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Bad Blood Between McCain and Palin?; Ted Stevens Leads Alaska Senate Race
Aired November 06, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Coming at you now: access granted. Did you know Barack Obama is now getting President Bush's secret daily briefings? It begins.
Some not happy to see a black president in America show what they think with hate.
Did McCain and Palin barely speak in the final days? And just how bad did it get? Reports from McCain staffers.
And this convicted, corrupt politician is still ahead in his Senate race in Alaska, not by much, but why is he leading at all?
What you are talking about at noon at San Diego, 3:00 in Atlanta, but around the world on Twitter, Facebook, and more.
Your newscast begins now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody.
We have got winners. We have got losers. We're going to take you all through this. Obviously, there are some stories that are developing right now on Wall Street. As a matter of fact, Rog, before we do anything, let's go ahead and check our board.
Apparently, things are down once again, yesterday down about 500 points, so it is at 341 now. Look, folks, it is pretty clear, if we get two consecutive days of this like this, we will be looking at staying under 9000. Obviously, that's going to be a major problem. It's what Barack Obama is inheriting and it is a problem that he's going to have to deal with.
So, we're going to be talking about that. Speaking of Barack Obama, we also know now that Barack Obama will have a news conference tomorrow. And from the White House, this information, the president now saying that he is going to meet personally with Barack Obama Monday as part of the transition. The president also had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the coming weeks, we will ask administration officials to brief the Obama team on ongoing policy issues ranging from the financial markets to the war in Iraq. I look forward to discussing those issues with the president- elect early next week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It is amazing to see how, in this country, certainly amazing to many people all over the world, it is a transition that is smooth, despite what was said by the Republicans about the Dems and the Dems about the Republicans, now the standing president will essentially give the baton over to his successor.
Joining us now is Kelli Arena. She is our justice correspondent. She is going to be taking us through this, because what is so fascinating about this is that president-elect Obama today and for days in the future will actually be getting PDBs, which president daily briefings. That is that secret intelligence that no else is supposed to know about.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
SANCHEZ: What are those? Take us through it?
ARENA: Well, it is the mother of all intelligence briefings, Rick.
This is the most up-to-date intelligence that the community has put together on all of the challenges that are facing the United States. Now, because it is classified, you know, we have the make some assumptions here. I mean, briefers were very likely to have discussed issues, including maybe the terrorism threat, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran, probably broader than usual, because, you know, Obama has not been getting these briefings everyday, like President Bush. But this is what the intelligence community knows up to this minute, highly classified.
SANCHEZ: So, they are going to take him through this information. How about some of the people he is bringing along with him? Who else is now going to be privy to these PDBs?
ARENA: Well, he will have staffers that he designates that will get clearances, classified information clearances, to be part of that briefing.
Joe Biden, Senator Joe Biden, was also to be briefed today as the incoming vice president. He will receive the same information that Obama receives, so very small group here. I mean, this is -- we are talking about very sensitive information here, Rick, so, it's not like you're going to have a big group.
SANCHEZ: Here is what I am curious about. Given that the difference between this new president and the old president is so huge, so divergent, what if they tell something to Barack Obama which is a intelligence secret, for example, which then the president acts on, and Barack Obama disagrees or feels that the president is misinforming the people, given what he knows that nobody else knows? Does he act on it? Can he act on it? Does it put him in a strange situation?
ARENA: Well, strange situation is an understatement. I mean, look, we are talking about 75 days, so it's very unlikely that, you know, President Bush is going to go out to do something monumental in 75 days.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ARENA: If that were to happen, I mean, he is a public official. He does have access to the information. He could meet privately with President Bush. He could say, hey, based on what I know, I don't think that this policy is the way we need to go.
But you need to know, Rick, that the only person that has the capability of making that information public, of declassifying it, is the president. So, Barack Obama cannot talk about what he has been told in those briefings.
SANCHEZ: Wow. This is fascinating stuff. Kelli Arena, thanks so much for being with us and taking us through this.
Here is what else we are going to be talking about in just a little bit. We are now getting some of the dirty details -- that's almost the only word you could use to modify that -- of how ugly it got at the end between Sarah Palin, John McCain, Palin's staff and John McCain's staff, new information, for example, the Bill Ayers' attack, that that was not cleared by John McCain's staff. It was Sarah Palin apparently going -- quote -- "rogue."
And then the very latest on who will come along with Barack Obama. There is one staff decision that apparently has been agreed to. It is a big one, though, not Colin Powell, not yet. We will take you through all of them. Stay with us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right.
You can see that people are commenting on the show. You can see it under the screen just below me there. And, also, people are talking to us on our Twitter board. In fact, let's go to our Twitter board. Many of you are commenting on the show as we go.
"And who else is going to be joining this rock star at the White House?" Interesting question.
