Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

For Second Straight Presidential Election, Outcome Hangs in Balance

Aired November 03, 2004 - 09:30   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. 9:30 here in New York City.
You might feel like you've been here before. For the second straight presidential election, the outcome hangs in the balance. Time to look now at some of the numbers from last night' race. President Bush has more than 58 million votes. John Kerry about 3.5 million votes behind that, a difference of about three percentage points. Neither candidate has the electoral votes needed to nail down a victory, and Ohio is the main reason today. The president leading there, right about 136,000 votes at the moment. John Kerry said to be meeting with his advisers at this hour, deciding whether or not to push for a count of provisional ballots.

Republican leaders out this morning urging the senator not to press on in this fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. NYC MYR.: If he's got good lawyers, they're going to tell him, want to be a statesman, the way to be a statesman is to concede, because you're going to get counted out, so why not, you know, go out on a high point, and why not sort of start the whole idea of uniting by doing the big thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani earlier today here on our show on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're hearing from Kelly Wallace out of Boston that the campaign team for John Kerry is meeting at this hour. We do expect, based on the reports we're getting out of Kelly in Boston, that we could get some sort of announcement or some sort of word or indication how the Kerry team is going about its strategy today after 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, which on the clock is about 28 minutes from now. So we will wait to see what we hear from Boston. But for now, Soledad is in Columbus, Ohio this morning.

Good morning again, Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill.

While these meetings are going on, Ohio is really hanging in the balance. The White House winner still up in the air at this hour. So are a few other races for seats on Capitol Hill. Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia joins us this morning to talk a little bit about that.

Nice to see you, sir, thanks for being with us.

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Good morning. Let's begin by talking a little about Ohio. Do you think, as some of your Republican colleagues have said, that Senator Kerry should concede at this point? Or do you think, as some Democrats have said, it's not over until it's over, let's wait it out?

ALLEN: Well, they're fairly litigious. I think that Senator Voinovich and Senator Dewine know their state very well. I would hope that the counselors for the Kerry/Edwards campaign will assess the situation and realize they don't have the votes to win Ohio and do the right thing.

O'BRIEN: That's not actually clear yet, though, right? I mean, why not wait even, as some have said, why not wait, even if it's just a couple of days, to actually count all of the provisional ballots here in Ohio, which is really what it's come down to. What's a couple or 10 days?

ALLEN: Sure. Here's what you can do is say, well, we want every ballot counted, whether that's in Florida, or Ohio or anywhere else. But still, the indications are that those provisional ballots will not change the outcome, and so you could get a statement of saying this is the way it looks right now, but we want all the ballots counted.

O'BRIEN: There was a theory that the more people voted, the higher the voter turnout, the Democrats would do better. Why did that theory not come true?

ALLEN: Because the people who came out and voted recognized this is a very historic election. Decisions made in the time of war have a profound impact on their lives and our country's future. And I think people recognize that, and in addition, they realize it's going to be a close election, their votes counted. I think it's very healthy, it's very positive, and what happened is people who paid taxes, worked for a living or cared about their families got out to vote and they voted for President Bush, and they voted for our Republican candidates and new senators and statesmen from North Carolina and South Carolina to Mel Martinez in Florida, the first Cuban-American ever in the Congress. We're able with John Thune to win in South Dakota, knocking off the Democrat leader, chief obstructionist, first time in 52 years, and in Louisiana, we made history. And David Vitter is the first Republican ever elected in Louisiana. In South Carolina and Georgia, first time ever two Republican senators from those states.

So lot of great history. And Lisa Murkowski, by the way, in Alaska is the first native-born Alaskan elected to the U.S. Senate.

O'BRIEN: And finally when you look at popular vote, with a margin of 3.5 million votes for President Bush, what do you think the message is from the country to Democrats? ALLEN: I think that's good, first of all, so you don't say, gosh, you won the electoral vote, because you won enough states and so forth, but more people voted the other way, so you get through that.

