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Midterms 2014: One More Day; Very Different Outlooks for the Next Senate; Awaiting Results From North Carolina Ebola Test; NYC Ebola Patient's Condition Improves; Feds Approved Ferguson No-Fly Area To Block Media

Aired November 03, 2014 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: John, am I right or am I right?

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": I hope you're wrong.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I do too!

KING: I hope ultimate NASCAR fighting stays over there in that arena and we get to a little bit of post-election, at least, maybe conversation. But we'll see. But we can't talk about that yet. 24 hours until people starting voting. Tomorrow is Election Day. If you don't have early voting in your state, your last chance comes tomorrow.

So let's go Inside Politics, look at the stakes in this huge midterm election. With me this morning to share their reporting and their insights are Jackie Kucinich and Robert Costa, of "The Washington Post."

Let's first ask this question, the big battleground this year is control of the United States Senate. Democrats have a majority at the moment, 55-45, that includes two independents, who caucus with the Democrats.

Here's the question, Republicans have momentum. It's a Republican year, right. President Obama, his sixth year. It's midterm election, can Democrats hold majority? Well, let's game it out. These are the races we are watching most closely.

Remember, Republicans need a net gain of six Senate seats. Even most Democrats now concede Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Those are the Republican pickups tomorrow night.

That would get Republicans to 45-45. So now you look at this map, ten states left on the map. Here is the challenge for the Democrats. Republicans are leading in the late polls in seven out of these ten states.

So that tells you Republicans have the momentum going into Election Day. Can Democrats hold on? Let me give you a couple scenarios. The "easiest" in quotes because it's not easy, to hold what I call the blues. Hold Colorado, hold Iowa, hold New Hampshire, hold North Carolina. President Obama carried three of those states twice, carried North Carolina once. Here's the problem. At the moment the Democrats are losing in Colorado and they are losing in Iowa. So what happens if those polls are right?

Republican Joni Ernst wins here. Republican Corey Gardner wins here. Again for the sake of this scenario, let's say Jean Shaheen and Kay Hagan hold on in New Hampshire in North Carolina, what would that get you?

It's 47 and 47. Can the Democrats hold on? Yes. Look at the six states left all of them lost by President Obama twice. All states where his approval rating is quite low. All states where Republicans think they will win.

So you can get a scenario where Republicans get as high as 54 and 55. My question is, Democrats keep saying, we are going to prove you wrong. We're out hustling them in the ground in Colorado. We're out hustling them in the ground game in Iowa. Spin or fact?

JACKIE KUCINICH, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I mean, we can only know that. It's tomorrow night. It's true. Everyone is talking about the ground game. You saw them having a school yard fight about it yesterday. But it's going to come down to that.

It will come down to if they can get it out to reliable voters that tend to vote if presidential elections. They can get some to the polls. Democrats will have a better night than we think they will have.

KING: If you look at the early voting totals in Iowa and Colorado, Republicans at least they promised they would do a better job after getting their "you know what's kicked" in 2012 and even before that they seemed to be in the numbers.

Let's look at one of these races, one of the other openings for Democrats, if you will, can they take away red states? Take away red states? One of the marquee challenges in the state of Georgia, the final debate just last night, Republicans are mad at their candidate, David Perdue. They don't he's ran a very good race.

Democrats think their candidate, Michelle Nunn, has run a pretty good race. The question is, can she get 50 percent plus 1 on Election Day? We'll see, but in the last debate to the very end of this campaign, we have two candidates and a president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE NUNN (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: He's wanting to run against the president. He should have run for president, but you are running against me. I have made it clear I have real differences with the president. I stand up for those differences.

DAVID PERDUE (R), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: It seems to me this president has said his policies are on the ballot. In the state of Georgia, those failed policies go by the name of Michelle Nunn. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: To win the race, do we think Michelle Nunn has to win tomorrow? Can she win a runoff election?

ROBERT COSTA, "THE WASHINGTON POST": It will be tough for her to win a runoff election. But I think when you look at how Republicans saw this map at the start of the cycle. They wanted to nationalize the election, due to David Purdue's strategy.

Democrats wanted to make it about the candidates to localize the race as much as possible. If you think about which Democrat has done the best job at fulfilling that Democratic tragedy, I think it's Michelle Nunn.

She's made the race about her. She's come across as a moderate Democrat. She hit Perdue hard about his business career, painting him as a Mitt Romney-type figure. If anyone is going to win tomorrow on the Democratic side, I think it's Michelle Nun.

KING: Michelle Nunn, that will be a big one. The other for a wildcard race, the top of the wildcard doesn't have to be Kansas. We don't have a Democrat in the ballot. You have Republican Pat Roberts, Independent Craig Orman.

