? I want your vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice-over): Here he is. You remember Jim Traficant. You'll recall he's in jail now, on offenses ranging from bribery to corruption to demanding kickbacks, offenses that resulted in his expulsion from the House of Representatives this last summer. Well, welcome now to the nerve center of the Traficant campaign, Allenwood federal prison in Pennsylvania. That's right, he's in the big house and he's still running. But wouldn't it be tricky to actually do the work of a congressman while you're under lock and key? Traficant's campaign manager thinks not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's only 10 percent that really has to go to the attention of the congressman, the major things. He can do that from prison and he could do it better than 90 percent of the congressmen now.

BROWN: Sure, and you could always smuggle legislation in a cape or something. Traficant doesn't have much of a chance, really, though he might siphon off some votes from the Democratic candidate. Still, though, you got to love a guy who just won't lie down, except at lights out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAFICANT: I believe I could do a better job than half of those people down in Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: There's a lot of suspense involved in wondering whether your representative is honest or not. Here's a campaign that does away with that suspense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We'll keep you posted on that one tomorrow as well. Our election coverage starts -- the real deal starts about 6:00 -- not about 6:00, Aaron, at exactly 6:00 Eastern time tomorrow, and it ends when it ends, and it will not end early, I guarantee it. Please join us.

Until then, good night from all of us in Atlanta and NEWSNIGHT.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 4, 2002 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening, again, everyone. We are in Atlanta tonight. We spent the weekend here knee-deep in politics getting ready for election day. And we'll be honest, we are excited about the coverage tomorrow.
Yes, you've heard this before. This election is huge. Control of the Congress is at stake and all that that means. Who sits on the nation's courts, how comprehensive, how expensive drug coverage for seniors. Those issues and many more will indirectly, at least, be decided tomorrow.

And all of this in the wake of one of the strangest campaigns imaginable. It has taken place in the aftermath, the shadow of the September 11 attacks of a year ago, an event that changed the country and changed the country' perception of its president. It is taken places the country stands on the brink of yet another war, this time with Iraq. A war that could be far different than the Gulf War of a decade ago.

And at the point where voters and many reporters were beginning to focus seriously on the campaign and the candidates, all of a sudden out of nowhere the sniper story dominated the news; in some cases, 24 hours a day for two weeks. And we agree with the Republican political operative who said the other day this was very damaging to the ability of the Democrats to get a coherent message out.

Tomorrow at this time we'll know a lot. But our best guess is we won't know everything and we may not know who truly controls the Congress for weeks to come. Tonight will set the stage for an Election Day for the history books.

And we, of course, start it with The Whip. Tonight, all things being political, we begin with Candy Crowley and an overview of a very hectic day, this last day of the campaign. Candy, start us off. A headline from you, please.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the first polls will open on the East Coast in just eight hours. And if some Americans have only just begun to pay attention to this campaign, some of these candidates have been at it for a year or more. We are going to take a look at their final 24 hours.

BROWN: Candy, thank you very much.

The president has been on the road now it seems nonstop for a while trying to get those candidates who are in very tight races across the finish line. Our Senior White House Reporter John King is with us tonight. John, a headline from you.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, no more speeches to give, no more money to raise for the president. He is in Texas tonight. His unprecedented midterm election effort on behalf of the Republicans is over. All the president can do now is his part in the morning when he will vote and then he'll wait.

BROWN: John, we'll be back to you in a moment.

One of the most fascinating of the Senate races -- and there have been a bunch of them -- is an election in Minnesota. They had their first and last debate this morning. Anderson Cooper has been tracking that story for us. So Anderson joins us from the twin cities -- Anderson, a headline from you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron, the six-day somber civil campaign to succeed the late Senator Paul Wellstone is nearing its end. It's in its final hours. Both candidates, the former Vice President Walter Mondale and Norm Coleman, are still out campaigning, still giving speeches, trying to rally their supporters, because they know this race is just too close to call -- Aaron.

BROWN: Anderson, thank you. Back with all of you shortly.

Also coming up tonight, the Republican and Democratic national chairmen join us to talk about what they hope for. I suspect we'll get some spin out of them tonight.

Echoes of an election past and the candidate who would become president. Filmmaker Alex Pelosi joins us to talk about her documentary, "Journeys with George on the Bus," which these days is often the plane with George W. Bush. This is one of those nice little films.

And, if a dead man can be elected to office -- that, in fact, happened in Missouri two years ago -- it's probably not that big of a stretch to think that a guy in jail can do it, too. We'll see. Jim Traficant, convicted felon, congressional candidate. All of that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin, of course, with politics. Lots of it. What do you do when all you have left are cliches? And we have a lot of cliche in an election that is too close to call. You can add up the cliches as we go.

