Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Fighting for Control of Congress; Midterms Seen as Referendum on Presidency; San Francisco Takes World Series; Marijuana on the Ballots in Four States Today; Keeping Up With the Elections: The Latest Technology; What Pakistan Thinks About U.S. Elections; Elections' Effect on the Troops; Goodbye "Government Motors"?
Aired November 02, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: There is so much to watch today and tonight. Must-see television all day.
Kyra, you have a great one. Good to see you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: You too, Tony.
HARRIS: Good morning.
Where's my mark?
Good morning, everyone.
After a long, bitter and expensive political campaign, it is finally your turn to have your say. Yay! Election Day in the 2010 midterms.
Republicans and Democrats fighting for control of Congress. According to the polls and pundits, Republicans are poised to make big gains.
And CNN is the place for up-to-the-minute election coverage. You are looking at -- let's see here -- live pictures from Ohio and Florida.
Polls are open in most of the country right now. Voting is getting under way right now this hour in Alaska. Polls up in Hawaii in less than two hours.
Many of the candidates were out early casting their ballots. House Minority Leader John Boehner voted in West Chester, Ohio. Boehner is poised to become House Speaker if Republicans take control.
Vice President Joe Biden headed to the polls in Wilmington, Delaware. The Senate race there will decide who gets his old seat.
Republican Christine O'Donnell is in a race against Democrat Chris Coons for that seat. O'Donnell voted in Wilmington this morning.
One of the hot races to watch, the Nevada Senate race. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Tea Party Republican Sharron Angle are locked in a high-stakes showdown.
CNN's Jim Acosta live now from Las Vegas.
Jim, good morning to you.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
You know, if this is the year of the Tea Party, then this race right here will tell you whether or not the Tea Party is going to walk away with the ultimate prize, and that is taking down the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid.
This is a very tight race. The polls show Sharron Angle, the Republican candidate, Tea Party-backed candidate in this race, with a slight edge so far, and it is already getting ugly on Election Day.
As you know, this has been a nasty race on the airwaves. It is ugly already this morning.
Sharron Angle sent out an e-mail to her supporters this morning saying, "Harry Reid is out to steal his election," in her words, "with his union henchmen." So the hyperbole has already ratcheted up to 11 at this point.
And in the last 24 hours, what you've seen from both of these campaigns is these candidates trying to fire up their respective bases. You had Senator Reid with Michelle Obama yesterday. And Sharron Angle, she was doing a round of conservative talk show interviews last night, appearing on Fox News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I'm not finished fighting the big banks. They know it.
I'm not finished fighting the insurance companies.
(APPLAUSE)
They know it.
I'm not finished fighting the oil companies.
(APPLAUSE)
Banks, insurance companies and these oil companies take advantage of us. We've got to keep fighting to stop it.
(APPLAUSE)
And I'm not finished fighting for you.
(APPLAUSE)
I want you to join me in this fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: When he went in as Senate majority leader, we were at 4.4 percent unemployment. And now, as you point out, we're at 14.4 percent unemployment.
But when you put in the underemployed and those who have quit looking for jobs, we're really at 22.3 percent unemployment, and we lay those squarely at Harry Reid's doorstep. He's the one that pushed, promoted and made deals for those poor public policies that have absolutely crushed our economy here in Nevada.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And both of these campaigns here, Tony, I hate to even introduce this word into the national dialogue today, but they are already bracing for a recount here in Nevada because this race is that close. The general counsel for the Harry Reid campaign worked on the Minnesota Senate recount that you'll recall that involved Al Franken and Norm Coleman a couple of years ago, and the National Republican Senate Committee is also here. They have their own lawyers in place, also bracing for that possibility that this election could go down to the wire.
The balance could be counted into the wee hours, and possibly into tomorrow. And keep this in mind -- in 1998, Harry Reid won a Senate race by less than 500 votes. So they have done this here before -- Tony.
HARRIS: Wow. You know, when you think about the number of races that are so close right now, I think you're right to introduce that terminology, "recount."
ACOSTA: I don't want to.
HARRIS: Yes, no one wants to, but we may have to say that word a lot in the coming days.
Jim, good to see you.
OK. The 2010 election will go down as the most expensive midterm in history. The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog, says almost $4 billion have been spent, and we're just recovering barely from a recession. That tops 2006, the previous most expensive midterm, by $1 billion. The center says there are two reasons for the big increase -- more competitive races and last spring's Supreme Court decision that allows groups to spend willy- nilly on political advertising.
