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Don Lemon Tonight

Primary Elections; Charity Scams; Crowdfunding Fraud Suspected; Mississippi Too Close to Call; Soccer Player Accused of Biting Opponent

Aired June 24, 2014 - 22:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

And we do begin with breaking news tonight. It is primary night across America, and the polls are closed now. The voters have spoken, and CNN's all-star political team is going to join me now to help us get through this.

Wolf Blitzer is in Washington tonight. Dana Bash is in Jackson, Mississippi, where the nastiest race in the country is unfolding. Alexandra Field right here in New York, where the veteran congressman -- one veteran congressman is fighting for his political life. More on that in just a moment. Gloria Borger live in Washington to help us break it all down.

Wolf, you know, among the big races around the country, Oklahoma, Colorado, New York, but none with as much national importance as Mississippi, right?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Mississippi is huge tonight, and it's a real nail-biter. Let's put it up on the screen right now.

You can see with about, what, 80 percent of the vote now in, 80 percent, the Republican establishment, the long-term Senator Thad Cochran with 51 percent, Chris McDaniel 49 percent, though only about 6,269 votes you see right there separating these two, these two candidates, the Tea Party favorite Chris McDaniel, Thad Cochran, the long-term, six-term Republican senator from Mississippi.

Let's bring in Dana Bash. She is in Jackson, Mississippi.

This is very, very close, Dana. Everyone was expecting a close race. It looks a little bit closer than a lot of folks anticipated.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

And the truth is nobody really knew what to expect, Wolf, because this whole runoff, this primary really in general has been so unusual, but particularly the runoff. But what we have been able to determine from some of the results that have been coming in are very interesting.

Some of the reports that I gave to you earlier today on "THE SITUATION ROOM" and elsewhere, anecdotally, about African-Americans, Democrats, traditional Democrats coming out and voting for Thad Cochran appear to be bearing out in what we're seeing with these results.

For example, Hinds County, which is a very large African-American community, where I was actually today, that has surged between June 3 and today, the primary today, for Thad Allen. And a few other areas with predominantly African-American people living there have also done much better for Thad Cochran.

But -- and here is the but -- we are still waiting for other areas of this state that have been traditionally McDaniel territory, the place where you really have seen that strong anti-incumbent, anti-Washington wave that Chris McDaniel, the conservative challenger, has been riding. So, we're waiting to find out a lot more about that area.

And it is also entirely possible that, in those areas, the fact that Thad Cochran and his supporters have so aggressively been going after Democrats to vote in this Republican primary -- or runoff, I should say, which is legal, could have a backlash and could have also gotten some of those supporters of McDaniel more enthusiastic and gotten some of them out to vote as well.

BLITZER: And we will just put it up on the screen. We will show our viewers right now the latest tally, what, with 82 percent of the vote now in Mississippi, 82 percent, 51 percent for Thad Cochran, the long- term incumbent, Republican senator, 49 percent for the Tea Party challenger, Chris McDaniel.

Gloria Borger, if for some reason -- and there is still about 18 percent of the vote out there -- Chris McDaniel, the Tea Party challenger, would win, wouldn't this, in a Republican-leaning state like Mississippi, actually open the door for a possible serious Democratic challenge?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. Yes.

The Democrats could say, look, this Tea Party candidate has a real chance of losing, if in fact the African-American vote can be gotten to the polls in November. And I'm sure the Democrats would start investing some money in the state to see if they could potentially do that.

But let me also add to Dana's reporting, which is that there has already been so much money invested in this race. The Chamber of Commerce is playing in a big way for Thad Cochran, and a conservative group like Club for Growth is playing on the other side of the ledger here. So this is a state that has seen a lot of money pour in.

And if you do have a Tea Party candidate win, I guarantee you the Democrats are going to pour in even more.

BLITZER: Because there is, Dana, as you know, a moderate Democrat, Travis Childers...

BASH: That's right.

BLITZER: ... who is the Democratic nominee. And a lot of folks will be wondering, is it possible, if the Tea Party favorite were to win, he could be a viable candidate in Mississippi?

BASH: He could be a viable candidate, which is what has made the dynamic in this runoff so fascinating, because I have personally talked to umpteen Democrats who, if you look at it really strategically and for the raw politics of it, if they want a Democrat to represent Mississippi, they would want Chris McDaniel to win.

And you have seen that kind of party crossover in other states, where it's almost shenanigans, right? You have people from one party go out and voting for the candidate they think is most beatable in another party when you have an open primary.

