Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Republicans Retake House of Representatives; Shooter Targets Military Buildings; Tea Party Rising?; Democrats Lose Control of House But Retain Senate; John Boehner Likely To Be New House Speaker; Volcano Explodes in Indonesia, Kills Dozens; Analysts Speculate On Increased Legislative Gridlock in Congress
Aired November 03, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Someone is targeting military buildings in the middle of the night. So, why can't the Feds find the shooter? And when could this turn deadly?
But, first, are you sick of hearing about the earthquakes, the tsunamis, the bloodbaths? We're taking you beyond all those political talking points.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I have spent my whole life chasing the American dream.
BALDWIN (voice-over): Republicans score their biggest House victory in nearly 70 years. But it's not all bad news for Democrats. We will tell you why.
He keeps his seat. She loses her gavel. And he must face a divided Congress.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We just had a tough election. We will have another in 2012. I do hope to make progress on the very serious problems facing us right now. And that's going to require all of us, including me, to work harder at building consensus.
BALDWIN: So, what happens tomorrow? And what about 2012?
The kettle is whistling, as Tea Party movement candidates win several key races.
RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY SENATOR-ELECT: We have come to take our government back!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BALDWIN: But what will they achieve as lawmakers?
And some colorful election moments you have got to see.
CARL PALADINO (R), NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: You have not heard the last of Carl Paladino.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BALDWIN: The New York GOP gubernatorial candidate goes out swinging.
And was the sound of victory a tad too loud for this winner's son? There's more where that came from.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Let's get going here, a lot of ground to cover. You know we have just heard from the president really assessing his party's loss of the House of Representatives. What happened, and where does he go from here?
I want to show you Mr. Obama speaking just a short time ago from the East Room of the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Over the last two years, we've made progress. But clearly too many Americans haven't felt that progress yet, and they told us that yesterday. And, as president, I take responsibility for that.
What yesterday also told us is that no one party will be able to dictate where we go from here; that we must find common ground in order to set -- in order to make progress on some uncommonly difficult challenges.
And I told John Boehner and Mitch McConnell last night, I am very eager to sit down with members of both parties and figure out how we can move forward together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Well, let's look at how we're moving forward. Take a look with me. This is the new lay of the land, if you will, in the House, where the Republicans just needed a gain of 39 seats, and they got a little bit more than that. They got at least 60 and still counting here.
Democrats, though, did manage to keep control of the Senate. But, if we can, momentarily here, I want to take you back to the president. Just a short time ago, he spoke really to this wave of anti-government rage embodied by the Tea Party movement. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I think people started looking at all this and it felt as if government was getting much more intrusive into people's lives than they were accustomed to. Now, the reason was, it was an emergency situation. But I think it's understandable that folks said to themselves, "You know, maybe this is the agenda as opposed to a response to an emergency."
And that's something that I think, you know, everybody in the White House understood was a danger. We thought it was necessary. But, you know, I'm sympathetic to folks who looked at it and said, "This is looking like potential overreach."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Want to go now to Dan Lothian. There he is standing by at the White House.
And, Dan, in listening to the president, he suggested he may have learned a lesson through all of this. Do we know what lesson that might be?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think he learned a very clear lesson, that the American people were very frustrated about the way the economy was going, and -- and he couldn't surmount that.
This White House could not communicate clearly and could not give Americans what they wanted. And that is the jobs. They wanted to have money in their pocket, as the president pointed out, to be able to afford the things that they want to buy.
But I thought, you know, the most memorable moment that came out of this one-hour-or-so press conference was when the president finally admitted that he had gotten a shellacking last night. That was perhaps as close to former President Bush when he said that it was a thumping that he received when Republicans when -- when, you know, Republicans, when they had suffered big losses in Congress.
But -- but this president really did not want to bite on whether or not the vote last night was a repudiation of his policies, again, going back to the fact that he believes that Americans were driven by the fact that the economy is still bad and that this administration has not moved quickly enough to fix it.
The bottom line here, though, is that the president, while he seemed humbled by this experience, while -- while he took full responsibility for what happened, he didn't appear to signal that he was going to make any big changes going forward.
BALDWIN: So, Dan, given the shellacking -- president's word -- do you -- do they think -- or, really, we should say, how will they, because it's not really a question of will they -- how will they work with House Republicans?
LOTHIAN: Well, the -- the president was very clear about that, saying that he's willing to compromise, that both sides really need to compromise in order to move forward.
