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Rick's List

Primary Day

Aired September 14, 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.

John King, don't go anywhere. Stay right there.

I'm going to have John. I got Gloria Borger. She's going to be joining me from Washington. Jessica Yellin's in Delaware for that big race with huge implications. Joe Johns is in New York at Charlie Rangel's headquarters.

Look, this is going to be a huge primary night. It's the last big one, in fact the biggest since the November 2 midterms.

Here's what we have got for you tonight on RICK'S LIST.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): This is a special edition of RICK'S LIST in prime time.

Tonight in Delaware: the battle du jour between the Tea Party and the establishment Republican.

KRISTIN MURRAY, FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR DELAWARE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE CHRISTINE O'DONNELL: As O'Donnell's manager, I found out that she was living on campaign donations, using them for rent and personal expenses.

SANCHEZ: This race can shift the national balance of power.

In New Hampshire, a similar plot involving the woman Sarah Palin calls the Granite Grizzly.

In New York, Charlie Rangel up against his own record and a big marquee political name. We will have it all covered for you with the best political team on television, Twitter and you on RICK'S LIST in prime time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: All right, here we go. Hello again. I'm Rick Sanchez. Thank you so much for being with us.

We expect to have breaking news during this hour, as the polls are closing right now and some of the returns are coming in. Stand by for that, because some of the best political journalists on television are right here and ready to go to bring you that news as it comes in with full reaction.

First, a potentially damaging change in the race the whole country is going to be watching. We talked about it last night, the Senate race in Delaware. Christine O'Donnell, party-backed Republican, is being accused of living off her campaign contributions.

I want you to listen to the woman who actually ran her last campaign. Here it is.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MURRAY: As O'Donnell's manager, I found out that she was living on campaign donations, using them for rent and personal expenses, while leaving her workers unpaid and piling up thousands in debt. She wasn't concerned about conservative causes. O'Donnell just wanted to make a buck.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So what you're hearing there is the GOP taking on the Tea Party candidate directly. That's different. Why?

Well, let me show you why. Polls have shown that O'Donnell is neck and neck with Congressman Mike Castle. All right. This guy's a 30-year fixture in the Republican Party, another mainstream Republican facing potential political death at the hands of a Tea Party candidate. That's significant.

That's why we have Jessica Yellin, one of our best, closely following this race.

This is not the first time, Jessica, that we heard this charge against O'Donnell. Given that it's coming from one of our former top aides, is it more apt to get voters' attention, unlike what happened, for example, with Joe Miller in Alaska?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's certainly the hope of the state GOP, who launched the call.

But keep this in mind, Rick. This is an off-year primary, where the people who tend to vote are already the most informed, engaged and energized, likely have made up their mind by today. And the question is, if you make a call while people are going to school or out driving their kids, taking their kids to school, out at work, shopping today, can they actually reach people and change minds?

It's a big unknown. But it just speaks to how nasty and bitter this battle has become. And I should add Christine O'Donnell denies the charges in that call, as you can imagine.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we should. And explain to our viewers what these robocalls really are, how they work, and who puts them out.

YELLIN: Well, a robocall is just literally a taped voice-mail almost that anybody can send out to a list of people. So, this was the state Republican Party. The established state party taped this call and sent it to people they thought would be likely Republican voters today.

And it just goes out to them. They pick up the phone and there's this voice recording. And as you point out, what's unusual is that it's the party campaigning essentially against one of their own, not the candidate they wanted in this race.

SANCHEZ: Well, you're absolutely right. There's a real irony there that I think the rest of the folks watching this newscast tonight sense, and that is that the Republican Party embraced in many ways, we have seen it, the Tea Party movement. And now here you have the Republican Party battling, directly battling the Tea Party movement, at least in Delaware, as much as we have seen anywhere else, right?

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: Yes. And the reason -- yes, you're absolutely right. And the reason why and why this is such an anomaly is because the Republican establishment here is absolutely convinced that Christine O'Donnell cannot win in November.

And they -- the stakes are incredibly high, because this is a seat they think they can pick up. And they think she has too much personal baggage to win in a state with so many Democrats. And they're convinced that if they lose this seat, if Democrats keep it, then Democrats could keep control of the U.S. Senate.

So, the returns tonight could indirectly determine who gets control of the U.S. Senate in November, Rick.

SANCHEZ: All right, I have got John King standing by and I want to get to him because he's got some numbers coming in. But before I let you go, would you give viewers a sense? I just heard some hooting and hollering behind you. I don't know if some early returns came in. If they did, share them with us. And if not, tell us where the polls were as folks started going to vote in this race.

YELLIN: Well, there have been some polls, the type of polls we don't report on air, that showed that they were close, but before that, the two candidates, Mike Castle had been ahead substantially. So, going in today, it was just a big unknown.

Establishment Republicans, regular Republicans, regular folks have been asking me all day, what do you hear? What do you think? Everybody thinks this is a cliffhanger. No one knows.