The opposite has happened today. You have had people who are traditional Democrats, never voted Republican in their life, but going out and voting for their incumbent senator, Thad Cochran, because they believe he is good for their state. So they're going with their hearts, many of them, over their party, which is something that you don't see very often in politics these days.

BLITZER: Stand by, everyone, because I want to check out what is happening in New York City right now.

Alexandra Field is joining us, a very, very important race in New York, the long-term Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel facing a very serious challenge, as you know, Alexandra, a challenge from Adriano Espaillat, whose -- would be the first member of Congress from the Dominican -- who was born in the Dominican Republic, if in fact he can beat Charlie Rangel.

What does it look right now? We have only 6 percent of the vote in. I'll tell you our viewers what we're seeing, only 6 percent, very, very early, 54 percent for Espaillat, 39 percent for Charlie Rangel, 6 percent for -- which is basically not much at all -- for Michael Walrond.

So, what is it like in Harlem right now, Alexandra, where you are? Charlie Rangel must be pretty nervous.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We imagine so.

But you know what? Everyone involved in this race and in these two campaigns has been preparing for a very long race tonight. They had a tight fight on their hands. And they knew it. We're not expecting to see the candidates until much later. This is Charlie Rangel's headquarters.

Of course, he's got his supporters here. But we know that we won't see either state Senator Adriano Espaillat or Congressman Charlie Rangel show their faces to their supporters until they have a better handle of what happened at the polls today.

Flash back two years ago, Wolf. You had the same candidates in the primary in 2012. That was a razor-tight race. What you had happen back in 2012 was that Senator Espaillat actually conceded the race, later recanted his concession, and then conceded again on July 9. The votes ended up being about 1,100 votes apart. That's what Congressman Rangel won the primary by, just 1,100 votes.

So, it took really more than a week after the primary to get that final count in. When you're talking about a race that is predicted to be this close, everyone is going to sort of sit back here and wait and see.

But we have spent some time with both of the campaigns this week. Both of these candidates are really fighting hard, especially Congressman Rangel. Two years ago, he had been battling health issues. He had a censure from the House for some ethics violations a couple of years behind him.

This time, he says he has waged a totally different campaign. He says he is more fit to fight this time. His health has much improved. For an 84-year-old congressman, he has been really trying to canvass this district, getting out there, talking to the voters, caravanning, at the same time, Senator Espaillat really trying to drum up votes from his base, the Hispanic majority, which now dominates a historically black district -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a historically black district, but it has been changing.

Don Lemon is still, of course, with us.

Don, you live there in Harlem. You have seen over these past few years a very significant demographic change in Harlem.

LEMON: Well, Harlem is not the Harlem that it was 10 years ago. It is not even the Harlem that it was two years ago or one year ago. And, quite frankly, Charlie Rangel really is what the old demographics of Harlem is.

He is sort of -- many people there still like him, but many also view him as a vestige of the past. And what they see in him is a neighborhood that are people in the neighborhood who are not wanting change, who are somehow opposed to so-called gentrification of the neighborhood, or the progression of the neighborhood.

Right now, Harlem is -- the demographics are changing to more Hispanic, and also more white, which means that as Eric Cantor could not take his district for granted, Charlie Rangel cannot take his district for granted as well, because he can no longer rely on that vote that he thought was so reliable even one year ago.

BLITZER: We're going watch this race very, very closely, lots at stake in this district, congressional district in New York City.

But we have projected a winner in Oklahoma right now, an important race in Oklahoma, the Republican Senate primary. The congressman, James Lankford, beats T.W. Shannon pretty impressively, Gloria Borger. This was supposed to be a little bit closer. T.W. Shannon is a rising star in Oklahoma, the speaker there. He's still in his 30s. He's got a huge future ahead of him, but not necessarily tonight, Gloria.

BORGER: No, not. In fact, lots of people expected this to go to a runoff, because if

you didn't get 50 percent of the vote, it would have gone to a runoff on August 26. So Lankford won handily.

What you're seeing in a lot of these races, Wolf, is candidates actually running on something called experience. And that hasn't been a phrase people have used a lot recently. People very often run on change now, because the electorate is so anti-Washington.

But what you're seeing in the Cochran race and what you're seeing in the Charlie Rangel race, even though they're of different parties, they are also people who have achieved, been in Congress for quite some time. And instead of running away from it, which is what we have seen recently, they're actually running on their experience and saying they can do more for their district or their state because of the power and the influence that they might wield.

In Rangel's case, it's a lot less, since he is no longer chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. But, in Cochran's case, he is a chairman and he -- or a would-be chairman. And he is saying he can do a lot for the state, and that might just have some resonance.

