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President Barack Obama Speaks at Minnesota Rally; Palin Fires Up Tea Party Rally; Amputee Redefines "Disabled"; One on One with Harry Reid

Aired October 23, 2010 - 17:20   ET

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

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. You are watching our coverage of the final sprint to the 2010 midterm elections. Here we bring you live and unfiltered, unedited speeches by some of the candidates and some of their top name supporters. Just this past hour, you saw Sarah Palin speaking here live in Orlando, Florida, where I am. But we have much more coming up. And Ed Henry, my colleague in Las Vegas, takes us to more of it.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Jessica. I'm here because the president of the United States walked up here and had a big rally. Last night, some 9,000 people here in Las Vegas for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He's in a very difficult Senate battle here against Republican Sharron Angle. A lot at stake. This could be the race that decides who controls the U.S. Senate in January. Also, you just heard from the president, pretty fiery speech there at the University of Minnesota. But we're going to be crisscrossing the country through this last hour of BALLOT BOWL for today. Jessica, as she noted, she is down there in Florida. They've got a very hot Senate race.

And CNN exclusively is going to have a debate tomorrow morning, Sunday morning exclusive only here on CNN. We'll going to bring you some details about that. We're also going to be going to Nevada, as I mentioned. A big Senate battle. I had a one on one exclusive with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid early this morning. He was trying to canvas with some of his volunteers, canvas for votes and he had some pretty tough talk for Sharron Angle and her claim in recent debate that it was time for him to, quote, unquote, "man up." We'll also be going to Pennsylvania. An update on that top of Senate race. Some Democrats thought, maybe it was gone, that the Republican Pat Toomey was going to win easily. But Joe Sestak, the democrat has stormed back. We'll have a live report there. We'll also go to Washington State. Vice President Joe Biden was stumping there for Senator Patty Murray. She's in a tough battle.

And Jessica, I'm not too good at Math, but when I heard the president say a little while ago, there's a lot more change to come, we're just in the fourth quarter, if after two years we're just in the first quarter, and there's fourth quarters in most football games as I recall, that would add up to eight years. Sounds like maybe the president is at least thinking about eight years in office. And that this midterm hitch is something we're going to be hearing again in 2012 about how you need to stand with them to keep the change going. YELLIN: Even I get that sports analogy and it does sound like he is doing a little bit of foreshadowing and trying to build a lot of momentum. We can talk about more of that. We do need to get a quick break in. And Ed, when we come back on the other side of this, we'll going to talk to Candy Crowley, CNN's own host, "STATE OF THE UNION" who will be moderating that sort to be fiery Senate debate here in Florida tomorrow. That's on the other side of this break. So, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENRY: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL. I'm Ed Henry. This is really your one-stop shop for the final sprint to the midterm elections. You just heard live from President Obama at the University of Minnesota. I've been tracking him for the last few days, out west here in Las Vegas where he had a big rally for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last night. It is been interesting, because he's been drawing very large crowds here out west, especially at college campuses. But a quick insight from what happened Wednesday night in Portland, Oregon. The president had a large crowd and that's an early voting state. People can vote by mail, et cetera. The president asked for a show of hands, how many people out there have gotten that early ballot and have not yet mailed it in?

I was surprised to see about 70, 80 percent of the people in the crowd said they had the ballots but had not sent them in yet. The president said, look, you got to get this in and I raise that, because when they toss to my colleague Jessica Yellin in Florida, Jessica, there's a lot of enthusiasm among Democrats right now that these large rallies where you're hearing shouts of "yes, we can." And the president trying to relive some of the magic of 2008. That is going to close the enthusiasm gap with Republicans. But if these people who go to the rallies but don't show up in November 2nd or don't send in that ballot by mail, it's not going to amount to a lot for Democrats.

YELLIN: That's right, Ed. And one of the whole purposes of those rallies you're talking about is to get them to actually close the deal, go out and vote. I'm in a state that has a majority of registered voters or Democrats, and so far in the early voting tallies, more Republicans have voted early than democrat, which is a measure, you know, by the analyst of enthusiasm, and if it is a predictor of who turns out to vote, obviously does not bode terribly well for Democrats. That's why they described a depressed turnout, if there is to be one, we've yet to see. And I'm here in Orlando because there was just a big rally here with Sarah Palin, Michael Steele, and Marco Rubio, who is running for U.S. Senate in the republican ticket in Florida.