It will depend on getting out the vote. Races are hanging by a thread. Things will go into extra innings. We're in the 11th hour.

You've heard all of these are right? Well, in this case they happen to be true, because this election in so many quarters tonight is so terribly close. We begin our look at the last day, with CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): It is the most electric time of the campaign. It's the day before election and there's a lot on the line. So the big draws are out, moving as fast as planes can fly.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're winding our way back to Texas. See, tomorrow is Election Day. And we intend to vote. And we're not undecided.

CROWLEY: The candidates are bone tired, and in the close ones they're worried. But the adrenaline as kicked in, and this game requires confidence.

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: We gained a lot of progress. You ain't seen nothing yet. With your help we're going to continue to move this city, this state forward in a way that the people haven't seen in a generation.

CROWLEY: They ride now on the fear they will wake up the day after election and know that one more thing would have done it, one last stop.

SEN. JEAN CARNAHAN (D), MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE: They can come here from Washington and try to tell us how to vote, but they can't vote. You can.

CROWLEY: One last air assault to keep the other party home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... but now, Attorney General Mark Pryor is avoiding questions, questions that he allegedly paid an employee in cash to evade the law requiring that he pay Social Security and income taxes.

CROWLEY: A final grip and grin to remind your district you've been there for them and they need to show up for you. And if you have not sealed the deal, maybe somebody else can.

BILL MCBRIDE (D), FLORIDA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: And I'm proud as I can be that Jimmy Buffet's campaigning with me all over Florida, and you all should be so, too.

CROWLEY: Inside the campaigns across the states, the ground war has opened up. Phone calls, pamphlet, tomorrow the knock and drag. Volunteers going door to door and taking voters to the polls. Maybe it all eases the uncertainty, but old hands know it's done.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MAJORITY LEADER: I think it's that internal peace, that internal sense of belief that you've done everything you can do. We've had great candidates, our volunteers, are supporters have been wonderful. The resources have been there.

CROWLEY: Which is why this is both a wistful kind of day and one of the best nights in a democracy.

DOUG FORRESTER (D), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: We're closing, the race is tightening, and I have no doubt we're going to win tomorrow.

CROWLEY: Election night is the last night underdogs can dream.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: It would be easy to say that all of the words have been spoken but, of course, this is politics, so they haven't. But tomorrow, the loudest sounds will be those at the voting booth -- Aaron.

BROWN: And then the question becomes do the voting booths work? And do they work in all those places where they hadn't worked before, whether there's new technology. And then do we get it right, and you have a role in that.

CROWLEY: Absolutely. You know, I'm tempted to join your list of cliches and tell you stay tuned, but what I will tell you is that we have put an extra layer into the system. We're using not only the voter news system, which all the networks use, which takes a computer model and puts statistics in it. CNN has also put several hundred people out into the field who will be collecting votes in the precincts. And when those tallies come in, feeding it into a separate thing so we can match them one against the other.

So the system has some backup. They really believe the system was good to begin with. They think it's better now.

BROWN: And by the end, Candy, of tomorrow night, we'll all be able to explain that, every one of us in about 10 seconds. We'll have so much practice.

CROWLEY: Right. Look up now the theory of probability. Start there and I'll talk to you tomorrow night.

BROWN: Thank you very much. And I'll see you in about five minutes. We'll talk some more about this stuff. Candy Crowley with us tonight.

More now on the president's role in the campaign and the unwritten space he occupies on the ballot. The administration hopes to make tomorrow's vote a referendum on a very popular president at this stage in his term. Give us control of both Houses of Congress, the argument goes, and you'll get more of what you like so much in George W. Bush.

The Democrats have had a more difficult time making a case. A national issue like the economy that they could ride to make it even harder, there's been close races everywhere. The power of the president in a close race, almost literally any president, is an awfully good trump card to have in your hand. Here's our Senior White House Correspondent, John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): One last day of urgent campaigning. One eye on getting out the vote.

BUSH: See these elections, they're kind of tight. And a tight election means you can have a tremendous influence on who wins.

KING: Another on what comes after the votes are counted.

BUSH: The best way to encourage job growth is to let you keep your own money and, therefore, I need people in the Senate, in the House of Representatives, who will make the tax cuts permanent.

KING: Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas drew the president on the final day. His smile, a reflection of the White House's belief that Republicans will at least break even in the fight for Congress.

BILL MONTURFF, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: This country has the lowest consumer confidence it's had in nine years. The majority of the country is saying wrong track, and yet we're poised to elect a Republican House and maybe have a shot at picking up the Senate.