"Obama going to fire all U.S. attorneys when he takes over? Will there going to be a congressional investigation?"
Apparently, that is information that you want to know.
"Palin 2012 best for Dems. Republicans will go right instead of center and lose big in '10 and '12" -- interesting opinion.
"Rick's live right now" -- Twitterer is telling the rest. And then this question: "I prefer Palin faded, but will she appoint herself senator in Alaska?" That is interesting, because we're going to be talking about that in about two segments.
But, right now, tell us about Rahm, as in Rahm Emanuel. You asked, and we deliver. Let's talk about that.
Put up Rahm Emanuel's picture, if you would, Roger. Let's go ahead and have a conversation about that. There is Rahm Emanuel, Clinton veteran, rising star in the House, ruthless partisan, he is called by those in the GOP. Is he about to be the new chief of staff for the president-elect of the United States?
I will tell you who else we're going to be talking about. We're going to be talking about Colin Powell.
Roger, change this picture. Give me a shot of Colin Powell, if you would, because he is going to be a part of this discussion as well. Colin Powell, as you know -- did you get that, Rog? See if you can get Colin Powell up.
All right, Colin Powell, interestingly enough, is saying that he might want to be a part of the administration. Exactly where he's going to be, well, there it is, Colin Powell, former secretary of state, endorsed Barack Obama, and he will have a role.
Does that mean secretary of state again? What does that mean? We will go through that.
And then the Kennedys, as in Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Caroline Kennedy. Is Robert F. Kennedy going to be in the EPA, the head of the EPA? Is Caroline Kennedy going to be going to the United Nations? These are questions that we're going to take on for you right now.
Let's start with Frank Sesno, an old-time CNNer, one of the smartest guys we know. So, let's -- let's use him, eh?
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Frank Sesno, let's start with the question that everybody wants to know about, this Rahm Emanuel character. You know, he has been asked to the do this, be chief of staff. Sounds like he was kind of balking, but now we have him on the record saying, yes, I'm going to do it.
FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: He was balking because of his kids. He has done this before. He knows what a 24/7 job is. And from people who know him closely I have talked to said this was a big conversation with the family.
But, as he said, as you heard him say, you know, if a historic time and a historic president like this asks, you have got to consider it.
SANCHEZ: What is a chief of staff, and why is Rahm Emanuel well- suited for that job? SESNO: Chief of staff is everything. A chief of staff is your gatekeeper, if you are the president. That is the person who decides who is going to get to see you, how they are going to get to see you, whether they are going to be able to pick up the phone or walk in the door, how meetings are going to be organized, how your day is going to be organized, who within your White House has the clout and the power?
It is your legislative director? Is it your political director? They drive the whole structure. And to a very large degree -- you think of the president as the CEO. The chief of staff is the COO. He is the one who is making -- deciding which trains are running on time or supposed to run on time and makes sure that others do it.
He is tough business, Rahm Emanuel. That is his reputation. One of his nicknames is Rahmbo, because of some of the things he has said and done, at one point quoted as saying winning is everything when he was named chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee a few years ago.
So, he is a tough guy and he's going to be a tough chief of staff.
SANCHEZ: Let me let you listen to something, along with our viewers. This is Colin Powell being asked whether he is going to take any part in the Obama administration. Let's go to it, Rog.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I haven't been asked and I'm not looking for service. I'm not looking for a job and I don't expect to be offered a job. I think I might be able to be of some use from the outside because of the experience I have had as a national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and of secretary of state. But I'm not looking for a position and I do not expect to be offered a position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This guy could do so many things, but, at the same time, he is also the guy who stood at the United Nations and said some things that we now know were not true. Does he also have a credibility issue with that?
SESNO: He may. But he also has a credibility as a result of a long career, Rick.
And I think that what is reasonable to think about is Barack Obama turning to Colin Powell as some kind of elder statesman, a special envoy, a special envoy to the Middle East or something like that, in ways that George Mitchell served Bill Clinton.
So, you know, I would be surprised and I think a lot of people, most people in Washington would be surprised to see him move back over to the State Department, try that again. He has been the secretary before. But I would not be at all surprised -- in fact, I would expect some kind of role for Colin Powell, if asked. SANCHEZ: You know, they are talking about making sure they don't have retreads. They're talking about making sure they have new, and they're talking about making sure they reach across the aisle. So, there's a lot of names that we're going to be talking about in the coming days, but this is interesting, the fact that two Kennedys are being mentioned, Caroline Kennedy apparently going to the United Nations -- United Nations -- pardon me -- to represent the United States, and then RFK Jr. in EPA.
Boy, that is going to scare some businesses who think they want to pollute, huh?
SESNO: Well, Bobby Kennedy is very active in the environmental field.
SANCHEZ: I would say.