A dustup over a political ad in North Carolina involving Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman. A Republican congressional candidate ran a commercial his staff said featured Freeman as the narrator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what Congressman David Price is afraid of. Over his two decades in office, he's forgotten the values --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Yes, sounds genuine. It turns out, though, it was an impersonator.
A spokesman for the candidate, B.J. Lawson, says the campaign was duped by a California media company. But in a statement today, MEI Political says it made it clear to the campaign verbally and in writing that a voice double would be used. The Lawson campaign has pulled the spot and issued apologies.
His name is not on the ballot today, but the midterm elections are viewed as a referendum on President Obama's first two years in office.
White House Correspondent Dan Lothian joining us live now.
And Dan, first of all, what are we hearing from the president today?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president is behind closed doors, if you will. He is not out there on the campaign trail, but we are hearing his voice, because he taped three syndicated radio shows yesterday, will also be doing some live shows today.
The message from the president as voters head to the polls today is, if you have voted, then make sure that you tell otherwise to vote, your family members, your friends, your colleagues as well. And the president laying out what's at stake and trying to hit some targeted audiences sort of out of the box.
We've seen the president on "The View." We saw him on "The Daily Show." And he was on the Ryan Seacrest radio show this morning. Of course, Ryan Seacrest, who's the host of "American Idol," the popular show.
The president talked about a whole host of issues, but in particular what's at stake in this election, pointing out that the economy has been hit hard, that this problem was much bigger than anyone anticipated, but that he wants voters to give not only Democrats, but Americans -- but everyone in Congress a chance to repair the problem. The president also went after the negative ads he saw during this campaign season.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So much of the information just comes in the form of negative ads. And I don't watch a lot of TV, but I know that you've had several billion dollars worth of negative ads playing in media markets all across the country, and that doesn't really give you a good sense of what's taking place out there. You know, what I think most Americans recognize is that it took us a while to get into the economic difficulties we're in, and it's going to take a while to get out.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: So the president will be on radio shows in Chicago, Miami, Jacksonville and Las Vegas, this last-minute push to try to get as many people out there to the polls. The president pointing out -- we heard this over the weekend in Cleveland -- that if people can get energized and turn out the way that they did in 2008, then he believes the Democrats can do well in this election as well -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Dan, maybe a little later we can get you back and we can ask you the question what the president does moving forward with this new Congress, in whatever shape it ends up being in. Maybe we can get you back and ask you that question a little later.
Dan Lothian at the White House for us.
Dan, Appreciate it. Thank you.
Join CNN and "The Best Political Team on Television" for "Election Night in America." We will bring you up-to-the-minute election results, plus insight and analysis of the crucial midterm races. Coverage begins tonight at 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
Making sure your vote counts, we are tracking any irregularities at the polls.
And Rob Marciano is tracking your Election Day forecast -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've got that, which includes a Gulf storm that's inundating southeast Texas and Louisiana with rainfall. Now just in, a tornado warning out for Assumption Parish in southeast Louisiana .
We'll deal with that, plus Tomas. The forecast from the National Hurricane Center updated and in, and it strengthens it to a Category 2 storm. The track is still coming.
CNN NEWSROOM is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Here at CNN, we are keeping our eyes on reports, problems at polling stations across the country. Josh is here covering -- let's call it the voting irregularity desk.
Josh, what are you hearing?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let's call it that, Tony.
Actually, I've got something that's breaking for us. You know, what we're doing at this desk all day, we are tracking these reports as they come. We're hearing from you, hearing from people around the country.
We have a team here making all sorts of calls as information comes out about potential problems at precincts. Let me tell you about this.
We were just speaking with the executive director of North Carolina's State Board of Elections, and he's telling our team here that there were actually a couple of problems where the wrong ballots were handed out at two precincts. And in those two precincts, House Districts 18 and 16, if the number of errors end up being bigger than the margin of victory for someone, they might have to do new elections there. So that's just coming in as an example of what we have been hearing.
Now, let me take you through a couple more of these.
This is also out of North Carolina. Something interesting happened there.
In Surry County, some Republicans and Libertarians were initially unable to vote even though they had every reason to be able to vote. And the reason was that the wrong registry lists were being used. This area, by mistake, was using the registry list from the Democratic primary instead of the overall one for the general election.
