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Rick's List
Election Results; Wildfires in California
Aired August 24, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is RICK'S LIST.
Expect a heavy dose of politics. CNN is ready now to declare what appears to be a winner in the state of Florida. Marco Rubio, the strong Republican is a winner, is a winner in the U.S. Senate seat. Let me just look at the numbers as we go here. Have we got the numbers up right now? Marco Rubio -- this is not a huge surprise, by the way. -- 17 percent of the precincts are now reporting, but he is the projected winner.
And let me underscore the word projected in this case, and I probably should have done so when I first mentioned this to you, but this is important -- Marco Rubio, winner on the Republican side. He will take on the winner of the race between Jeff Greene and Kendrick Meek. There's a couple other gentleman there, Glenn Burkett and Maurice Ferre -- Maurice Ferre the longtime mayor of the city of Miami.
And I think we have another one for you. We're kind of -- as I told John a little while ago, we expect that these numbers are going to be coming in real fast, and as they come in, I'm going to be sharing them with you. But I think we're ready to go.
Angie, can we do this? We have another projection. This is a projection on the governor's side as well. This is on the Democratic side for the race for governor of the state of Florida. Here we go.
Alex Sink, Democrat, female, over with 10 percent of the vote, that's all that's in right now as far as precincts are concerned. By the way, if you look at the raw data, if you look at the precincts right now, it's 144,000 votes to 43,000 votes. But we can now project that Alex Sink will win that race in Florida.
So, we have got two in, two projections in. Alex Sink for governor on the Democratic side and we have Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate on the Republican side. Of course, the other two big races still going on right now are between Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene. That's the Senate seat in Florida, and Rick Scott and Bill McCollum, Rick Scott and Bill McCollum. That is for the governor's race on the Republican side.
And let me just give you those numbers one more time. Mark, are you behind me? Are you ready to go? Can you help me out over here? All right, let me know when you get over here so we can just take a look at some of these numbers as they come in, because we have got Rick Scott right now at 181,000, and we have got Bill McCollum -- and this is raw data once again, folks. Can you get that over my shoulder? Look where my finger is right there. This is the total votes coming in right now.
Rick Scott, 181,000, and we have got Bill McCollum with 161,000. But again, look over here. That's just 10 percent of the precincts that are coming in right now. And remember you have got to divide Florida into essentially three parts. You have got South Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale. Then you got the I-4 Corridor going all the way up from Tampa to Orlando. Different demographic, different type of voter. And then you got the Panhandle up in Pensacola.
It's important as we move forward tonight that we consider all three of those regions of the state.
All right, more breaking news. There's something going on in Southern California I want to tell you about.
Homes are being evacuated as we speak. This is going to be a breaking news night, I feel, folks. Wildfires are raging near a key interstate and they're using a DC-10 right now to try and fight this thing. We are keeping a very close eye on this story. In fact, let me tell you what's going on in the area. It's Lebec, California -- Lebec, California -- 750 acres. It's threatening homes in a place called Grapevine.
And I understand we have got somebody who can take us through this now.
Anthony Romero is joining us. He's going to bring us up to date on what's going on.
Anthony, I understand you're with the Kern County Fire Department. Are you guys heading this thing up?
ANTHONY ROMERO, KERN COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: That's correct. Good afternoon. Yes, we are.
Currently right now, with the update of what this fire is going on, we have 1,100 acres that have been burnt. We have about 40 to 50 homes that have been threatened. We do have evacuations in progress right now, and currently our crews are doing a good job of trying to contain it. We don't have a containment percentage yet, but they're doing great. We have helicopters in the air. I did see a DC-10 up in the air. Unknown if it dropped or not.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Oh, it did.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Anthony, let me just interrupt you real quick.
Hey, let's see if we can get some of those shots. We want to thank KABC and some of the other affiliates out there who are helping us with this information. But it's interesting that you just made reference to that DC-10 air tanker. It's called the tanker 910.
This thing is huge. The cost alone I alone to contract that DC- 10 is about $26,000 to $30,000 per hour with a three-hour minimum per day. Could you tell our viewers -- we're looking at this now -- what is this thing and what does it do?
ROMERO: Basically what this DC-10 does, it holds what they call a retardant. It's a fire suppression, almost like a gel, type of water gel, to which, I guess you can say, more of like foam, puts it down.
You put foam on grass and heat, and it pretty much suppresses the fire down. And also, what they try to do is try to put a line in front of that fire, so that way it wets down any type of brush or any of that sort, so it can help that fire not jump over anything.
It pretty much stops it right in place. I have only seen the DC- 10 a couple times in my career, and it's pretty impressive.
SANCHEZ: OK. Just, listen, before I let you go, and I'm going to be checking back with you throughout the night, because I know a lot of people are interested in this story now -- look at this thing. That is an impressive shot, by the way, as I hear you saying that and as I watch this giant plane flying over those canyons.
This community of Grapevine, what are the chances that this community is going to be spared or not, Anthony?
ROMERO: Right now, Grapevine, Lebec area, and I haven't been inside the actual -- the valley yet or actually up in the mountains to actually see what's going on.
Our head PIO, Sean Collins, has pretty much been going up around with our operations and...
SANCHEZ: Well, let us know. I will tell you what.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMERO: We will definitely let you know.
SANCHEZ: All right, yes, let us know. We just -- the big part of -- fire is one thing, but lives are much more important. And we want to know whether people's property is going to be affected, whether people are in jeopardy. Maybe we can give them some information as where to head, what to do. We're here to help you guys. All right? So let us know. Have your PIO contact us and we will continue to follow this story throughout the course of the night.
Anthony Romero, thanks so much.
