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Republicans Seize Control; Interview with Dave Brat; Interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders

Aired November 05, 2014 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: While most of us were fast asleep, the U.S. Senate took on a new shade of red. Republicans grabbing control of the chamber by picking up at least seven seats. Races remain undecided in Alaska at this hour and Virginia, where the GOP is looking to flip more seats, along with Louisiana, where a runoff is scheduled for next month, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so here's what we do know. It was a rough night for Democrats, a virtual repudiation of the Obama White House and many of his policies. So, what does it mean for the next two years in Washington and beyond? Joining us, someone who knows, independent senator from Vermont, Mr. Bernie Sanders.

Senator, thank you for joining us. So, do you see optimism in the results from last night and the chances moving forward?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Well, it depends on what you mean by moving forward. I fear very much that if you take a hard look, Chris, at the Republican agenda, what they mean by moving forward are more tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations. Is that what the American people want? I don't think so. I think you're going to be seeing in the coming months, attempts to cut Social Security and Medicare. I think you're going to see ignoring the reality that we need to raise the minimum wage and do pay equity.

So I think on many of the key issues that the American people feel very strongly about, the growing gap between the very rich and everybody else, I fear that the American people who want change, they want to deal with the collapse of the middle class, they want to deal with jobs leaving America, going to China, I think perhaps they have just voted for some folks whose agenda is very different than what they want and need.

CUOMO: One of the realities that we saw play in these elections, perhaps more than ever, money. $41 million, your friends on the left outspent the Republicans by, still lost. You had some PACs putting up money, was it, $200,000, you included the races through PACs. A lot of money. You don't like it, but it's going on all the time more than ever. Even you're involved. What do we do about it?

SANDERS: Well, I'll tell you what we do about it. And again, I think the American people have got to ask the Republicans how they feel about it. Chris, my perception is, the American people are disgusted with turning on TV and seeing one horrible, negative ad after another. And this has a lot to do with the Koch (ph) brothers and other billionaires spending huge sums of money because of this disastrous Supreme Court decision on Citizens United.

Now, my view, and I work really hard on this, is that we should overturn Citizens United. And you know what I think? I think we should move to public funding of elections. And I think this is a major issue that the American people across the political spectrum feel very strongly about, billionaires should not be able to buy elections.

And the other thing that concerns me, Chris, very much, is that I haven't seen the numbers yet, but my guess is that about 60 percent of the American people did not vote yesterday and that means about 80 percent of young people, 80 percent of low-income workers. Why is that? What kind of a democracy are we?

CUOMO: I think you're being generous.

SANDERS: And, by the way -

CUOMO: I think you're being generous. I think it's about 30 percent.

SANDERS: OK. And let me throw a question to you. OK. And, Chris, let me throw a question to you.

CUOMO: What do you got?

SANDERS: What role does the media play in all of this? What role does the media play? Does the media allow us to have a serious conversation as to why the middle class is disappearing and why we're seeing a larger and larger gap between the rich and everybody else? Or is the media into sensationalism and polls and political gossip? Is that's something we should talk about?

CUOMO: Senator -- senator, first of all, look, this is a long conversation. You know on NEW DAY we try to spend more time on these issues that matter. It's why I came here in the first place. But there are a lot of shows like this one and garbage in, garbage out. You guys are stuffing the system with money. You put out attack ads. You attack money in the system, but then you give money to the system. It's something that's almost incorrigible. We can only deal in the media with what you are in politics.

SANDERS: All right, I don't want to argue. That's fair enough. But the question is, all that I - all that I'm trying to say here, Chris, is we need a serious discussion about serious issues.

CUOMO: I'm with you.

SANDERS: And one of the issues is money - money in politics. Should we overturn Citizens United? Was that a good Supreme Court decision? Let's have that debate. I think we should.

CUOMO: Right, except --

SANDERS: Many of my Republican colleagues do not. CUOMO: But it doesn't matter. I mean, look, we all - what at the

Supreme Court decides is going to be something you're not going to change politically unless they decided the issue originally was a political question, which they did not. What you could do is, you could not give any money through PACs to elections and yell at everybody who does and you could run for president in 2016 and say, I'm Bernie Sanders, and I'm going to have this dialogue on the biggest stage. Are you willing to do that if you care so much, senator?

SANDERS: Am I willing to do that? Well, I am taking a hard look to see what kind of support there is around the country for a campaign that would take on the top 1 percent. A campaign that would fight for a massive jobs program, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and deal with the issue of income and wealth inequality. But as you know, Chris, this is not a decision made easily. You've got to think hard about it and you've got to talk to people all over the country to determine what kind of support there is for that type of a campaign.