But officials there tell us that's been fixed, they have all that worked out right. Everyone is able to vote. No one disenfranchised.
This is one we got earlier today out of Pennsylvania. We're hearing about this, some absentee ballots that were properly filled out were actually sent back to the people who filled them out instead of going where they're supposed to go. And the reason there is that the bar codes were read wrong, the officials there tell us they're taking care of it. They even sent officials to those people's houses to pick up those ballots and make sure all the votes are counted.
One more thing to tell you about, Tony. This is New York. We're getting some video here of people voting in New York.
You know, in New York, there are not any major problems that have been reported so far, no voting issues, but major teams of people watching out in the city, and the reason is, back in September, in the primary, they had a mess of problems when all New York City boroughs reported problems that day from privacy issues to polls opening late.
It was the first time that New York City had used electronic voting machines. So, today in the city, they've got a 311 customer service line to track problems, and the mayor has set up a special Twitter system, basically using a hashtag in the city. And the mayor has officials watching for those.
Lots of officials saying they're going to make sure the problems are not repeated this time. And that's what we're seeing that around the country, a lot of people saying we're doing everything we can to avoid it. If you're having a problem here, you can repot it. Show us your story at my Facebook and Twitter pages, JoshLevsCNN. Go to the blog, CNN.com/Josh. Let us know the specifics and how to get in touch with you.
Tony, we're not moving. We're going to be here all day.
HARRIS: That's terrific.
LEVS: A big team of us getting all the info we can.
HARRIS: And we're going to try not to get frustrated today. When you consider all of the votes to be cast and the number of ballots all over the country, you're going to see some irregularities. But I'm not going to get frustrated over some that we hear of. But you'd think we do this every two years, we could get this thing right in every district.
LEVS: And with all the technology, we have to do so much. It shouldn't be so hard. But hey, so far, so good.
HARRIS: So far, so good. All right, Josh. Appreciate it.
LEVS: You got it.
HARRIS: Today is Election Day, but millions of Americans made their picks before the polls opened this morning. So just how many people said they would be voting early? Is it A, 17 percent; B, 20 percent; or C, 23 percent? The answer in 90 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. So let's start with the answer to our question.
Twenty-three percent of likely voters said they planned to cast their ballot before Election Day, according to the Pew Research Center. Almost one in four. That's a jump of about eight percentage points from the last midterm elections in '06.
Breaking out the champagne in California. Let's see some of these pictures. The San Francisco Giants are World Series champions.
And Randy Moss out. In the words of the great Fredricka Whitfield, "What the what?" Randy Moss cut after playing just four games for the Minnesota Vikings.
Let's get to Max Kellerman with HBO Sports.
Max, good to see you.
Look, Max, great for the Giants and that wonderful city of San Francisco. But this wasn't a fall classic. This wasn't even good inter-league play. We don't have a new rivalry here, Max. We have a series we never want to see again. MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I would say the quality of play was quite good if you like pitching, for instance, from the San Francisco side. And Tony, what we saw was evidence of a lot of interesting things, especially on the San Francisco side.
One, Tim Lincecum. Tim Lincecum is the big story that comes out as an individual player in this World Series.
Lincecum is 26 years old. He's pitched in the big leagues for four years. He had a good rookie year, then he won consecutive Cy Young Awards.
But the question was, how would he respond under the big lights, with the real pressure on? And it seemed to many, including me, that guys like Roy Halladay would perform maybe better than Lincecum. He just gave you that impression. And Cliff Lee, based on his resume, would.
Well, Lincecum had another very good year this year, his fourth in the big leagues, and then beat Roy Halladay in the playoffs, and he beat Cliff Lee twice in the World Series. At this moment in time, the best argument you can make as to who is the best pitcher in baseball given all the evidence is Tim Lincecum.
And, Tony, he's had one of the best beginnings of a career in the history of any American team sport. He's an amazing story, Lincecum.
HARRIS: Hey, what about our friends in Texas here, the Rangers? Were they overmatched? OK, you battle against other pitchers other than Lincecum. Were the Rangers overmatched, overwhelmed by the occasion?
KELLERMAN: Bumgarner is the lefty, the 21-year-old lefty who also pitched brilliantly. (INAUDIBLE).