All right, let's continue now with our political coverage. For those of you who missed this just at the very beginning of our newscast, we can report tonight that there are two projected winners. Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate seat in the state of Florida, and that was not necessarily a big surprise. And also, we are projecting tonight that Alex Sink is the winner on the Democratic side. That's for the governor's race.
So, we have one on the Senate side, one on the Democrat, and one on the governor's side.
Let me take you to Florida now. We have got several correspondents standing by. Pete Hamby -- Peter Hamby is going to be standing by. He's going to have the very latest for us on Rick Scott. Mark Preston is also in South Florida. He's watching one of the big races down there involving Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene that's gotten so many headlines.
In Arizona, obviously, the big race has to do with J.D. Hayworth and John McCain, and that's where you see Jessica. She's going to follow that for us. And of course, John King is going to be joining us throughout the night to bring us perspective on all of these important races. So, hold on, folks, as we move forward here.
Peter, I want to start with you. You're watching that Rick Scott race. I'm looking here and I'm seeing 10 percent of the precincts reporting. We got Rick Scott up, ahead 47 percent to 42 percent. Obviously still too close to call, but this is a very important race. It looks like Scott is doing well.
PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: He is doing well. One thing to keep in mind with Rick Scott is he had the momentum in this race for a lot of the summer.
So when you talk about absentee ballots and early voting, he might carry a slim lead among those votes, but he's had some stumbles as of late on the campaign trail. McCollum holds a narrow lead in the polls, but again Rick Scott has spent $50 million of his own money to run this campaign, a campaign that's been mostly waged on the television airwaves.
That's going to be -- that's tough to overcome, but Bill McCollum has a late edge in the race.
MATTHEWS: Let's go to Mark Preston, if we possibly can.
We're looking at all these precincts coming in. The highest we have got so far is for the U.S. Senate race, Mark. That's 17 percent. But, look, you and I both know from spending time in covering Florida that it all depends on where these precincts are coming from. Look, there's South Florida, where, you know, oftentimes the vote tends to lean a little more Dem.
You got the I-4 Corridor, which tends to be a little more conservative, a little more Republican. And then you've got the Panhandle area around Pensacola, which is even more conservative. Do we have any sense yet where this thing is heading?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Rick, what we do know is that we are seeing returns come out of the Gulf Coast. We have seen some returns come out of Tampa. We haven't seen a whole lot, if any, coming out of southern Florida. But I will tell you, the wild card in this race is the fact that so much money has been spent on television advertising, and we're dealing with primaries. Primary voters are very fickle, very hard to get people out to vote. What we see up with the Rick Scott/McCollum race, they are fighting tooth and nail. Down here in South Florida, Jeff Greene and Kendrick Meek spent the day meeting voters down here.
So, the fact is, the amount of money that the likes of Rick Scott has spent and Jeff Greene has spent, Rick, on the advertising, really has kind of thrown everything up in the air.
SANCHEZ: Well, this is interesting.
Let me bring John King into this.
If it's true, John -- and, you know, look, I know these numbers shift and they're going to move from time to time, but you're a good guy to give our audience perspective on this. If it's true that most of these early returns are coming in from the Gulf Coast, as we say, you know, in Florida, we used to call that the senior coast in many ways, because it's an older voter and oftentimes a little more -- skews a little more conservative.
So, as we look at these numbers, it would not be surprising that Scott would be doing very well, if those are the first precincts that are coming in. Let me look at the rest of these numbers here. It is not surprising that Marco Rubio would have such a -- you know, would have such a strong lead at the beginning, even though, as I said, we have projected him the winner.
Give us some perspective on that, John.
JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING, USA": Well, you made a great point earlier in the context of how diverse and complicated this state is.
Florida is a very large state, you know from living there and working there -- and in South Florida, you know the line about Florida, Rick. The further south you go, the further north you get, in that you have more transplanted people from New York and from Michigan in the Miami area.
When you get out to the more middle of the state, that I-4 Corridor, Tampa to Orlando and all the way across to the beach, that's where you find most of your independents, the growing independent population, also a growing Latino population, non-Cuban Latino population in Florida.
But for the conservative votes you're worried about right now, you make a very key point. When you get up on the West Coast of Florida, up in Tampa-St. Pete...
SANCHEZ: Naples.
KING: ... Naples, as you move up and then out to the Panhandle area, the more conservative, more southern, if you will, parts of Florida that are more like Georgia and Alabama than -- way more than the Miami area, that's where you have the conservative base of the party. And that's where you need to watch.
And if the early vote is coming in, to see those guys so close with the early vote, about the only thing you can say in a year that has been as unpredictable as this one, it means we're going to have to strap in and count them and we are going to have to watch closely as we go into the smaller rural areas. The bigger places tend to count their votes quicker. A lot of conservatives live in the smaller, rural parts of the state. And we will need to count them on.
SANCHEZ: All right.
Well, all three of you have done a fantastic job. We want you to all hang tight, because we are going to be coming back to you. I have got a feeling some of these numbers are going to be changing. Again, two of the key races we're following now in Florida, Rick Scott vs. Bill McCollum.
Interestingly enough, Bill McCollum says if Rick Scott wins this, there's a chance that he won't endorse him, he won't campaign for him, even though he would be the Republican candidate. And then this race between Jeff Greene with his yacht and Lindsay Lohan and Mike Tyson against Kendrick Meek, who's the son of Carrie Meek, a longtime representative from the state of Florida, who's had the support, by the way, of Bill Clinton.
So this is a very interesting race. When we come back, Jessica Yellin's going to join us from Arizona. We are expecting returns from Arizona as well. That's the race between John McCain and J.D. Hayworth. This is interesting, especially considering what they have said about each other in the last 24 hours and an interview that Jessica tried to do with John McCain. You are going to see this video. It's -- well, let's just say, it's fun to watch.