But I will tell you, here at Christine O'Donnell headquarters, there's a lot of enthusiasm. You heard the cheering because she's in the room mingling with her supporters. And she's convinced that there were very strong turnout in the county where she needs -- where she has the most supporters. But that's all anecdotal and we will have to wait to see.

SANCHEZ: Well, yes, it's good to know. It's good background information. A lot of our viewers are going to be watching this with us tonight. Hey, thanks so much, Jessica. We're going to be getting back to you obviously throughout the course of this newscast.

Not far from there, staying in the Northeast, we have got the race in New Hampshire. This is the GOP Senate primary. There we got Kelly Ayotte against Ovide Lamontagne.

We got a tweet moments ago from Lamontagne. Oftentimes, we get news out of these tweets.

So, here we go. "Team Ovide," it says, "if you can come down to the office and make calls until victory party, please spare an hour." Again, this is from Ovide Lamontagne, one of the tweets that he put out earlier today.

John King is following this race for us. And he's good enough to join us now to both give us whatever numbers we have got and put the whole race in perspective for us, like nobody else can.

John, take it away.

Hey, we're having a problem with your microphone, John. Sorry about that. I don't know if they can fix that there in Washington. And if they can, then we're going to be getting back to you in just a moment.

If we can just put some of the numbers up real quick, we will be able to go through them and then we will be able to go to back. I told you just moments ago about who are the candidates in this race. Again, it's the GOP Senate primary. It's Kelly Ayotte going up against Ovide Lamontagne.

Let me just tell you a little bit about what is going on here. Kelly Ayotte is the attorney general and she is the favorite in this race.

Have we got him back? All right, we got him back. Apparently, John's microphone problems are all fixed.

John, take it away. Let me try it again.

JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING, USA": Let's try and see if we're all fixed. You got me there?

SANCHEZ: Yes, we're good, buddy.

KING: All right, let's take a look at the early results. And we will walk through this one for you, if I can pop them right up here.

Important to note, just 5 percent of the vote, so let's stay tuned on this one, but 53 percent for Ovide Lamontagne, 32 percent for Kelly Ayotte. You mentioned, she's the former state attorney general. Coming into this race, she was the big favorite. But this is another example of conservative grassroots momentum in the end.

This is not a clear-cut Tea Party race, like the Delaware race you were just talking to Jess was, in the sense that Sarah Palin, a big Tea Party darling, she's for Kelly Ayotte. Jim DeMint, another conservative senator in Washington who has a lot of Tea Party support, he is for Mr. Lamontagne. So is the conservative "Union Leader" newspaper up there.

This is a test of conservative grassroots strength. But to the very important point, Rick, that Jessica was making, this is race. Judd Gregg is the current incumbent. He's a retiring Republican. If Republicans are going to get the 10-seat net gain they need to take over the United States Senate, they can't afford to lose any seats currently in Republican hands.

So, they can't afford to lose this one. Many Republicans in New Hampshire will tell you privately, if Kelly Ayotte wins this race, she would be favored in November. If the more conservative Mr. Lamontagne wins this race, Republicans up there are quite dicey. They're not saying he can't win, but they're saying they believe Kelly Ayotte is a better statewide candidate in this environment.

However, this could be -- and, again, only 5 percent of the votes in -- could be another lesson to us about where the grassroots energy is at this moment in the conservative movement and the Republican Party.

And, Rick, one of this primary season's most important lessons is the conservative movement and Republican Party are not always the same thing.

SANCHEZ: I guess it is. John, thanks so much.

John is going to be staying with us throughout the hour. He's an old pro at this, so he's going to be giving us reaction and the latest numbers as they come in. Depend on us here at CNN to bring you this.

By the way, have you heard what's going on in New York? They're reportedly having some serious voting machine problems. And, apparently, Charlie Rangel's people are now complaining on this extremely what could be a very difficult night for Charlie Rangel.

Also, we're going to Washington, where the mayor of the nation's capital is trying to keep his job. Why is it that a loss for him is a potential win for teachers?

CNN equals politics. And tonight is a huge primary night. Stick around, folks. You're watching RICK'S LIST. This is part of your national conversation. And we're bringing in the numbers as we get them. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right. You all -- welcome back, by the way. I'm Rick Sanchez.

You all know what's going on with Charlie Rangel, right? He's part of an ethics scandal that we have been reporting on extensively here on RICK'S LIST. Now, he's going up against two big names. Why big names? Well, one of them is a marquee name, literally a marquee name in New York. That's Adam Clayton Powell. You see his name is literally on street signs in New York, big following as well, and "New York Times"-backed candidate Joyce Johnson.

So, what's going on in this race? Well, for starters, we understand there's a problem now with the voting machines of some sort.

To get more on that, let's go to Joe Johns. He's standing by for us in New York.

I understand you're at Rangel campaign headquarters, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Rick.

And, yes, there have been some reports, scattered reports around the city about problems with these new voting machines, scanners, they call them. This area was one of the last to actually go ahead and get these scanners, the new kinds of voting machines.