CUOMO: Senator, everybody knows who knows you knows you care very deeply about issues and the conversation needs to be had, whether people want to have it or not. That's leadership. Senator, thank you for coming on NEW DAY.

SANDERS: That's right.

CUOMO: Look forward to having these conversations going forward.

SANDERS: OK. Thank you for having me.

CUOMO: I still love that Vermont accent you have. I want you to know that.

SANDERS: OK. Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Good stuff, Chris.

Now that the 2014 midterm elections have made history, let's shift to 2016. Who is in the best position to run? Our political panel of experts joins us.

And he's part of the new Republican wave. We will speak with newly minted Virginia Congressman-elect Dave Brat to get his take on this historic vote.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Boy, oh boy, if you're just waking up now, first of all, you sleep too late. Second of all, you missed some night for the Republicans. They pushed into the Senate majority in a very strong way. I guess you could say, did they peak too soon, but probably too soon for that question. The (INAUDIBLE) election cycle is in 2016, and they're certainly going to have to think about how they set themselves up here and what culture change they may need in Washington to be effective now and then. So, let's discuss. CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger, senior

political analyst David Gergen, CNN political commentator Greg Anthony, former white House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, and former Clinton White House aide and Hillary Clinton Press Secretary Lisa Caputo.

Whoo, that's a lot of fire power.

Alisyn, ask them a question.

CAMEROTA: OK, I will.

David Gergen, I want to ask you about that peak too soon question because you think that this could be a short term win for the GOP? What do you mean?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, listen, they did a lot better than expected last night. They blew the doors off. So they have every reason to gloat today. They recruited better candidates than they did the last couple of rounds out. People a little conservative (INAUDIBLE) in the hands of the Tea Party, which was good for them.

But, even as they look ahead, and you, you know, is 2016 upon us? Yes, you have Rand Paul and Chris Christie here just a few moments ago. As you look ahead, you have to realize that there is something called the blue wall. I think that was a Ron Brownstein formulation some years ago. And that is a group of states, 18 states plus the District of Columbia, that have voted consistently for Democrats for the last six consecutive presidential elections. Eighteen plus the District of Columbia, together they make up 242 electoral votes. That's only 28 short of what you need to win the presidency.

So the Democrats, when you look at the country as a whole, have some built-in advantages. Have some of those strengths eroded over the - perhaps over the last two years? Absolutely. We saw millennials are not as favorite toward the president as they were. Latinos have backed off some. But, still, the Democrats have some built-in strengths that you have to remember. You can't over read these elections.

CUOMO: Ari, let me ask you something. I mean, you know, you are -- were/are in the business of making sure that the Republicans put out the right message. You just saw Rand Paul, you just saw Chris Christie. Arguably, you don't have better than them. Maybe a couple of governors you may have that are strong. Why do they answer the question about 2016 the way they do? It's such a tired answer. Nobody buys into that answer.

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Chris, no Republican presidential candidate will ever announce their candidacy on CNN. Sorry to say it that way, but there's a rollout to these things and you need to do it in a way that appeals to Republican primary voters. So I understand --

CUOMO: But if you want to be off (INAUDIBLE), and you want people to believe in you, they know you're playing them. FLEISCHER: No. No. Look - no. When you are running for president, you

design a rollout of how you're going to announce your candidacy and there's nothing wrong with that. So I take (ph) no blame for them for doing it that way.

CUOMO: All right.

FLEISCHER: Look, I've counseled 12 Republicans who were going to run for president or actively talking about.

CUOMO: Really?

FLEISCHER: Six sitting governors, one or two former governors, three sitting senators, one former senator and one doctor.

CUOMO: And a partridge in a pear tree as well.

FLEISCHER: Well, that's the way I feel (ph).

(CROSS TALK)

CUOMO: (INAUDIBLE).

FLEISCHER: Keep your eye on the governors. Those are the strength of the Republican Party. Walker and Kasich are the two that I think are the most intriguing right now.

CUOMO: And only -

CAMEROTA: People have talked about them.

CUOMO: Only three non-governors have been president in the last like century, too, so.

CAMEROTA: And it's not just Republicans who are being coy about running, Lisa, as I don't have to tell you. Hillary Clinton is also being coy. But what do you think last night and what happened last night says about Hillary Clinton moving forward in 2016, if anything?