BLITZER: So, Lankford wins the Republican Senate nomination in Oklahoma. Presumably, he's well on his way to becoming the next U.S. senator from Oklahoma as well.

Don, we're going to continue our special coverage tonight. I know you have a lot more coming up later this hour as well.

LEMON: Yes, we're going to talk about this a little bit more, Wolf.

And, everyone, stay with me. We have got lot more primary results to get to, as Wolf said, plus the story that had donations pouring in from people around the country, the disfigured 3-year-old girl whose family said she was asked to leave a KFC for scaring the customers. Well, it turns out that may not be the whole story. So how do you know when to give and who to give to? We're going to break it all down for you.

And this World Cup nail-biter -- well, actually, it was a shoulder biter. Should soccer's serial biter get away with it?

We want to know what you think about all of this. Make sure you tweet us using #AskDon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're back right now with our breaking news. It is still too close to call in Mississippi.

So, we want to get back to our Wolf Blitzer right now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Very close indeed.

Let's take a look at the numbers right now, Don. With, what, 89 percent of the vote now in Mississippi, Thad Cochran, the six-term Republican senator, the incumbent, with 51 percent, 49 percent for the Tea Party challenger, Chris McDaniel. You see only about 4,200 votes separate these two men, still 11 percent outstanding, 11 percent of the vote outstanding.

Dana Bash is in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dana, no more celebrations on either side yet. This is a nail-biter.

BASH: It absolutely is a nail-biter.

I can tell you, though, just having been at Cochran election night headquarters three weeks ago on primary night, there is a lot more energy here. And that just does match the difference that I have seen just on the ground here. Three weeks ago, talk to pretty much anyone in the Cochran camp, they will admit that they just didn't do enough job -- a good enough job waking up their supporters to the fact that they had a real, real race on their hands.

Unclear why they didn't know, because it was known for a long time that Thad Cochran was the incumbent that the Tea Party groups across the country in general thought they had the best chance of beating. But they didn't really take it seriously. They sure took it seriously over the last three weeks.

And when you look at kind of how political campaigns work, one of the lessons that the Cochran supporters and advisers, outside groups and so forth got was that the ads that they spent money on, some of them vicious, some of them positive about Cochran, didn't really work as much as they thought, because people tune that out.

So they spent a lot of their money, most of their money for the past three weeks getting out the vote, waking up those traditional three- decade-long Cochran supporters, saying, you know what? This is it. You got to get back out. And so far, at least in some areas that Cochran needed to do well, he did do well. The question that's still outstanding is whether McDaniel also did well, even better in some of his key areas, and he could still potentially pull it out.

BLITZER: Yes, right now, 91 percent of the vote in. I'm just look 51, percent for Thad Cochran. 49 percent for Chris McDaniel, up by about 5,300 votes.

We're ready to make a projection in Colorado. CNN now projects that Bob Beauprez, who is the former representative from Colorado, will be the GOP gubernatorial nominee in Colorado. He will face off against the incumbent governor, John Hickenlooper, Beauprez beating out Tom Tancredo, another former Republican congressman, Tancredo more of a Tea Party challenger, Beauprez more of a Republican establishment figure.

Gloria Borger, Bob Beauprez, he was a late entry in, but he wins. He is the Republican gubernatorial candidate, will challenge the governor, John Hickenlooper. Gloria, this is a significant development in Colorado.

BORGER: Right. It is. And I think some Democrats were sort of privately hoping for Tom

Tancredo. He is a divisive figure within the Republican Party. And they believe it would have brought out Democratic voters to the poll because of his views, for example, on immigration.

And so I think that Tancredo's loss is something that the Democrats kind of would have said, look, we -- we might have liked him there. So Hickenlooper will have a fight on his hands.

You know, one thing, Wolf, just to go back to the Cochran race for a minute, which is so interesting to me, because I think it's become a proxy battle for what is going on inside the Republican Party. And if you just look at the surrogates who have gone to that state -- and Dana knows this better than anyone -- you know, John McCain has gone there campaigning for Thad Cochran, talking about the way, you know, the military money that is being spent in the state, for example.

And then you have got Sarah Palin, his former running mate, out there for McDaniel. And so McCain and Palin are on different sides of this fight, as they are on many fights in the Republican Party, Wolf. And that's why this fight just kind of shows you what is going on inside that party right now.

BLITZER: And the Mississippi native Brett Favre, the Green Bay great quarterback...