KING: Not that Republicans don't think there isn't an important lesson from the president's campaign travels.

MONTURFF: He has to say, look, I was all over this country, I've heard you. Believe me, Iraq is important, believe me, this country's security is my number one job. But I know that you are hurting and that you want to us focus on the economy. And that's what this presidency is going to be about.

KING: New economic proposals are being prepared for January's state of the union address. By then, some Republicans are voicing hope there also will be a new Bush economic team.

SCOTT REED, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The president cannot be forced into this position of being out there has his economic spokesman every day. He needs a team. And you can't go into a reelect without that team in place. So it's important that it gets fixed in the next couple months.

KING: Top White House economic aide, Larry Lindsey, is said to be considering moving on soon. But senior officials do not anticipate any other major changes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: In Crawford, Texas tonight, and here at the White House, cautious optimism that the Republicans will keep the House and perhaps take back the Senate. That optimism, though, tempered somewhat by the president's own experience two years ago on this night, Aaron. Monday night election eve Mr. Bush was told two years ago he would win the presidential race convincingly.

Of course, on Tuesday, Election Day, he lost the popular vote. Became president only after the Supreme Court decided the winner. So you will forgive the president if he waits patiently for the votes to be counted, maybe twice in some places.

BROWN: That's not a bad idea for all of us, count the votes and wait patiently. The White House, it seems to me at least, has set up a sort of heads we win, tails you lose argument, that no matter how it shapes tomorrow, unless the Republicans get trounced and no one anticipates that happening, the White House can claim victory. KING: You're right, they have. And the Democrats will quickly say, well, one of the reasons the president didn't lose a lot of seats, if that is the case, is that he didn't bring a lot of people into Washington with him, as Ronald Reagan did, say, in 1980. But the White House has set up this argument that the president is going to do pretty good tomorrow no matter what happens.

And they also set up this argument: he raised $200 million, he campaigned in 40 states and if he hadn't done that, it would have turned out a lot worse no matter how it turns out.

BROWN: John, thank you. We'll talk you to tomorrow, too. Our Senior White House Correspondent, John King.

On to the balance of power in the Senate. There are races tomorrow in 34 states, very close races in at least a half a dozen. And the late pollings show that many of those close races, as they often do at the end game, appear to be tightening even more. We'll take a look at just a couple tonight.

First the race in Minnesota. This has been a fascinating couple of weeks. All because, of course, the untimely and tragic death of Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane accident. But it is more than that, more than just the story lines, the personalities and the ghosts. There was, after all, today the debate.

Here again, CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): In the final hours of this too close to call campaign, Republican Norm Coleman may be focusing on his future but he's talking about Walter Mondale's past.

NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA SENATOR CANDIDATE: Anybody want to go back to a future of double-digit inflation, 18 percent inflation? Anybody want to go back to a future when America was weak and not strong and was held hostage by our enemies? Does anybody want to go back to that kind of future?

COOPER: The former vice president, flanked by the sons of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, urged supporters to get out the vote.

WALTER MONDALE, (D), MINNESOTA SENATOR CANDIDATE: Promise me that you'll do everything you can, you'll call everybody you know and you will make certain that every one of them shows up to make a difference for Minnesota tomorrow.

COOPER: Hoping to convince the estimated 10 percent of Minnesotans still undecided, both candidates earlier met in their first and only debate. Separated by a small table, they were far apart on the issues. Iraq...

MONDALE: We were telling the world we were going to go on our own. That is not strength, Norman. That's weakness. COLEMAN: What's the best way to get that broad multilateral coalition? And the reality is that 77 senators, 77 senators, broad bipartisan on both sides of the aisle, said the way to do that is to come together as Americans to show our resolve.

COOPER: Campaign reform...

MONDALE: You have a campaign here that is a poster child for what is wrong in politics. You've taken not thousands but millions of dollars from the special interests, from the Enrons.

COLEMAN: Mr. Vice President, let me say very, very, very respectfully, when we talk about special interests and support from corporate America, that's been your world. That's the world in which you've lived. That's the world for the last eight years. Serving on boards...

COOPER: Overall, the tone was civil. But on abortion, the debate got personal.

MONDALE: I believe in choice. I think these issues should be decided by the women and the family. You have been an arbitrary right to lifer.

COLEMAN: I would take exception -- I'll use a kind word -- to the description of an arbitrary. My wife and I have had two children who were born -- the first son and the last daughter -- they died at very young ages. I have a deep and profound respect for the value of life.