One more thing before we go to break. The big race in Alaska tonight. All right? The longtime Republican is being taken on by a Tea Party candidate and guess which one Sarah Palin is supporting? This is a bit of a surprise. I will tell you about it after the break. You're watching RICK'S LIST. And we're going to full go with politics and the breaking story out of California.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: OK. Here we go. We're going to be only ones that are bringing you real-time results on this night.
So, we have shifted everything that we're doing right now. We had a whole newscast that was prepared for you. Instead, we're going to bring you the results as we get them, real-time results. I have just gotten some new ones, so let me update them if we possibly can.
This is interesting, how these numbers are now starting to shake out. I am going to start with the Rubio race. Oh, you want to start with McCollum and Scott? Let me go down and see if -- make sure everything that we have is the same. Here's what I got here. I have got 30 percent reporting. Yes, that's what we have up there as well. Stay with me, folks, at home, if you can -- 30 percent reporting. We got McCollum at 46 percent -- pardon me, McCollum at 44 percent and Rick Scott now at 46 percent. So, this thing is starting to tighten up. This thing has tightened up by between two and three percentage points just in the last 10 or 15 minutes.
So, keep an eye on this race. These are real-time results that we're bringing you. And as they come in, all the way up to 30 percent now, we will share those with you.
Let's go to -- I will tell you what. Can we just -- Angie, can we look at the Rubio race once again, just to look at the final numbers on those? I know a lot of people have been talking about Marco Rubio, Cuban American. As a matter of fact, we have got Marco Rubio now speaking in Miami. Let's take this live.
MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: Thank you, guys.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Well, welcome to the night they said would never come.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Welcome to a moment they said was not possible. Eighteen months ago, we were confronted with this extraordinary challenge and many discouraged us from doing it. But tonight, here in Florida, we have learned that anything is possible in this great nation of ours, even a candidacy like this one.
I begin by acknowledging and thanking God, through whom all things are possible.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: It is always important to remember that both the good and bad things come through his hands and for his purpose, and that's something we should never forget as a people, as a nation, and we will never forget as a family.
I want to thank my wife, Jeanette, that over the last 18 months has been extraordinarily supportive in holding our home together while I traveled the state, far and wide, six-and-a-half days a week, and my four children for allowing me the opportunity to do this. In fact, I often joke that early in this campaign, the only people that thought I could win all lived in my home, and four of them were under the age of 10.
(LAUGHTER)
RUBIO: So -- and I am grateful to them. They are an extraordinary blessing in our life.
I'm grateful, too, to my parents who as a young man encouraged me to dream and who have made it the mission of their life to opening doors for me that were not even existent to them. My parents have lived a selfless life and have sacrificed tremendously for me throughout it, even on this very day. And I am grateful to them and I hope that tonight is the beginning of continuing to reaffirm that their sacrifices and their hard work were not in vain.
I thank all of you for being a part of this campaign, so many people who have supported me from the beginning of my career in public service and even before, to my extended family who's here and who have been supportive, who still find it hard to believe that people would like you would actually turn out to cheer me on a night like this. But it's true, we have supporters, and I'm grateful to all of you for being here with us today.
And now for the road ahead, because the campaign that lies ahead is going to be a very clear one in Florida. Right now the United States of America is headed in the wrong direction. And let's be frank. Both parties are to blame.
Washington is broken. And the road that it is taking us on right now is the wrong road. In Florida, the choice that our people are going to have is very simple. If you like the direction that America's headed, if you think Washington is doing the right things, then there are two other people that are going to be on the ballot, and you should vote for one of them.
If, on the other hand, you are unhappy with the direction that Washington is taking America, if you are unhappy with the road that we are on, then there's only one person running, there's only one campaign in Florida in 2010 that is offering to stand up to that agenda and in its place present a very clear alternative.
And that's what we have done the last 18 months and that's what we will do these next 70 days.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: I know that, in every campaign, they tell you the same thing. This is the most important election in a generation, the most important election in our lifetime. This one truly is. This one truly is, for we as a nation and as a people are on the precipice of crossing a line from which we may not be able to return.
We are at the point where decisions are being made in Washington, D.C., that may be irreversible, for my children and for your children and grandchildren, and that's what this election is about.
More than anything else, it's not a choice between Republicans and Democrats. It's not a choice between liberals and conservatives. This election is nothing less than a referendum on our identity as a people and as a nation.
And that's what at stake these next 70 days. And for us, as a campaign, the most important thing we must do is offer a compelling vision of the future, because let me be clear. I'm not running to be the opposition. I'm not interested in running to be just simply against people.
I believe there is a better way to do things, and so do the majority of Floridians and Americans. And here in Florida, through this U.S. Senate campaign, we are going to offer them the opportunity to...
SANCHEZ: All right, here we go. We got more information for you on this breaking news night.
CNN can now project that Kendrick Meek, Kendrick Meek will win on the Democrats' side of the U.S. Senate race.
Let's go with raw numbers now. John King is standing by.
John, that's big for this former President Bill Clinton-backed candidate, huh?
KING: It is indeed, Rick. President Clinton, President Obama backing Kendrick Meek. He was the establishment Democratic candidate, if you will, a congressman from the Miami area who had to deal with an onslaught from the businessman, former Republican Jeff Greene, now a Democrat.
We will show their pictures here. Jeff Greene spent millions of his own fortune on this race. But Kendrick Meek will be the Democratic nominee now running against the man you were just listening to, Marco Rubio. He is the Republican candidate.
And, Rick, you know the state very well. Charlie Crist, the Republican governor turned independent candidate, a fascinating three- way race. And if you look at the polling on this, Democrats could have tough choices here.