And, sure, there are some precincts that reported opening late and backup problems and all the problems you have heard about all over the country, well, that in a nutshell in New York, here and there, and we are told that the Rangel people are looking at it very carefully.

Also, in one example, the mayor of New York has called some of these problems with the machines a royal screw-up. So, here we are waiting for the fight of Charlie Rangel's life and the numbers to come in, and the question is, what's happening with the machines?

SANCHEZ: We should mention, by the way, only because when I hear you say that, I'm thinking to myself, well, the mayor of New York, interestingly enough, is supporting Charlie Rangel, isn't he?

JOHNS: Yes, robocalls. But there have been a lot of robocalls out there.

Mayor Bloomberg did a bunch of them. We think about 90,000 calls went out with his voice on them. Also, the former Mayor David Dinkins did calls for Charlie Rangel, as well as former President Bill Clinton, whose office is just sort of right around the corner and down the street here in Harlem.

So, a lot of support, obviously, from institutional Democrats in this city to try to help Charlie Rangel, despite all those ethics problems, Rick.

SANCHEZ: What did Rangel do today? I'm sure he showed up early. I think we had some video of him earlier wearing that bow tie look.

And did he make any comments? Yes, there's the video now. He's looking dapper, but...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Go ahead.

JOHNS: That was something like 7:30 this morning Eastern time, went to his precinct and actually voted. We're told he got a rousing, if not standing, ovation from poll workers, which has been seen as just a little bit unusual, because, of course, poll workers are supposed to be impartial.

Nonetheless, this is Charlie Rangel, seen by many here in this area as something of a legend, though he's gotten a lot of criticism out in the country as those ethics problems continue.

And, of course, we're really not going to hear the end of the ethics issue until probably after the November election. So, in some ways, it's sort of a vote of faith people have to take on Charlie Rangel tonight.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no question. Institution, but troubled institution maybe is the best way of phrasing this.

Joe Johns, we're so glad that you're there. Joe is going to be following this race for us throughout the course of this newscast.

By the way, we will monitor the results from races across the country. In at least three, four states, results are going to be coming around 8:00 that we're following right now. Some others, they won't be closing the polls until 9:00 p.m.

The second we get those, you're going to hear them right here. And that's coming up.

Also, wow, have you heard what a Republican candidate in Maine said to reporters? You have got to hear this. He blasts them over some interesting questions. I'm going to let you see the video and I'm going to let you listen to it as well. This is RICK'S LIST. We're coming right back. Stay with this national conversation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, by the way, welcome back. As we follow some of these races, we're also going to follow some of the messages that are going to be put out by some of the candidates. And a lot of candidates are talking tonight, Mike Castle, for example, in Delaware, right?

Let's go to his tweet, if we possibly can. Mark, give me a shot of that.

"Getting ready for our victory party at the Chase Center," says Mike Castle. And then he sends this tweet pic that we will share with you as well, which shows exactly what is going on there, which at that point was nothing.

John King is standing by right now in D.C. He's going to be following Delaware, but he's also keeping an eye on New Hampshire.

And, apparently, we have got some numbers coming in from New Hampshire, John. What do you got?

KING: The count's coming in slowly in this important Republican Senate primary in New Hampshire, Rick. Let's take a look. We're still at 5 percent, but the vote is starting to go up. And, interestingly, it's holding steady. Ovide Lamontagne, a conservative activist in the state, 53 percent of the state. The former attorney general, Kelly Ayotte, 32 percent of the vote. That has held steady, but again we're at 5 percent.

The big dynamic in this race, Kelly Ayotte was the early favorite in the Republican nomination. The Republican Senator Judd Gregg is retiring. But Ovide Lamontagne, the conservative "Union Leader" newspaper endorsed him. So did Jim DeMint. He's a big conservative in the United States Senate, has a lot of grassroots support across the country.

You see the two leading candidates here. This has been a crowded primary, but these are the top two contenders. Again, Kelly Ayotte was the front-runner, Mr. Lamontagne leading, Rick, with 5 percent of the vote, a very important race, one of the key pieces of the puzzle when you look at the balance of power in the United States Senate and ask the question, OK, we know Republicans have a chance to take over the House.

It's a tougher fight in the Senate. This race and the outcome tonight will be a big factor in that.

SANCHEZ: Oh, absolutely, and as well what's going on right now in Delaware.

Let me bring Gloria Borger into that. And, John, stick around, because I want your input on this as well.

Gloria, you have been saying that this may be one of the most important nights, because it really drills down on two things, A, the potential effect that it could have on the national races coming up in November. And, B, this is the first time you see a direct confrontation between Tea Party members and Republicans, correct?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, in Delaware?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BORGER: I mean, it's been remarkable to me that Republicans have been attacking each other this way.

We always joke that we're used to seeing Democrats do that and form the circular firing squad. But now we're seeing Republicans do this. And what's interesting to me is, I spoke with a Republican strategist today who is involved in that race in Delaware.

And I said, well, what would you have done differently? And this is somebody who is working on behalf of Congressman Castle, and said, you know, I would have run those robocalls earlier against Christine O'Donnell.