And some areas where that will happen, health care reform, the president saying that he's willing to take any good ideas from Republicans. As far as the tax -- extending those tax breaks for the upper-tier Americans, the president again saying he will sit down with leadership from both sides to figure out good ideas.
So, compromise, I think, will be the key word we will be watching for going forward.
BALDWIN: We will indeed, indeed. Dan Lothian, thank you for that.
Now let's talk about and take a good look here at the lawmaker, the king lawmaker on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOEHNER: We're humbled by the trust that the American people have placed in us. And, as I said last night, our job is to listen to the American people and follow the will of the American people. It's pretty clear the American people want us to do something about --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, that was John Boehner today. He is pretty much a lock here to be the new House speaker.
And -- and, before we have move on and hear from him last night, I want to let you know we are staking out right now in the Capitol Nancy Pelosi, the outgoing speaker of the House. You can see a packed room.
One of the folks in that room is our senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash. So we're working hard to figure out what happens with Nancy Pelosi. Where does she go from here? Does she stay on Capitol Hill? Does she go home to California? We will wait and find out.
Meantime, here is John Boehner just from last night, very emotional.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOEHNER: Let's start right now by recognizing that this is not a time for celebration; it's a time to roll up our sleeves and go to work. We can --
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BOEHNER: We can celebrate when small businesses begin hiring again.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BOEHNER: We can celebrate when the spending binge here in Washington has stopped.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) BOEHNER: And we can celebrate when we have a government that has earned the trust of the people that it serves, when we have a government that honors the Constitution and stands up for the values that have made America, America --
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BOEHNER: -- things like economic freedom, individual liberty, and personal responsibility.
Listen, I hold these values dear because I have lived them. I spent my whole life chasing the American dream.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Obviously a huge night for John Boehner, got a little emotional in part of that speech.
But, again, let's go live, take a live picture -- Rog, let's take a live picture inside the Capitol. Here we go, again, watching, waiting, a little bit of movement in there.
We have our own Dana Bash hot on the trail of Nancy Pelosi. As soon as we get any kind of movement on that, can bring you any bit of hopefully some kind of interview, we will get Dana in front of the camera and bring that to you.
Meantime, we have got a whole lot more ground to cover. So, let's roll forward. Want to take you to this race. Republican Rick Scott won the governor's race in Florida. Alex Sink conceded late this morning.
Also, governor's race in Minnesota still too close to call, may be headed for a recount. Other big races also too close to call, you have Democrat Patty Murray locked in this very, very tight battle to hold on to her Senate seat in Washington State, Colorado Senate too close to call as well, Alaska Senate to close to call.
Write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski, you know she's the incumbent in this race. She lost in the primary. Lisa Murkowski is leading Tea Party Republican Joe Miller. She's been a write-in candidate running as an independent.
Also, time to bid farewell to some pretty well-known faces around Capitol Hill. Farewell to Mr. Campaign Finance Reform, Senator Russ Feingold out in Wisconsin, lost to Tea Party Republican Ron Johnson. Goodbye to Senator Blanche Lincoln, the two-term Democrat out in Arkansas.
Also, so long to Congressman Alan Grayson, always good for a good sound bite, but he lost his House seat from a district that covers Orlando, Florida.
And, you know, there are a lot of Republicans here -- a lot of new Republicans, I should say, who very much so now bear watching, and some old ones as well. I want to touch on two for you. One is really a rising star, Florida's Marco Rubio, Tea Party movement favorite, now headed for the U.S. Senate.
And if you don't know this guy, it is time to know. This is California's Darrell Issa. He is the new Mr. Subpoena, if you will, the head of the House investigations panel, and says he has some questions for the Obama administration. We will wait and watch that.
Also, Tea Party, how did the Tea Party movement do? You know, post-election pundits were saying anti-government activism really propelled Republican wins, but Tea Party movement losses may have denied the GOP a chance in controlling the Senate.
You had losses like Sharron Angle's. That was a race we all watched very closely. She failed to upend the unpopular Harry Reid in Nevada. He won by about 41,000. Losses like Christine O'Donnell -- the Tea Party favorite got trounced -- trounced -- in Delaware.
Race for New York governor, Tea Party movement's Carl Paladino got, to take the president's word, shellacked. To California. Jerry Brown is a winner, and marijuana is a loser there, the former Governor Moonbeam, Jerry Brown, winning his old job back. He beat Republican Meg Whitman.