He took off, he left before Sarah Palin finished her speech. She even introduced him and he wasn't on the stage anymore. She gave him a shot and he wasn't there but he was headed over to Tampa, Florida, where he will be holding, joining debate, a CNN debate that is going to be moderated by our own Candy Crowley. Candy, it's a long intro to you but I'm getting to you. There in Tampa, and I wanted to ask you about the debate.

(CROSSTALK)

CANDY CROWLEY, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're at least in the same faith.

YELLIN: One of the -- for a change, right? This is one of the more unusual races because there are three people in the race. A democrat, a republican and an independent. Three fiery men, has been a pretty nasty race. I'm wondering, have you considered how you're going to handle all those three men at once?

(LAUGHTER)

CROWLEY: Well, sometimes I learn that sometimes you have to just speak louder than the person you're trying to interrupt. But we'll see. It's a pretty small table for having five people around it. I have a colleague who is going to come in and join me (INAUDIBLE). So as you know, it's a little bit easier to interrupt somebody when you're right there. Then, we sometimes do on those remote, so, there is that, but there is also we've sort of decided on this format where somebody has a minute to answer the question, the others have 30 seconds to get back to them. There is not light, nothing like that. But we're hoping they stick to it, but I think to your point of, we expect it to be an active debate? We certainly do. Why?

Because, you know, time is running short. What have they got? Nine, 10 days after tomorrow to try to convince people to come out and vote for them. And if you're ahead, as Marco Rubio the republican is, what you want to do is not make any mistakes. So, I suspect, you'll say -- common collected. But if you are Charlie Crist, the current governor who is running as an independent, or Kendrick Meek, the democrat, who is running other democratic ticket, what you want to do is try to rile Marco Rubio and try to really kind of draw blood as we say. Try to make him trip up. Now, they haven't really been able to do that so far, but I think if you're looking at the three of them, that really is, I think they both go after Marco Rubio at this point.

HENRY: Candy, I've been tracking President Obama out west here, and I was surprised to see we got a peek at his calendar, his schedule for next weekend, the pivotal last weekend before these midterms. Florida, the ultimate swing state was not on it. Now, some fully of Ohio is even more of a swing state, that is on the list. For the final weekend, there's four states, Pennsylvania another big one, Connecticut as well, as the president's home state of Illinois because of that big Senate race. But Florida was not on the list. Is there disappointment in Kendrick Meek's camp because, it seems that send the signal that the White House doesn't believe he's within striking distance?

CROWLEY: Well, certainly, you have to do that and you have to follow the money and you watch with these various democratic committees are doing and where they're putting the money and it's not here, frankly. It's not toward Kendrick Meek. But they will -- the Meek campaign will say to you, listen, we've had a lot of support. I mean, listen, there is no one who has supported the White House more really on Capitol Hill than Kendrick Meek. We look up his voting record, 98 percent of the time he voted with Nancy Pelosi, the speaker which generally it was a vote for President Obama. And so, you can understand that he is having a tough time down here because not only is it a three-way race and he's got an independent governor who used to be a republican, Charlie Crist, who is going after the democratic votes, the independent votes, and the republican votes.

And then you have Kendrick Meek who is trying to keep all those Democrats with him. And so far, what we've seen, particularly here in Florida, there was a really interesting poll, Quinnipiac that showed that 52 percent of likely voters want the person that goes to the Senate to oppose the president. That's just a tough road for a democrat who 98 percent of the time voted with the president. But they don't publicly acknowledge that this is a slight or this is any indication that he can't win.

YELLIN: All right. That's one of the reasons we're all going to watch your debate tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m on "STATE OF THE UNION" We have seen these men go at it before. It does get fiery, so we all look forward to it. Candy, good luck. Have fun with that.

CROWLEY: Thanks, Jessica.