BORGER: Exactly. Yes.

BLITZER: ... doing a campaign commercial for Thad Cochran.

He's -- obviously, I think he has probably helped Thad Cochran. Right now, 92 percent of the vote is in, and Cochran is ahead by about 4,500 votes, 51 percent to 49 percent.

Dana, quickly, I think that Brett Favre endorsement helped.

BASH: It certainly could have.

Not only was Brett Favre -- is sort of a native son and somebody who made good. He came back. He has actually been teaching high school here in Mississippi in Hattiesburg. And school -- and school funding has been one of the issues in this race, the idea that Chris McDaniel apparently said that there is no place for federal funding of schools here in Mississippi, where a quarter of the funding for education, public education, comes from federal funds.

McDaniel walked that back. I talked to him about it myself yesterday. But that's another reason why Brett Favre, not just because he is a famous quarterback, but because it actually has to deal with real issues here on the ground, made a -- made a difference.

But one quick point I want to make on what Gloria said about this being a proxy for the Republican Party, another thing that really going to be looking at is whether or not the Republican Party can use this as a test case to grow the party. People here who are trying to get Democrats out for Thad Cochran are hoping that it could be. We will see.

BLITZER: All right.

Everybody, stand by, because we're going to continue to monitor these races. Alexandra Field is still in New York, obviously, watching the Charlie Rangel effort to survive politically.

But, in the meantime, we will stay on top of Mississippi, New York, the other races -- Don, I will throw it back to you for now.

LEMON: All right, thank you, everyone. We are going to have more results just as soon as we get them right here on CNN. So, make sure you stay tuned.

Also coming up, millions of Americans are donating money on online for a cause, for a project, even a stranger in need. But how do you know it's safe to donate? Our experts are going to weigh in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Who could argue with donating your hard-earned money to a worthy cause? Huge Web sites like GoFundMe and Kickstarter make it easier than ever to do that now. But how do you know when it's safe to give?

Jean Casarez has the stories that really touched our heart.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three-year-old Victoria Wilcher viciously attacked by pit bulls, who would not want to help this little girl? Victoria's family posted her tragic story on Facebook and said that, to make matters worse, they were asked to leave a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Mississippi because Victoria's wounds were upsetting to other diners.

KELLY MULLINS, GRANDMOTHER OF VICTORIA WILCHER: I sit down at the table with her and started feeding her, and the lady came over, and she said as -- she said that we'd have to leave. We were disturbing her other customers. But Victoria's face was disturbing the other customers.

CASAREZ: The family created a page on GoFundMe to tell her story, and donations started pouring in. Even Kentucky Fried Chicken said they would donate $30,000 for her recovery.

But wait. Kentucky Fried Chicken did an investigation of their own to look at the validity of the family's claim and found no evidence to support their story. Here is what they said in a statement to CNN. "Like the rest of America, the KFC family has been moved by the story of Victoria's injuries and recovery. After the alleged incident was reported to us, two investigations took place, including one by an independent investigator. Neither revealed any evidence that the incident occurred, and we consider the investigation closed. We are honoring our commitment to make a $30,000 donation to assist with Victoria's medical bills." Despite repeated attempts by CNN to contact the family and its attorney, no calls were returned. The attorney did tell this to a local newspaper. "It is unfortunate that Victoria and her family are being vilified on what appears to be the result of an inconclusive investigation conducted by KFC and/or its agents that implies Victoria's story is a hoax."

GoFundMe has now pulled Victoria's page. But it is often difficult to tell which funds are legitimate. GoFundMe includes a "Donators, beware" warning. "Donors should only contribute payments to GoFundMe users they personally know and trust." GoFundMe, Kickstarter and India Go Go are just a few crowd-funding sites set for people to tell their stories and in turn receive donations.

In 2013 alone, the crowd-funding industry raised an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion in fund-raising, according to Massolution, a research group. And much of it goes to worthy causes.

Griffin Furlong lived much of his life in homeless shelters and foster homes. Vowing to not give up, Griffin become the valedictorian of his Florida senior class. A GoFundMe site with his story started getting donations so he could go to college.

GRIFFIN FURLONG, HIGH SCHOOL VALEDICTORIAN: It was actually introduced by a family friend. She -- she was just like, I think we need to do this to see, like, what kind of funds we can raise to help you maybe, like, afford, like, books or maybe even, like, tuition.

CASAREZ: Donations are now over $100,000.