The polling show that Kendrick Meek actually is a weaker candidate in the sense that maybe helps Charlie Crist move up a little bit, and if Charlie Crist is moving up and Kendrick Meek can't make up that gap, will the Democrats give Kendrick Meek money or will they make a choice to essentially pull back from that race, hoping that Charlie Crist as an independent can win, and then maybe come to Washington and caucus, side with the Democrats on the big votes. A little Machiavellian theory there.
SANCHEZ: Well, but yes -- no, but this is interesting. I'm glad you're doing this for us, because there's a real, true thought process here that a lot of folks have been taking into consideration. So, a Kendrick Meek win as opposed to a Jeff Greene win actually does what to Charlie Crist? Does it help him or does it hurt him?
KING: It's an interesting question in the sense that can Kendrick Meek -- number one, any time a House member runs statewide for the first time, especially in a big state, it's always difficult. Nobody in this part of Florida knows the congressman from that part of Florida. They just simply don't.
So, can Kendrick Meek raise the money? Can this African-American congressman go statewide and win statewide in his first statewide race? Always complicated. Now he's up against two candidates. That makes it even more complicated, because Charlie Crist has proven an appeal to independent voters. We will see if he can hold any of the moderate Republican voters, and there are plenty of those in Florida, some 200 or so independent voters in Florida.
So the challenge here is in a three-way race, can Kendrick Meek rally the Democratic base and rally enough resources to make a run for it? We're 70 days out. If in 20 days or 30 days it looks like the answer is no, will the Democratic national establishment essentially try to choke off his money to help Charlie Crist, to try to keep that seat out of Republican hands?
SANCHEZ: And in return, Charlie Crist would then caucus with the Dems.
KING: He has refused to answer that question, but that is the expectation, that he would caucus with the Democrats, because he has alienated so many Republicans.
But Charlie Crist has refused to answer that question, Rick, and that will be a question he gets asked, I was going to say, for 70 days, unless and until he answers it.
I want to show you something real quick, if I can.
SANCHEZ: Yes, go ahead.
KING: This is why this is important. Here's the current lineup in the Senate -- 59 Democrats, 41 Republicans.
The Democrats need to hold -- or let's look at it the other way. The Republicans need to win 10 seats to get control of the Senate. That Florida seat right now is held by the Republicans. So, if there's any way the Democrats can take that away, either with an independent who leans Democrat or a Democrat, they make the chances of the Republicans capturing the Senate nationally much more complicated. That Florida race is enormously important.
SANCHEZ: All right.
We're going to take a break, not because I want to, because I think this stuff is fascinating. There is really so much information to get through. John, hang tight. You know I need you. I'm going to be getting back to you every chance that we get here for perspective and to run the numbers, as they say.
But there's a couple of other races I have got to get you to as well. There's one going on in Arizona, which I'm sure many of you have heard of. And that is the race between J.D. Hayworth and, of course, John McCain.
And then there's something interesting going on in Alaska, because, of course, Sarah Palin is involved in this, and she's not backing the Republican, which makes this all of a sudden a nationwide and a very interesting race.
We have also got races going on tonight in Vermont and Oklahoma. We're going to take you through those as well. As the numbers come in, we here at CNN are the only ones who are going to be able to bring you real-time numbers, all right? Politics equals CNN. We are going to come right back. This is RICK'S LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. We have thrown out the rest of the show and we're just going to stay on this for as long as we possibly can and bring you all the results as they come in, in real time. CNN equals politics. This is important to us. We know it's important to you, so we're going to bring you these numbers as they come in.
I have got John King. He's standing by in Washington. And you know there's nobody better than John to break these numbers down for you. He's going to be doing that in just a little bit. Also, we're going to be going to Jessica Yellin. She's standing by in Arizona for the big McCain race between him and J.D. Hayworth.
And look at these races in Florida. Before I bring John in real quick, let me just take you through some of these, all right? Let's go from the very top to bottom as we're getting them here. Angie, let's go with Marco Rubio. Just look at raw numbers, share them with the viewers.
Marco Rubio, the projected winner in the state of Florida. That's the Republican Senate race. OK? And the numbers overwhelming, essentially. As you look at him, he is now the projected winner. Last time we checked, that was with something like 17 percent of the vote. He had 431,000 to something like 50,000 for the next closest opponent.
Let's go to the Senate side, projected winner there on the Democratic side. Kendrick Meek is the projected winner now in that race. In case you haven't heard, that was the last of our projections we made just a little while ago. Those are the latest raw numbers as they come in -- 287,000 votes, you see right there for Kendrick Meek, 55-33, despite all the money that Jeff Greene had spent on this campaign, but obviously Jeff Greene had problems publicity wise with the stories about the yacht and some of the celebrities that he had been with and his ties to the subprime meltdown. But the big story tonight is this, and there's no winner here yet, but we're going to be following this very carefully for you. This is Bill McCollum, longtime Republican, running against Rick Scott. Really, most people had expected Bill McCollum would do real well. Rick Scott has no political background, does have some baggage that he brings into this, and that's that $1.7 billion fraud case against the company that he was in charge of.
So, people have questioned his business acumen, if you will. It's been in commercials. It's been -- you have seen him interviewed here on this show. You have seen that interview used during the campaign as well.
And finally, one more race I want to bring you. This is the -- this is the Florida governor's primary on the Democratic side. We do have a projected winner here already here in Florida. That is Alex Sink, the Democrat over Brian Moore. So that's what we have right now. Still the big question is Rick Scott/Bill McCollum race. Let's go back to John King for more on that.
John, what's your take?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As we watch that race, a very close race. So far neck and neck, Rick. And you can see the impact of Rick Scott's money. You talked about your interview with him and his impact on this race.
Here's a guy who spent millions of his own money back in the big debate in Congressman about health care criticizing Obama and the Democrats. They decided, hey, I'm going to run for governor of Florida. And he has self-financed most of his campaign and he's making a race of it right there. Very close there.