COOPER: At the same moment the debate began, Minnesota's Independent Governor, Jesse Ventura, held a protest press conference. Angry that a third-party candidate wasn't invited to debate, he named an independent, Dean Barkley, to serve as interim senator until January.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And it has been a very interesting day, indeed, Aaron. And, at this moment, it is not over. Norm Coleman is driving around the state, hitting about 15 cities in an RV. He's going to return to St. Paul to vote here tomorrow morning.

Walter Mondale is also still out working. He has a rally with some supporters. And they are going to be working all night, dropping off leaflets, trying just to remind people to vote first thing in the morning -- Aaron.

BROWN: You had a debate that aired I think at 10:00 Minneapolis time out there. What is -- it's not a time when people generally turn on their TVs to watch it. So they're dependent on, to a certain extent, the spin of the debate. So what has the spin been from the media?

COOPER: Well, that's a good question. It wasn't on a time when a lot of people could see it. It was really the only time that both sides could agree to meet, the only time their schedules will allow. And, not surprisingly, both sides are spinning this thing, saying that they were very successful.

Walter Mondale wanted to show that he still had it. That at age 74 he could be aggressive, and he was very aggressive throughout the debate. Norm Coleman wanted to show that he was both respectful and yet firm, not wanting to back down in the face of the political icon that is Walter Mondale. Both sides said they were successful. Now it's up to the voters.

BROWN: It is up to the voters. Thank you, Anderson. It looks like you got some good Minnesota November weather there as well. Anderson Cooper in St. Paul tonight.

On to North Carolina, where we suspect it's a bit warmer. And two candidates for the Senate there. The Republicans, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of historic Salisbury, North Carolina. The Democrats a favorite son of Greensboro. Well actually, that's the impression they'd like voters to have, but we are talking about Elizabeth Dole and former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, both of whom probably know Washington as well as they know Raleigh.

Mrs. Dole clearly had the better name recognition going in. And for a while, a formidable lead, but that lead has dwindled. And what had looked like a long-shot run for Bowles tonight looks within reach. Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of the busy spots in Ketaba (ph) County, North Carolina, the unemployment office. Layoffs in textiles, furniture and fiber optics sent the jobless rate here skyrocketing 549 percent in one recent 21-month period. Here there is one issue in this election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jobs. For me particularly, jobs.

MESERVE: The candidates have gotten the message.

ELIZABETH DOLE (R), NORTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: Jobs, jobs, jobs. Better jobs, more jobs.

ERSKINE BOWLES (D), NORTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm going up there to get this economy moving. I'm going up there to help us create some jobs.

MESERVE: It is unclear who the jobs issues is going to benefit. Bowles like to tout his experience balancing the budget as President Clinton's chief of staff. But it isn't issues or experience that are turning some voters away from Bowles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More to him doing being a close associate of the pervert.

MESERVE: That would be...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clinton.

MESERVE: Several top name Republicans, including the president, have zipped in to campaign on Dole's behalf. Monday it was former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

RUDY GIULIANA, FMR. NEW YORK MAYOR: Elizabeth Dole will support President Bush and we know that her opponent will not.

MESERVE: The Bowles campaign responds that Dole will be more interested in pleasing the president than representing the people of north Carolina.

(on camera): When this all started, Mrs. Dole, a megawatt political star here in her home state, enjoyed a towering double-digit lead. But this race has been very expensive, it has been very nasty, and now it is close. The polls give Mrs. Dole the lead, but we'll find out Tuesday if Mr. Bowles can edge her out at the finish line.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Charlotte, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A lot more politics ahead tonight. We'll try to sort out some of the important issues in the election with our CNN experts in a little bit.

Up next, the heads of the Republican and Democratic parties join us. One last go at it before the votes begin. This is NEWSNIGHT from Atlanta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: So the voters look to the candidates and the candidates, at least some of the time, look to the two men who join us now in Washington. They are respectively the Chairman of the Democratic and Republican National Committees, Terry McAuliffe and Marc Racicot. Welcome to both of you.

Mr. McAuliffe, if I may start with you, it seems, in some respects, the Republicans have a natural built-in issue, support the president on national security, let's go from there. Would you agree that at least the Democrats had a tougher time making the economy their issue?

TERRY McAuliffe, CHAIRMAN, DNC: Well, sure. I mean, we've been talking about the economy now for two years, but obviously it's been very difficult. After September 11, the discussions on the war on Iraq to get our message out. But if you look at the public polling today, Aaron, people say that they're going to go vote tomorrow on economic issues.

Who do they think will do a better job of creating jobs in this country, who do they think will do a better job of preserving Social Security, fighting for education, fighting for prescription drug benefit? And we have a lead in all those polls. So it has been... BROWN: Well, you may be right. I apologize. At least polls that I saw today on the question of the economy, if there's a lead, it is a very small lead in the polling.