And I think the message to the Democrats where at least in the Senate where we picked up from 51 to 55 seats, is that people want to see action, they don't want to see petty partisan bickering, and procedural maneuvers, and filibustering and obstruction. They want to see action supporting our troops in this war on terrorism. They want to see action on maybe litigation reform, energy independence, and they expect judicial nominees to be accorded the fairness of an up-or- down vote on the Senate floor.

So I think that the message is action moving forward together, not asking people to vote contrary to conscience or promises, but don't use procedure to thwart the will of the American people.

O'BRIEN: Senator George Allen of Virginia joining us this morning. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

ALLEN: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Soledad, want to get back here to New York for a second here and check back in with Heidi Collins and find out what we're learning from yesterday. Turnout was huge, huh, I know that?

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turnout was huge, absolutely, maybe not quite as big as expected, but certainly bigger than four years ago. In fact, voter turnout has apparently set new highs across the country, including in the battleground state of Florida. American stood in line for hours to cast ballots. Look at this. Some polls remaining open well into the night. At least 112 million people turned out, and that is compared, as we said, with some 105 million that came out four years ago.

Voters in states across the country have overpoweringly said no to gay marriage. All 11 states with the issue on the ballot Passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. Many of these measures were approved with a majority of 60 percent or more. The states include Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah.

A change in Indiana's executive mansion. Former White House budget director Mitch Daniels defeats incumbent governor Joe Kernan. It is the first time in 16 years Indiana has a Republican governor. Incidentally, the price tag for the gubernatorial race, at least $28 million. That is the most expensive political contest in Indiana's history.

And independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader offered some criticism for the Democratic Party. Speaking in front of supporters last night, Nader accused the Democrats of having put contempt for liberal groups that have long supported the party. He blamed liberals for keeping him off ballots in key states. Words from Ralph Nader this morning.

HEMMER: 22 minutes now before the hour. Get a break here. Indecision now with this election causing a ripple effect, first in Washington, then the rest of the world. When the polls closed, the Kerry campaign was optimistic, the Bush campaign was concerned. Within hours, it all turned around. In a moment, the three events that changed everything, back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All last night, the election 2004, a marathon day of ups and downs for both candidates really into the evening hours, the early morning hours, and now today. A look back now how the very long evening unfolded last evening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Start bringing you results.

HEMMER (voice-over): In the beginning, no surprises.

BLITZER: ... that George...

HEMMER: In fact, everything up to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time followed the game plan, and then the focus sharpened on three critical states. First, Kerry wins Pennsylvania.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: This is the first real disappointment for either campaign.

HEMMER: But the Democrats' joy short lived as Florida was called for Bush just after midnight.

KAREN HUGHES, SR. BUSH ADVISOR: It's nice to know we won't be going through that again, that Florida is now in the President Bush column.

HEMMER: In the midnight hour, Ohio also moved center stage, Two TV networks called the state for Bush. But it was still too close for others.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This from Mary Beth Cahill, who, of course, is the campaign manager of the Kerry campaign. She says, quote, "The vote count in Ohio has not been completed. There are more than 250,000 remaining votes to be counted."

HEMMER: Even though the president retained a sizable margin, the Democrat candidates refuse to concede.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've waited four years for this victory. We can wait one more night.

HEMMER: But it soon began to look like it would turn into many, many more nights before we knew who would be elected president.

BLITZER: We're approaching 4:00 a.m. here on the east coast of the United States. We still don't have a winner in this race.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ohio still undecided because of the question over provisional ballots. Those ballots involve voters whose names didn't show up on a registration list but were allowed to vote anyway. Election officials now must make sure they are legally registered in the correct precinct.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER (on camera): 9:43 now officially on the east coast. 9:43 back in Columbus, Ohio. We all wait now for the eventual results and should get some word from the Kerry team a little bit past 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Back to Columbus now and more with Soledad there.

O'BRIEN: And we watch and wait in Ohio, and ultimately watching, waiting for a president-elect officially. The daily business of government must go on in Washington, D.C., but will the election delay slow things down in the nation's capital?

We're going to ask Sally Quinn. She's a staff writer at "The Washington Post." Sally, good morning. Nice to see you.