And back to the marijuana bit, you know, Prop 19, it was an effort to -- to legalize pot for recreational use. It fell short, rejected by voters by 54 percent.
Congressman Ed Perlmutter headed back to the House. The Colorado Democrat delivered the pluckiest election night stunt there. Also, Mr. Alvin Greene, how about this for some trivia? Much maligned Alvin Greene actually won nearly 30 percent of the vote in his Senate race in South Carolina. Did you know that? Also some trivia for you for dinnertime: He has unveiled today an action comic book featuring none other than himself.
And you are officially caught up.
Dan Lothian, again, thank you.
So, the Tea Party movement has some real estate now officially on Capitol Hill. So, what's next here? We know they can campaign. But can they govern?
Also, now D.C. area investigators have serious problems on their hands. You have this mystery shooter -- or should say shooters -- hit a fifth building, and the motive here still unknown. More on the investigation, some new details there, that is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Here we go., yet another shooting at a military facility, this time, not the Marines, which has been targeted in the past. This is a Coast Guard recruiting station in Virginia.
Folks, this makes five shootings in two weeks.
Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve does have some new information for us right now.
Jeanne, I know they have been going through some of these ballistic tests in all five of the shootings. What have they been able to confirm?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the FBI is saying this afternoon that all five of these shootings are indeed linked. As you mentioned, there was the one just yesterday at a Coast Guard recruiting station in Woodbridge, Virginia.
There were four previous to that, two at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia, one at the Pentagon, and one at a Marine recruiting station in Chantilly, Virginia. And after those first four, the FBI held a press conference and said that they felt that the shooter probably was somebody with a grievance against the Marine Corps.
But, as you mentioned, this fifth shooting against a Coast Guard recruiting station, we imagine that investigators at this point in time rethinking who might be behind this.
No one has been hurt in any of these shootings. The bullets have hit buildings only. And investigators are saying absolutely nothing about the weapon involved here, but they do say they have no suspects at this point in time, Brooke.
BALDWIN: We know, other than the fact that they're targeting some of these military buildings, the other issues they have in common, overnight, early morning.
No one has been shot at that -- that -- that -- that's being reported. My question to you is this. And perhaps this is just an obvious question. I'm just going to ask it. You know, there has to be a fear at some level for -- for the FBI and beyond that the shooter or shooters might turn here from -- from aiming at some of these buildings to actually aiming at people.
MESERVE: Certainly, that is a -- a concern that they have.
I was talking a short time ago, though, with a former FBI profiler who says it's very encouraging that, at this point in time, it is only buildings that -- that have been shot. Perhaps, it indicates that this individual wants to avoid hitting any people, very specifically.
But he also cautioned that we shouldn't be too narrow in how we look at this and too formulaic about what this person -- may be motivating this person, who this person might be. He says, in fact, if you do that, sometimes you miss important clues on the periphery of an investigation.
One thing he did observe, though, he thinks that the shootings at the Coast Guard recruiting station and the Marine Corps recruiting station may be the most significant, because they show a familiarity with the geography in Northern Virginia.
The other -- the other targets, the Marine Corps Museum, the Pentagon, those are rather iconic buildings, but these other two more obscure and may in fact reveal a little bit more about this individual -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: So perhaps this individual or individuals lives in the area, knows -- knows the lay of the land very well.
Jeanne Meserve, homeland security correspondent -- Jeanne, thanks for the update.
MESERVE: You bet.
BALDWIN: Here's a couple candidates. You know these names, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Linda McMahon. These are all women, ran these multibillion- -- that is billion with a B -- dollar businesses, but couldn't even come close to closing a deal with voters here.
Why couldn't they bank roll a win when it counted? We're asking that question coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: You know, one thing we have spent a fair amount talking about this election year, women, the specter of Sarah Palin everywhere.
Republicans ran against Nancy Pelosi. And we had a -- a lot of female candidates year -- this year.
I want to continue where we left off.
National political correspondent Jessica Yellin joins me now from Las Vegas.
And, Jessica, we had such an awesome conversation yesterday, and I wanted to hold you, you know, to -- to it. We were talking about several of these candidates who run these, you know, multibillion- dollar -- or had run these multibillion-dollar businesses who had tons and tons of money that they were pouring into their campaigns, didn't do so well.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They went down to defeat. Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Linda McMahon, none of them came close to winning.