MCAULIFFE: Right. But a lead's a lead and we'll take it. I think that's why our candidates are going into the elections tomorrow. In the Senate, every one of our incumbent senators is now going in with a lead, albeit a very close lead, Aaron.

We're going in with a lead, and our challengers are now up in New Hampshire and Colorado and Arkansas. So we're looking forward to big day tomorrow.

Our governors are doing well all over the country. We're going to have a majority of the governorships. And we have some very competitive House races. A lot of incumbents we think we can knock off tomorrow.

BROWN: Mr. Racicot, what will keep you up tonight? What are you most worried about tonight?

MARC RACICOT, CHAIRMAN, RNC: I'm not worried tonight, to be very honest with you, Aaron. We've embraced the domestic agenda. That's what President Bush ran on as an agenda, that's what he advanced to Congress, that's what was dealt with by the Republican House. And the work of the Republican House and this president lie dormant at the doorstep at the United States Senate. So we've embraced those issues with great enthusiasm.

And frankly, we've worked exceptionally hard. We have great trust in the intuition of the American people.

BROWN: So there's no state that you're worried about? You're not going to go to bed tonight going, man, I hope Arkansas doesn't get away from us?

RACICOT: No, I don't mean to indicate that I think that all of those races are over, because they're not. The fact of the matter is, we've said from the very beginning that these are very, very close races, all the way across the country, particularly in the United States Senate. And I believe that ultimately at the end of the day a great deal is going to be determined by voter turnout and the intensity of voters and how much they're looking to vest their confidence in those who they think can do the things that are important in their individuals lives, that focus on the economy, jobs, health care, those kind of issues. We feel very comfortable with those issues.

BROWN: Mr. McAuliffe, anything going to keep you up tonight? Or are you going to tell me that you're feeling great about everything, too?

MCAULIFFE: I feel great, but I'm going to be up all night. Sure, I worry. We have a lot of close races all over the country. It's going to come out who is going to have the better get out the vote operation. Many of these House races, gubernatorial, senatorial elections could be won or lost by a 1,000 votes. The Democrats traditionally have done a much better job of getting our base out, doing our get out the vote efforts, but we literally have people all over this country.

We have millions of pieces of literature out. We have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) phone calls going on, we have our grassroots activists all over the country. I just left the national headquarters where I've been for the last five hours. Our final preparations are in place.

Sure, I'm very nervous. I'll be up most of the night making sure and thinking in my mind have we gotten everything done that we could. We've done unprecedented funding of our coordinated campaigns, double than we've ever done in the past, but sure you worry.

BROWN: Just a last question to both of you. No matter how you look at the country right now, if you look at how Congress is split, if you look at who controls statehouses around the country, this is a country that is almost literally evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. Mr. Racicot, let me start with you.

Why do you think it is, given that the parties are quite different?

RACICOT: Well, I believe, first of all, the world is much more complex, Aaron, than it ever has been before. In addition to that, I think the American people require that the candidates and parties carry the burden of proof in establishing that competence ought to be vested in individual candidates or in a party.

And as a consequence of that, I see that there's a great deal of parity, there's a great deal of interest in these issues. But there are small, small margins for error.

BROWN: And, Mr. McAuliffe, I'll give you the last word. Why does the country seem precisely split down the middle between two very different parties?

RACICOT: I think there are about an equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the country, and then you have the independents, which we all reach out to. That's what we're trying to focus out tomorrow, is to get the independents to go out and vote.

But there is a big difference on issues. I think the Democrats are making great progress in becoming the majority party in America. If you remember, the Republicans have not netted (ph) a House seat since 1994. They haven't netted (ph) a Senate seat since '96. And, we won the popular vote in the last three presidential elections.

But unfortunately, due to the debacle around the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore is not sitting in the White House today. But I think after tomorrow's election, we add several Senate seats, we win the House back and we add all these governorships. I think we're well on our way to getting our agenda moving forward for working families. And we will be the majority party. BROWN: Gentlemen, we wish you both good luck tomorrow. We hope it's a short night. We don't expect it will be. Thank you both.

Chairmen of the Democratic and Republican Party. We'll talk a little more politics with our team after a short break. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we leave politics for a while, we've gathered together a few of our wise men and women. Candy Crowley is in New York. Bill Schneider, Jeff Greenfield with us here in Atlanta to chew the political fat a little bit.

Jeff, start with you. Any sense of what they're nervous about, pessimistic about? You don't hear this from the guys who run the party anyway.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Yes. The Republicans are very pessimistic about Arkansas. One went so far as to say it's gone.

BROWN: This is Tim Hutchinson.