SALLY QUINN, STAFF WRITER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Glad to be here.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. What's the mood in Washington, D.C. like today?

QUINN: Well, I think people are a little shell shocked, because sort of midday yesterday, the word was the exit polls were that Kerry was ahead. So, I think everybody thought that Kerry would win until about 8:00 or 9:00 last night when things started to go the other way.

You know, so much is riding on this for people who live in Washington, whose livelihoods depend on who's in the White House and whose social position depends on who's in the White House. And I think people are feeling very in a kind of limbo situation, because they don't know what their status is going to be.

Although, it does appear that Bush has won the election -- we won't know. And so, there's this incredible feeling of insecurity, I think. I think insecurity is the word I would use.

O'BRIEN: Does it still feel insecure enough in the air when you have Andy Card come out and essentially declare President Bush the winner?

QUINN: Well, I think it's beginning to settle down a little bit and dawn on people that Bush probably will be the winner. You know, one of the things if you live in Washington and if you're part of sort of the Washington governmental journalistic diplomatic access axis, you -- this happens every four years. You go through this incredible turmoil -- or certainly every eight years.

Washington is geared toward change. And so, I think there is a certain excitement about the idea of change, even regardless of whether you're Republican or Democrat. And there's a certain sense of security about -- of not change. I mean, everyone has lived with George Bush for four years. Everyone knows what their position is and how they play in this government and this environment.

And so, if it stays the same way, then there's not going to be any kind of an upheaval. So, I think there's those two things to consider. It'll be less exciting, but more secure than it would have been if John Kerry had been elected.

O'BRIEN: For all those who have worked on any campaign where their candidate was not successful, it truly must be very devastating. Do you feel that among those folks today?

QUINN: Well, certainly among the Democrats. It's been extremely depressing. I don't think I have ever seen emotions run this high in Washington. I mean, people in Washington usually are fairly blase, because presidents come and go and it's a little bit like the passing parade.

But I think people were really emotionally invested in this election more than I've ever seen before. A local gastroenterologist said that he'd never had more business than he'd had in the last couple of weeks because people's stomachs were so upset over whether the Democrats or the Republicans would win or not.

O'BRIEN: Literally taking the temperature of folks' GI tracts. All right, Sally Quinn, nice to see you. Thanks for chatting with us about what's going on behind the scenes in Washington, D.C. Appreciate it.

And let's head back to Bill in New York -- Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Soledad.

In a moment here, to concede or not to concede -- a big question today for John Kerry. Carlos Watson back in a moment with that on this extended edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We're going for five hours again today. We continue in a moment after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. Stocks trading for 20 minutes. How are they reacting to the news of last night and the news of today. Back to Andy, "Minding Your Business" on that. We're up, I'm assuming, right?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Absolutely. As promised, stocks trading up this hour on the street. Not necessarily so much that there's the prospects of a Bush victory, but just the fact we may be getting rid of some uncertainty here. You can see the Dow is up 136 points. We were up even more than that a few minutes ago. Nasdaq up 26 points. Want to go through some the stock groups here that are making news. Defense stocks up, Lockheed and Boeing up 2.6 percent. Oil stocks that Exxon up. Halliburton up 7 percent. Drug stocks up 6 percent, 4 percent, 2 percent, that's Pfizer, Merck and Johnson & Johnson. There was fear if John Kerry was elected, or is elected, that he might be putting price caps on drugs.

Stem cell stocks are down. It this is interesting, because they would have gone up with the prospect of a Kerry victory, and there was the decision in California that was favorable, but right now Wall Street taking a jaundiced view there. Tech stocks up very strongly. Google's up $6, breaking 200 for the first time. And kind of an interesting one here, also Diebold, which makes those electronic voting machines, things went pretty smoothly in that department, so that stock is up 2 percent.

Another one we should mention here this morning, Bill, is Time Warner, they announced earnings which were OK, but they did say they were taking a $500 million reserve because of that federal probe into accounting, and they're also restating earnings. So that stock is going to be very active. Of course, there are reports of layoffs at AOL, and also other problems, like they closed down the financial network, CNNfn, several days back. So that stock will be active today as well.