YELLIN: And to all our viewers, coming up on the other side of this break, we're going to replay for you some of the sound that -- some of the comments Sarah Palin made here earlier and talk to you about it. Talk about it with Shannon Travis, one of our own reporters who has been on the road with the Tea Party express. That's coming up. So, don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. We are countdown to the 2010 midterm elections. I'm Jessica Yellin in Orlando, Florida, I'm joined by CNN Ed Henry who is in Las Vegas. And we just brought you a speech by Sarah Palin who is speaking in this auditorium in Orlando, Florida, to some die hard Republicans who came out for a fundraiser to hear her rally the troops and get out the vote and deliver her message. Part of her message was a very hard knock on President Obama. You might recall earlier this week, President Obama, in a speech of his own, told voters who were sitting with him that one of the reasons this has been a tough election for Democrats is that people are upset, and because people are upset, they are not thinking clearly. Well, Sarah Palin used that phrase, she said -- used that turn of phrase to -- against the president and she ran with it in a rift here that got the crowd going. We wanted to replay that for you. This was Sarah Palin speaking just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Friends, the president is now telling us that we're not thinking straight because of all the fear and frustration that Americans have. He claims facts, science and arguments aren't winning the day because we're not thinking straight, quote unquote. Well, you know, Mr. President, you've got it right on one point there. We are afraid, knowing that your economic policies are driving us off a cliff. And knowing that your fundamental transformation of America is turning into a nightmare. This is not the America that the rest of the people want. This is not the America the patriots fought and died for and are still dying for today. This is not the America that Floridians fight for to protect, to persevere through every day.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: So Ed, it sounds like Sarah Palin making the argument that President Obama's language suggests that he's out of touch with what real Americans are feeling. Obviously that is not what the White House would say he meant there. But as you and I discussed before, this was -- when he said that, we all knew people were going to listen and those are going to be the words people would be talking about.

HENRY: Oh, absolutely. And you saw Sarah Palin jump all over it. And somebody who has been tracking Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement, as closely as anyone is CNN own Shannon Travis. We find him today in Los Angeles. And Shannon, I wonder if you could weigh in. Monday of this past week, you had a nice exclusive with Sarah Palin, you caught up with her, I believe right here in Nevada, in fact, as the Tea Party express started rolling yet again. Assess for us the impact of the Tea Party. Much earlier in this cycle, it seems like they were having a major impact now in states like here in Nevada, we see candidates like Sharron Angle kind of almost running from the media. Some question about whether or not she can beat Harry Reid.

In Delaware, Christine O'Donnell also having problems of her own.

What's the state of the Tea Party Movement right now and some of their key candidates as Sarah Palin tries to drum up support for them?

TRAVIS: Well, they would say that they're fired up. They would say that they have the enthusiasm, the encouragement and the momentum on their side.

Obviously, if you feel you're in a political war, which this - the Tea Party activists feel they are, they want to fire up the troops, and the one person who really, really does that is Sarah Palin. Which is why you heard some of the scorched earth criticism of the president in his policies today there in Orlando where Jessica is, why you heard it yesterday in her surprise appearance here in Phoenix, and, as you mentioned, her kicking off the Tea Party Express fourth national tour in Reno.

In terms of those candidates, I've been talking to a lot of the Tea Party activists and some of the well known names within the movement. They're just saying, hey, some of the missteps that maybe Christine O'Donnell is going through, some of the controversies or what have you, some of the things that Joe Miller in Alaska has been involved in, does that give you any pause, does that make you maybe think twice about endorsing them, supporting them, and they are emphatic - they are emphatic that the Tea Party Movement is firmly behind the candidates that they've endorsed so far this cycle.

They believe that it's possibly a little bit of a media bias, some of the controversies that we focused on. They're emphatically behind their candidates and they feel like, once again, that Sarah Palin is the one to get out their message and fire up the troops. So they're encouraged, Ed.

YELLIN: The Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell -

HENRY: That's great (ph).