(LAUGHTER)
SESNO: Yes. He has got very outspoken views. He's very much a traditional liberal environmental activist.
And you are quite right. If there is a Bobby Kennedy EPA, this is going to be hardly, hardly seen as an across-the-aisle gesture.
I should say, by the, way with the discussion about Rahm, if I can, there has been already a reaction from some Republicans, who have said -- from John Boehner, for example, in the House who said, this is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center.
So, whether you are talking about Rahm Emanuel or Bobby Kennedy, people are watching this very, very closely to see where exactly Barack Obama is going to end up, because a lot of these questions were not asked and answered during the campaign.
SANCHEZ: Yes. And these are guys who are going to come out there firing fastballs, and you know it. But it is going to be fun to watch.
Hey, Frank Sesno, thanks so much for joining us with your perspective.
(CROSSTALK)
SESNO: Pleasure, as always, next time looking into your eyes.
SANCHEZ: All right.
John McCain was told by his staff, did you know, two weeks ago, you are going to lose, Senator. You have no chance, two weeks ago, just before the last debates, new inside information from a "Newsweek" report. We're going to be talking to the "Newsweek" reporter with this and a whole lot more.
Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: You know that a couple of days ago, we did an interview with Joe The Plumber. It's probably one of the most talked-about interviews I have done in quite a while, and certainly discussed on the Internet. The blogosphere has just about exploded with comments about it, most people being somewhat congratulatory for us here at CNN finally asking the questions of Joe The Plumber that nobody else had asked.
As a matter of fact, I am going to give you some examples of it. Let's go to the blogs and take a look at it.
Here we go. "CNN, Rick Sanchez shuts down McCain spokesman, shuts down McCain spokesman." That is in sharemedia.com.
Now, look at the next one. "Rick Sanchez tries to fix Joe The Plumber's annoying leaks. We have seen CNN's square-jawed afternoon news anchor Rick Sanchez get pretty feisty in the past. Earlier today, Sanchez interviewed that ubiquitous John McCain parrot Joe The Plumber. And the two butted heads for at least a good" -- it goes on to say -- "good time." That is from soupcans.blogspot.com.
Then "CNN vs. Joe The Plumber" was written by Justin Gardner. This is from Donklephant. He says: "Let's get ready to rumble. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, progressive taxation is now akin to robbing a bank straight from Wurzelbacher's mouth. Amazing."
And here is one who thought that I just stunk and I got my butt beat by Joe The Plumber. "Joe the plumber destroys Rick Sanchez during phone interview. Media elite Rick Sanchez thinks he can use journalism school debating tactics to try to make little old Joe the plumber look stupid, but he failed miserably. Little old Joe The Plumber made Mr. media elite Rick Sanchez look like a" -- and you can pretty much imagine what it goes on to say if you go on the read -- opposingviewpoints.wordpress.com. Just a few of those, by the way.
What was actually going on inside the John McCain and Sarah Palin campaign in the bitter end of this campaign? As a matter of fact, go ahead, Rog, show that picture of these two McCain staffers, because they are right smack dab in the middle of this controversy. What really happened and what occurred after that famous trip to Neiman's and Saks and how it derailed the staff of John McCain, that is in a report that is filed by "Newsweek" magazine. We are going to be talking to one of the authors in just a little bit and ask her the questions about these reports.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: It seems to be one of the big stories, just how ugly it got toward the end between some McCain staffers and other staffers who were loyal to Sarah Palin.
As a matter of fact, I want to show you something now. This is a piece of sound of Sarah Palin being interviewed back in Alaska.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: John McCain still has so much to offer this country. And he as a leader now in the Senate, he as a uniter, I think that you're going to see him in a leadership role being able to work with the president-elect and in this transition period that is going to be a very crucial time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: At lot of the Republicans are scratching their heads and wondering what happened to the McCain campaign toward the very end. And some people are pointing their finger at Sarah Palin. Others are pointing their fingers at other incidents.
We are joined now by Holly Bailey. She is a "Newsweek" correspondent there putting together a report on what happened toward the end. Some might call it the bitter end, I suppose. One of the reports that you guys file is that there was actually more than $150,000 that was spent by Sarah Palin. Is that right?
HOLLY BAILEY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "NEWSWEEK": Yes. Essentially, what the campaign -- initially, McCain aides had told Sarah Palin that she needed to go purchase some suits for the convention. they told her to buy three suits and then to buy a suit for her husband and maybe some clothes for her kids for the convention.
But what they have learned later is that obviously there were some spending sprees at Neiman Marcus and Saks. But what they learned late last week is that she had actually continued to spend money, even though they had told her not to and what she had done is basically start charging items on the personal credit cards of some of her staffers.
SANCHEZ: Wait, let me stop you. Did you just say that they are personal credit cards from McCain workers? How would she have gotten her hands on those personal credit cards?