HEMMER: All right, keep us posted, OK, Andy.

SERWER: Indeed.

HEMMER: Back to Carlos Watson now. Jack is off today, so Carlos is helping out, not just with the e-mail segments we're doing today, but also the political landscape and how things have changed, or maybe not changed so far.

So good morning. Welcome back to you.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POL. ANALYST: Good morning.

HEMMER: 527 groups, Internet blogs, Swift Boat ads, as you reflect back now, how did those affect this election? How did it impact, maybe what the public considered for this race?

WATSON: Really -- this isn't an overstatement -- this was a transformative election from political strategists and political analysts. Much more money, maybe double the amount of money when all the numbers are added up, and interestingly enough, the money comes from more sources.

When you think about the message, this is our first major foreign policy election since 1980, and again, the conversation wasn't just about war, it was about our own national security.

If you think about the media, think about all the different media players that were involved. Not just traditional print and television, but you had Internet blogs, or you had movies like Michael Moore's movie. You had books -- books after books, so lots of big changes in this election.

And then last but not least, it was interesting to see voter turnout, and whether that's something that remains consistently and higher, and do particular groups begin to participate more? We saw Hispanics go from seven percent of the electorate to nine percent. That's a big deal.

HEMMER: That's a pretty big jump in four years, you're exactly right.

Question now, should John Kerry concede. That's our e-mail question. A lot of response. Paige in Westlake, Ohio. That's west of Cleveland. Absolutely not, "As a resident of Ohio, a state with a Republican administration, we need to make certain that every vote is counted. This election is too close for Ohio to have any doubt that the eventual outcome is legitimate."

Dave in Illinois says, "Senator Kerry gave his all, no doubt, but I'm ready to start healing the nation. Kerry should concede."

Diane says, "John Kerry should not concede the race. It is only fair that every vote be counted. This is not a rerun of Florida during the last election. No one is pushing a recount, or a recount of the recount."

There's got to be pressure, there right?

HEMMER: There is, but you know what's interesting about the point that both Paige and Diane made. They're saying this isn't just about John Kerry; this is about Andy as a voter, this is about Bill as a voter. This is about Carlos as a voter, that every vote should count. We have a system. I think you're going to hear that sentiment loud and strong. I think John Kerry is going to feel pressure from the direction not to -- to make sure the process goes forward.

SERWER: Going back to your point about all the new things in this campaign, I was also struck by the point an old issue was very important, and that is value, Carlos.

WATSON: Yes.

SERWER: And we're hearing how important that was for voters across the board. So that comes back into play.

WATSON: Very much so. Another piece related to values issue was the importance of the church as a political institution. Part of the president's success in turning out voters, particularly turning out Christian evangelical voters, were the phone calls, and the direct mails, and the rallies and the house parties that were organized through churches, not through unions, not through other groups, but through churches.

HEMMER: And Karl Rove has been saying that for months now. They believe four years ago up to four million evangelicals did not turn out.

WATSON: Stayed home.

HEMMER: In 2000.

Want to see a headline? "USA Today": "Cliffhanger."

WATSON: Wow.

SERWER: Big type there, huh?

HEMMER: Big, big, big -- I think that's about four inches.

SERWER: Twenty-point type.

In Columbus, Ohio, there's a similar headline there. There's the dispatch where Soledad is, back in central Ohio.

Hey, Soledad. Seen the paper yet?

O'BRIEN: Hey, Bill, that's right, I've got it right here, "Cliffhanger," obviously matching the "USA Today." It says here, "Bush tops in votes but Kerry has hope." Some people say that that hope is beginning to diminish as we wait for the final results here out of Ohio. And you can sense it in some of the tones, even when you talk to some Kerry supporters, or you have listen to Andy Card come out and basically declare victory for the president. So hope springs eternal, I suppose, but of course we're minute away from hearing, we are told, from the Kerry camp, hear what they have so say this morning, as the numbers are not looking good for them here in Ohio.