So, it shows you how tense this is and how tough this is because Republicans are not fooling around here. They want to win back control of the Senate. And Republicans in Washington are saying, you know, she's not going to do it for us. She's not a credible candidate.

I mean, some of the worst stuff you hear about her comes from Republicans here. And so this is hardball. They're not kidding around. They want to win this congressional seat, the Senate seat.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, John, was the lesson learned in Alaska, when Murkowski kept a lot of her money in her pocket and didn't use it, and we see cases like this in Delaware, where Republicans are saying, you know what, we're not going to sit idly by and watch this happen this time?

KING: One of the fascinating things in this campaign season, Rick, is that a lot of Republicans who don't really like John McCain that much, they think he's sort of a prickly personality, you know what they're saying right now? John McCain is exhibit A in how to run in this campaign environment, because he had a conservative challenger, J.D. Hayworth, and he spent $20 million, essentially put his foot on his throat, to use a little warrior rhetoric there, and he broke him down.

Lisa Murkowski, not only did she not spend her money, but she ran ads saying, hey, I'm the one in Washington who brings all home the money. I'm the one in Washington with influence. And you know what voters said? Good. We're going to retire you.

The difference is, Joe Miller is still favored up in the state of Alaska, heavy Republican state in a heavy Republican climate. When you look at New Hampshire and Delaware, states more to the Mid- Atlantic and up to the Northeast, where you have more moderate general election voters, that's why Republicans are more nervous about those races than say a Rand Paul in Kentucky or a Joe Miller up in Alaska, because in those more moderate states, if you have the conservative grassroots -- and that's where all the energy is right now -- and the grassroots actually trying to send a message to the Republican establishment in Washington, saying, you guys were in charge when George Bush was president for six years. What did you do?

The grassroots sending a national message. The question is, can it sell in November in places like Delaware and New Hampshire?

SANCHEZ: John King, Gloria Borger, Joe Johns, Jessica Yellin, they're all going to be staying with us. They're going to be joining us throughout this newscast, as we diligently take you through these races around the country.

Now, other political stories. How far is too far? Tonight, one well-known Florida politician says he knows. Here's tonight's political list. We will start with number three. Jim Greer is the former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, a former national mover and shaker.

Now, this is a text message that Greer has sent to reporters. Now, you're going to find this interesting -- quote -- "I have learned a great deal about the party I so deeply loved and served. Unfortunately, I found that many within the GOP have racist views.

That's what he's saying.

Before we go any further, I need to give you some background. Florida Republicans have given Jim Greer the boot. They have fired him. You also need to know that he's facing criminal charges for alleged financial shenanigans. He may have axes to grind. So, keep that in mind as we share the rest of this story with you.

I write about Jim Greer in my book "Conventional Idiocy." I detail how he said one year ago that President Obama shouldn't be allowed to talk to America's schoolchildren. Jim Greer said then he was appalled that Mr. Obama was spreading socialist ideology -- Greer's words -- to schoolchildren. Remember that? Well, that's what Greer was saying last September.

Here's Jim Greer today -- quote -- "I apologize to the president for my opposition to his speech last year and for my efforts to placate the extremists who dominate our party today."

Jim Greer now says that extremists dominate the GOP, his words.

Here's is number two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY BROWN (D), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Bill Clinton was an excellent president. And it was certainly wrong of me to make a joke about an incident from many, many years ago. And I'm sorry for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: He is sorry for that. Jerry Brown is taking it all back. Picking a fight with Bill Clinton not such a hot idea after all, I guess, not when you're a Democrat and you want to be the governor of California.

A little backup here. As I told you last night, Brown made a crack about Clinton's veracity and, oh, yes, about Monica Lewinsky. Why? Because his opponent, Meg Whitman, had an ad using Clinton, criticizing how Brown raised taxes during his first term in office. It's a spat almost 20 years old, by the way, dating back to the days Brown and Clinton were both running for president.

Clinton claim, by the way, appears to have been false. No matter. Brown says he's sorry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL LEPAGE (R), MAINE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: OK. Let's stop the (EXPLETIVE DELETED), and let's -- I have answered the questions the way they should be answered.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Have you seen this video? Have you heard this? You have got to watch it. I think we can safely say that Republican Paul LePage isn't getting along with the press in his bid to become governor of Maine.

Reporters keep asking where he lives. Does he pay state taxes? Are his kids in school in Florida paying in-state tuition? Is it nitpicky stuff. You're going to see it for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to establish residency in Florida in order (OFF-MIKE)

LEPAGE: I answered...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me the answer now. I would like to have it today.

LEPAGE: I will give you -- we have answered that last week.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have got a press conference here. We're fully staffed. Can we have an answer to that question? Why would your wife need to establish residency in Florida?

LEPAGE: I will tell you this. This is what I'm going to say. And will not bring this up again. I am running for governor, not my wife. I want to talk about the billion-dollar shortfall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right, just so you know, a Maine paper has said LePage's wife got permanent tax exemptions on homes in two states. That's a no-no, folks. He's been the favorite, by the way, to be the next governor.