Here's another big thing to look at. Look at those two numbers, 373,000 plus, 352,000 plus. That's more than 700,000 votes in the Republican primary. Look at Marco Rubio's numbers. He didn't even have a race and you have all these votes on the Republican side. One of the big questions this year is why does this matter on primary night? It gives us a snapshot of intensity. Seventy days from now, Americans all across the country will vote in the midterm elections and there are a lot more Republicans voting in the Florida primary tonight than there are Democrats, despite that big race on the Senate side. And Rick, that tells you something about intensity at the grassroots and that matters.
SANCHEZ: And do we have a sense yet -- I mean, I'm going to try to nail you down on this, partner. Do we have a sense yet on whether the intensity is shifting toward conservative, stalwart voters who would likely vote Republican, or more progressive, liberal voters who would likely vote Democrat?
KING: There's no question right now, remember in 2006 and 2008, our constant conversation was, all the intensity, all the energy is on the left of American politics. Anti-Iraq war, anti-George W. Bush, Democratic base wanted to come out. Throughout the Democratic primaries, Clinton, Obama and the others, there's a great deal of energy and excitement and high turnout. This is the other side of the coin. We have flipped the coin in 2010. So far, 70 days to go. We'll see what happens. But you're seeing it in Florida tonight, higher turnout on the Republican side. We have seen that across the country so far in the primaries. So we're getting late in the primary season. Not that many big ones left. That's why this is such a big night.
You mentioned that race out in Alaska. Let's see what turnout is out there. You have a tea party candidate versus an incumbent Republican. But most Republicans will tell you, as long as it's not too bloody, that energy and excitement, these good primary contests are energizing the base of the party and making those voters hungry.
SANCHEZ: That's Murkowski out there in --
KING: Exactly right.
SANCHEZ: Yes, she's a longtime Republican, and it's interesting, Lisa Murkowski being challenged not by just a tea party candidate, but by Sarah Palin.
KING: That one's personal.
SANCHEZ: Enough said. John King, the best in the business. We'll get back to you in just a minute. But, John, before we do anything else, let's get down to Peter Hamby. He's our correspondent who's following the Rick Scott race, and he's been bringing up the very latest numbers.
Oh, hold on. No, we can't go to him. I'm being told by my producer that he is digging up some information for us as we speak. He's doing interviews so that he can share those interviews with us and try and analyze the raw numbers. We asked him to see where these early returns are coming from, which precincts, and he's drilling down on that as we speak. So a lot of stuff is going on. We've taken you through the projections. We expect the results to continue to come in. And as they come in, I'm going to be sharing them with you.
Oh, one other thing. There is a huge fire that's going on right now. It's called the Lebec fire. It's taking place in an area just north of Los Angeles.
Have we got those? Oh, there it is. Well done, guys. This is from KABC. We want to thank KABC. They're very concerned about what's going on out there right now. Hundreds and hundreds of firefighters have raced to the scene. It's very close to a community called Lebec and a residential area called Grapevine. And that's obviously the concern, that some of these homes and some of these people might be affected. No word on evacuations yet. As we get that information, I'm going to share with you.
I'm Rick Sanchez. This is RICK'S LIST. We're going to be right back.
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SANCHEZ: All right. Let's see. Where do we want to go here?
Welcome back, everyone, I'm Rick Sanchez. We have as I mentioned earlier thrown out all our scripts for the evening and we're just going to -- we're just going to ad lib this newscast and bring you all the information as we get it. Of course, it's a political night because all these returns are coming in from Florida, are going to be coming in from Arizona, parts of Vermont, Oklahoma and Alaska. And there's also a huge fire that's taking place right now out in California.
We want to make sure we bring you up to date on that story because that could affect a lot of folk's homes, people's lives. The firefighters who are out there right now fighting this thing. And as we get the very latest information on that, I'm going to be bringing it to you. Keep me honest on that one, Angie, if you would, in the control room.
Let's go back to some of the projections that we've got politically now. Let's start at the very top. And at the very top is the race with Marco Rubio.
He was the very first projected winner on this night, pretty much hands down, he wins this thing. Let me get back to the latest projection I got on that, just to make sure that we're OK.
We've got a note coming in from Peter Hamby as we speak as well. OK, Marco Rubio, the winner there over two of his opponents. And he is, in fact, the projected winner. Again, Marco Rubio, this is not a surprise. Everyone expected that Marco Rubio would win this. He spoke moments ago. He told the audience there this is one of the most important elections in their lifetime.
Let's move to the Florida governor's race on the Democratic side, if we possibly could. That is where -- are we going to go there, Angie? All right. Sorry, sorry. I misspoke, you're right. I moved ahead of myself here because I've got all these numbers and they're just coming in as I speak.
Let's go to the U.S. Senate race on the Democratic side, not the U.S. -- not the governor's race. This is Kendrick Meek against Jeff Greene. We thought this one would go down to the wire. At least a lot of people were thinking it would go down to the wire.
There have been a lot of different conflicting polls on this race. And go back to Kendrick -- go back to Kendrick Meek, if you would, the Jeff Greene/Kendrick Meek race, if you would, guys.
Kendrick Meek is the projected winner in what was expected to be a down-to-the-wire against Jeff Greene. Jeff Greene had spent all kinds of money in this race, but it's Kendrick Meek who had the backing of the president and a former president, Bill Clinton, who came into town and actually endorsed him and supported him and gave several speeches around for him. A lot of people are saying that was what made this win for Kendrick Meek.
All right, let's go now to the race that we're watching that is very heated still. This is Rick Scott and Bill McCollum. See if we can get those numbers up and I'll take you through exactly what's going on right now. There you go.