Still to come this morning, an election so tight one day couldn't contain it. As predicted by many votes, the final vote is going to come down to the state of Ohio. I'll bring you up to speed on the latest from here, just ahead, as we roll on, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 3, 2004 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. 9:30 here in New York City.
You might feel like you've been here before. For the second straight presidential election, the outcome hangs in the balance. Time to look now at some of the numbers from last night' race. President Bush has more than 58 million votes. John Kerry about 3.5 million votes behind that, a difference of about three percentage points. Neither candidate has the electoral votes needed to nail down a victory, and Ohio is the main reason today. The president leading there, right about 136,000 votes at the moment. John Kerry said to be meeting with his advisers at this hour, deciding whether or not to push for a count of provisional ballots.

Republican leaders out this morning urging the senator not to press on in this fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. NYC MYR.: If he's got good lawyers, they're going to tell him, want to be a statesman, the way to be a statesman is to concede, because you're going to get counted out, so why not, you know, go out on a high point, and why not sort of start the whole idea of uniting by doing the big thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani earlier today here on our show on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're hearing from Kelly Wallace out of Boston that the campaign team for John Kerry is meeting at this hour. We do expect, based on the reports we're getting out of Kelly in Boston, that we could get some sort of announcement or some sort of word or indication how the Kerry team is going about its strategy today after 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, which on the clock is about 28 minutes from now. So we will wait to see what we hear from Boston. But for now, Soledad is in Columbus, Ohio this morning.

Good morning again, Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill.

While these meetings are going on, Ohio is really hanging in the balance. The White House winner still up in the air at this hour. So are a few other races for seats on Capitol Hill. Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia joins us this morning to talk a little bit about that.

Nice to see you, sir, thanks for being with us.

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Good morning. Let's begin by talking a little about Ohio. Do you think, as some of your Republican colleagues have said, that Senator Kerry should concede at this point? Or do you think, as some Democrats have said, it's not over until it's over, let's wait it out?

ALLEN: Well, they're fairly litigious. I think that Senator Voinovich and Senator Dewine know their state very well. I would hope that the counselors for the Kerry/Edwards campaign will assess the situation and realize they don't have the votes to win Ohio and do the right thing.

O'BRIEN: That's not actually clear yet, though, right? I mean, why not wait even, as some have said, why not wait, even if it's just a couple of days, to actually count all of the provisional ballots here in Ohio, which is really what it's come down to. What's a couple or 10 days?

ALLEN: Sure. Here's what you can do is say, well, we want every ballot counted, whether that's in Florida, or Ohio or anywhere else. But still, the indications are that those provisional ballots will not change the outcome, and so you could get a statement of saying this is the way it looks right now, but we want all the ballots counted.

O'BRIEN: There was a theory that the more people voted, the higher the voter turnout, the Democrats would do better. Why did that theory not come true?

ALLEN: Because the people who came out and voted recognized this is a very historic election. Decisions made in the time of war have a profound impact on their lives and our country's future. And I think people recognize that, and in addition, they realize it's going to be a close election, their votes counted. I think it's very healthy, it's very positive, and what happened is people who paid taxes, worked for a living or cared about their families got out to vote and they voted for President Bush, and they voted for our Republican candidates and new senators and statesmen from North Carolina and South Carolina to Mel Martinez in Florida, the first Cuban-American ever in the Congress. We're able with John Thune to win in South Dakota, knocking off the Democrat leader, chief obstructionist, first time in 52 years, and in Louisiana, we made history. And David Vitter is the first Republican ever elected in Louisiana. In South Carolina and Georgia, first time ever two Republican senators from those states.

So lot of great history. And Lisa Murkowski, by the way, in Alaska is the first native-born Alaskan elected to the U.S. Senate.

O'BRIEN: And finally when you look at popular vote, with a margin of 3.5 million votes for President Bush, what do you think the message is from the country to Democrats? ALLEN: I think that's good, first of all, so you don't say, gosh, you won the electoral vote, because you won enough states and so forth, but more people voted the other way, so you get through that.

And I think the message to the Democrats where at least in the Senate where we picked up from 51 to 55 seats, is that people want to see action, they don't want to see petty partisan bickering, and procedural maneuvers, and filibustering and obstruction. They want to see action supporting our troops in this war on terrorism. They want to see action on maybe litigation reform, energy independence, and they expect judicial nominees to be accorded the fairness of an up-or- down vote on the Senate floor.