LISA CAPUTO, FORMER CLINTON WHITE HOUSE AIDE: Well, I think David painted an accurate picture, right? So the presidential election tends to, at least in recent years, the electoral landscape seems to bode well for the Democrats. I think, you know, she's going to take her time and make her decision on her own timetable. So are all the rest of them. I think Martin O'Malley has an interesting choice ahead of him. He's quite active on the ground in Iowa, we're told, and I think you'll see Vice President Biden's got some decisions to make.

Now, remember, he's been out there publicly this week saying this White House is willing to compromise. So he's gone out on a limb. I think that will be interesting to see if this White House and this vice president and president will compromise with the Republicans.

But, you know, looking ahead to 2016, you know, I think it's wide open for these folks to decide their own timetables. I think Hillary Clinton will probably come under some pressure on the heels -- CUOMO: That's all we talk about on this show --

CAPUTO: -- to make a decision sooner. We're out of them later.

CUOMO: We have a segment named that.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Gloria I want to bring in Gloria Borger because you sat down with Vice President Biden this week.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I did.

CAMEROTA: And he shared his thoughts on all of this.

BORGER: Yes, he did. You know, he did say there is a need to compromise, but he said something else, which was kind of stunning to me, which is we have to learn how to communicate better as if in anticipation of what occurred last night was a communications problem.

Yes, they may have a communications problem at the White House but that's not what last night was about. Last night was not about communicating. Last night was about repudiating. And when you saw the governorship of the state of Maryland or Illinois go Republican, you have to sort of scratch your head and say, wait a minute, this message from the public was angry. There was a lot of steam there, and what they want as a government, and I'm not saying they're calling for bipartisanship necessarily. What they're calling for is competency. And what that means is getting things done for them, because they don't feel that Washington has been working for them.

And insofar as Hillary Clinton looks like an insider from Washington, that doesn't really help her. Now, if Republicans blow it and don't get anything done, and don't act like a governing party that would help Hillary Clinton. But, you know, everybody who is running has to take a look at what occurred last night and say wait a minute, the message here is that I have to be part of getting things done and the solution rather than being an obstructionist, no matter which party you're in.

CUOMO: Greg Anthony, it's good to have you on the panel, because you've been talking about this consistently about politics over the course of the year and certainly this election. When you look at this kind of result, you don't get caught up in the individual horse races. You get caught into the vibe of where people are and what they need going forward. What do you think that will be?

GREG ANTHONY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And I think that's a great point. Two parts: one, we talked about the governorship and the fact that you've had some blue states turn red but also keep an eye out, focus on what happened in Colorado and Iowa. I mean those are two bellwethers, two states that the President carried in '08 and '12 that went red. And so that is a distinct message that they've sent.

Secondly, Republicans have a great opportunity over the next two years to do what leaders have to do which is you should be the one reaching across the aisle finding common core ground that you can come up with solutions to some of the problems. People are talking about 2016, you better focus on 2015 and '16 before and have some real concrete, substantive issues that are addressed.

Immigration policy has to be addressed before we get to election. I don't think we can wait that long. The economy, we talk about the low unemployment but the fact that a vast majority of those jobs are not full time jobs. The middle class, the shrinking middle class that we've seen over the last eight to ten years, that's an issue for Democrats and Republicans. So I think we need to see those problems starting to be solved, and I think that's what this election was all about.

People are tired of the bickering, but like Gloria said, they want solutions now. They don't want people who are going to be there just to obstruct.

BORGER: And here is the calculation for the President. He wants to issue an executive order on immigration. He's been talking about it. If he does that now, does he, is that so in the face to Republicans that he can't get anything done with them later on? I think this has got to be viewed as a whole package here, because they can get something done on corporate tax reform, they can get something done on infrastructure. The big question is what will the President do with his pen on immigration and when will he do that?

GERGEN: Yes, can I --

CAMEROTA: Yes, go ahead, David.

GERGEN: I wanted to learn more about the President's intentions and Mitch McConnell's intentions this afternoon when they both speak. We're all looking forward to that.

But in terms of governance there's one bright spot that hasn't gotten much attention so far. And that is the growing power of women in this coming Congress. The Center of Women in Politics at Rutgers is reporting now for the first time ever, we're going to have 100 women in the House of Representatives.

That's a three-fold increase over what we've seen in recent years. That's a big change and what we know from history is that the women who have been in congress recently in the house and the senate, especially in the senate had been more anxious to work across the aisle, so even as we talk about this left/right, red/blue, there's also some gender changes here that may be hopeful for the prospects of governance.

CAPUTO: You know what David is talking about with the women in Congress, you know, it's fascinating to watch and Gloria knows this. These women get together. They get together for dinners, lunches, it's bipartisan and they figure out ways to do things together. It's a fascinating dynamic.