GREENFIELD: Tim Hutchinson against Mark Pryor, the attorney general, son of former senator. Tim Hutchinson divorced wife, married staffer, not so good for family values.

I think the Democrats, really, are pessimistic about Georgia. This thing was supposed to be put away. It closed over the weekend, and I think there's a lot of head shaking going on about Max Cleland losing to Congressman Saxby Chambliss on Defense and National Security issues, even though he is a veteran and decorated, and a triple amputee from the war.

BROWN: In many ways, maybe the toughest -- under the circumstances -- the toughest ad of the campaign was an ad that Chambliss ran, essentially challenging Cleland on National Security, this is a guy who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam. Very tough ads.

GREENFIELD: He also has a bunch of veterans under an American flag just standing there endorsing him, which is the positive side of that. This is one race where the National Security issue may really hurt the Democrats.

BROWN: Bill, let me turn to you, since you're sitting next to me. Tomorrow at this time, where do you think we'll be? What will we -- what will surprise you, what do you think might surprise you?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I don't think I'll be surprised to discover there are lots of voting problems in the state of Florida.

BROWN: You suspect them again?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, we're hearing horror stories about half a million voters in Broward County and 3,000 voting machines, and it is going to be an 11 page ballot. Takes 15 minutes per voter. Do the math, it can't be done. So we're going to hear a lot of problems there. People have been lining up for hours to vote early in Florida. That's likely to be the story of the afternoon.

BROWN: Again.

SCHNEIDER: Again. Again. And not just Florida. It is going to be in other places, because they have these new voting machines, and they're very complicated. You ever buy a new computer or telephone, and you look at it and say, it does all these wonderful things, how does it work? You have got to read the manual. Voters can't do that.

BROWN: This stuff starts in the afternoon in Florida, that has the potential, I suppose, to be damaging.

GREENFIELD: Already started, in the early voting. And they're having problems in Arkansas, having problems, perhaps, in South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri. This is going to be an interesting afternoon and evening.

BROWN: Maybe Oregon has it right, just vote by mail, and be done with it. Candy -- you've been out there probably more than any of us over the last year. Is there any single moment in this campaign that seemed to define for you this election?

CROWLEY: You know, probably a series of single moments, because they're all kind of separate races, but I think before I went out, I thought OK, well this is about George Bush and it's about Iraq, and -- because that's sort of where it went, and that's what dominated the national dialogue.

But the truth of the matter is, every state I went to, both candidates, Republican and Democrat, I'd say what's the issue here, and they'd always say the economy.

So for all the polls that we kept seeing saying what Americans are most concerned about is the war on Iraq and the homeland security and being safe, even early on, people were saying -- well, you heard in Jeanne's piece. Jobs. It never was a question at the state level that what the candidates were talking about was not Iraq, it was about the economy.

SCHNEIDER: And the astonishing thing is that the Democrats really have not managed to make political capital on that issue. It's their issue.

BROWN: And why -- there are a number of sort of traditional Democratic issues...

GREENFIELD: Because if you're the opposition party, and you want to make a credible, coherent case, you have to fill in the blank that answers the following question -- If you put us in power, here's what we'll do.

(CROSSTALK) GREENFIELD: Reagan answered it. Reagan answered it in 1980, Clinton answered it in '92. The Republicans answered it in '94. If you put us in power, Democrats say we will -- what?

BROWN: So, in that regard, you agree absolutely with the Republican charge that the Democrats essentially never made an argument in support of their position that they would fix the economy?

GREENFIELD: Yes, and more important, there were a number of Democrats, including one of Al Gore's top advisers who made the precise same case this morning. They couldn't because the lever was the tax cut, which a lot of Democrats think was crazy, except 12 Democrats including all the incumbent senators in trouble voted for it.

BROWN: Or say they will if they get -- quickly, who gets the blame if the Democrats get hammered tomorrow?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, this is my favorite part of the campaign, recriminations. And then what happens, is the Democrats are going to say how did we blow it? But I think then what's going to happen is rank and file Democrats are going to say, you blew it because you didn't stand up to George Bush. You gave in on his tax cut, the party split on that issue, you never said, We want to modify this, we want to change it. Too many Democrats voted for it, and you didn't stand up to him on Iraq. A lot of Democrats were intensely frustrated because they said there were lots of places where Bush could have been argued with on Iraq, including the argument we should go it alone, and endangers the war on terrorism, and the Democrats just rolled over. There is going to be a strong argument on that.

BROWN: Thank you. I see Jeff rolling his eyes just a wee bit.

GREENFIELD: Sounds right to me, you know.

BROWN: We will perhaps have some time tomorrow to talk about that when you all join us again. Thank you for coming and staying late on a long night.