So I think that the message is action moving forward together, not asking people to vote contrary to conscience or promises, but don't use procedure to thwart the will of the American people.

O'BRIEN: Senator George Allen of Virginia joining us this morning. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

ALLEN: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Soledad, want to get back here to New York for a second here and check back in with Heidi Collins and find out what we're learning from yesterday. Turnout was huge, huh, I know that?

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turnout was huge, absolutely, maybe not quite as big as expected, but certainly bigger than four years ago. In fact, voter turnout has apparently set new highs across the country, including in the battleground state of Florida. American stood in line for hours to cast ballots. Look at this. Some polls remaining open well into the night. At least 112 million people turned out, and that is compared, as we said, with some 105 million that came out four years ago.

Voters in states across the country have overpoweringly said no to gay marriage. All 11 states with the issue on the ballot Passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. Many of these measures were approved with a majority of 60 percent or more. The states include Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah.

A change in Indiana's executive mansion. Former White House budget director Mitch Daniels defeats incumbent governor Joe Kernan. It is the first time in 16 years Indiana has a Republican governor. Incidentally, the price tag for the gubernatorial race, at least $28 million. That is the most expensive political contest in Indiana's history.

And independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader offered some criticism for the Democratic Party. Speaking in front of supporters last night, Nader accused the Democrats of having put contempt for liberal groups that have long supported the party. He blamed liberals for keeping him off ballots in key states. Words from Ralph Nader this morning.

HEMMER: 22 minutes now before the hour. Get a break here. Indecision now with this election causing a ripple effect, first in Washington, then the rest of the world. When the polls closed, the Kerry campaign was optimistic, the Bush campaign was concerned. Within hours, it all turned around. In a moment, the three events that changed everything, back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All last night, the election 2004, a marathon day of ups and downs for both candidates really into the evening hours, the early morning hours, and now today. A look back now how the very long evening unfolded last evening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Start bringing you results.

HEMMER (voice-over): In the beginning, no surprises.

BLITZER: ... that George...

HEMMER: In fact, everything up to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time followed the game plan, and then the focus sharpened on three critical states. First, Kerry wins Pennsylvania.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: This is the first real disappointment for either campaign.

HEMMER: But the Democrats' joy short lived as Florida was called for Bush just after midnight.

KAREN HUGHES, SR. BUSH ADVISOR: It's nice to know we won't be going through that again, that Florida is now in the President Bush column.

HEMMER: In the midnight hour, Ohio also moved center stage, Two TV networks called the state for Bush. But it was still too close for others.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This from Mary Beth Cahill, who, of course, is the campaign manager of the Kerry campaign. She says, quote, "The vote count in Ohio has not been completed. There are more than 250,000 remaining votes to be counted."

HEMMER: Even though the president retained a sizable margin, the Democrat candidates refuse to concede.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've waited four years for this victory. We can wait one more night.

HEMMER: But it soon began to look like it would turn into many, many more nights before we knew who would be elected president.

BLITZER: We're approaching 4:00 a.m. here on the east coast of the United States. We still don't have a winner in this race.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ohio still undecided because of the question over provisional ballots. Those ballots involve voters whose names didn't show up on a registration list but were allowed to vote anyway. Election officials now must make sure they are legally registered in the correct precinct.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER (on camera): 9:43 now officially on the east coast. 9:43 back in Columbus, Ohio. We all wait now for the eventual results and should get some word from the Kerry team a little bit past 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Back to Columbus now and more with Soledad there.

O'BRIEN: And we watch and wait in Ohio, and ultimately watching, waiting for a president-elect officially. The daily business of government must go on in Washington, D.C., but will the election delay slow things down in the nation's capital?

We're going to ask Sally Quinn. She's a staff writer at "The Washington Post." Sally, good morning. Nice to see you.

SALLY QUINN, STAFF WRITER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Glad to be here.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. What's the mood in Washington, D.C. like today?