BAILEY: Well, they were charging it -- we were told by several McCain aides that they were charging -- she was asking them to purchase things on their own personal credit card.
SANCHEZ: So, she was told, go out and buy three really nice suits, because we are going to be making a lot of appearances, and, what, was she given a number of how much she could spend, maybe $20,000, $10,000, $30,000?
BAILEY: They just told her to buy three suits. I don't know necessarily that there was a number, but it obviously was not near the $150,000 mark that it eventually reached, more than that.
SANCHEZ: But she ended up spending that money, and it caused real friction, according to your report and one in "The New York Times" today, which is also an interesting report, saying that what it caused is friction between loyalties in the McCain camp, because there are some people who were -- Randy Scheunemann, for example, was more loyal, it seemed, to Palin, and lost his job in the last week perhaps as a result of it. Is that correct?
BAILEY: Well, basically, what happened is that it began this way. When Sarah Palin was added to the ticket, there was a lot of enthusiasm.
But, eventually, she began pushing back against her handlers and that caused a very poisonous atmosphere within the campaign. So, therefore, there was divided camps, some people who were happy with what was happening, looking at the crowds, and saying John McCain didn't get these kind of crowds, and then the others who said that she needed to be more controlled and stuff and do more on talking points and so on.
And so, at the end, there was a lot of finger-pointing and, again, just the clothing stuff added to it in the final week. One of the most interesting things that I think we learned with the report, our post-election report that we did is that John McCain and Sarah Palin, when they went on the road together, didn't really talk all that much --
SANCHEZ: Wow.
BAILEY: Which is sort of surprising, since, had they won, they would be at the White House together.
SANCHEZ: Well, it is interesting. I think we have that picture of Scheunemann and Nicolle Wallace. I think, Roger, if you can put that one up, it's interesting what happened between those two, because it appears that Nicolle Wallace was taking a lot of heat for buying the clothing.
And now she is saying, you know what? It was not my fault. And then Scheunemann ends up, according to CNN today, in interviews that we have done saying that in fact it was kind of a disagreement that they were having at the time.
So, it is interesting the way this whole thing has shaken out. Let me keep you for another block.
When we come back, we're going to be talking about the affect on McCain and more on what you just mentioned about how they were not talking to each other.
We will have that for you. Stay with us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: The last couple of days we also told you about a prank call that Sarah Palin had gotten from two comedians in Canada. Interestingly enough, she thought she was actually going to be on the phone talking to the president of France. Here is a taste.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
PALIN: Yes. Good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I see you as a president one day, you, too.
(LAUGHTER)
PALIN: Maybe in eight years.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I hope for you.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Maybe in eight years. Turns out that was not Sarkozy, the president of France.
But it is interesting, because "The New York Times" is reporting today -- and I don't know if you got a chance to read this -- that that prank call that she took from the president of France she said had been cleared by her and her staff, that she knew she was going to be getting it. However, McCain staffers didn't know that call was coming in.
How common was that for one side not to know what the other side was doing?
BAILEY: I think that was going on frankly throughout the campaign, frankly.
Around the time of the CBS interview with Sarah Palin in early September is really when the two sides began -- went to war with each other and, therefore, some people would share secrets with the senior McCain staffers. There were some people that were close to Steve Schmidt, who was McCain's senior strategist. And so therefore he knew some of the things that were going on, but that phone call, again, it just added I think to the frustrations within McCain's upper campaign hierarchy.
SANCHEZ: I can't wait to read this article that you guys have coming out, because one of the things that it also talks about is William Ayers. It is fascinating to think that she first went on the attack associating Barack Obama with William Ayers without, as you all seem to infer in your article, get clearance from the McCain folks that this is actually going to be a strategy that is going to be used.
BAILEY: It was a general frustration on the part of several top McCain staffers that she wouldn't necessarily go by what they were telling her to do.
Another frustration for them is that they would ask her to appear on stage with certain congressional candidates, and she would turn it down, because she didn't necessarily agree with them. There was one instance when she was asked to appear on stage with a congressional candidate in New Hampshire, and she didn't want to do it because he was pro-choice.
And, so, that is all sort of boiling out now, now that the -- the campaign is over, a lot of finger-pointing among both sides.
SANCHEZ: You were there. You saw them together a lot, I imagine. What -- just generally, I think -- you know, when you want to know more about two people, you kind of can take a look at their body language and sometimes you learn a lot. What were they like when they weren't on camera but they were together?
BAILEY: Well, we didn't see them a lot together, you know, when they weren't on camera. Usually we would see them, you know, sort roll on stage. And, you know, there were -- you know, we all sort of were looking and had our magnifying glasses out and looking for any tension. You know, wasn't much.