The question, Greg Orman has said, if I win, I will wait to see how this all plays out. I won't tell you if I will side with the Democrats in organizing or the Republicans in organizing. Is it conceivable we have Greg Orman in a position of huge power waiting for runoffs potentially in two states, Georgia and Louisiana?

KUCINICH: Absolutely. I think it's completely plausible. The other thing Orman said that I think is interesting, maybe I'll caucus with one and then the other. I don't see that flying. I don't see any leader letting that happen. So you imagine he will be getting lots of phone calls.

KING: It's not just the Senate races, Ladies and Gentlemen, that are close across the country. You have governor races with Republican incumbents that are this close. There is no incumbent in Maryland, but the Lieutenant Government Anthony Brown is running in that race.

People thought the Democratic nominee would be a shoe-in, right, to succeed Mark O'Malley. Michelle Obama will be campaigning there today because they're worried trying to get African-Americans to turn out in Baltimore. Why so many races so close, regardless of sort of the party dynamic in any individual state?

COSTA: I think a lot of it comes down to, Democrats have run solid races across the country in a lot of these gubernatorial candidates, Mary Burke in Wisconsin. You have the Tom Wolf in Pennsylvania. He's running a strong race.

But the president's poll numbers make almost all of these contests volatile. I think you got to watch Larry Hogan in Maryland. His campaign has been run by Rush Ripper who apprehended Romney's campaign. It's really a top notch national operation.

No one is really been paying attention to the Republicans in Maryland. He could have an upset. I really have my eye on Wisconsin. Does Scott Walker this 2016 contender survive in a tough year?

KUCINICH: Well, the other thing that Brown is facing is O'Malley has his numbers in Maryland have been dropping and he's been very closely tied to O'Malley so that has been a drag on him as well.

KING: But right now it's dangerous to talk about after the election the day before the election because obviously, we want to let people vote and count the results, but you do have some shall we say maneuvering.

Robert, you have a story, Ted Cruz, the Tea Party Republican senator from Texas. Remember he's a freshmen senator. He's a junior senator on just about every committee he is on.

But listen to Ted Cruz talking about after the election. Number one, he won't commit, Robert, to supporting Mitch McConnell assuming Mitch McConnell wins re-election in Kentucky.

He won't even commit to supporting him for a majority leader and then he says this, he wants Republicans in the Senate, if they have that power. Let's start looking at the abuse of power, the executive abuse, the regulatory abuse, the lawlessness that sadly has pervaded this administration.

He means the Obama administration. He wants to repeal. Is Ted Cruz going to be to Mitch McConnell what the Tea Party guys in the House have been to John Boehner and prevent him or at least complicate getting anything done?

COSTA: Certainly, Mitch McConnell tomorrow may win a new title. He maybe the majority leader of the United States Senate, but he also wins new headaches. If he wins that new title, he enters having a majority full of Tea Party voices that want to have a more aggressive agenda. He may want to do some more compromise in divided government. It's going to be a tough situation for him to deal with.

KUCINICH: Not only that, he has a bunch of mini-presidential campaigns that are going to be running out of the Senate, people like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul. It's about the Senate. It's also about their ambitions.

KING: Marco Rubio, maybe Rob Portman as well, a lot of Republicans. I don't think it will cause too much trouble. You run for president. You never know. Joe Biden, the vice president also looking past the election in a bit.

In an interview here with CNN's Gloria Borger, he says, let's be clear, he says, "He believes the Democrats will hold their Senate majority. If not, listen to Joe Biden here saying, maybe Republicans will try to get things done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Going into 2016 and Republicans have to make a decision whether they're in control or not in control. Are they going to begin to allow things to happen or they're going to continue to be obstructionists. I think they will choose to get things done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: See how that plays out. See if the White House is not happy we are talking nicely about the Republicans the day before the election. But we'll see how that works and I know you will be up late tonight studying. So here's the Georgia Senate race. There we go. CNNmagicwall.com, you can play alone at home tomorrow night or decide if you are faster and smarter than me. Most people watching probably are.

CAMEROTA: I do like the home version. I am studying along at home. But of course, we will rely on your magic pad there.

KING: It's a great tool few want to play along. We get live results as fast as we do.

CAMEROTA: OK, fantastic. Thanks, John. And of course, be sure to tune into CNN tomorrow for complete election night coverage. It starts at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. We will see you here. We have all angles covered.

Meanwhile, a patient in North Carolina this morning being tested for Ebola. Nina Pham, the Dallas nurse, who recovered from the disease re-uniting with her beloved dog. We'll show you that.