This thing has tightened up, folks. If you're just now joining us, this thing was a differential of about five, six percentage points earlier, but it looks like McCollum is making a run of it, at least at this point. McCollum at 44 percent, Scott at 46 percent. McCollum, longtime politico, Rick Scott, relative newcomer who brings with him, among other things, some baggage as a result of his hospital dealings in the past. Those have been very well covered. They've been very much a part of this campaign. Bill McCollum telling some reporters that he's so upset about Rick Scott's candidacy and the money that he threw at this race that he would actually consider not endorsing him or supporting him, even though Bill McCollum has been a longtime Republican.
We do have Peter Hamby, by the way, who's down in south Florida who's been following this race for us. He's been trying to dig up some information for us, and as soon as we get a hold of Peter Hamby, he'll be able to help us on that.
Let's go back to John King. He's standing by in Washington.
You know, hey, John, are you there? Hey, John, I'm just thinking, what does this race tell us about? You know, here you've got Bill McCollum, longtime Republican. Here you've got Rick Scott. Despite the fact that I know all the stories about the baggage, et cetera, but here's a guy who's a relative newcomer and is this an anti-incumbency sentiment that is worth noting?
KING: If you stopped right there, if the race stayed right there, you've hit on a key dynamic. Wrong one there. Let me clear that one come to the other side of the map here. Right there.
What did you say about Bill McCollum? Longtime Republican presence.
SANCHEZ: Longtime Republican -- yes.
KING: This is not a great year to be a longtime familiar politician because people are tired of politics. Most of that is directed at Washington, but it's also directed anywhere you live in the country. So being a longtime veteran politician, not necessarily a good thing in the broad dynamic of the electorate right now. However, some longtime politicians have experience and they know how to fight it out when the race get close. So we'll see how Bill McCollum does.
Again, newcomer, businessman, self-financed. Those three lines, those are great to have in this environment where people don't seem to mind if you spend your own money because they think that makes you independent, not beholden to the special interest. They like new, especially on the right.
Republicans are mad at their party too. They're mad at George W. Bush. They're mad they had six years in the majority. They're looking for new faces. Rick Scott fits that bill, but there are a lot of controversies about his business. You mentioned there was a big Medicare fraud settlement against his -- not against him personally, but against his --
SANCHEZ: His company.
KING: His company and he was -- you know, he had to leave and he got a payment and a stock settlement to go. And so Bill McCollum, experienced politician, runs ads saying, you can't trust this guy. He's, you know, he's dirty, he's corrupt, he's unethical. He is running against him saying, more of the same, same old thing.
What you have at the moment is a race where we're counting down to the wire in a very, very important state, not just because it's big, not just because Rick Sanchez calls it home sometimes, but because it's so diverse.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
KING: Because it's such a fascinating state it tells us a lot about our national political conversation.
SANCHEZ: And Peter Hamby is standing by, John, so he can join you and I in this conversation. Apparently, he's got some context to share on this. I don't know if you've been able to nail down where any of these numbers are coming in from on this race yet, but if you can do that, that would be appreciated as well. Take it away, Pete.
PETE HAMBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, not quite on this ballroom, but I want you to take a look at the third candidate in that primary, Mike McAllister, was polling in the low single digits. I can't see your board, but I believe he's up in the double digits now. That could be a result of the fact that Scott and McCollum have blasted each other. These TV ads have driven up both of their negatives. It's possible they turned off some voters. That's something you might want to keep an eye on tonight and see who McAllister might ultimately steal some votes from, because this is going to be a very close race when it comes down to.
And also speaking of the rancor in this race, we've learned tonight that the Florida Republican Party has canceled a pair of unity rallies that they were supposed to hold here in Orlando and Jacksonville tomorrow with Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi and the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, was supposed to fly in and appear with the full slate of Republican candidates. That's now off. The Republican Party is saying it's because of logistics, but there could be some palace intrigue in there, because the Scott campaign again only joined this race --
SANCHEZ: Wait, wait, wait -- palace intrigue or bad blood?
HAMBY: Both. Rick Scott jumped into this race in April. Up until then, the party apparatus is behind McCollum firmly. Ever since then, the Scott campaign has alleged that the Republican Party of Florida has been secretly backing McCollum, or not so secretly backing McCollum. And again, you have the bad blood. Last night, Bill McCollum told us it would be very difficult for him to back Rick Scott as the GOP nominee if he wins. That bothered folks on the Scott team. So unity is going to be tough tomorrow morning.
SANCHEZ: Yes, I imagine that would bother Barbour as well. This is interesting reporting from you, there, Peter Hamby.
By the way, have we got Mark Preston back? I just want to ask Mark if we're expecting to see Kendrick Meek at all.
Mark -- Pres (ph), hey, Pres (ph), are you there? You've got your ears up.
MARK PRESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rick, I am --
SANCHEZ: Are we going to see Kendrick tonight?
PRESTON: We are in effect I think we'll see Kendrick Meek very shortly. We see the audience have slowly filtered into this ballroom, this very dark ballroom, if our viewers haven't been able to see. They've come in. They're starting to move up towards the stage.
What's interesting, though, Rick, is that there doesn't seem to be any excitement, any jubilation. You know, back during 2008, during the midterm, rather presidential election, as well as those congressional elections, you would go to these events, they would be loud, they'd be boisterous. It seems very quiet here and I think that Democrats understand that they are up against a tough battle to try to win this seat.
Kendrick Meek will only have $2 million heading into the midterm elections, Rick. In contrast, Charlie Crist has $8 million and Marco Rubio, the Republican nominee, has $4 million, Rick. So Kendrick Meek has a lot of work to do.
SANCHEZ: Hey, make us -- hey, John King, are you there? You follow this stuff for a living. How important is the money in these races? I mean, is it the most important issue if you got a guy like Charlie Crist, who's bankrolled to such a huge degree, up against Kendrick Meek, who's had to spend most of his money against a guy with huge, deep wallet -- deep pockets?