But, you know, if you looked on Tuesday night, on election night, I mean it was a little -- it looking a little awkward. And then, you know, there was a -- you know, she had asked to speak on Tuesday night. And Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter turned her down -- turned her request down. And then afterwards, it was very interesting, John McCain left the Arizona Biltmore, where his campaign party was. And then shortly thereafter, she went on the stage with her husband Todd. And they posed for pictures and supporters were out there cheering her on. And it was very interesting.
SANCHEZ: Holly Bailey, thanks so much for being with us. A fascinating conversation. And as we certainly learn more -- sometimes you learn more about looking back than you do looking forward in a situation like this. And certainly there's some Republicans who may be scratching their heads, as the Democrats were just eight years ago.
When we come back, a fire, a fight and a noose because Barack Obama won. We'll take you to one particular place in the country where it wasn't welcome news and talk about what it says about us.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
I'm Rick Sanchez here in the World Headquarters of CNN, checking some of your comments that you're sending to us now. We'll be getting to those shortly.
But there's something else to take note of this day. It's a disturbing reminder that with certain people in this country, skin pigmentation is still a really big deal.
At Baylor University in Texas, a Southern Baptist school that is predominantly white, Barack Obama's victory speech was followed by a fire, a fight and a noose hanging from a tree. There's the video of the fire, where Obama signs were collected and burned in a barbeque pit. And here's a video of the rope tied into a noose that was hanging from a tree on campus. Baylor University officials say they're investigating this incident.
African-American students make up only 7 percent of Baylor's enrollment. One of them told TV station WFAA in Dallas that: "It was clearly a racial slur for Election Day."
For many, many Americans, Obama's election stands for change, for hope, maybe even for some kind of renewal. But this incident, which we report because it's part of the nation's reality, reminds us of how much we still need to do.
If my mom was right when she told me growing up that people who hate are really just scared or don't understand, then that's more reason to talk about these incidents, to show these incidents and to spark these dialogues. Maybe that's what will happen now at Baylor University.
We take you to Alaska next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
It's time to find out what you are saying. Mayra Romans is watching our show right now. And she wants you to know this, and she wonders if you agree with her: "You guys know that I am not a Palin fan. I'm guilty of pointing out all of her flaws since she got into the scene. But, boy, these people are wrong for spreading this information. Has she not been humiliated enough?" We thank Mayra for the comment.
Let's go over now to Glenda Umana.
She's standing by at CNN En Espanol, where I've been spending a lot of time doing reports in the lakalakalaka (ph) language of Spanish.
GLENDA UMANA, CNN EN ESPANOL: Yes, it was great to have you in our show, too.
SANCHEZ: Thank you. It's nice to go down there.
UMANA: A lot of people don't know.
SANCHEZ: They don't know.
UMANA: Carlos perfecto Espanol.
SANCHEZ: Mucha gracias. What do you have for us?
UMANA: Well, let me tell you, it's about the reaction in Latin America after Barack Obama's victory. What we see and hear is a feeling of hope, Rick. But now what analysts are saying in Latin America, they know that the region is not going to be a priority for the new government. It seems that the priority will be the financial crisis and the conflict in the Middle East.
Now, Rick, leftist countries such as Bolivia and Venezuela have said they expect to have better relations with the United States. Other countries like Brazil, Columbia, Chile, Costa Rica, who already have good relations with the United States, also see the change with good eyes.
So acista la cosa (ph).
SANCHEZ: Y te la cosa (ph).
And you know what's interesting about this is all the things that are happening in the United States are being felt not only in Latin America, but in all parts of the world, as well, because it really has become a global issue. And some are pointing the fingers at the United States and Wall Street for getting this going.
Speaking of Wall Street, we're going to be checking on that from time to time. Let's do it real quick right now.
Give me the big board on the full screen, if you can, Roger, before we do anything else, because I think it might be a good time -- see. Oh my goodness, 493 down. Remember, we were around that mark yesterday.
What have we got left? -- About 20 minutes in the hour. We'll take you right down to 4:00 and as this develops, we'll be checking in on Wall Street with our correspondents there.
But before we do that, let's talk about what's happened politically. This election is not over, because there are races that still need to be decided. As a matter of fact, one of the big races that needs to be decided is in Oregon.
Let's go ahead and go to big board, if we possibly can there, Johnny B. Good. There it is. Let's take it. Ready?
All right. Look at Oregon right there. This was called today around noon, that the winner is going to, in fact, be Jeff Merkley over Gordon Smith, the incumbent. That is another Democratic seat in the Senate.
Also, the big Senate race still going on is in Alaska. And that has to do with Ted Stevens. Look real quick at the welcome home -- hero's welcome that he received when he got back to Ted Stevens Airport in Anchorage.