Thought you needed to know.

We're monitoring the results of several heated races across the country, as you can see. The big question tonight a lot of folks are asking is, will the Tea Party movement be able to flex its muscle against Republicans who ironically have in many ways embraced them?

All right, I'm going to show you a live picture now. This is from Christine O'Donnell's headquarters in Delaware. She's hoping to be able to come out there tonight and give a victory speech.

Also, another big story we're following. In case you haven't heard, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling today's elections a royal screw-up. He's talking about the voting machines. And we're going to have more on that just a little bit.

And there's a fascinating story that we're following tonight. A famous photographer who took iconic pictures of the civil rights movement had a secret double life. He worked as a mole for the FBI, so he was taking pictures of Martin Luther King while spying on Martin Luther King, and nobody knew that before. Wait until you hear what they paid him to do. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right. We've got a couple of things going on. First of all, welcome back, everyone. This is RICK'S LIST. And this is a political night for us.

We're following races in several states, primaries in something like seven states, I understand. And as we go forward, I want to also bring you what's going on in Washington, D.C. This is where the mayor, Fenty, well-known for his association with the president of the United States is tweeting something right now. Let's go to it if we possibly can.

He's in trouble. The green team at Shepherd has been amazing today rounding the day out with Fenty and one, two, three. So, and there's the tweet pic that he sent us just a little while ago with his supporters.

It is an interesting race, but we've got several others that we're following, including New Hampshire and Delaware. Let's get back to John King. There may be some new numbers that are coming in.

What are we talking? Are we still in Delaware, John?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're updating New Hampshire for now. We're starting to get the first Delaware numbers, Rick. We should be able to bring them to you as we speak here.

Let's go to New Hampshire first. We'll try to load the Delaware numbers as we speak. We talked a bit more about this race, a bit earlier about this race. Again, here are the candidates.

Kelly Ayotte, she was the Republican attorney general in -- the Republican attorney general in the state of New Hampshire. Ovide Lamontagne, he was the education commissioner a while back. He ran for governor back in 1996. She was the favorite coming in. He's the conservative favorite of many. And look at this now. We're up to six percent. And this has been holding pretty steady. Ovide Lamontagne, 52 percent. Kelly Ayotte, 32 percent.

Rick, during the break, I was e-mailing with some folks back up in New Hampshire. They say, yes, she was the favorite going in. But Kelly Ayotte. We switched to Delaware, I'm sorry. But watch Ovide Lamontagne. It's growing up here.

And here's Delaware. Let's stick with Delaware right there. And let's go to Delaware.

It's an election night. Things get a little interesting when the results come in. Delaware Senate primary, Mike Castle, again -- I just said this, right? -- he was the favorite coming in, 48 percent. Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party favorite, 52 percent. That's eight percent of the vote count in the state of Delaware. So, Rick, two races in a row, New Hampshire and Delaware. The favorites of the establishment coming in. Happy to be trailing Castle right now, who ran a more conservative campaign to their right, Rick. We'll keep counting. It's only 8 percent here.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KING: Six in New Hampshire, but we may be seeing a trend.

SANCHEZ: But I guarantee you this is being very well received at her campaign headquarters. And Jessica Yellin is following this part of the story for us.

Oh, boy -- oh, boy, Jessica, I hear the reaction behind you in Delaware. Tell us what's going on there.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There is a monitor playing CNN behind us, and they saw those returns. And they are hearing, as you can see, they're very excited. And folks in this room, Rick, are saying that they didn't see this coming. The Republican establishment didn't prepare and that she is going to take everybody by surprise and win tonight.

Now, this is early, early in the night. We don't know. But as you can hear, enormous excitement and we could see a repeat of what we've seen around the country where an outsider comes in and upsets the guy who everybody thought was going to win, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Well, we're going to be the first ones to bring you numbers. So wherever we go tonight, whether it's Delaware or New Hampshire, where you see candidates going to the microphone and the situation in New York, you'll see people reacting to those numbers at the same time. So thanks so much, Jessica. We'll be checking back with you in just a little bit.

I want to bring you up on our list now of the day's most controversial stories. And I want to begin with number three.

This is a bit of a shocker to a lot of people. This is Ernest Withers. He's a man who was known as the original civil rights photographer. Listen to this.

He captured some of the most iconic moments of this country's bloody struggle for civil rights, including the crime scene after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was there. But there's something else that nobody knew about him until now.

Are you ready for this? He was also a paid informant for the FBI. According to a report by the Memphis newspaper, "The Commercial Appeal," his secret was revealed when the government failed to black out Withers' name in reports given to the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act. Withers died, by the way, in 2007. One of the men he informed on. Civil rights pioneer, Andrew Young, and everybody else who hang out at that time with Martin Luther King.

Andrew Young, by the way, is going to be with me on RICK'S LIST tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. And I'm going to ask him directly what he knew and what his reaction is now if he didn't. I look forward to that.