KING: Absolutely. You can't say it's the most important thing, because Kendrick Meek just won a primary in which he was grossly outspent by his rival, Jeff Greene. So it's not the most important thing. But now as Mark just noted during a three-way race, you're running against a very well-known incumbent governor, who's now running as an independent. You're running against Marco Rubio who has become a hero, a national hero of the conservative movement. And so, both of those candidates, Crist and Rubio, if they need more money, Rick, they're going to be able to get it. They will be able to say I need your help, Send me money down here.
So Kendrick Meek is in a very tough race, and, again, the Democratic Party nationally has so many races to defend and to try to hold off other candidates, they have to make some very tough decisions between now and Labor Day and then 10 to 20 days after that about who gets money and who doesn't.
And money does matter in Florida, several media markets. This is not like you're in a state where you have one, maybe two media markets. In the state of Florida, you have media markets all over the place. Those are TV ads and they cost a lot of dough.
SANCHEZ: Good job, John. Thanks so much for bringing us that perspective on the story.
I just want to switch gears for a moment. I know we're all the way out in Florida on the East Coast. I want to take you all the way to the West Coast because there are some lives, you know, and people's property that are being threatened right now.
I want to show you -- I want to take you to a series of pictures. OK. You see some of the areas that have already been burnt there. These are about 750 acres, and that was about an hour and a half ago.
Let me just take you through some of the details on this story as we look at this burn. It is now threatening some homes off of Interstate 5. This is in the town near of Lebec and also near the town of Grapevine. We've been on the phone over the last two hours with officials over there and they are telling us, they're just, you know, they're trying to hold on. They're trying to do the best they can. The wildfire is burning north and west and is threatening at least 20 homes at this point. We don't know exactly what (ph) the evacuations are.
Hold on. I told you 750 acres. That's now up to 1,100 acres, according to my executive producer, Angie Massey(ph), who just gave me that information.
There's something else I want to show you, which is very curious tonight. This is the first time we've seen this thing used in such a huge fire. Say that again, Angie. I'm sorry -- 150. All right, here we go. One hundred fifty to 200 homes have now been evacuated as a result of this Lebec fire, as it's being called in that area of Grapevine. It's just north of Los Angeles.
Kelly, see if you can queue up those shots of that DC-10 air tanker that's been called in to try and put this fire out. These are amazing pictures. Let's see if -- take your time, Kelly, it's OK. I know I'm kind of putting you on the spot here on the air. See if you can find those because I want to show our viewers just how gargantuan this thing is.
It's only deployed in tactical operations when they really need something. Cal Fire will call them out and bring them into the area. It is absolutely huge and it throws these, this flame retardant. The tanker 910 can dump as much as 12,000 gallons of retardant in as little as eight seconds. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. And as you watch this thing spin in over the fire, just a little bit over the area, they say they only can use it in areas where it's, you know, wooded or canyons. They don't use it in areas where there might be people or where there might be houses. So they're keeping it in that area, that way they can try and stop the fire as much as they can.
See if you can get those pics up, Kel (ph). How far are we from getting those up? Are we close? All right. Take your time.
I'll tell you what. You know, hey, you want to get a break in? Let's see if we can get a break in here. When we come back, the very latest on that Rick Scott race, the race between Rick Scott and Bill McCollum. And as promised -- oh, you got it, there it is.
Look at this thing. Look at this thing, folks. That's what I was just talking about. We've been seeing these pictures come in, this DC-10 come in and out of -- think about it, that's an airliner that's been converted to do this. It's got external tanks. You can see the actual drop capabilities on the bottom where it's got the 12,000 gallons of retardant. It's quite a sight to behold. We've been watching it spin and weave through these fires throughout the night.
We're going to stay on top of this story and when we come back, we should have new poll results from Florida and we might be able to check in with Jessica Yellin as well. One of the big races that we've all been following is the one out in Arizona between J.D. Hayworth and John McCain. The polls have said that John McCain has been, you know, way up lately. He was losing or he was tight at the beginning of this thing. Interesting conversations between these two gentlemen and an interesting moment between Jessica and John McCain that we've got on tape. I want to show you that.
And one more thing, a caveat for you. Are you ready?
Charlie Crist, the independent candidate in the state of Florida, who may caucus with Democrats, as they say, waiting to see what happens tonight. And he's going to be live with Larry King coming up in 10 minutes, 9 1/2. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is RICK'S LIST, a special edition of RICK'S LIST because we're going to be taking you through all the results throughout the course of the night here on CNN. Not just now. Larry King is going to do the same. In fact, he's got a special guest in Charlie Crist. And then, of course, Anderson Cooper will pick up and continue to bring you the very latest on some of these election results.
Before we do anything else, go to the Twitter board if we possibly can. There it is. Kendrick Meek. He is tweeting. He's somebody that we follow. We've got different lists that we follow of all the folks who are relevant to the stories that we tell and obviously, none more relevant than Kendrick Meek on this night to politics. He is the projected winner in the state of Florida, in the Senate race on the Democratic side. He says, "We did it. Thank you, Florida." Of course, it's not over for him. Let's go back to my colleague, John King now, who's following things there in Washington. John, any trends that we're seeing at this point yet? I know it's a little early in the game, but what are you looking for?
KING: What I'm looking for right now, is as we come out of these primaries, you look ahead to the 70 nights. Seventy days from now we'll be talking about what happened all across America, races for governor, races for Senate is that intensity factor. You just mentioned that Kendrick Meek, he is the winner on the Democratic side with about 50 percent of the vote counted, just shy of 600,000 votes in the Democratic primary for Senate.