But, in many respects, donating on the Internet is a gamble. A lot of anonymity and many times little accountability forces you to determine for yourself the credibility of someone's story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is ample opportunity for hoaxes like that to be conducted. And unless a company, organization, or even an individual does their own due diligence to look into something, they may be subject to it.

CASAREZ: And then there is a case like Jeremy Meeks. His mug shot sent many women to get out their credit cards to help him get out of jail in a legitimate way. A GoFundMe site has currently raised over $4,000 in needed bail money.

And Kristin Holzman of Illinois faked brain cancer to help get those Facebook donations into the double-digits. She was criminally convicted for her scam.

KRISTIN HOLZMAN, CONVICTED: I fully recognize that I did not have cancer, and I did lie about having this diagnosis.

CASAREZ: But, with all the scams, charitable giving can never go out of style.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Americans give more than $300 billion a year to charity. That would be a major loss if people stopped giving and stopped feeling that they could trust in nonprofit causes.

CASAREZ: Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Of course, our thanks to Jean Casarez.

Joining me now is Tyler Cohen Wood. She's the cyber-branch chief for the Department of Defense and author of "Catching the Catfishers." Bennett Weiner is the COO of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance, better known as BBB's Wise Giving Alliance. And then Mark O'Mara, CNN's legal analyst and criminal defense attorney. And Karen McRae is the editor in chief of crowdfundingguide.com.

Thank you all for joining us here this evening.

Karen, I'm going to start with you, because crowd-funding sounds in principle like a wonderful idea, but can be fraught with dangers. What are the main warning signs that we should be looking out for?

KAREN MCRAE, EDITOR IN CHIEF, CROWDFUNDINGGUIDE.COM: I think a lot of the fraudulent campaigns have a lot of warning signs. Like if they make a lot of general claims, but they don't have any actual studies to back up what they're trying to say; if their companies are not based in the United States; if they have a lot of stock photography on their campaign instead of real photos of real people, who it's not like a one-to-one person talking. It just looks like you could go to iStockphoto and find these pictures online there. If it seems too general and not personal enough, I think those should definitely be some warning signs and something you should look out for.

LEMON: I just want to tell our viewers in case you're looking at it, we're following the election results in Mississippi, in Colorado, New York and Oklahoma, of course, three big states where there are issues, and there are big issues on the ballot. And we'll get back to that in just a moment.

In the meantime, we're talking about this crowdfunding issue now, everyone raising money for people who are hurt to people who have actually been in jail.

Let's talk about the little girl now. Because everyone's hearts understandably went out to the little 3-year-old Victoria, the girl mauled by the pit bulls. The KFC stated today that there is no evidence to suggest that the incident even happened at their fast food restaurant ever.

So how can donors even know when to give? The family is saying it did happen, of course. But how do donors know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's the problem. It's very difficult to check out individual stories that are appearing on the crowdfunding sites. That's always going to be a challenge. And one of the things we recommend from BBB's Wise Giving Alliance is sometimes it's a little safer to give to specialty sites that are adept at focusing on particular issues, like DonorsChoose.org is a site that funds school projects. GlobalGiving.org funds various economic development projects overseas. And these are sites that we have vetted that meet our 20 accountability standards.

So if you have organized philanthropy involved, an actual charitable organization that may be having a project or posted something on site, there's a better chance you can check it out to verify its legitimacy and to see its accountability standards.

But one of the things that we have heard about from Better Business Bureaus across the country that I've communicated with is that they are hearing about various different need situations that are appearing on crowdfunding sites, and people really don't know how to check them out thoroughly. And it's difficult to, because there is very little vetting that goes on some of these sites other than a verification of a Facebook page and a PayPal account. So this is where you have to have a little bit of caveat emptor. And when there's opportunity and motive, fraud can occur. And unfortunately, there are situations where that takes place here.

LEMON: Mark, much of the money that your client, George Zimmerman, raised for his defense, it was crowdfunded by donors. What kind of people donated to George, and how did you vet them, or could you even vet all of them?

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, strangely enough we had people all over the spectrum. The only thing that we did was those that came across to us as true racists and identified themselves as racists, we gave that money back and wouldn't take it. Other than that, we had literally thousands of people had 5, 10, $15 a pop would give money.

But the Zimmerman case is sort of the exception to the rule, because it's so publicized, and it lasted so long that it was easy. We sort of self-documented of self-generated herself. A situation like Victoria's case is a little more difficult, because the Internet basically is still in its adolescence. And we don't have a lot of rules or a lot of understanding of it.