But as you mentioned, the Rangers also have very good pitching, some good young pitching like Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson and, of course, the great Cliff Lee. And the truth of the matter is, Tony, in the NBA the best team usually wins. It's the nature of the sport almost always in the best of seven series.
Luck plays a lesser factor than in baseball, which is fundamentally probabilistic. So, who should have won this series? Well, in a short series, pitching and defense outweighs offense, usually. And the Giants had a slight edge in pitching and defense, I think. And the fact is they probably also got a little lucky to win in five games.
If these two teams played each other in the best of seven series 100 times, maybe the Giants would win more of those series than the Rangers. The Rangers would probably win of those best of seven sometimes. And I don't think it would frequently end in five.
HARRIS: The Randy Moss story -- hang on a second here, Max. Brett Favre holds the Vikings hostage for months, right? Two off- seasons in a row. And Randy Moss is cut? Brad Childress isn't going to the Hall of Fame. Randy Moss is.
What's going on here? I feel like I'm missing something in this story.
KELLERMAN: Well, the quarterback is the most important player on any team, really. That's why they're paid what they're paid. And they're idolized to the extent that they are and covered in the media. And so it's -- especially a quarterback with Favre's tenure in the league and his status.
Randy Moss, although similar to Favre in terms of his status as an all-time wide out (ph) as Favre is a quarterback, is easier to move than Brett Favre for a coach, I think. And if Childress does have some kind of pent-up frustration with the fact that he's been largely emasculated by Favre and maybe by Moss in the press, then it's probably easier to take it out on Moss than it is on Favre, for sure.
HARRIS: But, Max, this is also a business story here. For all of our friends in Minnesota, I'm thinking season ticket holders, I'm thinking of fans paying 400 bucks-plus for a family of four to go to the Dome to see one of these games. Has the coach, Brad Childress, made the Vikings better or worse by this move?
KELLERMAN: It's a good question, because the NFL, I think, more than any sport, football, is a situation where sometimes cutting talent, a more talented player, can actually make a team better.
HARRIS: Yes.
KELLERMAN: It's a full contact sport, and the effort and intensity and belief in your teammates and all those sports cliches I think apply in the NFL more than in other sports. So I have seen instances where you think, boy, that really talented player retired or was traded or was injured, and then the team went on to even better stuff.
So, I wouldn't be so quick to say, well, Childress said forget it, we're writing this season off, so let's just get rid of Randy Moss, although I can understand why it would be interpreted that way. The only reason Moss was dealt from the Patriots in the first place is he wanted a bigger contract, speaking of the business of the sport, Tony.
And the way it works in the NFL is the only guaranteed money is in the bonus. But in order to stay under the salary cap, what teams do is they say, fine, he has a $20 million contract, $10 million of it is guaranteed, and the rest is paid out in much smaller installments in salary in the following years. So the longer the contract, the bigger bonus money you can get.
Randy Moss wanted a lot of money, which means the Patriots would have had to give him a long contract. And he is at the age, 33, where wide outs (ph) start -- it's diminishing returns with wide outs (ph) in terms of what they produce on the field.
HARRIS: And there you have it, the business of sports.
Max, appreciate it. See you soon. Thank you, my friend.
KELLERMAN: Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: All right. The midterm election our big focus today, but Sandra Endo is also keeping an eye on a few other stories. She joins us from Washington.
Sandy, good morning.
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Tony. Good morning.
Making headlines today, militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. He is now a wanted man in Yemen, and he's been charged in absentia for inciting to kill foreigners there. The American-born cleric also has been linked by U.S. authorities to the Fort Hood shooting suspect and the man accused of trying to blow up a plane last Christmas.
And BP is back in the black. After suffering major losses because of the Gulf oil spill, it reports a $1.8 billion profit in the third quarter.
And listen to this. The International Space Station turns 10 today. The first astronauts took up residence there on November 2, 2000, and the Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to head there tomorrow.
And Tony, I know you're all about the election today.
HARRIS: That's right.
ENDO: Well, stay tuned, because, yes, "The Best Political Team on Television" will bring you "America Votes 2010" all day long today, right here on CNN.
HARRIS: Oh, man. What a day this is going to be.
Sandy, good to see you. Thank you.
OK. Election Day, the culmination of months of mud-slinging, nutty, crazy ads, pundits, talking points. And amid all that noise, it's been easy to lose sight of what elections are really about, right? They're about setting a course for the future for us.