On the Republican side, Marco Rubio had no real opponent in the Republican race and nearly a million votes cast on the Republican side. Let's wait until they get up to 100 because we have one of the best research directors in the business, Rob, and he says a lot of votes in south beach, Florida, Palm Beach County, Miami-Dade haven't come in yet. So let's see how it looks at the end, but if you have the big races on the Democratic side for Senate, and yet the intensity, the more turnout on the Republican side, that tells you a little bit about the electorate's mood in Florida and we've seen it across the country this year so far, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Hey, John, what are you getting for percentages in precinct so far? I'm kind of all over the place with my numbers here. I think yours might be a little more accurate. What have you got?
KING: I have not been able to see county by county or precinct by precinct, which is one of things I like to look for. We haven't been able to see it, that close shot. I mean, we're still looking. Obviously, the governor's race down there is pretty close -- 46 percent, 43 percent --
SANCHEZ: OK.
KING: -- between Rick Scott and Bill McCollum. That's just shy of 50 percent of the vote counted.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
KING: So we're watching this as it comes in. obviously a very close race and again, where those votes are coming from tells us things. Bill McCollum has won statewide. He's a former congressman. We can match it up and look and look, but right now we know it's close enough that we're going to be at this a while.
SANCHEZ: Well, Bill McCollum will likely be able to do pretty well. If you're saying that some of those -- in fact, let me bring -- I know you've got to get ready, John. You're going to be helping Larry out with some of this stuff as well. So you take a breath if you possibly can right now, and let's sneak -- let's see if we can sneak in Jessica Yellin, if we possibly can. She's hanging tight.
Jessica, the only reason we haven't come to you yet, is because all of a sudden these numbers started exploding to us from Florida. We don't have the Arizona numbers yet, but I know that you had an interesting exchange earlier today with at least one of the candidates there in this race, and that was John McCain. Take us through that.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I went out -- Rick, hi. I went out to see John McCain as he went to vote this morning, and as you know, he's been in a bitter primary race here. We tried to get a question to him, because in the closing days of this race, his opponent, J.D. Hayworth, the Republican primary opponent has said that while John McCain ran to the right during this primary, especially in immigration, he's alleging that McCain will then run to the left if he's elected. Well, that's quite an allegation, so I tried to get him to answer if that's true. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: A great day, a little warm, but I'm sure we'll have a great turnout.
YELLIN: Senator, your opponent says if elected, you'll move to the left. Senator, your opponent says if elected, you're going to move --
CINDY MCCAIN, JOHN MCCAIN'S WIFE: Thanks, Jessica.
YELLIN: You guys, you guys, he won't answer any other questions?
C. MCCAIN: Thank you.
YELLIN: He's running for U.S. Senate. He's not going to answer any questions?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You are so tenacious. I mean, well done. Listen, I get what you're doing here. You came on this show yesterday and you said, look, I just talked to J.D. Hayworth and J.D. Hayworth said this about John McCain. In fairness, you were doing your job as a journalist. You took that story to John McCain and said, candidate Hayworth said this about you, what's your response, but he wouldn't answer. What's going on there, Jessica?
YELLIN: I think it's election day superstition caution. The polls show John McCain is heavily favored to win this primary. I'm certain -- I'm quite confident that he wouldn't want to say anything that would jinx that or trip him up at the last minute.
And there is a legitimate question here, Rick, about how he will play this after tonight, should he win. What will he do to ensure that he could win in a general election? Remember, there's a healthy independent voting bloc here in Arizona and there's some Latinos in a big effort to get more Latinos registered after the immigration controversies, so John McCain might have to moderate some of his positions.
SANCHEZ: Well, I mean, it may not be fair to say that he's going to run to the left, but, look, he's gone way to the right. I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that. He had to, politically, to survive. He has. If he wins this thing, he may go toward the left, but not to the left, correct?
YELLIN: Right. That's why I say moderate his positions. One indication that that could be where he's going, just to sort of soften his stance, for example, on immigration, is last week he broke with some other prominent Republicans in his party, and he said he believes that the children of illegal immigrants should be allowed to be citizens, that we should not change the 14th Amendment. As you know, others have said that we should consider changing it, so already you see a softening position from John McCain, perhaps, on one of his central issues, immigration.
SANCHEZ: One more thing before I let you go, we're down to a minute 30 before we've got to hit Larry. This race in Alaska, you've got Lisa Murkowski.
YELLIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: She's a Republican. But Sarah Palin, who used to be the Republican governor of Arizona -- pardon me, of Alaska, is not backing her. That seems strange.
YELLIN: Right. And she's come out for -- Sarah Palin has come out for a lot of conservative women in other states. As John King suggested, there does seem to be something personal to this one. Sarah Palin ran against Lisa Murkowski's father in the past, Frank Murkowski, and there is always a sense that perhaps when Murkowski had to -- when Lisa Murkowski got her seat, that Sarah Palin wanted to get that seat, perhaps. So there is some tension between those two families, longtime Alaska presences. And it's been very personal, the way Sarah Palin has campaigned for the opponent. Instead of only promoting the opponent, she has also gone out of her way to say that Murkowski is only a partial Republican and, you know, isn't going to take tough stands. So there's a lot of personal dynamics going on there.
SANCHEZ: Good job, Jess. Again, you're "Miss tenacious."
YELLIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Well done following up on that story.
YELLIN: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: I want to let our viewers know, as we get ready to move to Larry, who's standing by with Charlie Crist, that we expect as well that Kendrick Meek is going to come out and speak. Mark Preston told us moments ago he's starting to see the air of excitement there in the room. And as soon as Kendrick Meek comes out, we'll take part of that, or Larry likely will. And we're still waiting on the Rick Scott/Bill McCollum race. That's very important.
Larry is going to take you through all of this here. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.