And they were all multimillionaire, maybe multibillionaire company -- they ran multibillionaire companies, as you point out, multibillion companies in some cases, and ran as sort of tough women who were unambivalent about their ambition. And it didn't work for them.
Compare that to conservative men who helped finance their own campaigns. Rick Snyder, who ran in that kind of way in Michigan for governor, he won. Rick Scott in Florida, same deal, for governor, he won. You wonder if there's still a little bit of discomfort about very strong women in the public sphere, or if it's all about their personal politics -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Let me ask Republican strategist Ed Rollins. He's going to join me in part of this conversation.
And -- and, Ed, what do you make in this conversation? You know, Jessica and I have been talking about -- we have been wondering if America is ready for these self-made, self-funded women, or is really just a matter of politics and voters just didn't agree?
ED ROLLINS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: No, equally important in the discussion is that those are very two unique states, Connecticut, which is a very strong Democrat state, and Ms. McMahon didn't connect with women voters, whether it's the wrestling background, all the money she spent. Whatever it was, she obviously didn't -- didn't get women voters.
In California, two very significant women. California is a 3-2 Democrat registration advantage, a very tough state. It's where I -- I grew up the start of my politics. I think all the money they spent, particularly Whitman, people got very tired of it. They thought she was sort of buying her way into the game, as opposed to basically having worked her way up through the system.
And I -- and she -- again, she had a nanny -- not a nanny, but she had a housekeeper problem, and basically acted like -- fairly insensitive when she let her go, and turned off the Latino community more so than -- than normal, and I think that hurt her -- hurt her terribly in the campaign.
Boxer is a tested candidate. I -- I ran the Senate race against her six years ago. She's -- she's -- she's like the great white whale for me.
(LAUGHTER)
ROLLINS: I have been trying to beat her at something since 1982. She represented my home district.
BALDWIN: How did it work?
ROLLINS: She's a very tough candidate.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Let me -- let me put this back to you, Ed, in terms of women, though, and let's say money aside. But this has been a -- a net loss for women in Congress. And is it just simply because most of these women were Democrats?
ROLLINS: Well, they were. And they -- they -- they -- you know, the good part is women get treated like anybody else in the game today. They have got to run as good a campaign, and they can get defeated if they get out of touch with the voters. So, my sense is we're making great progress. We had some significant women on our side get elected yesterday, the governor of Arizona, the governor of South Carolina. So, I think the bottom line is women get -- get in the game today. They run good campaigns, they can win.
But you have got to have women voters. If you don't have women voters --
BALDWIN: Absolutely.
ROLLINS: -- if they turn off to you for some reason, you're not going to win.
BALDWIN: Jessica, I see you nodding. I want you to answer, and then we will move on to -- to Obama here. But you're nodding.
YELLIN: Oh, I'm nodding. Look, the -- these women didn't score well among women. These powerful women didn't score well among women. And that's something they have to focus on.
I agree. Ed is dead on. Of course, it's all local. Barbara Boxer runs a great campaign. But Meg Whitman failed to connect in a fundamental way with these voters because she wasn't simultaneously both soft and strong. And it's something women expect of other women, but men somehow allow women to just be tough and ambitious these days a little bit more easily.
That's one point. The other point is, we did expect to see a big surge of conservative women this year. We saw a few. In addition to the ones Ed mentions, we saw Susana Martinez win for governor in New Mexico, Mary Fallin in Oklahoma. But it was not the wave of conservative women that had been -- some had predicted -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK, Ed, to you.
You know, voters -- America voted for change '06, '08 and now 2010. Was this election a referendum on the president?
ROLLINS: Certainly, it was. Certainly, it was on his policies. It was his coalition that didn't work, broke up. Several states that he had in -- in the 2008 column are not there today, Virginia for one, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
If you're trying to put 270 electoral votes, if you're David Axelrod sitting in the White House and you got a yellow pad trying to add your states up to 270, you're short today. And so you've got to basically do a real adjustment here if you want to get ready for reelection.
BALDWIN: Jessica, we have a Democratic Senate, a Republican- controlled House. Is this just huge gridlock, or is debate a healthy thing?
ROLLINS: The country will not allow gridlock. If for some reason -- YELLIN: Well, of course debate is a healthy thing.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Go ahead, Ed.
Ed is saying country won't allow gridlock.
Jessica, do you agree?
ROLLINS: If -- if -- they have shifted three times now in three -- three elections. And my sense is, if we don't get the ball moving forward, they will turn on us in a heartbeat, too.