(AUDIO GAP)
SANCHEZ: All right. We don't have the exact same tape that I wanted to show you, but that is a whole lot of people welcoming him back. The hoopla and hollering was just before that, before he started doing the interview. So you can't help but ask yourself, how is it possible that Ted Stevens can be found guilty of corruption -- of public corruption -- and still be about to win this race if he, in fact, does?
Let's go to Patricia Murphy. She's with CitizenJanePolitics and she's good enough to join us right now. Let's look at that Ted Stevens race, Johnny B. Good, so we can show it to the viewers together. All right. There it is. Ted Stevens. Those are the numbers as you see them -- 106,351, Begich 102,9998. He's winning -- not by a lot.
I guess there's a lot of legal haranguing that still has to go on with this case. But if you just look at the numbers, he's winning, right?
PATRICIA MURPHY, EDITOR, CITIZENJANEPOLITICS.COM: Yes. If you look at that Ted Stevens situation, this is a man who has won re- election six times in Alaska and he's always won by two thirds of the vote. He really is quite beloved in that state. And even seven felony counts later, he still is in a position to win this race. They still have, actually, quite a few thousands of votes, really, still to count, so it hasn't been declared. But the fact that he is still keeping it close and could even win is actually a testament to how much Alaskans are still standing behind him despite those convictions.
SANCHEZ: But what does it say? I mean do these people not believe -- these people who voted for him, are they saying we don't believe in the American system of justice?
MURPHY: Well, they're saying a couple of things. First of all, this is a huge decrease in the amount of votes that he usually wins. So, certainly, he has lost quite a bit of support. But he has maintained his innocence throughout and this jury conviction --
SANCHEZ: So do guys on death row.
MURPHY: I'm just saying -- I'm just saying -- this also happened in Washington, D.C. . So all of these images of him going into the courthouse and out of the courthouse, those really were not carried in Alaska in the same way they were right here in Washington. So his people are still sticking behind him.
Now Sarah Palin, ironically, has helped him out here. She brought out a lot of Republicans to the polls who might otherwise have stayed home. So she is in a position to have, ironically, helped him out and possibly continue to win that Senate seat.
SANCHEZ: I didn't mean to be too exuberant there, by the way. I just get passionate over politics. I love talking about it. I got it from my own -- from my dad -- Minnesota.
MURPHY: Yes?
SANCHEZ: Norm Coleman, Al Franken, an interesting race. Let's look at the number on that, if we can, Johnny B. Good. Have you got that up right there?
There you go, Minnesota. Coleman, 1,211,538. The other one has got 1,211,197.
Coleman is ahead, but thing is not over either, right?
MURPHY: This is not over, either. With three million votes cast, it is actually down to less than 500 votes separating those two. And what that means is that by Minnesota law, there must be a recount.
Now, Al Franken, who is a little bit behind right now, he could decline to have a recount. But that's not something that he said he's willing to do. He wants the recount. And he's allowed to get one.
The biggest factor here between these two is actually a third party candidate, Dean Barkley. He's an independent. He got 15 percent of the vote. It's a huge margin.
But in Minnesota, obviously, those Independents are super strong. So that's what's really causing this race to be so close and it's putting Coleman in a position well below 50 percent to still possibly win.
SANCHEZ: Well, that's interesting, because, I mean, if a Democrat were to win Alaska and somehow they were to win in Minnesota, there's one other place that might actually get them pretty close to 60, which would make them pretty much veto-proof, as some say.
Johnny B. Good, let's go to Alaska. Are you ready?
All right. Am I going -- Georgia. There we go. I misspoke. Oh, you know what's funny? I don't know -- with you in front of me, Johnny, I have a hard time finding it. There it is. Georgia -- this is Chambliss.
MURPHY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And the Martin race. And, really, Chambliss is way up. But what we hear now is that there may be a lot of early votes that weren't counted. Is that right?
MURPHY: Yes, there were a lot of early votes that weren't counted. Another factor is that Georgia law -- you know, you get into these state by state rules. Georgia law requires not just a recount, but a revote. There will be a runoff in this race if he doesn't get over 50 percent of the vote. Right now, Chambliss has 49.9 percent of the vote. So he's not quite to 50 yet. So that will trigger that law.
If there is a recount, or, rather, a run-off, it will happen on happen December 2nd. Now, Republicans are stronger in Georgia. They have more institutional advancement. I mean they have a kind of better ground game down there. But if Barack Obama, a president-elect, came down to campaign with Jim Martin, who's the opponent there, that would help him out enormously. So that will be one to really, really watch. They would be almost to that 60 vote majority that the Democrats want. It would come down to Georgia.
SANCHEZ: But it's -- I mean, to get that 60 votes, I mean that super majority, as some are calling it, that's not -- it doesn't look likely, does it?
MURPHY: It does not.
SANCHEZ: It's not plausible, right?