QUINN: Well, I think people are a little shell shocked, because sort of midday yesterday, the word was the exit polls were that Kerry was ahead. So, I think everybody thought that Kerry would win until about 8:00 or 9:00 last night when things started to go the other way.

You know, so much is riding on this for people who live in Washington, whose livelihoods depend on who's in the White House and whose social position depends on who's in the White House. And I think people are feeling very in a kind of limbo situation, because they don't know what their status is going to be.

Although, it does appear that Bush has won the election -- we won't know. And so, there's this incredible feeling of insecurity, I think. I think insecurity is the word I would use.

O'BRIEN: Does it still feel insecure enough in the air when you have Andy Card come out and essentially declare President Bush the winner?

QUINN: Well, I think it's beginning to settle down a little bit and dawn on people that Bush probably will be the winner. You know, one of the things if you live in Washington and if you're part of sort of the Washington governmental journalistic diplomatic access axis, you -- this happens every four years. You go through this incredible turmoil -- or certainly every eight years.

Washington is geared toward change. And so, I think there is a certain excitement about the idea of change, even regardless of whether you're Republican or Democrat. And there's a certain sense of security about -- of not change. I mean, everyone has lived with George Bush for four years. Everyone knows what their position is and how they play in this government and this environment.

And so, if it stays the same way, then there's not going to be any kind of an upheaval. So, I think there's those two things to consider. It'll be less exciting, but more secure than it would have been if John Kerry had been elected.

O'BRIEN: For all those who have worked on any campaign where their candidate was not successful, it truly must be very devastating. Do you feel that among those folks today?

QUINN: Well, certainly among the Democrats. It's been extremely depressing. I don't think I have ever seen emotions run this high in Washington. I mean, people in Washington usually are fairly blase, because presidents come and go and it's a little bit like the passing parade.

But I think people were really emotionally invested in this election more than I've ever seen before. A local gastroenterologist said that he'd never had more business than he'd had in the last couple of weeks because people's stomachs were so upset over whether the Democrats or the Republicans would win or not.

O'BRIEN: Literally taking the temperature of folks' GI tracts. All right, Sally Quinn, nice to see you. Thanks for chatting with us about what's going on behind the scenes in Washington, D.C. Appreciate it.

And let's head back to Bill in New York -- Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Soledad.

In a moment here, to concede or not to concede -- a big question today for John Kerry. Carlos Watson back in a moment with that on this extended edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We're going for five hours again today. We continue in a moment after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. Stocks trading for 20 minutes. How are they reacting to the news of last night and the news of today. Back to Andy, "Minding Your Business" on that. We're up, I'm assuming, right?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Absolutely. As promised, stocks trading up this hour on the street. Not necessarily so much that there's the prospects of a Bush victory, but just the fact we may be getting rid of some uncertainty here. You can see the Dow is up 136 points. We were up even more than that a few minutes ago. Nasdaq up 26 points. Want to go through some the stock groups here that are making news. Defense stocks up, Lockheed and Boeing up 2.6 percent. Oil stocks that Exxon up. Halliburton up 7 percent. Drug stocks up 6 percent, 4 percent, 2 percent, that's Pfizer, Merck and Johnson & Johnson. There was fear if John Kerry was elected, or is elected, that he might be putting price caps on drugs.

Stem cell stocks are down. It this is interesting, because they would have gone up with the prospect of a Kerry victory, and there was the decision in California that was favorable, but right now Wall Street taking a jaundiced view there. Tech stocks up very strongly. Google's up $6, breaking 200 for the first time. And kind of an interesting one here, also Diebold, which makes those electronic voting machines, things went pretty smoothly in that department, so that stock is up 2 percent.

Another one we should mention here this morning, Bill, is Time Warner, they announced earnings which were OK, but they did say they were taking a $500 million reserve because of that federal probe into accounting, and they're also restating earnings. So that stock is going to be very active. Of course, there are reports of layoffs at AOL, and also other problems, like they closed down the financial network, CNNfn, several days back. So that stock will be active today as well.

HEMMER: All right, keep us posted, OK, Andy.