BALDWIN: How are we getting the ball -- ball rolling, though, Jess?
YELLIN: One -- one thing I would add is that I saw Harry Reid at a press conference today here in Nevada.
BALDWIN: Yes.
YELLIN: And he echoed the same theme, that it's time for compromise. But his message was, essentially, it's up to the Republicans to compromise because they keep saying no.
So, you kind of wonder, where is the movement here? Somebody has got to give. Someone has got to blink for people to start working together, and you don't see it yet.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Jessica Yellin, Ed -- Ed Rollins -- I wish we had more time. I have about 10 more questions for both of you. We will have another day at another time. Both of you, thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Coming up, though, we need to -- we need to talk about terror in the mail. They're not letters. They are -- they're not -- they're packages here for two days in Greece, after someone mailed bombs from Athens. We're going to tell you who the targets were and who the senders might be.
Plus, the Fed trying to boost the economy. You know, everyone has been talking jobs, jobs, jobs, in this election cycle. Did they change the interest rates? That and some other top stories here -- coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Checking our top stories.
Of course, following dramatic losses by Democrats in Congress, the president is commenting on midterm election results. Did you watch? GOP leaders say, voters sent a message of discontent. The president says, he heard them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Yesterday's vote confirmed what I have heard from folks all across America.
People are frustrated. They're deeply frustrated with the pace of our economic recovery and the opportunities that they hope for their children and their grandchildren.
They want jobs to come back faster. They want paychecks to go further. And they want the ability to give their children the same chances and opportunities as they have had in life.
The men and women who sent us here don't expect Washington to solve all their problems.
But they do expect Washington to work for them, not against them. They want to know that their tax dollars are being spent wisely, not wasted, and that we're not going to leave our children a legacy of debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The president also said he's been doing a whole lot of reflecting about the decisions he's made to move the country forward.
How about this for a financial headline today -- the Fed trying to give our struggling economy some kind of boost. A short time ago the Federal Reserve announced it will pump up to $900 billion into treasuries. The move here is known as quantitative easing, basically puts downward pressure on interest rates, pumps all that money kind of like a stimulus plan.
The Fed is also holding the federal funds rate -- that's the benchmark interest rate for consumer business loans -- at historic lows for an extended period of time.
Overseas, in Indonesia Mount Merapi exploded repeatedly today. Look at this, the volcano spewing a thick cloud of ash all over central Java. These have been some of the biggest blasts since it back erupting Louisiana month.
Dozens have been killed by the lava and ash and tens of thousands who live around the mountainous area have been evacuated. Many more are urged to get away from the danger zone. And to add to the uncertainty, get this, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit off of Indonesia's eastern coast today.
Terror dropped into the mail -- authorities catch package bombs to several European leaders and embassies in Greece. And if Al Qaeda did not send them as the Greek government is saying, then who did? We are going to Greece live for the next story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: All right, we told you we were working on it. We have our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash. She has been waiting and trying to get some kind of touch with outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House. Dana, there you are. What do you have? What can you tell me?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just forgive me ahead of time. I'm a little out of breath chasing her down the hall. Her office is down the hall. That's her office that she occupies and it is one that John Boehner will occupy soon.
I and other reporters were waiting to try to ask her for the first time -- it would be the first chance to get at her -- about one of the outstanding dramas which is whether or not she'll stay in her position as soon to be minority leader or leave Congress and she would not answer our questions.
Brooke, it was really fascinating. She went out of her way to avoid us big time. She went down her private elevator in her suite, upstairs, downstairs in the capitol and around to do another network interview which she's doing for this evening. And I got to actually ask her those questions, and she wouldn't go there.
BALDWIN: So you saw her for a half-second before she skedaddled back into the back room in the back elevator. Can you just speak to her temperament or how she even appeared? How did she look?
BASH: She looked pretty much the same as she always does. She was focused. She was on her way to an interview. But she was surrounded by her detail, her security, which she often is and always is, actually.
But the way that they played this kind of cat and mouse game with us was really interesting. I can tell you behind the scenes, I was told that there was a meeting with her staff, she was not there, but with her staff where they were just trying to say, look, we understand it's a very tumultuous time, it's an uncertain time. Morale is obviously terrible for Democrats in the House right now.
But we were told that she will probably make a decision about her future in the next few days. People who are close to her insist that hasn't happened yet. If it has, she hasn't told anybody except perhaps her family. Signs are that she might stay, but I've got to tell you it's still 50/50 on what she might do.
