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President Votes in Crawford, Texas
Aired November 05, 2002 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush put his prestige on the line by campaigning extensively and intensively for Republican candidates in today's election. The president and his wife Laura cast their ballots this morning at a firehouse in Crawford, near their Texas ranch.
With more, our John King is live now from the White House on what was a very busy time for the president -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Marty, you can bet this morning, both the president and the first lady cast a full Republican ticket in Crawford, Texas. Mr. Bush is making his way back to the White House this hour. He will be here tonight to watch the results. We're told before those results start trickling in, Mr. Bush has invited congressional leaders from the Congress, the speaker of the House, Denny Hastert, the Senate Republican leader Trent Lott here for dinner at the White House as well.
The White House saying it is cautiously optimistic. It is quite optimistic Republicans will keep the House, somewhat optimistic, one top official recently calling it a jump ball, a toss-up that the Republicans might defy history and get control of the Senate. You mentioned the president's effort, 40 states this year, 30 of them at least twice, 15 states in the final five days, a record shattering 140 million plus in fund-raising by the president. Vice President Cheney was out as well, the Bush cabinet out in droves, especially this past month. The president putting his prestige on the line, hoping to put the Congress back in Republican hands.
They say the president though, Marty, won't make any predictions, and they won't say much here at the White House right now, because they remember this day and this moment two years ago. On Monday night election eve, early Tuesday morning, President Bush was told he was headed toward a convincing victory in the presidential race. Of course, he ended up losing the popular vote. The election decided in the end in the Supreme Court. So no bold predictions here at the White House. The president will watch the results in the residence tonight.
SAVIDGE: John, with the Senate races in many of these cases a coin toss to figure out who is going to win, why does the White House feel optimistic at this point?
KING: They believe the president's late stops in those states will energize Republican voters. Democrats would argue they equally energize the Democrats. But they do believe that they have a chance. And what they say here is that if the president had not helped recruit such good candidates, like Norm Coleman in Minnesota, like Congressman John Thune in South Dakota, had not gone out and helped Jim Talent in Missouri, the Republicans would not be in the 50/50 races that they are in right now.
So the Republicans, the White House believes, at least have a chance, something that many people six months ago would have said would be impossible, given the historical trend that the Republican -- the president's party, excuse me, which is the Republican Party, will get hammered a bit in the midterm election year.
SAVIDGE: We'll see what kind of clout the president has when the results come in. John King, live from the White House. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 5, 2002 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush put his prestige on the line by campaigning extensively and intensively for Republican candidates in today's election. The president and his wife Laura cast their ballots this morning at a firehouse in Crawford, near their Texas ranch.
With more, our John King is live now from the White House on what was a very busy time for the president -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Marty, you can bet this morning, both the president and the first lady cast a full Republican ticket in Crawford, Texas. Mr. Bush is making his way back to the White House this hour. He will be here tonight to watch the results. We're told before those results start trickling in, Mr. Bush has invited congressional leaders from the Congress, the speaker of the House, Denny Hastert, the Senate Republican leader Trent Lott here for dinner at the White House as well.
The White House saying it is cautiously optimistic. It is quite optimistic Republicans will keep the House, somewhat optimistic, one top official recently calling it a jump ball, a toss-up that the Republicans might defy history and get control of the Senate. You mentioned the president's effort, 40 states this year, 30 of them at least twice, 15 states in the final five days, a record shattering 140 million plus in fund-raising by the president. Vice President Cheney was out as well, the Bush cabinet out in droves, especially this past month. The president putting his prestige on the line, hoping to put the Congress back in Republican hands.
They say the president though, Marty, won't make any predictions, and they won't say much here at the White House right now, because they remember this day and this moment two years ago. On Monday night election eve, early Tuesday morning, President Bush was told he was headed toward a convincing victory in the presidential race. Of course, he ended up losing the popular vote. The election decided in the end in the Supreme Court. So no bold predictions here at the White House. The president will watch the results in the residence tonight.
SAVIDGE: John, with the Senate races in many of these cases a coin toss to figure out who is going to win, why does the White House feel optimistic at this point?
KING: They believe the president's late stops in those states will energize Republican voters. Democrats would argue they equally energize the Democrats. But they do believe that they have a chance. And what they say here is that if the president had not helped recruit such good candidates, like Norm Coleman in Minnesota, like Congressman John Thune in South Dakota, had not gone out and helped Jim Talent in Missouri, the Republicans would not be in the 50/50 races that they are in right now.
So the Republicans, the White House believes, at least have a chance, something that many people six months ago would have said would be impossible, given the historical trend that the Republican -- the president's party, excuse me, which is the Republican Party, will get hammered a bit in the midterm election year.
SAVIDGE: We'll see what kind of clout the president has when the results come in. John King, live from the White House. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