Still to come on the program tonight, we'll touch some of the other nonpolitical stories, indeed there were some, including the latest on the sniper investigation, an attack on alleged al Qaeda members in Yemen and more. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN, the night before the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Quick update on the sniper suspects tonight. John Lee Malvo was in court today, magistrate ordering him held on federal charges. But because he is a minor, a juvenile, those charges are sealed. His companion, John Muhammad, will appear in federal court again tomorrow.

Couple more developments in the case. Police in Prince George's County, Maryland are now looking at two more shootings that occurred in early September to see if there's a connection to the sniper suspects. And on the question of which jurisdiction will get first crack at prosecuting the pair, sources tell CNN the Justice Department will make that decision sometime this week.

We're thinking of getting this one trademarked: O.A.O.N.. On any other night. Stories that otherwise would have run much higher and gotten more time, as it turns out.

Starting with the U.S. rocket attack in Yemen. A spot in the desert all that's left of a car believed to have been carrying six members of al Qaeda, once of them al Qaeda's top man in Yemen, the one believed responsible for the planning of the bombing of the USS Cole. Sources tell us an unmanned CIA drone did the deed using a helpfire (ph) missile. There would be the first U.S. attack on al Qaeda outside Afghanistan since the war began. No comment on any of this from the Pentagon or CIA.

No comment either from Israeli officials on a car that exploded in the West Bank city of Nablus. The blast killed two people, including the local Hamas leader. It appeared the car had been booby- trapped. Later in the day, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a shopping mall just outside of Tel Aviv. He killed two others in the attack. Islamic jihad claiming responsibility.

And Ariel Sharon's minority government is hanging on in Israel tonight by a parliamentary thread. Knesset today voting down three no confidence motions. Mr. Sharon is required to hold elections next October, and virtually no one expects the government in Israel to survive that long.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the candidate who is campaigning from jail. And up next: what it's like to spend a year on the campaign with George W. Bush. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Tell the truth -- you probably spent about as much time with the candidates as you can bear in 10 and 20 and 30-second long increments on TV. So if someone proposed to you that you spend pretty nearly every waking moment with a campaigning politician for, oh, let's say 18 months or so, what exactly would you say to that?

Alex Pelosi is the daughter of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, a one- time producer for NBC news said, Oh boy, yeah, I would really like to do that. She came away with an extraordinary documentary that offers a compelling look at what campaigning is really like and what one campaigner, in this case, George W. Bush, is really like.

Miss Pelosi joins us in a moment but first a little bit of the film.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDRA PELOSI, PRODUCER, "JOURNEYS WITH GEORGE": Do you think that you've evolved as a candidate?

BUSH: Evolved as a candidate? PELOSI: I mean, how has your life changed in a year?

BUSH: I'm losing hair. My hair's more gray.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alex, you're losing hair as well.

PELOSI: Yeah, my hair's falling out because I became a vegetablearian.

BUSH: Then I suggest you start eating meat.

PELOSI: Tell us how you changed in the last year.

BUSH: Well, let's see, I started off as a cowboy. I'm now a statesman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: "Journey with George" is on HBO tomorrow. Miss Pelosi is with us tonight in New York. It's nice to see you.

Thank you.

PELOSI: No, thank you.

BROWN: OK. That's probably -- you're probably right about that. Anyway, what surprised you about George W. Bush?

PELOSI: God, you're going to have to watch the movie for this one. I'm putting in my plug here now.

What surprised me was that he was a real human being. I know most people have a problem thinking of George Bush as a human being.

But over the course of a year and a half, I managed to think of him as a human being. You know, I was indoctrinated in the Democratic party so I came into this with a really, sort of, not the best impression of George Bush going into it. And in the end I found him to be just a really decent guy.

BROWN: How did this happen? How were you able to make this deal given your political background? Did you just walk up to him one day and say, I'd like to make a movie?

PELOSI: Well, I'm a journalist first and foremost. You know, genes aside. I'm an accomplished journalist in my own right. And NBC, after five years of being at NBC, they assigned me one of the most coveted jobs in journalism: a seat on the bus. And I brought this little handycam along and I just started shooting. And I just decided I'm going to keep shooting until somebody tells me to stop. And basically, no one told me to stop. So I just -- it's a real accidental documentary.

BROWN: And he seemed to enjoy it all. Enjoyed you, enjoyed the banter with reporters, enjoyed that part of the process quite a lot, didn't he? PELOSI: He sure did. I mean, here's the one thing you don't know about George Bush. He's a lot of fun to go on a road trip with. He was a really, you know, quick witted and charming and a lot of fun.

BROWN: The -- I wonder, actually have I an opinion on this but I'll ask you...