So we are asking you to help us with an assignment to answer a simple question. What does America mean to you?
It is a segment we call "My America Is..." Your personal experiences from your vantage point. What does this country look like from where you're standing right now?
Here's what some of you are saying to us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My America is -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The land of opportunity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Having your dream and being able to realize it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My America is in transition.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now my America is a little bit off track.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very opinionated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My America is a country that open to the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to see all of us kind of feeling like it's "my America."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It gives us an opportunity to share our experiences, our beliefs, and who we are as people more than anywhere else in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My America? My America is growing, it's evolving.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So my America is a great country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Look, it's an important feature of Election Day. It's the weather for Election Day.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Marijuana is on four state ballots today. And California voters there decide on Prop 19 which would legal marijuana for personal use and make it taxable. In South Dakota and Arizona, the issue is legalizing marijuana to treat various medical conditions. And in Oregon, where medical marijuana has been legal for some time now, the question is should the sale of medical marijuana be available through dispensaries?
Americans are not the only ones keeping an eye on today's election. Check out what Pakistanis are thinking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Reza Sayah in Islamabad. If Republicans win the majority in the U.S. Congress, Pakistan may have a tougher time getting billions of dollars in U.S. aid.
Both Democrats and Republicans agree; Pakistan is Washington's most important ally in the fight against extremists. That's why Congress has approved billions of dollars in both military and nonmilitary aid for Pakistan. But in recent months, Republican lawmakers have expressed concern over Pakistan's commitment in the fight against militancy and they've suggested tougher conditions for Pakistan to get all that U.S. funding.
For the most part, President Obama has eased off conditions for Pakistan to get funding but if Republicans take over Congress, look for them to put pressure on President Obama to get more out of Pakistan in return for billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK, key races to watch tonight. We are using new technology to keep you informed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Here we go. Get out and vote today. What's at stake? Control of Congress and the direction of the country on issues like taxes, the deficit, and the economy. Experts who closely track the races say Republicans are likely to take control of the House. Here's where things stand right now. The GOP needs a net gain of 39 seats to take over. The big question is what happens in the Senate? This is the current breakdown. Republicans need 10 seats to take charge there.
The Best Political Team on Television brings you election coverage through the day and all night. And we're using the latest technology to keep you informed.
Tom Foreman is here with the CNN 100, Tom.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, if you don't watch anything else today, keep your eyes open whenever we come over to this big wall over here. This is our top 100 Congressional races. These are the races that are most on the knife edge. They could go either way and represent a change of what's happening there.
Certain districts in particular we're keeping an eye on, places where we think that the Democrats, for example, have the greatest chance of being tipped over because maybe they just barely won it or came in on 2008 on the coattails of Barack Obama. Or perhaps in 2006 they were part of that big surge of people frustrated with the Republicans.
The more you see these changing over to red, the more that will tell you the real impact of the election. Just remember that more than anything else, especially when we get back here to 2004, 2002, further back, people who have proven that they can be re-elected time and time again. If they start tipping, you've got the makings of a landslide.
Thirty-nine seats are what the Republicans need to pick up over here if they want to control the House. Now, let's look at the Senate over here. We know that in the Senate side they have to pick up ten seats if they want to be the ones in control. This is the lay of the land out there, the places that they're looking at, possibly tipping things over.
Keep an eye on places like Pennsylvania over here, where you've got the Sestak/Toomey race, which has been going right down to the wire. Places like Colorado, where you've got Michael Bennett and Ken Buck, who's had a lot of support from the Tea Party. See what happens there. Can they really coalesce the power of the Democrats in this area, and maybe the Republicans out in these areas? How are they going to bring that together? Colorado is a really interesting state because you see performance in both the Democrats, Republicans, and undecideds. It's really in a big balance in that state, unlike other places.
And, keep an eye on Nevada, this very, very bitter race out there between Sharron Angle and Harry Reid, the Democrat. He's the Majority Leader in the Senate. If he gets tipped over that is a big, big, big thing for the Democrats, even if they hold onto other areas of power.
So, that's what it comes down to. All day long, if you remember nothing else about the election, remember this, 39/10/Nevada, 39/10/Nevada. How those stack up tonight will be the measure of this race -- Tony.
HARRIS: That is good stuff. Tom Foreman for us.