And whenever there's an opportunity to give and through sympathy there's going to be some scammers. I think some of these suggestions that were given to be careful, maybe give a little bit of money up- front or at first, you know, test it out. Be aware. See whether or not those people who are requesting the funds -- excuse me -- are legitimate, and if they're really getting back to you with information. But there are going to be scammers whenever you have that type of sympathy vote.

LEMON: Speaking of being aware, Tyler, are the sites in any way accountable for what people post on them, or is it just like Mark said, buyer beware?

TYLER COHEN WOOD, AUTHOR, "CATCHING THE CATFISHERS': It's like Mark said. It's really buyer beware. They do the best that they can. Like they'll verify that someone has a Facebook page.

But I recommend that, if you're interested in funding toward a personal project or a sympathy issue, a charity, that you really go that extra step. Because if something is not real, it's not legitimate, there's going to be clues.

And you might want to look at the person's social media. You might want to look at their Facebook page. And they may have a Facebook page that's not realistic. It may be one that they just created. They don't have a lot of friends, or they don't have realistic banter with those friends.

Or maybe if it's a business idea, they don't have a professional or social media site where they have a lot of people endorsing them, or they don't have a job history. There's a lot of public records. And there's a lot of ways that you can do research to vet if who these people are claiming to be is actually who they say they are.

LEMON: And we hope we helped the viewer out a little bit here, but do your homework, as Karen said. Thank you, Karen, Tyler, Mark, and also Bennett.

When we come right back, more breaking election results.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Breaking news on primary night. Straight to Wolf Blitzer. Wolf, what do you have?

BLITZER: It's a really, really close race in Mississippi right now. Put the numbers up on the screen for our viewers. Take a look at this. Ninety-five percent of the vote is now in. Fifty-one percent for Thad Cochran, the incumbent Republican senator from Mississippi. Forty-nine percent, Chris McDaniel.

Only 4,000 votes, Don, separate these two candidates right now. Five percent of the votes still outstanding right now. You know, Dana Bash, she's in Jackson, Mississippi, joining us.

Dana, you were reporting all day if, in fact, Thad Cochran manages to eke out a victory over Chris McDaniel, the Tea Party favorite, maybe he'll be able to thank the African-American community in Mississippi, almost all of them Democrats, for going out and voting in this open primary contest for Thad Cochran.

BASH: That's right. We saw it ourselves. I talked to many African- American Democrats, life-long Democrats who said that they came out today to vote for Thad Cochran, and it was the first time that they voted for a Republican in their lives, but did so because they agreed with his big-picture message, which was seniority matters, as Gloria said earlier. Experience matters. And that they have been helped in large part because Thad Cochran has the clout in Washington to send federal dollars back to the state, which has very much helped Mississippi in general and some of the poorer communities in Mississippi.

But the other dynamic is that Chris McDaniel, his Republican challenger, saw this coming, knew that the Cochran campaign and his super PAC supporting him were going after Democrats. And he was telling his severe supporters that you can't let -- in fact, he said on his Facebook page earlier today "You can't let them steal the election," trying to almost have a backlash against this, rile up conservatives who might not be thinking about voting for him or might even be thinking about voting for Thad Cochran to say, "You know what? We can't have this in a Republican runoff."

So that certainly has been a dynamic, and it is so incredibly close. I just want to give you a brief sense of the feel here at Cochran campaign headquarters. In this day and age, everybody is walking around, talking to each other. But also with their noses in their phones, watching the results as we are. And because it is really just a few thousand, pins and needles is an understatement here.

BLITZER: Only about 4,000 votes separates these two candidates, with 95 percent of the vote in.

Gloria, Thad Cochran does eke out a win tonight, it looks like he's going to have a pretty good shot of winning a seventh term to the United States Senate, Mississippi being a fairly -- pretty significant Republican state.

BORGER: Right. And, Wolf, if the money that he spent as any -- in this primary is any indication of what he could spend. If the general election were to be close, he'll spend a lot. I mean, he has outspent McDaniel by about 6-1.

The Chamber of Commerce has come in in a big way. You were talking about the Brett Favre ad that they put in kind of at the -- at the last minute. He's brought out the big guns. He is the establishment candidate. And that brings with it the big bucks.

But as we saw in the Eric Cantor race just recently, Eric Cantor outspent his opponent by, what, 10-1, 12-1, whatever it was or more than that. And of course -- of course lost.

So what you're seeing in these primary battles, where you bring out a base electorate, that sometimes the candidate who just has the motivated voters can win, even though he is largely outspent. We'll see what happens tonight with McDaniel.