Here's number two. You would think that pilots would know this. Simple rule by now, do not drink before you fly. Anything, even the night before, it could stay in your system. Apparently some of them don't.

A 52-year-old Delta pilot from New Jersey was pulled out of the cockpit in Amsterdam as he was preparing to take off today. Dutch police say he had a .02 alcohol level, which is over the legal limit in the Netherlands and in this country. Now, the captain was fined $900 and released. Delta suspended him, canceled the flight.

Here, now, the most controversial story of the day, number one. American hiker, Sarah Shourd, did you hear? She was released from one of Iran's most notorious prisons after 14 months behind bars. She was held along with two other Americans for 14 months after allegedly crossing an unmarked border into Iran while hiking in Iraq's Kyrgyzstan region. Here's what she said just before leaving Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SHOURD, RELEASED FROM IRAN: I just want to assure you that my commitment to truth will not change, you know, when I go back to my country and I will never say anything but the truth to the media and I will not succumb to any pressure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: I can tell you that Iran demanded a half a million dollars bail to free Shourd. The State Department is saying that the U.S. did not pay Tehran's prosecutor general, told Iran's press TV, Shourd representatives paid her bail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If in fact that he did do it, then he should never be allowed to be with -- be around children again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want him caught. Who knows what he's going to do next?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: A doctor accused of despicable crimes tops our "List U Don't Want 2 Be On." That is ahead. I'll call them out for you.

Also, did you hear President Obama is writing a children's book. It's trending. So Brooke Baldwin is going to handle that for us. She's all over it. She's coming up in just a little bit.

I'm Rick Sanchez. This is RICK'S LIST, your national conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Did you see the thing with Larry King last night? I thought it is hilarious.

I've got to tell you --

Well, we finished the Lady Gaga thing. So Larry's coming on and I said, Larry, would you ever consider wearing a meat suit?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SANCHEZ: I mean, if we found you the right tailor, would you -- and he looks at me and he says, did you fall out of your crib?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back, folks. There are really a lot of interesting races tonight, all the way from Wisconsin, across the northeast. But really, the key race, or at least the race that many people are keying in on is the one that's going on in Delaware. So, let's get you back there because I think we've got some new numbers that are coming in now.

By the way, as you look behind me, that is downtown hot Atlanta in the background. Our thanks to Roger for putting that behind us on this night. John King is standing by in Washington, D.C. and he's got some new numbers for us.

John, what have you got?

KING: That's a pretty picture of Atlanta. Let's go, Rick, to the race you've been talking about. This one if it goes the way it's going at the moment will send a huge national message.

First, a little primer on the candidates, a refresher course. Mike Castle, he's a Republican congressman right now. He has won statewide 12 times -- 12 times for lieutenant governor once, governor twice, nine times with the House of Representatives. Mike Castle, the establishment Republican candidate for a Senate nomination.

Christine O'Donnell, she is the Tea Party favorite in this race. She has lost the one time she ran statewide. That was against Joe Biden back in 2008. So, a 12-time statewide winner. A one-time statewide loser.

Let's go to the numbers tonight. She is the Tea Party favorite in this race and at the moment, eight percent of the vote in. Fifty- two percent for Tea Party favorite, Christine O'Donnell. Forty-eight percent for veteran Republican politician Mike Castle.

This, Rick, is for the Republican nomination for the seat that Joe Biden held for 36 years until he was elected vice president. We've had a temporary senator in that seat. In the meantime, Joe Biden's son, Beau, did not want to run because Mike Castle was considered in part one of the reasons, because Mike Castle was considered such a strong candidate in the state of Delaware.

Now Republicans are nervous if Christine O'Donnell pulls this off tonight, they question whether she can win statewide. But the first question is who will tonight and will this be yet another Tea Party message to the Republican establishment, thank you very much for picking your candidate. Ours is going to win. You've got to watch this as it goes out. But this, if this holds, Rick, boy, would that be a national message.

SANCHEZ: Yes, you almost get a feeling that's going to be the headline out of the story moving forward. Let's go real quick to Jessica Yellin. She's standing by there at O'Donnell headquarters and I would imagine that every time they look at those numbers and their candidate is ahead, we get a little bit of an applause or a little bit of boost from the folks there, right?

YELLIN: That's right. You can hear them cheer and shout every time, Rick. One thing I'd love to point out and to look deeper into these numbers is what's meaningful is that she is ahead, I'm told in New Castle County. That's where or that's where the most votes are coming in from right now. And that is the place that her opponent Mike Castle was hoping to win. That is the most moderate part of the state, a place where he has to win if he's going to pull it out tonight.

SANCHEZ: Jess --

YELLIN: And so the fact that if you break it down --

SANCHEZ: Jess --

YELLIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Just real quick, let me get John back in.

YELLIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Apparently the numbers have changed again, so you just pick up when John's done. Don't worry about coming back to me, Rodge (ph). Go ahead. Take it there, John.

KING: Rick, here's my advice to Jess, block your other ear because we're up to 22 percent now. Rick, a big jump, up to 22 percent of the vote, and this lead is holding. Fifty-six percent for Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party candidate. Forty-four percent for Mike Castle.