Campaign ad wars. There is a lot on the line today and candidates out there who don't mind crossing that line. But some campaign ads were more memorable than mean. We've got them for you on what's hot.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: What's hot right now? Jacqui Jeras. Hey, Jacqui, can we go through some of the top campaign ads? Or at least the ones that were the most memorable?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They've been amazing, haven't they? Christine O'Donnell, I'm not a witch. We've been a lot of stuff out there.
HARRIS: I'm not a witch, I'm like you. Yes, yes, yes.
JERAS: Either am I.
But, you know, the candidates -- it comes out of everything --
HARRIS: But I am a warlock.
JERAS: We've seen nasty ones, we've seen interesting ones. And we've seen funny ones, believe it or not. We found some ads that are rather humorous, actually. We wanted to show you how creative some of the candidates have been getting and they've been trying to get out that young vote.
This first one, Dan Freilich, he's an Independent. He's running for U.S. Senate out of Vermont. And he does a parody on the Old Spice commercial. Take a look.
(VIDEO CLIP, DAN FREILICH AD FROM YOUTUBE.COM)
HARRIS: Yes, that's good.
JERAS: How about that? A little humor in that one.
The next one we want to show you, this is Mike Weinstein. He is a Republican from Florida, and he is running for state representative. His son wrote a rap song. It's on YouTube.
HARRIS: Oh, these things are always fun.
JERAS: This thing has gone viral, Tony.
HARRIS: It has? OK.
JERAS: I warn you, before you listen to it, it's going to be snuck your head all day. Yes, it's really catchy.
Take a listen.
(VIDEO CLIP, YOUTUBE SCOTT LEIGH)
JERAS: In my head all morning. Say it, 200,000 views on YouTube. Two hundred thousand.
HARRIS: We were asking about the money in the campaign -- billions of dollars. And now we see where some of it's been spent. OK.
JERAS: I know. And here's one of my favorites. I also want to show you this one. Let's roll the video on this one. This is John Hickenlooper, of Colorado. He's a Democrat. He's running for governor. He's currently the mayor of Denver. He says he refuses to run negative ads. Every time he sees a negative ad it makes him feel dirty, that he needs to take a shower.
(VIDEO CLIP, YOUTUBE JOHN HICKENLOOPER)
JERAS: So here you see him taking shower after shower after show. We are all thankful he's wearing the clothes, though.
HARRIS: Yes. And this probably works because the folks in the community and in that state know him. So this is kind of a quirky ad, probably plays because it fits into the personality type that they're familiar with in that state, right?
JERAS: We'll see if they work tomorrow, right?
HARRIS: Good stuff. We really will.
Good stuff, Jacqui. We appreciate it. Thank you.
Let's get to a break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Election day in America. Republicans and Democrats fighting for control of Congress. Paul Steinhauser, part of "The Best Political Team on Television" joining us now from New York.
Paul, good to see you. What's crossing right now?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Tony. I'm at the Election Headquarters right behind me. That's where all the magic will happen tonight, but let's talk about right now.
You just asked -- look at this, Tony, this is our last, our final -- I promise, no more -- our final CNN Poll of Polls before the midterm elections. This is what we did., we took six people, six organizations including us, came out with a poll on the generic ballot, that's that standard question, would you vote for the Republican or Democrat in your district, and we average them altogether.
Look at that number, an eight-point advantage for the Republicans, 51 percent saying the generic Republican in their district, 43 percent saying for the generic Democrat. Tony, that number, that advantage for Republicans is comparable to what they had in 1994 when they stormed back and took control of Congress and it's comparable to what the Democrats had just four years ago when they did the same thing.
Look at this as well, also up on the CNN Political Ticker, the final forecast from two of the top nonpartisan political handicappers. The Cook Political Report forecasting a net gain of 50 to 60 for the Republicans; the Rothenberg Report saying 55 to 65. Remember, the Republicans only need a net gain of 39 to reclaim control of the chamber.
What about the Senate, Rothenberg and Cook both predicting six to eight seat net gain for the Republicans. The Republican need 10, 10 seats, Tony, to reclaim the Senate.
And finally, let's talk about Bill Clinton. I think we can agree, he's been one of the busiest guys on the campaign trail for the Democrats. A man in demand for the party. Well, it's election day, but he was still working this morning. The former president calling into four different radio stations, making appearances all in Ohio. Remember, he was in Ohio just over the weekend helping Ted Strickland, the Democratic governor there who is fighting for reelection.
