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American Morning
South Dakota Senate Seat Still Up In Air
Aired November 06, 2002 - 07:06 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Senate race in South Dakota remains very much up in the air at this hour. Let's take a look at the latest returns coming in. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, they're showing John Thune there with a slight lead over the incumbent, Tim Johnson.
Jonathan Karl has been watching the returns. He joins us now live from Sioux Falls.
Good morning -- Jonathan.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
John Thune, as you see, is clinging to a lead of less than -- fewer than 900 votes. And although 99 percent of the precincts are reporting, there are four precincts that aren't yet -- four very important precincts that could spell trouble for John Thune. Four of the 10 precincts on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation have not yet reported.
Now, the Native American vote here in South Dakota is overwhelmingly Democrat. As a matter of fact, if you look at the 6 of the 10 precincts that have reported on that reservation, 1,511 of them voted for the Democrat, Tim Johnson; only 176 voted for John Thune.
So, fasten your seat belt. This one is not over yet. With Thune clinging to that lead of fewer than 900 votes, you have the possibility here of whoever comes out on top of there being a mandatory statewide recount, because in this state, if the margin of victory is less than one-quarter of 1 percent, you will have an automatic recount. And that one-quarter of 1 percent is going to be about 700 or 800 votes, depending on how many votes we have total in this state.
This has been an incredible race from the start, because it's been a South Dakota race, but it's also been a national race. Tim Johnson, the Democrat, has had Tom Daschle at his side as a constant fixture throughout this race, because Tom Daschle is the senior Democrat from this state, the senior Democrat in the Senate as well. And they've been going around saying that if you want to keep South Dakota's clout in the Senate, you've got to re-elect Tim Johnson.
On the other side, John Thune has had George Bush out here five times, including twice in the last week. George Bush has taken a personal interest in this race. And as you know, Paula, Tom Daschle effectively lost control of the Senate last night with the results. This is his last chance to get something back from this election. He very much wants to win here.
I spoke to him just a few minutes ago about the results nationally, and he said that there's no question this is a disappointment, and that he is going to have to take some responsibility. I asked him what it meant. He said, see (ph) change. That means Republicans now control everything -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, when you talk about see (ph) change, how might that affect the Democratic agenda? I mean, the rub going into this was that the Democrats never mounted a parallel economic program to the president's.
KARL: It means the Democrats are going to have to go right back to the drawing board.
You know, what was interesting here is that Tom Daschle's central economic message over the last, you know, 6 or 10 months or so, has been that the George W. Bush tax cut, the Republican tax cut backfired.
Well, look at what happened here. The Democrats who lost, the incumbent Democrats who lost were largely those who voted in favor of the tax cuts. So, they were at opposite ends of the message with the Democratic leadership, getting no help from the Democratic leadership on that central message.
Tim Johnson voted for that tax cut. Max Cleland voted for that tax cut. Mary Landrieu, who failed to get 50 percent down in Louisiana, voted for that tax cut.
So, Democrats had a little bit of a -- a little schizophrenia going on, that those that were running in tight races were with the Republicans essentially on the tax cut, and the Democratic leadership was in the opposite direction. It didn't make for a very coherent message from the Democrats. You can bet they'll be going back to the drawing board.
ZAHN: Did Senator Daschle tell you how this might affect any presidential ambitions?
KARL: Well, he's not talking about that, and he's never admitted to actually having presidential ambitions, except to say he may look at it. But what he did say is that he knows that because of these results -- quote: "Absolutely, I have to take some responsibility. That's just something I'm going to have to live with."
So, it's very clear that Tom Daschle knows that, in part, these results will be read as a judgment on his leadership of the Democratic Party. He knows it's not just him alone. I mean, after all, there were 10 serious Senate battles this year. Nine of those battles, Paula, were in states that George Bush carried in 2000. This was a very, very difficult terrain for Tom Daschle this year. He was running -- his candidates were running in states that were very conservative and very pro-President Bush. And as you can know, President Bush worked very hard in those last days and couple of weeks, and it seems to have really paid off.