YELLIN: -- said that Republicans and including Tea Party Republicans, should be cautious and aware that when they get to Washington, there's only so much they can do. They're not going to be able to enact the Tea Party agenda whole claw (ph) because it's the government that doesn't work that way. That's how I put his words - his exact words.

I wonder how that kind of message would resonate among the Tea Party activists that you spend most of your days covering right now.

TRAVIS: I mean, that's - it's an excellent question.

There may be a harsh reality for a lot of these Tea Party candidates actually wind up winning and going on to Congress and the Senate and the House, that they may have to fall in line with the ways that they rail against right now, the Washington ways that they rail against. Because some of them will be - let's face it, they'll be freshman Congress - members of Congress. They may not have that much power and there may be a strict enforcement of going along with towing the party line.

So you hear right now a lot of Tea Party backed candidates with slogans and railing against the Washington establishment. But they may actually have to fall in line with that. I spoke with a Utah Senator, Bob Bennett. You know, he actually lost his re-election bid to a Tea Party candidate. And he said to me essentially, hey, slogans are not governing. Once you get here, you can have all the slogans that you want out on the campaign trail, but once you get here, you've got to govern. And in his words he feels that the Tea Party Movement has yet to clearly articulate a governing philosophy and they've done really well sloganeering, but not at advancing or at least articulating a governing philosophy.

So it's a great question, Jessica, whether these Tea Party candidates, who, if they win, how they'll be able to actually govern once they're there.

HENRY: Well, CNN's Shannon Travis bringing us some insights about the Tea Party Movement.

Next weekend, we're going to have a documentary in fact that Shannon will bring us only on CNN "BOILING POINT, INSIDE THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT" next weekend, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time, something that we'll all be watching closely coming on the eve of this midterm election.

Something else we'll watch very closely is the Senate battle right here where I am in Las Vegas. The battle for Nevada and Sharron Angle taking on -

TRAVIS: OK. Cool. Thank you.

HENRY: -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Early this morning, I caught up with Senator Reid. He was basically meeting with volunteers here in Las Vegas as they were getting ready for phone banking, getting the vote out drives, and he had some sharp words for Sharron Angle and her criticism of him in basically saying "Man up, Harry Reid" in that debate. He's going to respond, the Majority leader will right here on BALLOT BOWL after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. More BALLOT BOWL in a moment, but first to look at the top stories making headlines.

The website WikiLeaks.org has published volumes of what it says are secret documents on the Iraq War. The documents raise the previously reported civilian death toll by about 15,000. Both U.S and British military officials condemn the unauthorized release of the classified material.

In Juarez, Mexico, another horrific crime. Gunman open fired on a house party last night killing at least 11 people, as many as seven others were wounded. The victims all young people between the ages of 15 and 25. No word of a motive. Juarez is at the epicenter of Mexico's battle against drug gangs and has become one of the world's deadliest cities.

And In Haiti, one tragedy on top of another. A cholera outbreak has killed more than 200 people. At least 2, 300 are sick. Officials fear the deadly infection could spread to the camps where thousands of earthquake victims still live in squalid conditions. The cholera outbreak comes after recent heavy rains.

In our new series "The Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta has brought us some inspiring stories. Today, he profiles a remarkable woman, a double amputee who have gone on to become a successful actress, model and athlete.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Aimee Mullins wants to redefine "disabled".

AIMEE MULLINS, ACTRESS, ATHLETE, AMPUTEE: The thesaurus entries I found when looking up "disabled", it was shocking. You know, it starts off with wrecked, stalled, maimed - maimed, lame, mutilated. And at first, it was almost humorous as I was reading and thinking you can't be serious.

GUPTA: At one-year-old, Mullins became a double amputee. She was born without fibula bones in her legs and doctors amputated what was left. Having never met another amputee until she turned 18, life with prosthetics was challenging.

MULLINS: When I was a teenager, you know, at junior high, I would have traded prosthetics for flesh and bone legs in a heartbeat.

GUPTA: But look at what she's accomplished. As I said, Aimee is redefining the very term "disabled".

MULLINS: The shift for me was going through this process of, you know, wishing I was something else, to acceptance, and then to celebration, having fun with it. To then deciding actually I determine what my strengths and weaknesses are.