And the president yesterday, look at what a day, started in upstate New York campaigning for Democratic congressman facing tough reelections. Then, he went to West Virginia and Kentucky to campaign with the Democratic Senate nominees there. And ended in Florida with Kendrick Meek, the Democratic Senate nominee down there. Busy man, Bill Clinton -- Tony.
HARRIS: Boy, all right, Paul. Can't wait for the scene to shift to New York this evening. Boy, it's going to be something to see. Your next political update in an hour. And for the latest political news, you know where to go, that is CNNPolitics.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We've got elections going on here and fighting a war in Afghanistan. As Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports, whatever happens at the polls today may have a very significant outcome on the war in the very near future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. congressional elections may not mean much to the troops here on the ground in Afghanistan. Combat has already picked up in recent weeks, especially with the 30,000 extra U.S. troops, the surge troops, here on the ground.
But make no mistake, commanders know full well the political calendar. They're very aware that President Obama plans to stick to his goal of being able to start to bring home U.S. troops next summer, that July 2011 date is out there on the calendar.
That's gotten a lot of Republicans very concerned. They say it doesn't mean much, other than to give the Taliban an idea of how long they have to sit and wait it out before the Americans start leaving.
All of this, of course, comes as public support in the United States for the war is dropping. This summer, a CNN/Opinion Research poll showed 62 percent of Americans no longer support the war.
So, the agenda, Democrat/Republican, really centers now on how soon U.S. troops can come home safely, how soon transition security can be handed over to Afghan forces, and how, after so many years, to bring the war here in Afghanistan to a close.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Forward Operating Base Tillman in eastern Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK, some of the stories we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
What can the lame-duck Congress do between now and January to create jobs? Christine Romans takes a look at the options.
And they say being president puts age on you, what about hair? The latest Chia pet gets presidential and we will show it to you in motion.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Let's check the numbers, Big Board, New York stock Exchange. Which way do I move to get out of the way here? OK. We are up in positive territory on election day, up 59 points. And at last check, the Nasdaq was up 20 as well. We're following these numbers throughout the morning, throughout the day for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Got to tell you, we've come to know General Motors as "Government Motors" thanks to the $50 billion dollar bailout we gave the company last year, but the nickname might not apply for too much longer.
Stephanie Elam is at the New York Stock Exchange with details. And, Stephanie, we are expecting an announcement from GM at some point today?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, we're looking for some news here about GM filing for its initial public stock offering with the SEC today. We're expected to here that the government will sell a big chunk of its shares, cutting its stake in GM to about 35 to 40 percent.
Now the chart that we're going to show you, it shows why that's significant, because right now, 60 percent of GM is owned by the U.S. government and so dropping below the 50 percent mark is symbolic. It basically means that the government won't have a controlling hand over GM anymore.
SO the IPO filing will also include the pricing and the timing of a stock sale and it's expected to take place in two weeks with his shares priced around $26 to $29. That will leave GM with a market value of $50 billion, not too far away from what Ford is now worth.
It will not, however, be enough to recoup all of our bailout money, but some analysts say that could still happen in the long run, Tony.
HARRIS: So, Stephanie, this IPO, it's based on the assumption that people will buy shares of GM. Will that happen? Won't this be a tough sell?
ELAM: That's what a lot of people are asking about, Tony. But we hear GM is planning on hitting the road to make its sales pitch, focusing on hedge funds, they're going to pension funds, mutual funds. They're even going to try and hit up individual investors as well.
But you're right, it could be a difficult one for them. GM's going to face tough questions. One, about its management team. It has a new CEO that took over September 1st. Doesn't have any manufacturing experience, that's what some people are worried about. Others say this could be a fresh perspective, that could really help the company out.
The other issue here are market conditions. They're not exactly ideal, auto sales are not back normal and most IPOs lately have been priced below the targeted price.
The other issue, while they're below 50 percent, the government is still in this equation and investors may want to know what the role is going to be in GM moving forward.
So those are all the issues on the table for GM. But for a lot of people, they see this as moving in the right direction.
HARRIS: I need this IPO to be successful. I want my money back. I want my money back, Stephanie.
ELAM: You are not alone, Mr. Harris. You are not alone at all. A lot of people are saying give us our money back, please, and go on and as you were and do your thing on your own.
HARRIS: I want my money.
All right, Stephanie, appreciate it. Thank you.