ZAHN: Jonathan Karl, thanks so much.
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 6, 2002 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Senate race in South Dakota remains very much up in the air at this hour. Let's take a look at the latest returns coming in. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, they're showing John Thune there with a slight lead over the incumbent, Tim Johnson.
Jonathan Karl has been watching the returns. He joins us now live from Sioux Falls.
Good morning -- Jonathan.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
John Thune, as you see, is clinging to a lead of less than -- fewer than 900 votes. And although 99 percent of the precincts are reporting, there are four precincts that aren't yet -- four very important precincts that could spell trouble for John Thune. Four of the 10 precincts on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation have not yet reported.
Now, the Native American vote here in South Dakota is overwhelmingly Democrat. As a matter of fact, if you look at the 6 of the 10 precincts that have reported on that reservation, 1,511 of them voted for the Democrat, Tim Johnson; only 176 voted for John Thune.
So, fasten your seat belt. This one is not over yet. With Thune clinging to that lead of fewer than 900 votes, you have the possibility here of whoever comes out on top of there being a mandatory statewide recount, because in this state, if the margin of victory is less than one-quarter of 1 percent, you will have an automatic recount. And that one-quarter of 1 percent is going to be about 700 or 800 votes, depending on how many votes we have total in this state.
This has been an incredible race from the start, because it's been a South Dakota race, but it's also been a national race. Tim Johnson, the Democrat, has had Tom Daschle at his side as a constant fixture throughout this race, because Tom Daschle is the senior Democrat from this state, the senior Democrat in the Senate as well. And they've been going around saying that if you want to keep South Dakota's clout in the Senate, you've got to re-elect Tim Johnson.
On the other side, John Thune has had George Bush out here five times, including twice in the last week. George Bush has taken a personal interest in this race. And as you know, Paula, Tom Daschle effectively lost control of the Senate last night with the results. This is his last chance to get something back from this election. He very much wants to win here.
I spoke to him just a few minutes ago about the results nationally, and he said that there's no question this is a disappointment, and that he is going to have to take some responsibility. I asked him what it meant. He said, see (ph) change. That means Republicans now control everything -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, when you talk about see (ph) change, how might that affect the Democratic agenda? I mean, the rub going into this was that the Democrats never mounted a parallel economic program to the president's.
KARL: It means the Democrats are going to have to go right back to the drawing board.
You know, what was interesting here is that Tom Daschle's central economic message over the last, you know, 6 or 10 months or so, has been that the George W. Bush tax cut, the Republican tax cut backfired.
Well, look at what happened here. The Democrats who lost, the incumbent Democrats who lost were largely those who voted in favor of the tax cuts. So, they were at opposite ends of the message with the Democratic leadership, getting no help from the Democratic leadership on that central message.
Tim Johnson voted for that tax cut. Max Cleland voted for that tax cut. Mary Landrieu, who failed to get 50 percent down in Louisiana, voted for that tax cut.
So, Democrats had a little bit of a -- a little schizophrenia going on, that those that were running in tight races were with the Republicans essentially on the tax cut, and the Democratic leadership was in the opposite direction. It didn't make for a very coherent message from the Democrats. You can bet they'll be going back to the drawing board.
ZAHN: Did Senator Daschle tell you how this might affect any presidential ambitions?
KARL: Well, he's not talking about that, and he's never admitted to actually having presidential ambitions, except to say he may look at it. But what he did say is that he knows that because of these results -- quote: "Absolutely, I have to take some responsibility. That's just something I'm going to have to live with."
So, it's very clear that Tom Daschle knows that, in part, these results will be read as a judgment on his leadership of the Democratic Party. He knows it's not just him alone. I mean, after all, there were 10 serious Senate battles this year. Nine of those battles, Paula, were in states that George Bush carried in 2000. This was a very, very difficult terrain for Tom Daschle this year. He was running -- his candidates were running in states that were very conservative and very pro-President Bush. And as you can know, President Bush worked very hard in those last days and couple of weeks, and it seems to have really paid off.
ZAHN: Jonathan Karl, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