BLITZER: Another race we're watching, a pretty close race in New York City. The race for the congressional district there in Harlem. There you see 39, almost 40 percent of the vote is in. Charlie Rangel, the long-term Democratic congressman from New York, with 48 percent. Adriano Espaillat with 44 percent. He's the Democratic Party challenger.

Alexandra Field is in Harlem watching this. What, 40 percent of the vote now in. Rangel slightly ahead, 571 votes. Doesn't look like there was a huge turnout in New York for this race. But, you know, a win is a win is a win. If Charlie Rangel can eke it out. But it's by no means guaranteed. Less than half of the vote is now in, Alexandra.

FIELD: Right. Wolf, no one was expecting a strong turnout for this race. And that's why it's been so difficult to -- and to peg who the likely winner of this race would be. This is a primary race, obviously. It's the only race on the ballot in this district today.

But turnout is low. It is certainly tougher for the pollsters to predict who could come out ahead.

That said, the most recent poll this week came out about a week ago that was the New York One/CNN college (ph) poll. It actually put Rangel 13 points ahead of Espaillat. A lot of insiders will be closely watched. They expected this to be much tighter. It certainly was with the early returns we're seeing so far, Wolf. That theory is being born out. We are seeing a very tight race unfold here.

If we see a change, if Rangel is not elected, it would represent a major change for this district. He was first elected to this seat in 1970. He has served 22 terms in Congress. He has said that this campaign would be his last campaign. But he has also said that he very much wants these next two years in Washington.

At the same time, Senator Espaillat has certainly been mounting his own fight. He's more well-known than he was two years ago. So he has gained some ground. We also know that the demographics simply seem to support Espaillat in a number of ways.

Look, when Charlie Rangel was elected to represent this district back in 1970, it was a substantially black community. He is deeply intertwined with the roots of this community, but the demographics here have shifted.

Today we're talking about a district that has a Hispanic majority; 55 percent of the population here is Hispanic. If Espaillat is elected, he'd be the first Dominican-American congressman. And you know, voters are very quick to say that race and ethnicity are not deciding factors when they go to the polls.

In fact, in that same New York One/CNN poll last week, more than 80 percent of likely voters said that that wouldn't be a factor. But at the same time that poll showed us that the majority of likely black voters said that they would vote for Rangel. The majority of likely Hispanic voters that they would vote for Espaillat. We also saw in that poll that Rangel had a bit of an edge with white voters. And Wolf, that may be because he is so very well-known in this district.

BLITZER: Yes. He has been for, what, 43 years, going on 44 years. The Democratic congressman from New York, from Harlem.

Don Lemon, you live there. You know this district. What was it like in the days and weeks leading up to this very close race right now? Only a couple of hundred votes separate the two candidates.

LEMON: It's interesting, because we saw a lot more of Rangel than we saw of Espaillat. But a lot more of Rangel than we see of him, you know, most of the time.

It's interesting, though, when you talk about the demographics here, Wolf. Because, as you know, you spend a lot of time in New York and you cover politics. It used to be that you got to 110th Street, and there was a clear line of demarcation between the Upper West Side and Harlem, whether it was East Harlem, Central Harlem, Spanish Harlem. And you could tell the ethnicities of the people changed almost immediately. That does not happen anymore. Now if you're on -- most people call -- many people call Harlem now

the Upper Upper West Side, because you can't tell with the demographics. Harlem is vastly changing. And Charlie Rangel is now -- that race is now bearing that out.

Well, stick with me, everyone. When we come back, we're going to have more primary results as soon as we get them.

Up next, what's going on at the World Cup? A player for Team Uruguay is accused of biting an opponent. It's not the first time that he's faced that charge.

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LEMON: It is primary night in America. More breaking news. Wolf Blitzer is here. Wolf, take it away.

BLITZER: Let me update our viewers. It's really, really close in Mississippi right now. Thad Cochran, the six-term Republican senator from Mississippi, has a slight, slight lead. Ninety-seven percent of the vote, Don, already counted, 4,200-vote difference. Thad Cochran, the establishment Republican incumbent, against the Tea Party challenger, Chris McDaniel. Still 3 percent to go. But that nearly 4,300 advantage for Thad Cochran right now giving him a cushion. He's probably feeling a little bit more comfortable. But there's 3 percent outstanding. We'll see how that goes.

The other important race we're watching right now very close in New York City. The long-term Democratic congressman, Charlie Rangel, has a very, very slight lead right now over the -- his challenger, a Democrat, Adriano Espaillat: 47 percent, 45 percent. If you take a look, not a big turnout, only 584 votes. Ahead Charlie Rangel looking for another term. He says this is the last time he is running as the congressman. He's 84 years old.