BALDWIN: Bottom line, we don't know yet at least publicly what her next move is. Dana Bash, work those sources, see what you can get. Appreciate you tossing on the running shoes and hustling to the camera.
BASH: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: I also want to get to this. A developing story out of Greece here -- the Greek government has arrested two suspects in connection with those package bombs found all across Athens over the past couple of days. And hours ago, Greece also stopped all airborne packages from heading out of the country. So why all of this happening? This is coming after several packages containing bombs were discovered. The packages were addressed to European leaders. I want to bring in CNN's Ivan Watson live for us in Greece.
Ivan, from what I've been reading -- I know you have more information than I do. But one of the big headlines is all of these different package bombs do not seem to be coming from Al Qaeda.
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, absolutely. And Greek officials are trying to underscore that point. They're describing this as homegrown Greek terrorists. The number of packages they were able to put into the system is significant -- 13 according to spokesman for the Greek police.
And they were sent to a number of destinations, a wide range of embassies here in Athens from the embassy of Bulgaria to the embassy of Mexico and Chile. And then out of the country headed to the chancellor of Germany, the prime minister of Italy, to the European court of Justice.
As you pointed out, two people suspects were detained on Monday downtown here in Athens. They were young men, age 22, 24, Greek citizens carrying letter bombs, carrying glock pistols, one of them carrying a wig. And they are two of the chief suspects they say. And what they say is, again, a homegrown terrorist cell.
BALDWIN: Homegrown terrorists in Greece. OK, let me follow up with this question. We alluded to it in the lead. What is Greece doing to try to keep some of these -- if there are to be if you tour packages. Let's assume not all of the arrests have been made. What is Greece doing to make sure future packages don't get to intended targets?
WATSON: Well, they took this very serious measure of stopping all international air mail. That's pretty extreme. They've also put out warnings of course to the embassies that have been receiving these packages. And they are looking for additional suspects and undoubtedly interrogating the two suspects they've brought in already.
A point to bring out here is that this is coming just a few days ahead of elections here in Greece. On Sunday, municipal elections all across the country, the Greek prime minister coming out and saying that democracy cannot be terrorized, and some terrorist experts here do think that this was a symbolic effort to try to destabilize Greece, which has gone through a series of crises over the last several years.
Mainly the financial crisis here that a lot of people here are struggling with right now, losing jobs, seeing their pensions reduced and the retirement age pushed back several years.
BALDWIN: Absolutely. I remember all the protests with regard to the budget, the mess. But thank you for pointing that out. This very much so could be timed for those elections. Ivan Watson for us in Athens. Thanks, Ivan. Did marijuana pass California's ballot vote or did it, allow me the pun, go up in smoke? A roundup of that and some pretty other interesting ballot measures. That's ahead.
Also, now that Congress looks very, very different today than it did just hours ago with a new House Republican majority, what lessons have we learned really about voters here and how will all of this change affect you? That discussion is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back to "CNN NEWSROOM." You know the big lesson from Tuesday's election is change works both ways. Republicans walked away with the House of Representatives and gained at least six seats in the U.S. Senate. Say that five times fast. Voters are telling Washington to change course.
But will Washington listen, and will the new Congress result in real change or will it bring Washington really to a grinding halt? Jay Newton-Small is a Congressional correspondent for "TIME" magazine good enough to come back two days in a row. If you had to pick one race, what was your biggest surprise?
JAY NEWTON-SMALL, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "TIME" MAGAZINE (via telephone): One race, that's tough. I guess that Lisa Murkowski looks to be pulling it out in Alaska. It's the first write-in victory potentially since 1954 and Strom Thurmond. That's a big deal.
BALDWIN: That is a big deal. We're still waiting for the official word but it perhaps does appear that way. The latest numbers she's sitting at 41 percentage points.
So the other big headline is Republicans picked up about 60 seats in the House. This has been the biggest Democrat repudiation since World War II. You and I were talking yesterday and you were mentioning how there will be several big, long-term Democrats here who will be out, and you were correct. So let me just ask you this. What message are voters sending by this vote?
NEWTON-SMALL: I think voters are saying time is up, we need change. We weren't kidding around the last two times when we said we wanted change and you weren't listening to us, and it's time to actually work together to stop a lot of this on the Hill.