MURPHY: It does -- it's not impossible, but it's also not likely. Coleman, again, it looks like he might win that race. Stevens looks real close in Alaska. So they'd have to go three for three.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MURPHY: And the Democrats aren't in strong positions in any three of those.
SANCHEZ: OK. Hey, you were great. Thanks so much, Patricia Murphy.
MURPHY: Oh, thanks.
SANCHEZ: I'm just saying --
MURPHY: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: I love the way you did that to me.
How will comedians be making fun of Barack Obama? What are they going to pick on? Bill Maher's take, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to this national conversation we call the 3:00 NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez.
We've got Facebook comments on the Baylor incident I told you about moments ago. And we also have lots of comments on the Sarah Palin/John McCain problems toward the end.
Let's go -- Johnny B. Good, nice turn there.
Let's start with the Twitter board. SanchezSuperfan: "Isn't all this Palin drama perfect example of what happens when your V.P. vetting process is a meeting and a phone call?"
Next, this is from Cho84: "I think it's become increasingly obvious that Palin was the V.P. pick of the RNC and not McCain's."
Interestingly, Steven Davis says: "Honestly, Rick, ask someone why McCain staffers blamed Palin when they are the ones that picked an unready V.P. candidate?"
And DocRemy says: "I am not surprised at Palin's actions. McCain knows that his choice took him down."
All right, let's go over to MySpace, if we can, Johnny. There it is. So, sorry. This is Facebook we're going to right there. Ernest Rhodes is watching us right now. He says: "As sad as the Baylor incident is, it does not surprise me." He says: "I'm so proud of our country's improvement in race relations, but we still have a long way to go."
Well, we'll continue to cover those kinds of issues, because we think it is it's revealing. Stephanie Elam is standing by for us right now in New York with what's going on with the market. It's looking pretty blue?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's looking pretty sad right now, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ELAM: But we are actually off of our lows of the day, but that doesn't really mean too much right now. We're off about 465 points right now, at 8670.
As we know, this is the most volatile time of trading, is this last hour of the day. And we've been sliding here. And a lot of it has to do with economic data that we've gotten today, Rick.
We take a look at things like four million people continuing to receive unemployment benefits. That shows people are having a hard time getting a job. We know so far already this year that we've had a plenitude of people who have lost their jobs. And for October, we're going to get that big jobs report for October tomorrow. People are saying just for October alone, we may have 200,000 job losses for just that period.
And if you take a look at a number like that and you get news like we did today from Mattel saying they're cutting a thousand jobs, you can see that the numbers are really mounting up for the rest of the year.
SANCHEZ: Well, and let me -- you know, there's an elephant in the room here that I have to ask you about, because a lot of people are probably going to be thinking about this. You've got a new guy who was elected president of the United States. I know he doesn't take over for quite a long time. But the moment after that decision is made, the market tanks two days in a row. Is there any connection? Can you give us any insight on that?
ELAM: You know, there's some stats on this, Rick, that says if a Democrat wins the White House, the day after the election tends to be down, but then the overall term of the president tends to do better than if it's a Republican.
Obviously, not all of these stats that we have -- although they sound like we're covering it like sports -- they all don't factor in when you've got so many other economic things factoring into the picture.
And right now, jobs is a huge issue. People are -- if they don't have money, they can't spend. And that's a big problem, because the economy is really driven -- two-thirds of it is driven by people spending.
So obviously, all of these things factor into what happens. But a lot of people are hoping that the president-elect will be able to make some changes.
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much, Stephanie. We appreciate that.
Wolf Blitzer is standing by now, as well. And we're going to check in with him and see what's coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Rick.
The transition begins with the naming of President-Elect Obama's chief of staff. So what does Rahm Emanuel as a point man about the Obama administration?
And the enormity of this moment in U.S. history far from lost on the son of a key civil rights leader. I'll talk about it with Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. .
And now that the election is over, the inside scoop on a big security breach of both political campaigns -- information coming out right now about who hacked campaign computers and why.
Plus, late night comedians have some fun with our hologram technology.
All that, Rick, and a lot more coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
SANCHEZ: All right, thanks so much. We appreciate it -- Wolf. We'll look forward to that.
By the way, we've just gotten a comment from Barack Obama on Rahm Emanuel and we're going to be sharing that with you.
Also, have you seen "Chelsea Lately?"
We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. We've got that comment now that we were telling you about moments ago from President-Elect Barack Obama. And here it is. I think we've got it up on the big board there. It essentially confirms what we had reported to you earlier, that Rahm Emanuel had been asked to take this position and that he had, as CNN reported earlier, accepted the position.
Now we have the confirmation of that coming from the other side -- the person who asked him to take the job. These are the words of Barack Obama. I put him up on Word here on the big screen just so you could see them. There we go: "I am pleased to announce that my good friend, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, has agreed to serve as my White House chief of staff. I announce this appointment first because the chief of staff is central to the ability of a president and administration to accomplish an agenda. And no one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel."