Let's be cautious. Only 22 percent, we've got to wait to see Wilmington, the big city come in. But you start following these things. We've been at this. While you see one county, then two, then three, then four, 56 to 44, then you can Jessica Yellin, they've seen that at the headquarters.

SANCHEZ: Go ahead, Jess.

YELLIN: I took your advice, John. Look, this is a campaign where she came in and said she is going to take on the establishment. And they have come after her with guns blazing. And they really have tried to take her down. These folks said if they didn't see what was coming, and they may be right, a lot of happy folks here tonight so far.

SANCHEZ: All right. Roger, keep that shot up. Let me bring Gloria Borger in again and we'll have a couple of different shots up so the viewers can see it. And, Jessica, we'll bring you in when you're able to hear a little better.

But, Gloria, if you're there, you had said -- hey, Gloria, can you hear me?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

SANCHEZ: You had said earlier that if this happens, if O'Donnell wins, Democrats around the country are going to be cheering. Explain that to our viewers once again. Why?

BORGER: Well, you know, Democrats are going to be cheering because they think that they can now easily win the Senate seat. And I've got a couple of questions tonight if she does win. First of all, Republicans I was talking to today who have the power of the purse, who are going to decide where the campaign committee puts its money, were saying earlier today that if she wins, they're going to pull their money out of that state because they think it's a lost cause. So the question is, are they still going to do that? Will they still consider it to be a lost cause, if indeed she does win? And if indeed she wins by, you know, by a big margin.

Second question I have is, they did all these robocalls that were very tough at the last minute. Is there a possibility, Rick, and I don't know the answer to this, is there a possibility that those robocalls backfired to a certain degree and got the anti-establishment Tea Party folks, whatever you want to call them, is there a possibility --

SANCHEZ: Fired up.

BORGER: -- that it got those folks fired up and out to vote?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BORGER: So question about money and question about strategy here.

SANCHEZ: Hey, good stuff. Good points. We're going to try and get to a lot of those. That's why we've got John King and that's why we got Jessica Yellin standing by in the noisiest, what may end up being one of the noisiest places in the country tonight.

This is RICK'S LIST. We're going to leave. We're going to go out with this shot. People continuing to react there as the story develops. You're going to see -- you're going to see it happen right here on CNN. This is RICK'S LIST, your national conversation. Just the news as it comes in. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back, everyone. Bobby Bowden (ph) walks into today into one of our meetings, and if you look on my blog, you'll see that I put out a twit pic today of Bobby Bowden when he walked into the RICK'S LIST meeting. I was star struck. I was also star struck. I've always been star struck by Larry King. And I put out a tweet vid today talking about Larry King and, you know, how animated we both are when we do this every night. So, you've got to check that out, Larry. I think you're going to enjoy that.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": How animated are we, Rick?

SANCHEZ: There you go again.

L. KING: Oh, Rick. You know, I'll tell you how bad it's gotten, Rick. This has turned into the highlight of my day.

(LAUGHTER)

Anyway -- oh, by the way, I want a little clue. We did a tape today with Al Pacino. It's going to play in November. Al is in rare form. We had a great time. A little advanced plug.

SANCHEZ: It sounds wonderful. I'm almost feeling like doing the "Scarface" impressions already, but I can't because they involve a --

L. KING: My little brother. My little friend.

SANCHEZ: Tell me what you got tonight?

L. KING: We got Bill Maher for the hour. Big honor today. I was there. He got a star on Hollywood's hall of fame, the Walk of Fame. I was happy to be there to honor him. He'll take your questions and calls. We'll have update on primary results from seven states and the District of Columbia. It's all at the top of the hour. That's some story in Delaware, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it certainly is. We're going to stay on top of it. I know you will too.

In fact, let's go back there real quick. John King is standing by. More results coming in from Delaware.

Hey, folks, this could end up being the story of the night politically. John King is all over it. Take it away, John.

KING: And, Rick, again, we got a caution. We're only up 37 percent of the vote. But look at this lead, it is holding.

Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party candidate, 55 percent. Mike Castle, a man who has won 12 times statewide in the state of Delaware losing his Republican primary at the moment. Forty-five percent to Mike Castle. Fifty-five percent to Christine O'Donnell.

You've been talking about this all night long. This is for the Republican nomination for the seat Joe Biden held for nearly 40 years. For 36 years, he held it. The Tea Party candidate was given not a prayer when this race started, Rick. Fifty-five percent of the vote for Christine O'Donnell at the moment. Forty-five percent, these vote numbers coming in from "The Associated Press." Tonight, we're at 37 percent and counting. Mike Castle needs to turn this around and soon.

SANCHEZ: It's amazing. And as John is telling the story, you could see people there on the phone.

Hey, turn on to CNN, turn on to CNN. Apparently we're winning right now. And there's Jessica Yellin.

Jessica, go ahead, jump on in here. And tell us about what's going on there. What are people saying to you?