That's the irony is voters want people to work together, yet they keep picking people who are even more bombastic, even more sort of drastically partisan. So it's a bit of a conundrum because you can't get along, go along to get along, if you are hyper-partisan.
BALDWIN: So given the conundrum, using your word, Jay, People talk about fears of gridlock. I was talking to Ed Rollins earlier. He said no gridlock, it will not be gridlock at all. Some people are wondering if there will be two years of nothing or is debate like I heard Rand Paul this morning, Senate-elect from Kentucky, saying debate, mixture of opinions, it's a good thing. NEWTON-SMALL: Certainly it's a good thing to have an open-air debate, and that's something potentially you could argue. Republicans have argued that Congress has lacked that in the last few years, that they've jammed bills through without enough debate and there hasn't been enough committee time to mull over the minority opinions and other opinions.
But at the same time, you need to get something done at the end of the day and actually pass legislation. And there isn't a whole lot of sort of ground area of agreement between Democrats and Republicans heading into the next legislative year, certainly on immigration reform, on spending. There's fundamental differences between these two parties.
BALDWIN: So let me just follow up on that. Given all the legislative differences, though, how much change will we see? What -- I don't know if you could even answer what they could get done, but they have to get something done.
NEWTON-SMALL: Well, the government is not going to shut down or hopefully they will not shut the government down as they did with the Republican revolution in 1994. But you have to keep funding the everyday functions of the government. That's at the very minimum.
But are you going to get comprehensive immigration reform done? I don't think so. At the same time are they going to repeal health care reform? No because Democrats still control the Senate and the White House.
But I think the biggest change you're going to see right off the bat is frankly oversight. You're going to see House Republicans start to issue subpoenas on the Obama administration. And that's something that's going to be dominating headlines from the first two months out, not necessarily what agreements they can come to on legislation.
BALDWIN: Interesting. What about John Boehner, presumptive House speaker here. I'm just curious if you think he's upset his party did not gain control of both Houses or maybe deep, deep, deep down he's kind of thrilled to be the lone Republican sheriff in town, if you will. Perhaps he can use the Senate and use the president as scapegoats if his legislation doesn't go through.
NEWTON-SMALL: I think -- I'm sure Boehner would say he'd always want more Republican victories than not. I don't know what he's thinking deep, deep, deep down. But there's certainly a lot of pressure on him as now. He's the number three in the government essentially behind Joe Biden in case anything happens to Obama and he becomes the face of the Republican Party. It's now a two-person town rather than a one-person town with just Obama.
And that's a lot of pressure for him. He's trying the best he can to sort of decentralize that pressure and say, no, it's not about me. And he's learned the lessons of Newt Gingrich who for Newt when he came in it was all about him and that angered his caucus or his conference. Boehner is doing the opposite saying, no, it's not about us. It's about them. It's about what they need to do to change and trying to sort of throw it back at the Democrats rather than focusing on himself.
BALDWIN: He says it's not all about me but I tell you what, a lot of eyes on him no matter what he's saying. Jay Newton-Small, what a great assignment covering Congress. Thanks for joining me again today.
For some people, the thrill of victory is just too loud. Look at this little guy. Someone get some ear plugs for little Mr. Rubio. You've got to see this in just a couple of minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see a surge of that angry tide of voters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's not only going to be a political tsunami in the House.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a tsunami coming towards Washington.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a Tea Party tidal wave coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Oh, brother, did you notice all this? Were the midterms a tsunami or earthquake or bloodbath, a reckoning? We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: You know one thing you can always count on in the elections, you hear lots of cliches and metaphors. This time around definitely did not disappoint. Politicians, pundits, TV anchors went beyond the usual disastrous metaphors like "landslides" or "massacres" or "floods." Here's a little something we dubbed "Midterm Metaphor Madness."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready for that tsunami?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see a surge of that angry tide of voters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it will not only be a tsunami in the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a Tea Party tidal bank coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a blood bath going on right out here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks to a Republican tidal wave that swept Democrats out of power from coast to coast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is what leads to is tsunami.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, there's a Tea Party tidal wave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're going to get closer and closer to knowing if it's going to be a wave, a tidal wave, a tsunami or nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Republicans ride a tidal wave of discontent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Republican tidal wave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can almost feel the ground shaking here because there's an earthquake election going on all over this country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's going to be a political earthquake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Enjoy that? Hope so.