Pardon me. I misspoke.
With that now, lets take you to some of the other things that are being said about Barack Obama, including what comedian Bill Maher said last night when he was talking to Larry King about what he's going to do about Barack Obama when it comes to comedy. This and "Chelsea Lately".
Here we go with "The Fix."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: We have been spoiled, first with Bill Clinton and then George Bush. And here's a president now who -- he's not stupid. He's not angry. He's not a phony. He's not fat. He's not cheating on his wife. Who needs a jerk like that around for the next four years?
(LAUGHTER)
MAHER: I mean come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's actually reality. We don't have to sit through any bad comedies about what if a black guy gets in the White House. And then the old crutchy white people like, oh, what's going on? And then the hip hop music starts and then all of a sudden they get into it and you know exactly --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's always a bit (INAUDIBLE) futuristic movies. They always had black presidents. Now they're going to have to have like a gay Asian president.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you're like oh, my God, this must be the year 2095.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST: Now, according to exit polls, 70 percent of bisexuals say they voted for Barack Obama. That's interesting. Yes. Of course, when pressed, a hundred percent of bisexuals said I could go either way.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Interesting.
Now we're going to some of your comments, as well.
Let's to FrogQueen. She's watching us right now. An interesting name or a moniker, huh: "I'm not sure that I believe that Palin and her camp knew about the crank call. It sounds like a case of CYA on her part now. And we all know what that means."
Fred is watching us in Utah and he says: "You hit the nail on the head with Joe the flat tax -- with Joe about the flat tax. I would like to see a breakdown on flat tax not spreading wealth."
We agree with Fred and have done several stories on this on weekends, as a matter of fact. And we'll continue to look into it more.
Now the maps -- this is SanchezSuperfan who comes back with: "The maverick McCain didn't like Palin's behavior. Ahhahahahahaha."
And the ModelGourmet saying: "How about the interesting story of Palin coming out in a towel to speak with aides? Or better yet, Fox putting her down?"
And now let's go over to MySpace, if we can. This is about Ted Stevens and the question about Stevens actually being able to run nonetheless: "Can Ted Stevens legally hold a Senate seat as a convicted felon when convicted felons can't even vote for him? And this Baylor incident, shouldn't the Secret Service be arresting someone? Isn't that a threat against the president-elect?"
We'll continue to look into some of those questions, as well, as we follow things for you.
Let's go back out to Stephanie Elam now and see how the market is closing up for this day. I can't imagine it could have improved too much. We just talked to you about five minutes ago, right?
ELAM: And, Rick, you're right, it did not improve too much. Actually, we are sliding down near our lows of the day here. In fact, if we close at these levels, it will be one of the top 10 point losses so far.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ELAM: So, obviously, not a good sign there. And it really does come down to the economic indicators. Retailers having a rough time, as well, Rick, as they -- especially clothing retailers. People are holding back on their money.
If you think about the fact that we have 760,000 jobs lost so far this year through September, then you can definitely see why people would be holding back on what they're spending. That is obviously affecting the markets here. So looking at those retail numbers shows us the weakness.
Also, though, I can tell you, people are still going to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart actually did come in with some growth in their sales numbers. People trying to find a discount there.
But, you know, we got more news today about Mattel, saying that they're going to make these job cuts. If you look at that kind of news, it doesn't sound good, even though this is now November. It doesn't bode well for the October jobs report that we're going to get tomorrow. That's what a lot of the anxiety we've seen today has been about, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Hey, well --
ELAM: So we'll be keeping our eyes on it for tomorrow.
SANCHEZ: I know there's something going on with the market being down, because whenever the market is down, my hair gets very staticy, as a matter of fact, and it starts to like fly away all over the place.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: In fact, we've got somebody watching right now. DunSaid (ph) is saying to us: "What's the deal with your air conditioning unit there at CNN today? Is it set to full blast? Your hair movement is distracting."
I didn't even think about that. Is it moving?
I guess it actually is, Stephanie. It's moving an awful lot. There you go.
ELAM: There you get a wind from everywhere. You never know what's going on. You need more hairspray.
SANCHEZ: Yes, there you go. You just got me. I was going to do it the old-fashioned way.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Listen, is -- what are the chances that this thing could start to turn around in the next couple of days, because, one day is bad, two days is real bad and three days starts to give people heart conditions up there, doesn't it?
ELAM: Well, you know, it's a very volatile time. And right now, the market is trying to find if there's a bottom here. But until we get better data backing itself up and up, then it will get better for us, Rick. But right now, not today.
SANCHEZ: Yes. All right. We'll look for it tomorrow. Thanks, Stephanie, for filling us in.
ELAM: Sure.
SANCHEZ: Wolf Blitzer taking things over now.
He's in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Rick.