GUPTA: It's that determination that propelled Mullins to become a successful actress, a model and athlete. She was named one of "People" magazine's 50 most beautiful people in the world. She's modeled high fashion in London. She broke world track and field records in the 100 meter, 200 meter in long jump events. And when she's not competing, she spends her free time working with the Women's Sports Foundation.

MULLINS: And we - we use this phrase a lot and say, you know, in spite of having prosthetic legs -

GUPTA (on camera): Right, right.

MULLINS: -- she's been able to accomplish X, Y and Z. And I find I was able to articulate why I was always frustrated with that this year, and it was - it's because of having prosthetic legs that I've been able to accomplish X, Y and Z.

GUPTA (voice-over): To Mullins, her prosthetics are a source of strength, not disability. And that's a message she wishes everyone could hear.

MULLINS: Ultimately, one day, if I could just be Aimee Mullins, it doesn't have to be presses (ph) with disabled athlete or whatever.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is fighting for his political life. Our Ed Henry got a one-on-one interview today. You'll see it next as BALLOT BOWL continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENRY: Well, we're back at BALLOT BOWL. I'm Ed Henry in Las Vegas.

And what's interesting is President Obama was here last night. He woke up in Vegas before going on to that fiery speech at the University of Minnesota, because he was here trying to help Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the fight of his political life.

I get up early this morning to go over to the state Democratic Party headquarters here in Las Vegas to catch up with Senator Reid. He was trying to rally a very small group of his volunteers who were doing phone banks, also trying to canvas neighborhoods here this weekend in the final 10 days before this midterm elections. And I have to say that even though he's in the fight of his political life, Senator Reid was expressing confidence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: I cover you a long time, I haven't seen - I haven't seen you get emotional like that when you were just talking about your wife, the accident, you said it's been a long eight months. I assume you were referring to the political attacks, as well. It's been a long eight months.

HARRY REID (D), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Well, it's been a long eight months. You know, I've had to run the Senate, got the campaign going and be concerned about my wife.

HENRY: You mentioned that your wife is at your D.C. condo, that's the condo that Sharron Angle is now hitting you for. She's trying to portray you as a millionaire out of touch with the constituents here. That ad has to sting.

REID: Well, anyone that's fact checked it knows that it's garbage. John Ralston, the local pundit, said he gave it an F.

But, you know, she's desperate. And she's trying to do, I guess, I don't know what kind of politics it would be. A local columnist said it looked like she was trying to be a socialist, class warfare. That's what (INAUDIBLE) yesterday.

HENRY: So what about the debate moment that everyone has been talking about ever since, "Man up, Harry Reid," what - what was that about?

REID: Well, Ed, this is what her and her kind all around this country are using, this is part of the talking points of the right wing Republicans. But, you know, that's one thing I've never had to prove, whether it was in the street or the ring or in the Senate. My manhood has never been in question.

HENRY: The person who was fighting with you last night was President Obama. I've been following him and that is why I'm here now. He's been getting pretty big crowds.

What does that do for you in the final days to get a boost from your president like?

REID: Well, we've had some good boosts. My friends have been here. People I worked with in the Senate. Ken Salazar, wonderful story of someone making it in America. Secretary Chu has been here, a Nobel Prize winning scientist. Senator Biden, my friend, the vice president was here talking in Reno. The president was here yesterday doing good things. And of course, the day before the election, Michelle Obama will be here.

So these are - these are people I've developed relationships with and one reason I've been able to do so much for the State of Nevada.

HENRY: It's a good thing for you, but on the other hand doesn't it suggest that your friends are pretty worried about you for the first lady to come here the day before the election. There are a lot of other states that need help for them to help the majority leader that late in the game suggests you're in deep trouble.

REID: Well, I don't think they think I'm in deep trouble. They know where the numbers are just like I do. I think - I think that you're only looking at one side of it. She's bringing in all of these outside people like Sheriff Arpio, like Newt Gingrich, who I'm smirking is going to run for president. But, I mean, she's bringing in people all the time, all the outsiders.