YELLIN: They're saying that the other side didn't see it coming and this is the victory that they knew they were going to have all along. But we're not there yet. Only two points. One is I started to say earlier, it's very meaningful about these early returns is she is ahead despite the fact that most of the votes are being counted so far come from New Castle which is where he, her opponent, would hope to be very far ahead and get his victory margin there. She's not winning that county but the fact that she is winning despite most votes coming from there bodes well for her.

Also, just look at how few votes it is total, about 21,000. This is going to be decided by fewer than 50,000 voters, it looks like, Rick. Just a determined core of voters will make the decision today.

SANCHEZ: All right. We're going to be putting a lot of our focus on Delaware, but we also have stories in Wisconsin and New York. The governor's race, New York, with Rangel's race. We're going to be taking you to parts of New Hampshire.

As the night goes on, expect CNN to bring you the results and to be the first to do so. Let's take a quick break so we can do so on the other side. You're watching RICK'S LIST, your national conversation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hold on. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. Not just the Delaware numbers, but we shared with you some New Hampshire numbers. And I understand now, we might be able to get new Maryland numbers that are coming in. Let's go back to John King.

You're going to crunch some of these for us. John, tell us what you got?

KING: Rick, here's one that is a defeat for the Tea Party tonight and a victory for a former governor of Maryland who is seeking his old job back. Bob Ehrlich is the Republican in Maryland. He has more than 80 percent of the vote as they are counting up the percentages. A lot of vote counting still to be down, but we could safely now and the Republican Governors Association has already congratulated Bob Ehrlich. He will be the Republican nominee for governor against the incumbent Martin O'Malley. Brian Murphy was the Tea Party candidate but he's pulling just about 18 percent of the vote at the moment. So, in that race in Maryland, Bob Ehrlich trying a comeback. He will be the Republican nominee in a very closely contested governor's race there.

Now, let's get the latest on Delaware. We're still at 37 percent of the vote. This is the national message right now. Everyone is watching this race for the national message.

This is a race to get the seat held by Joe Biden. For the Republican nomination, veteran Republican Congressman Mike Castle, a former governor of the state of Delaware, a moderate Republican, 45 percent. The Tea Party favorite, Christine O'Donnell, who lost to Joe Biden back in 1996, I think it was, she is winning at the moment, 55 percent.

There is no doubt here, Rick, you've been talking about it with Jessica and Gloria all night long, the national Republican establishment, the state Republican establishment, all their energy went into Mike Castle. The Tea Party activist saying thanks but no thanks at the moment. Their candidate with just shy of 40 percent of the vote count. Christine O'Donnell is winning in that race. And as you can see that's where Jessica Yellin is tonight. They are watching this vote count. And every time we've gone up in the percentage, that lead has held. We'll keep watching it, though. It ain't over yet.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a bunch of races that we're going to be watching tonight. Don't forget about the controversy that suddenly is shaking out in New York where we understand there's issues with some of the voting machines. Mike Bloomberg has -- apparently, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor, has commented on this.

Let's see if we can back to Jessica, though. Let's show that shot again. Jessica, it's all right. Go ahead and stand up while we show -- oh, you're back up already. Take us through what's going on there, what the reaction is and what the implications of this race may end up being.

YELLIN: So, I got to talk to a few people, they insist that they knew she was going to win. No, she will win. One person said we expected her to win because there have been dinosaurs here for too long. And she is, I'm just reading my notes, a change for the good. Someone else says that they are confident it's going to be a victory tonight.

Again, this is the message we've heard so many times, Rick, that they feel like it's a breath of fresh air. I'm sure very different by the Castle headquarters. It's not done. But they're looking for a different way here at this headquarters, Rick.

SANCHEZ: It's going to be a good night tonight on CNN. Bill Maher is coming up with Larry King but they're going to be breaking in and showing results as they go. Jessica is going to be standing by, as well as John King to crunch some numbers for us. And as we get ready to say, I brought Brooke back in, because every night, my book "Conventional Idiocy" which talks a lot about politics, by the way, "Conventional Idiocy" does. And we give away a book every night. The tweet that we think that is most interesting.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A creative -- the most creative tweet.

SANCHEZ: And the one tonight, I just want to hug him.

BALDWIN: You love this. You read it.

SANCHEZ: Thirty seconds. You're sure? No, you do it.

BALDWIN: OK.

So this is Kassidy Renee. Kassidy tweets and says my 7-year-old Savannah -- keep in mind Rick's daughter is Savannah -- came home mad at her teacher for yelling, and asked me to put her on "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On." There's another one. I was so shocked that she said that and remember that we always watch your program while she's getting ready for school."

SANCHEZ: She's cool.

BALDWIN: "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On."

SANCHEZ: She said she wants her mom to put her teacher on the list.

BALDWIN: She gets the book and her daughter Savannah gets a book, I say.

SANCHEZ: All right. We'll send two of them then. You will both sign it. Is that a deal?

BALDWIN: Deal.

SANCHEZ: All right. Expect the latest on the political story tonight.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Thanks so much for being with us.

"LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.