Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Sunday
Interview With Gail Chaddock
Aired November 03, 2002 - 17:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The flurry of last-minute campaigning is a good indicator of the high stakes involved in the midterm elections, with no clear cut leaders in several key races. Gail Chaddock is the congressional correspondent with "The Christian Science Monitor," and joins me right here. It's good to see you in person.
GAIL CHADDOCK, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Good to be here.
WHITFIELD: All right, an indicator that this really might be a very tight race. Folks in Minnesota, maybe even Missouri and South Dakota should not necessarily expect that when they wake up the next day after election day that they're going to know who the selected choices are. It could be days, couldn't it?
CHADDOCK: It could be days. It could even be into December, if there is a run-off election, for example, in Louisiana.
This is going to be one of the most unusual nights for a midterm election, ever. It's very important, it's very close, so many are hard to call, and I think to me what's also interesting is the mobilization of legal talent on both sides by both parties to look into any irregularities.
WHITFIELD: And we are talking about Republicans and Democrats who are thinking about the 2000 decision, and that's why they have all garnered some 10,000 lawyers on each side just in case there is some problems?
CHADDOCK: Democrats claim 10,000. The Republicans less, but they are already looking on the ground looking for voter fraud, and you have seen a number of instances of this crop up already in South Dakota. There is an investigation going on of whether or not on Indian reservations there were fraudulent applications for ballots.
This is the sort of thing that is very unusual at this level of intensity.
WHITFIELD: And very unusual to be taking place before election day., even fingerprinting. Now, the examination of fingerprinting on absentee ballots in Florida already.
CHADDOCK: That's right. Absentee ballots are very important this election, because both sides, especially Democrats in close states see it as a way to make sure that voters they register actually show up and vote. WHITFIELD: Perhaps what may make this year's midterm elections so particularly unpredictable too is that voters are not necessarily committed to their parties anymore. We're seeing Democrats who are voting Republican, independent, vice versa, et cetera, and that could very well be apparent in this midterm election, too.
CHADDOCK: It's a deeply split country, and I think this is an election that is not going to break that tie yet, and we're going to be living with two more years of basically tied government.
WHITFIELD: And perhaps splitting these decisions, the ongoing war on terrorism, this proposed war on Iraq, even Social Security is another issue in the economy that seemed to have a lot of people going outside their party lines.
CHADDOCK: The predictions were that if the economy were bad in the midterm election, history says the president's party loses, often big. That doesn't appear to be the case. It's not an election where you can see any one issue that is sweeping across all of these very close races. That's surprising a lot of people. These are very individual elections.
WHITFIELD: Do you want to make any predictions? Do you see that Democrats...
CHADDOCK: Absolutely not.
WHITFIELD: Oh, come on, stick your leg out there.
CHADDOCK: I could say it's a good shot that Republicans hold on to the House. The Senate, honestly, it doesn't matter. If you don't get 60 votes in the Senate, there is no such thing as controlling that body. It's almost an oxymoron.
WHITFIELD: All right, Gail Chaddock, thanks very much. "Christian Science Monitor." Good to see you.
CHADDOCK: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 3, 2002 - 17:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The flurry of last-minute campaigning is a good indicator of the high stakes involved in the midterm elections, with no clear cut leaders in several key races. Gail Chaddock is the congressional correspondent with "The Christian Science Monitor," and joins me right here. It's good to see you in person.
GAIL CHADDOCK, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Good to be here.
WHITFIELD: All right, an indicator that this really might be a very tight race. Folks in Minnesota, maybe even Missouri and South Dakota should not necessarily expect that when they wake up the next day after election day that they're going to know who the selected choices are. It could be days, couldn't it?
CHADDOCK: It could be days. It could even be into December, if there is a run-off election, for example, in Louisiana.
This is going to be one of the most unusual nights for a midterm election, ever. It's very important, it's very close, so many are hard to call, and I think to me what's also interesting is the mobilization of legal talent on both sides by both parties to look into any irregularities.
WHITFIELD: And we are talking about Republicans and Democrats who are thinking about the 2000 decision, and that's why they have all garnered some 10,000 lawyers on each side just in case there is some problems?
CHADDOCK: Democrats claim 10,000. The Republicans less, but they are already looking on the ground looking for voter fraud, and you have seen a number of instances of this crop up already in South Dakota. There is an investigation going on of whether or not on Indian reservations there were fraudulent applications for ballots.
This is the sort of thing that is very unusual at this level of intensity.
WHITFIELD: And very unusual to be taking place before election day., even fingerprinting. Now, the examination of fingerprinting on absentee ballots in Florida already.
CHADDOCK: That's right. Absentee ballots are very important this election, because both sides, especially Democrats in close states see it as a way to make sure that voters they register actually show up and vote. WHITFIELD: Perhaps what may make this year's midterm elections so particularly unpredictable too is that voters are not necessarily committed to their parties anymore. We're seeing Democrats who are voting Republican, independent, vice versa, et cetera, and that could very well be apparent in this midterm election, too.
CHADDOCK: It's a deeply split country, and I think this is an election that is not going to break that tie yet, and we're going to be living with two more years of basically tied government.
WHITFIELD: And perhaps splitting these decisions, the ongoing war on terrorism, this proposed war on Iraq, even Social Security is another issue in the economy that seemed to have a lot of people going outside their party lines.
CHADDOCK: The predictions were that if the economy were bad in the midterm election, history says the president's party loses, often big. That doesn't appear to be the case. It's not an election where you can see any one issue that is sweeping across all of these very close races. That's surprising a lot of people. These are very individual elections.
WHITFIELD: Do you want to make any predictions? Do you see that Democrats...
CHADDOCK: Absolutely not.
WHITFIELD: Oh, come on, stick your leg out there.
CHADDOCK: I could say it's a good shot that Republicans hold on to the House. The Senate, honestly, it doesn't matter. If you don't get 60 votes in the Senate, there is no such thing as controlling that body. It's almost an oxymoron.
WHITFIELD: All right, Gail Chaddock, thanks very much. "Christian Science Monitor." Good to see you.
CHADDOCK: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