This is what campaigns are all about. People coming in from the outside draw crowds and that helps your base. And so I'm happy that my friends are willing to come here for me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Well, the Senate majority leader there had started talking out emotionally to some of his volunteers about how rough the last eight months have been. He was referring to the personal aspects of this. His wife was in a tremendous car accident eight months ago, broke her neck, her back. She's recovering now, but he was also talking about the political attacks he's endured (ph).

This is a tight race. This is going to help decide this Nevada Senate race. Who controls the U.S. senate come January. But what's fascinating about this midterm election is that we have dead heats from coast to coast and when we come back on BALLOT BOWL we're going to have our senior political editor, Mark Preston go coast to coast and give us the big picture and let you know what's really at stake in the midterm elections right here on BALLOT BOWL in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Jessica Yellin in Orlando, Florida. I'm joined, again, by Ed Henry in Las Vegas, Nevada. And also now, Mark Preston, our political editor who has staked out ground in Tampa, Florida, where CNN will host two big debates tomorrow, a debate with the senators, the Florida senators hosted by Candy Crowley and on - on Monday, John King hosting a governor's debate.

A lot of big stuff happening, Mark, and I was wondering if you could help us lay out in the big picture one of the reasons why everything matters. Why races even not in your own state matter is because next year we start redistricting.

And we have a little graphic we're going to put up quickly, just some examples. This is an example of what's going to happen in some states. We will see an increase in the number of seats people have in the House of Representatives or a decrease in the number of seats states have in the House of Representatives. And it's up to state governments to decide if Democrats or Republicans will be the ones gaining or losing those seats. It's pretty simplistic way to put it, but in the end it's kind of true, state governments could sort of shift the balance of power in Congress. And that's why you should care about some of these elections outside your own state.

Mark, you've covered Congress for many, many years. I'm wondering if it's - if you have seen actual shifts in power because of redistricting.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Sure, Jessica. And it's called the 10-year plan. In fact, you have that story up on CNN.com right now.

I mean, look, redistricting is the - is the story that the voters don't really know about. You don't hear about it that much, but in fact, it really is determinative of control of Congress, control of the Senate every 10 years. If Republicans are able to take back more governorships, if they're able to take back control of more Houses and state Senates, they're going to be the ones drawing the Congressional lines. And when they draw those lines, they're going to draw those lines into their favor.

Let me just break this down for a couple of bullet points. What's on the line heading into November 2nd? Republicans need to pick up 39 seats in Congress, Jessica, to take back control of the House. They need 10 seats in the Senate. A net gain of 10 seats to take back control of that chamber.

Now, if you're going to talk to political handicappers, they will tell you that it looks like Republicans have a very good shot of taking that control of the House. Senate is a little bit of a steeper climb. And we're seeing out in Nevada, of course, today President Obama on behalf of Harry Reid and, of course, President Obama in his closing days is going to be spending a lot of time trying to make sure he's able to keep that majority in the Senate - Jessica.

HENRY: Mark (INAUDIBLE) -

YELLIN: I'm going to toss it over to Ed in Las Vegas.

HENRY: You mentioned the president talk - and talk about his impact, Mark, because there's a feeling within the Democratic Party that the president laying it all on the line here has close the enthusiasm gap. Do you believe he has?

PRESTON: Yes, yes. I think it has closed the enthusiasm gap. And bottom line, Ed, if the president loses control of the House of Representatives and if he loses control of the Senate, the next two years are going to look entirely different for the president than we've seen these two previous years - Ed.

HENRY: A lot at stake for the American people in this - in this midterm election. A lot at stake for the president of the United States. The next two years of his presidency could largely be defined by the makeup of the next House, the next Senate, so much on the line.

I want to thank Mark Preston. I want to thank my colleague, Jessica Yellin, in Orlando for taking us through these three hours, really fascinating from coast to coast.

You're going to see more of BALLOT BOWL next week in the final weekend before this midterm election. And you're going to see the entire "Best Political Team on Television" take you through election night but also beyond. We'll be measuring the fallout. Thanks for joining us on BALLOT BOWL. "SITUATION ROOM" weekend edition is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)