CUOMO: They have no place in Washington then. They need to leave today.

CAPUTO: Actually, maybe the women will change Washington.

CUOMO: We cannot have that.

CAPUTO: The one thing I want to add, though is one thing we haven't talked about, we heard a lot about the money in these races but the field game, where was the field game in these races? Something that Democrats have really mastered over the past several years under Obama and I think we ought to take a look at that and see what's going to lead there to 2016?

FLEISCHER: Let me go back to the future and what's next for President Obama. The worst thing he could do, picking up on your theme about people want to work together there's passed executive orders now on immigration. I'm for comprehensive immigration reform, always have been.

But if the President tries to do this by fiat with executive powers from the Oval Office he will infuriate much of this country and Republicans and he will ruin and poison his next two years.

We've been here before. George Bush had a similar thing happen to him in 2006 as a former governor he knew we to work with the legislature. It passed energy legislation, that's why daylight savings time begins as late as it does. He passed -- the deal actually to get Congressional Attention for the wire-tapping that's in place. He was able to work with the Democrats. Can President Obama work with Republicans?

CAMEROTA: We have to leave it there, Gloria. Sorry about that we have to leave it there. We're going to have more interviews. It's great to have your expertise with us this morning. Great to see you guys.

All right. He knocked Eric Cantor from his majority leader perch in a primary. Now he's officially headed to Washington. We'll speak with newly elected Virginia Congressman Dave Brat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: He stunned the political world with his primary victory over Majority Leader Eric Cantor; it was less dramatic last night for Republican Dave Brat but victorious nonetheless.

And Congressman-Elect Dave Brat joins us now. Good morning, Congressman-Elect.

DAVE BRAT, VIRGINIA CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: Good morning, Alisyn, thanks for having me on.

CAMEROTA: Congratulations.

BRAT: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: You've had a couple of stunning victories here. First you shocked everybody by beating Eric Cantor, and am I right that last night voters in your district had to cast two ballots for you to win?

BRAT: Yes, that's right. Eric graciously stepped down so I had to run for a special election that gets me through the end of the year and then the normal two-year term coming up. So yes, lucky enough to win two in one night -- legally.

CAMEROTA: Are you some sort of mathematical whiz? I rarely have people had to win as many votes in such a short time frame as you to get to Washington.

BRAT: Yes. No, I just think I live in a unique district. We have James Madison up in the northwest and Patrick Henry, and it just runs in the veins and so people wanted a change. And so I have a background in ethics and economics, and I think we articulated a clear vision across the board on Obamacare, the debt we're passing on to the kids and securing the border, and I think that message resonated.

CAMEROTA: So let's talk about that change that you say voters wanted because it does seem to have been illustrated last night. What are you planning to change when you get to Washington?

BRAT: Well, I'm a free market economist and so I study Adam Smith, the founder. We've had a 200-year run that made us the envy of the world, and so we need to look very carefully at what that is, what that's made up of. I think the antithesis of that is, you know, kind of the top-down central planning that the best example is Obamacare, right. And so that system was theoretical.

Now the bill is coming in everybody's mailbox, and so it's moved to the kitchen table, people can't afford the mandate system, their premiums, the $5,000 deductibles, and so now I ran on that securing the border, et cetera, and the folks are finally seeing the reality of bad decision-making and so I think we had the wave last night for all of those reasons.

CAMEROTA: And one of the things that we've heard this morning over and over again is that what voters are looking for now is compromise. Do you feel as though you will be able to compromise when you get to Washington, D.C., or do you feel as though you have a different mandate?

BRAT: No, I mean I've spent my life as a free market economist in academia, so I know how to compromise and I've worked in the general assembly on education issues here in Virginia for years. Compromise is a good thing but when you have $18 trillion in debt passing on to the kids, I think the compromise has to be in one direction and so I think the American people are agreed on that. And so if you have folks, my opponent and others on the other side of the aisle want the spending to still go up. So for the welfare of this country, we have to compromise, but the numbers have to go down or we're going to have, find ourselves in another financial crisis ala 2007. We can't go in that direction anymore.

CAMEROTA: Well, Congressman-Elect Dave Brat, we appreciate you taking time for us this morning. Best of luck to you and we look forward to seeing what you do when you get to Washington.

BRAT: Awesome, thanks Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much. It's been quite a morning here.

CUOMO: A lot more to go, a lot of news.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for joining us this morning. We have much more election coverage on CNN, it is time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks a lot, have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.