Plus, was there a push to keep the media out of Ferguson, Missouri after Michael Brown's death. The city's mayor is facing more backlash, we have a live report for you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. This morning, we are waiting to find out if a person in North Carolina has Ebola. A patient is being tested right now at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina.

It comes just one day after the first person to catch the disease on American soil, Nurse Nina Pham, was reunited with her pet dog, Bentley, who have been kept under quarantine.

We want to go through all the latest developments with Dr. Amesh Adalja. He is with the Infectious Disease Society of America, also a senior associate at the UPMC Center for Health Security. Good morning, Dr. Adalja. Lots of sort of tidbits that we can go through with you today, will you indulge me?

DR. AMESH ADALJA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Yes, sure.

PEREIRA: OK, let's do it. So the Duke University case, we know that a patient there. We know very little details about where or when the he or she traveled, the reason Ebola is suspected. But let's talk about Duke University Hospital. Do you feel confident that they are ready to treat this patient?

ADALJA: I do feel confident. Duke University is probably one of our premier medical institutions in the country. They've been preparing for this and it looks like the system worked again in this situation where this person developed fever and then called the appropriate authorities and was transported in a manner that was safe and is now in isolation. We are awaiting her test results.

PEREIRA: OK, well, of course, we will watch that. Something else we just showed our viewers her was Nurse Nina Pham and her dog, Bentley, that cute, little dog being reunited over the weekend after both of them tested negative for Ebola.

While it's a sweet and warm homecoming, there are also things that we can learn. America handled this dog situation differently than the situation in Spain. What can we learn?

ADALJA: We need to figure out why dogs don't get symptomatic from Ebola. Why they may be exposed to the virus, but don't get symptoms, that's probably really the most important thing to learn from this because that's more of the -- gives us more understanding of the biology of this virus.

And it helps us understand the mysteries of Ebola. It was a data free zone. We could have won either way. Texas could have done what Spain did or they could have done what they did and I'm glad they did what they did. It's important this dog is a part of her support system.

PEREIRA: You make a very good point. We do, you know, pets are not just fun. They do provide that comfort and support to us. Let's now turn to another nurse, who has had her own travails, if you will, with quarantine, and Ebola nurse, Kaci Hickox.

She is now apologizing -- essentially apologizing to her neighbors for causing them anxiety and concern and saying that she is not going to go out in public and further cause anxiety to her neighbors and community members.

I'm curious what your thoughts are on this self-quarantining, if you think this is the right move given that here in America, we as the public, seems to still have a lot of confusion about Ebola.

ADALJA: I definitely think what she is doing now is better than what happened to her in New Jersey and in her arrival in Maine. What she is doing now is really in concordance with the CDC guidance. She is someone that is not high risk. She is at some risk.

This is a case by case step determination of what she can and cannot do. She is in constant contact with local public health authorities. I think that's the right way to go about it with someone in her category.

We have to emphasize that she is no risk to anybody else because Ebola is not contagious during its incubation period. As each day goes on, she will be clear pretty soon from this direct active monitoring that she is under.

PEREIRA: Let's actually play off a little of what you said there too because we are learning more about when Ebola is most contagious and we have learned that in the last little while and also when somebody is more likely within that 21 days to start showing symptoms. Talk to us about that.

ADALJA: So most people, the incubation period is 21 days. Most people start to show symptoms around ten days or so. As you pass that ten-day threshold, you become less and less likely to see Ebola. You see some restrictions lessen. Day 20, day 21, it doesn't have to be the same level of scrutiny as somebody in the first part of the incubation period.

PEREIRA: Dr. Craig Spencer, let's get an update on him. The other medical professional returning from West Africa being treated for Ebola in New York, his condition has been upgraded. We are proud to tell this from serious but stable to stable. Talk to us as a medical professional about the significance of that shift. He is moving in a really positive direction here.

ADALJA: Right. Hopefully, he is out of the woods here. We know that people start out OK, and then they may go through a stormy period and then they come out of that. He may be coming out of that period. This is all kind of protective health information so we don't know exactly what's going on.

But this attest to the fact that when you diagnose Ebola fast and treat it quickly with intravenous fluids to keep people from becoming dehydrated and keep their electrolyte balanced. You can make a real difference and I think that's what we've seen with most of the patients that have been treated here in the United States.

PEREIRA: In fact, you made a really good point. Our producers talked to you. We talked about the death rate of Ebola. In some areas of the world, it's something like 90 percent mortality rate. Yet we are seeing a much better success rate here in America.

ADALJA: Right. Not just in America, all of these places where patients are getting airlifted to another countries as well. I think that attests to, Ebola is a disease that's scary and it's deadly. We've never treated it in modern settings.