By the way, Thad Cochran is 76 years old. Thad Cochran a slight lead. Charlie Rangel right now, with 46 percent of the vote, a slight lead, as well. We'll watch both of these results, don. In the meantime, back to you.

LEMON: All right. Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much. We'll see you soon. Check back with Wolf as soon as we get more results.

And at the World Cup soccer match today between Italy and Uruguay. Did you see this? Luis Suarez of Uruguay allegedly bit an opponent on the shoulder. And I'm joined now to talk about this with Eric Fisher. He's a psychologist. Greg Lalas is the editor in chief of MLSsoccer.com. And Amanda Davies, CNN sports anchor and correspondent.

Never did I think I'd be talking to you guys about someone biting someone on the soccer field. It was another huge day at the World Cup in Brazil today. And a major controversy involving the Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez. He appeared to bite Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini on the field.

So let's take a look at the shot in a moment and then we'll talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, dear, oh. Oh, dear, dear, dear. Let's have another look.

It looks to me, dare I say it, that he's had a little bite at Chiellini. Surely not again. Surely not again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Surely not again.

Amanda, you were there. Your guy one, your guy one, but I mean, could there be repercussions from this after, you know, he's been accused of doing it? This is the third time.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely, Don. And we've known and dubbed Suarez as "The Cannibal" in the media for the last few years. I can tell you here in Brazil this evening, he's being called a whole lot worse. And there's some serious calls for some very tough action to be taken against him, calls for a lifetime international ban from the game, because the lesser punishments of seven-, eight-game suspensions that we've seen in the last few years obviously haven't worked.

And FIFA, the World Cup governing body, obviously has the protocol to go through. They are investigating the incident, and they have to wait for the match reports to come through.

But what we know is from the disciplinary code, they can impose a maximum 24-game ban. It can include international and domestic games. But when it's put into practice on the whole, it's generally only international games that they actually impose these on.

We had, in the World Cup in 2006, Zinedine Zidane. He was given a three-game ban for a head butt. The longest ever World Cup ban was dished out in 1994, though, by FIFA. And that was eight games. But we're expecting this, because of Suarez's previous, to be much, much tougher.

And Don, we really have a deadline here, because Uruguay play their next game against Colombia on Saturday. So you would expect FIFA to have had to made a decision by them.

LEMON: Greg, you're a former player. And, you know, soccer is a physical game. But is this common on the pitch? Many people are wondering if he just ran into the guy's teeth because his teeth are so big. I'm not kidding you.

GREG LALAS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MLSOCCER.COM: No this is not common on the field ever. And he didn't just run into his -- and that's what Suarez ended up saying after it. He said, "I made contact with his shoulder." But I mean, you can see in the pictures right there it was a very specific type of contact. I think what has gotten a lot of people really sort of annoyed by

this, as well, is that Suarez then goes and dives, as if he's the one who has been the aggrieved party here.

You know, Amanda talked about the history here with Suarez is really remarkable, to think that there's something that goes on in him that just flips in certain moments and he bares his teeth. It's really a strange thing. I've never seen it on a soccer field when I've been playing. And honestly, outside of Suarez, I don't know of any other player that's done this.

LEMON: Yes. Well, that's a good thing to get to our psychologist here, Eric Fisher.

Listen, this is the third time. Is something up here? Are we reading too much into it? Is this sort of, you know, team play, or is this guy really need to take a serious look at what he's doing?

ERIC FISHER, PSYCHOLOGIST: I think, in all fairness, he deserves to stay in FIFA court, you know, because what they say, if the teeth don't fit, you must acquit.

But I think what we're looking at is obviously there's a situation here where he's got a pattern of behavior that's been happening again and again.

And I think we have to look at is that people tend to want to win at all costs. And especially in a World Cup where your whole country is on the line there, but there's a line that you have to understand; is what is fair play and what goes beyond?

The other issue I see here is I see an epidemic of flopping throughout the World Cup that you see more people fall. And it seems to almost becoming more of the game and detracting from it that here you have two players that flop, you know, potentially. Was the guy bit? Absolutely.

LEMON: Yes.

FISHER: But he also -- they learn to play it up to try to get the cards. And they didn't get -- the player didn't get what he wanted. But this is a very unfortunate incident and puts a real black mark on the whole team of Uruguay.

LEMON: That's going to have to be the last word. Thank you, Dr. Fisher, Greg Lalas and also Amanda Davies. We appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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