PELOSI: Oh, good, share. Come on. Come on. Bring it on. I'm ready.

BROWN: I'll ask it as a question anyway. Do you think that access, when a candidate gives access to reporters in the way that George W. Bush did on the campaign, it ultimately gets him better coverage because Gore, Vice President Gore, did not like going to the back of the plane one bit.

PELOSI: I do think one of the theories in "Journeys With George" is that the press was a lot nicer to George Bush because, in the words of Richard Wolf (ph) from "The Financial Times," he charmed the pants off of us.

He spent a lot of time on the plane getting to know the reporters and making them think of him as a human being. He gave good plane and, yes, I think that affected the overall coverage that he got on the campaign trail.

BROWN: How do you think it affects it?

PELOSI: Well, I think, you know any time you can think of someone as a human. Look, I'm out promoting my movie. And every reporter I have to meet with one on one and tell my story over and over and over again. And the more time you spend with a reporter, the more fair a story is going to be. That's just the truth of -- you know, when you're as far away from the candidate as we were for the first six months of the campaign, they're going to write whatever they want. And they don't care.

But once you start talking to them and sharing your point of view, people are going to start being a little nicer to you.

BROWN: Has he seen the movie, do you know?

PELOSI: I saw him once since he's become president. I went to the White House for a Congressional barbecue and he said that everyone who had seen the movie at the White House really enjoyed it.

So, he didn't say that he personally had seen it, but he said that everyone at the White House who had seen it really liked it.

BROWN: Are you surprised at all -- is the George Bush you saw in the plane and on the buses and in the debates and in the hotels and in all those places for all of that time, is he the same person who is the president of the United States?

PELOSI: No. I think we've all grown a lot over the course of the last -- remember, this started in the summer of 1999 that he himself said, "I started off as a cowboy and now I'm a statesman." I look at this as like a little period piece. You know, it's a document -- I'm real nostalgic when I watch some of this video, because it's a totally different place and time. And you know, we all evolved over that time.

BROWN: And when you see him, when you see him walking down a ramp or you see him coming out to make a statement or sitting with a head of state, do you say, you know, in a weird way that is not the same man?

PELOSI: You know, I'm not a pundit and I don't want to be a pundit and I'm not any kind of expert on George Bush, nor do I want to be. I'm just a girl who sat on a bus for a year and a half with my camcorder. So you know, I really don't know. You're going to have to ask the experts and the pundits for that.

BROWN: We'll take a look at the film. Actually, it begins tomorrow, right, on HBO?

PELOSI: Yeah. I want to put my plug. Don't watch CNN tomorrow night, watch HBO, "Journeys With George."

BROWN: The wonderful thing about HBO is they'll air it more than once. Nice to see you. Good luck with it.

PELOSI: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Good luck. You're very welcome. Alex Pelosi.

When we come back, one more political story -- the run from the big house. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight, you know how candidates attract attention, the stump speeches, the whistle stop tours, the hand shaking, the baby kissing, the photo ops. And then there are the unconventional ways to attract attention, like banging a tin cup against steel bars. We end tonight with the candidate from cell block C.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, TRAFICANT CAMPAIGN AD)

JAMES TRAFICANT, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: Now, they say I can't win a congressional race behind bars. Let me tell you something, you want to send a message to Washington, you want to straighten this mess out? I want your vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice-over): Here he is. You remember Jim Traficant. You'll recall he's in jail now, on offenses ranging from bribery to corruption to demanding kickbacks, offenses that resulted in his expulsion from the House of Representatives this last summer. Well, welcome now to the nerve center of the Traficant campaign, Allenwood federal prison in Pennsylvania. That's right, he's in the big house and he's still running. But wouldn't it be tricky to actually do the work of a congressman while you're under lock and key? Traficant's campaign manager thinks not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's only 10 percent that really has to go to the attention of the congressman, the major things. He can do that from prison and he could do it better than 90 percent of the congressmen now.

BROWN: Sure, and you could always smuggle legislation in a cape or something. Traficant doesn't have much of a chance, really, though he might siphon off some votes from the Democratic candidate. Still, though, you got to love a guy who just won't lie down, except at lights out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAFICANT: I believe I could do a better job than half of those people down in Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: There's a lot of suspense involved in wondering whether your representative is honest or not. Here's a campaign that does away with that suspense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We'll keep you posted on that one tomorrow as well. Our election coverage starts -- the real deal starts about 6:00 -- not about 6:00, Aaron, at exactly 6:00 Eastern time tomorrow, and it ends when it ends, and it will not end early, I guarantee it. Please join us.

Until then, good night from all of us in Atlanta and NEWSNIGHT.

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