And if you are aggressive like we are with lots of other infectious diseases here in the United States, you may be able to make a difference between life or death because you get people hydrated very quickly and you control the symptoms in a way that it's not really possible in these resource poor settings.

PEREIRA: To that end, let's run through, 42 people in Ohio exposed to Amber Vinson, the nurse, we're told that they are no longer need to be monitored. The 122 more people who flew with Amber Vinson, they will be cleared by Tuesday.

And at the end of the week, if all goes well, all Texas health care workers will be clear. This has got to be a positive note here on a Monday to be talking about Ebola in America.

ADALJA: Right. This is something that most medical professionals and infectious physicians knew, that Ebola is not a very contagious disease. So it's not surprising that these individuals are getting through their 21 days without any symptoms of Ebola.

Because we didn't really think that they would to begin with. This is all being done because people are going above and beyond trying to reassure the public. This is an expected result. It's good we are coming up on that milestone.

PEREIRA: Yes, and a reminder. Flu claims more lives in the United States than Ebola ever will. That's something you have been very clear about reminding people to get those flu shots. Dr. Adalja, really a pleasure to have you run through all these cases with us. Thank you.

ADALJA: Thanks for having me -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Mich, we will be talking about Ferguson, Missouri again, a no-fly zone was established over that city, requested to keep the media out. I tease it as a question. It seems to be a reality. So the real question is why was that done?

Also the mayor of the city has a new wave of outrage coming at him. You will want to see why. That is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: New details emerging this morning about attempts to keep the media out of Ferguson, Missouri following the Michael Brown shooting. According to the "Associated Press," the FAA OK'd a request from Ferguson police to order a no fly zone over that city citing safety concerns.

But new audio recordings cast doubt on safety being the real rational. We're also learning about new attempts to make life a little more difficult for Ferguson's mayor.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live in Ferguson with more. What's the latest, Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, I can tell you the FAA after a police request had agreed to restrict a 37-square mile space surrounding Ferguson of air space. Basically they said they did that for safety and still say it was for safety responding to a CNN question.

However, audio recordings that have come out have shown that actually local authorities had asked for that a space to be restricted because they wanted to keep news helicopters out of the area surrounding Ferguson.

This has certainly touched a nerve with protestors who say it's just another example of authorities trying to control the message when they had such a big militarized response to protests. This happened during the height of the protest for 12 days that restriction was in place.

I want to talk a little about the protests here. There have been protests, Alisyn, every single day since the shooting death of Michael Brown on August 9th. Sometimes those protests are large, sometimes they are small, but they are always outside of the police department.

One of the things that has happened that's gone further than the streets is that anonymous has gotten involved and that's that loosely formed group that's anti-government corruption. They warned in the beginning if any protesters were hurt or bothered by police that they were going to react by shutting down the government websites or at least hacking them.

Well, it seems that may have happened because the mayor says his family's financials and personal information have been hacked, information put online, thousands of dollars taken from their accounts by hackers that he has accused "Anonymous" of doing that. Anonymous says they have not done that.

They have also put out a picture online of the mayor saying we sent out your credit card information, but said that's just a joke. He has spent many hours looking at his family's finances and parent's finances have been affected.

Now let me leave you with a little bit of good news and there are groups that have formed now since all of this happened more than 80 days ago that are trying to find solutions, trying to calm things down here.

One of those groups is called "One Ferguson" and they talked to us a little bit about the effects of the shooting of Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer has had on this community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It opened our eyes to a problem that was there all along as a lot of us were getting together having block parties and having a good time. There was a whole side of Ferguson being neglected. That's why what we're putting together isn't about one person. It isn't about one particular message. It's about how do we put a frame work out will there and include everybody in that conversation?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That conversation is still going. I can tell you we have talked to many, many, many people in this community, who live here or work here. They tell us they are very afraid of what's going to happen when the grand jury comes back with the decision if there's no indictment -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: That fear is very real. It makes perfect sense. Sara Sidner, thanks so much for all of the developments from there. It's amazing how long this conversation has gone on. It just keeps going. Ferguson is not resolved on any level. CUOMO: It's a metaphor for many different places in the country. There's a conspicuous absence of leadership in that community. You do not see the big names you think you should see as often as you might expect. We'll be back there when the situation calls for it.

And speaking of the rule of politics in our lives, less than 24 hours until midterm elections, planning to vote? The answer to that will be key to what happens tomorrow.

Polls show Republicans could well win the seat they need to control both houses of Congress. Turnout will be the key. We spoke exclusively with Vice President Joe Biden. Here's an interesting take on what may happen and why. That's next.

CAMEROTA: I bet he does.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)