SERWER: Indeed.

HEMMER: Back to Carlos Watson now. Jack is off today, so Carlos is helping out, not just with the e-mail segments we're doing today, but also the political landscape and how things have changed, or maybe not changed so far.

So good morning. Welcome back to you.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POL. ANALYST: Good morning.

HEMMER: 527 groups, Internet blogs, Swift Boat ads, as you reflect back now, how did those affect this election? How did it impact, maybe what the public considered for this race?

WATSON: Really -- this isn't an overstatement -- this was a transformative election from political strategists and political analysts. Much more money, maybe double the amount of money when all the numbers are added up, and interestingly enough, the money comes from more sources.

When you think about the message, this is our first major foreign policy election since 1980, and again, the conversation wasn't just about war, it was about our own national security.

If you think about the media, think about all the different media players that were involved. Not just traditional print and television, but you had Internet blogs, or you had movies like Michael Moore's movie. You had books -- books after books, so lots of big changes in this election.

And then last but not least, it was interesting to see voter turnout, and whether that's something that remains consistently and higher, and do particular groups begin to participate more? We saw Hispanics go from seven percent of the electorate to nine percent. That's a big deal.

HEMMER: That's a pretty big jump in four years, you're exactly right.

Question now, should John Kerry concede. That's our e-mail question. A lot of response. Paige in Westlake, Ohio. That's west of Cleveland. Absolutely not, "As a resident of Ohio, a state with a Republican administration, we need to make certain that every vote is counted. This election is too close for Ohio to have any doubt that the eventual outcome is legitimate."

Dave in Illinois says, "Senator Kerry gave his all, no doubt, but I'm ready to start healing the nation. Kerry should concede."

Diane says, "John Kerry should not concede the race. It is only fair that every vote be counted. This is not a rerun of Florida during the last election. No one is pushing a recount, or a recount of the recount."

There's got to be pressure, there right?

HEMMER: There is, but you know what's interesting about the point that both Paige and Diane made. They're saying this isn't just about John Kerry; this is about Andy as a voter, this is about Bill as a voter. This is about Carlos as a voter, that every vote should count. We have a system. I think you're going to hear that sentiment loud and strong. I think John Kerry is going to feel pressure from the direction not to -- to make sure the process goes forward.

SERWER: Going back to your point about all the new things in this campaign, I was also struck by the point an old issue was very important, and that is value, Carlos.

WATSON: Yes.

SERWER: And we're hearing how important that was for voters across the board. So that comes back into play.

WATSON: Very much so. Another piece related to values issue was the importance of the church as a political institution. Part of the president's success in turning out voters, particularly turning out Christian evangelical voters, were the phone calls, and the direct mails, and the rallies and the house parties that were organized through churches, not through unions, not through other groups, but through churches.

HEMMER: And Karl Rove has been saying that for months now. They believe four years ago up to four million evangelicals did not turn out.

WATSON: Stayed home.

HEMMER: In 2000.

Want to see a headline? "USA Today": "Cliffhanger."

WATSON: Wow.

SERWER: Big type there, huh?

HEMMER: Big, big, big -- I think that's about four inches.

SERWER: Twenty-point type.

In Columbus, Ohio, there's a similar headline there. There's the dispatch where Soledad is, back in central Ohio.

Hey, Soledad. Seen the paper yet?

O'BRIEN: Hey, Bill, that's right, I've got it right here, "Cliffhanger," obviously matching the "USA Today." It says here, "Bush tops in votes but Kerry has hope." Some people say that that hope is beginning to diminish as we wait for the final results here out of Ohio. And you can sense it in some of the tones, even when you talk to some Kerry supporters, or you have listen to Andy Card come out and basically declare victory for the president. So hope springs eternal, I suppose, but of course we're minute away from hearing, we are told, from the Kerry camp, hear what they have so say this morning, as the numbers are not looking good for them here in Ohio.

Still to come this morning, an election so tight one day couldn't contain it. As predicted by many votes, the final vote is going to come down to the state of Ohio. I'll bring you up to speed on the latest from here, just ahead, as we roll on, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com