President George W. Bush, remember that guy? He has been kind of quiet the last couple of years, but now his memoir is coming out and we're learning about the worst moment of his eight-year presidency and how he came close to dropping Dick Cheney from the 2004 ticket. Bet you didn't know that. It's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Florida Republican Marco Rubio's win in Senate caused a huge commotion last night. Naturally the crowd became ecstatic when the voting results came in. Were they little too much for one little guy? You got to see this.
Take a look -- see this picture, senator elect, there he is on the left side celebrating the big night joined by his adorable kids. Well, you can see the cheers from apparently were a little too loud for Rubio Jr., the little guy there. He had to cover his ears.
Next, on to Los Angeles where two women stole a scene right out of the movie "Thelma and Louise." They're not just accused of stealing here. See the green SUV flying along? The pair led the police on this dangerous high-speed chase through, of course, Los Angeles, spinning out. There go the wheels. They were driving on the wrong side of the road, hit four cars before spinning out of control. Maybe they were just trying to make it to the polls to vote? No excuse, ladies.
So how is the new Congress going to affect the president's agenda? More of what's ahead and politics moving toward 2012, and as Wolf Blitzer likes to say, today is day one on the road to the White House. Wolf joins me next on the Political Ticker.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Balance of power now has shifted on Capitol Hill. And CNN has all your latest political news with "The Best Political Team on Television," CNN = Politics, Wolf Blitzer at it again at the CNNpolitics.com desk. Wolf, I know I'm supposed to ask about politics, but can I ask. Did you get any sleep?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I did. I worked until 3:00 a.m. I walked back to the hotel I'm staying at. I was in the room by 3:30. I think I fell asleep by 4:00 and got up about 8:00, 8:30 this morning. So I got four hours, which I thought was pretty good. I was back on the air at noon. And between I had a chance to work out on the treadmill a little bit.
BALDWIN: No, you did not? You hopped on the treadmill after four hours.
BLITZER: I ran for an hour.
BALDWIN: So let's talk politics. I know you watched -- you covered the president's speech here. He was reflective. But he also talked about the shellacking. What did you make of this?
BLITZER: You know, it's interesting. Presidents, they can identify with each other. This president made it very clear. He sort of can identify with the way Ronald Reagan felt back in 1982, the way Bill Clinton in 1994, the way George W. Bush felt in 2006. Remember, George W. Bush at that time took a thumping.
Today, the president took almost an hour to acknowledge it, but he took a shellacking, as he said himself. It happens in midterm elections. The question now for the president is, how does he rebound? How does he manage to turn this setback for himself and for the Democrats around and get himself reelected in 2012?
It's not going to be easy. There are different playbooks to go after, the Bill Clinton playbook. Does he try to triangulate? Does he move to the center? Does he deal with it the way Harry Truman did, fight the know-nothing Congress? In any case, he's got his work cut out for him. And he made that clear.
I thought he was pretty somber and sad at this -- at the news conference today.
Let's take a look at what's happening, because, it is, as you point out, Brooke, the day after the midterms. It's not that long until Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. The Republican primaries are going to be taking place. Newt Gingrich is already getting ready to go to South Carolina next month. There's been a whole bunch of Republicans visiting Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Tim Pawlenty, maybe even Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi.
Folks are getting ready. If they want to run for the Republican presidential nomination, they got to start planning now. They got to start hiring people now, raising money. Some of the good staffers are going to be picked up by others if they don't. They are going to make some quick decisions. I suspect we will see much more of that coming up.
Finally, Michael Steele, he's going to be in "THE SITUATION ROOM," the chairman of the Republican Party, 5:00 p.m. Eastern, later today. We have got a lot of questions to ask him on this day after. It's interesting. Here he is, the chairman of the Republican Party. The Republicans do great in this election. Yet, there are some long knives out there in the Republican Party against him, don't want him to serve a second term, even though the Republicans did so well.
We're going to talk about that, the lessons learned. As quickly as the political environment, Brooke, turned around from 2008 to 2010, guess what?
BALDWIN,: What?
BLITZER: It can turn back around by 2012.
BALDWIN: Isn't that the fun part about politics, Wolf Blitzer?
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: That's why we love it.
BALDWIN: We do, indeed. Wolf Blitzer, good to see you, fresh off a run and a good four hours of sleep. Wolf, we will see you in a hour.
Meantime, another political update for you in half-an-hour, "Political Ticker" update, I should say. You can hop online, get the latest "Ticker" information at CNNPolitics.com. They're also on Twitter at @PoliticalTicker.
