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How Will Democrat Defeat Affect Hillary Clinton in 2016; What People Want to Hear From Obama Following Republican Win; McConnell, Obama to Speak About Elections

Aired November 05, 2014 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Both the New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, they campaigned hard for so many of the Republican candidates who emerged as winners last night. Never short on words, they spoke to CNN earlier today about what the victory means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: I think that they've seen Republican leadership in other states and it's been enormously effective. We had a lot of folks last night who said a lot of Republican incumbents were going to lose. But Rick Scott won in Florida. Rick Snyder won in Michigan. Scott Walker won in Wisconsin. I think they saw -- they like governors that get things done. I think we saw that across the country. If you're a governor who gets things done, voters rewarded you.

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY: I think, last night in Kentucky, we had a huge victory. Particularly in Kentucky, Iowa, Arkansas, this was not only a repudiation of the president but I think really a repudiation of Hillary Clinton. Everybody thought, hey, I'm going to be a Clinton Democrat. Turns out, that's not so popular in a lot of states either. And trying to separate this into Obama Democrats and Clinton Democrats really wasn't a very successful strategy for the Democrats yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Both Governor Christie and Senator Paul were on CNN's "New Day" this morning. And Senator Paul even took to face book where he posted a photo album of sorts of Hillary Clinton campaigning with candidates who lost. Senator Paul's hash tag, "Hillary's losers."

Joining us now, Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Larry, thanks very much for joining us.

How do you think the defeat that the Democrats suffered last night -- it was pretty widespread, as you know -- will impact Hillary Clinton and her ambition maybe of becoming the president of the United States?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Wolf, the Clintons have always been very good at turning negatives into positives. And the negative for them is not only did the Democrats lose, rather badly, but the Clintons themselves campaigned for loads of candidates who went down in flames, including in places where they're supposed to be influential, like Arkansas and Kentucky.

But I can easily imagine that, within days if not weeks, Hillary Clinton when she finally decides to make public what we all know is going to happen, will say, look, the Republicans are in charge of the House and the Senate. It may very well not change after 2016. Look at all of the, quote, "extreme," unquote, things they're doing to do, you need me to stop them. I'm the only thing standing between you and their far-right measures to do X, Y and Z.

BLITZER: In your state of Virginia right now, we still have not projected the winner. The incumbent Democratic Governor Mark Warner slightly ahead of Ed Gillespie. Who's going to win that race when all the votes are counted?

SABATO: I think Warner will emerge the winner. I think, privately, most people admit that looking at where the handful of votes that haven't been reported are from. And he's well up. 10,000, 12,000 votes doesn't sound like much until you go looking for them. Often in Virginia, the canvasses turn up more Democratic votes than Republican votes, again, because of the large localities that readjust their figures.

But, look, that was a tremendous embarrassment for Mark Warner. There's just no two ways about it. The surveys in Virginia were dead wrong as they were in Georgia and Kentucky and lots of other places around the country. And I think they lulled Warner and everybody else into a false security that he was, in fact, handily winning reelection. He turned out to be very vulnerable in the purple state of Virginia in a classic sixth-year itch election that had a bit of a wave attached.

BLITZER: You predicted the Republicans would be the decisive majority in the U.S. Senate, and you were right in your predictions.

Larry Sabato, thanks very much for joining us.

SABATO: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We're waiting for Senator Mitch McConnell to hold a news conference. He was elected to his sixth term in the U.S. Senate yesterday. He's already told one news outlet what his top priority will be. Stay with us. You might be surprised to hear what he has to say. That news conference coming up right at the top of the hour. He's expected to be the next Senate majority leader.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: It's a call to President Obama that he's going to have to start working with Republicans to get things done. And I think obviously with the Republican majority in the Senate, he's going to have no other option than to work with Republicans to get things done. Well, he should have been doing that for the past five years and he hasn't been. And I think the American people are sick and tired of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That's the Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, setting the tone after the very, very big Republican Party wins last night.

Starting in early January, Republicans will control both houses of Congress. They will be able to set a lot of the agenda.

Joining us now, our CNN political commentator, Ana Navarro; and CNN contributor, the former Obama special adviser, Van Jones.

Guys, thanks very much for joining us.

I keep asking people what they want to hear from the president when he starts speaking. What do you want to hear?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Graciousness. I actually want to hear both President Obama and Mitch McConnell be gracious. I think you need to be gracious in defeat and admit defeat, not deny it. You need to be gracious in victory. Both of them need to be gracious and classy today.

BLITZER: Four years ago, when the Democrats lost the House of Representatives, he had that news conference and said the Democrats suffered shellacking. That was the word he used. Just tweeted about that yesterday and today. Is there another word he should use today?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR & CNN CO-HOST, CROSSTALK: Devastating, humiliating, crushing defeat. This is a horrible day for Democrats. It's weird because people did vote on our issues in the right way, whether it's choice, marijuana, criminal justice. But they didn't vote for our candidates. He's going to have to cough up that furball.

BLITZER: What happened to the Obama brand, especially with young people? They went out and voted historically in 2008.

JONES: And '12.

BLITZER: Women, minorities. All of a sudden, there were a lot of people who didn't show up at the polls yesterday.

JONES: We have a boom-bust coalition. On election years, where it's a national election, presidential election, we have an undefeatable blue wall. David Gergen wrote a great piece about this blue wall. But you can't governor with a coalition that's big only every four years. You have to be consistent. We did not give young people, in particular, a reason to come to the polls. We didn't nationalize on student debt or nationalize on infrastructure and jobs. We didn't nationalize this election on issues. We let them nationalize the election on Obama.

BLITZER: Here's a problem the president has. And I've been thinking a lot about this. We're being seen right now, not only in the United States but around the world, foreign leaders, friendly foreign leaders and enemies of the United States, they see a president who clearly has been weakened. He's going to Asia next week. He'll will in China next week. He's going to have to deal with a lot of tough issues over the next two years. But a lot of these foreign leaders will see a weakened president and they say, this is an opportunity to try to take advantage of the United States.

NAVARRO: Well, I hope none of those Asian leaders get him to campaign for them because they may lose.

Look, I think it's a good place for him to go right now, on a foreign trip, and go do what he's got to be, which is commander-in-chief and continue being the chief diplomat of the United States. The bottom line is he's still got two years. There's a lot he can do in two years if he chooses to. And if the dynamics work for him, he has to set the tone and make sure the message he's continuing to send is, I'm going to continue on this, I'm going to engage in foreign and domestic priorities and I'm going to make it happen. If he doesn't send that message, put a fork in him, he's done.

JONES: I think that there are ways forward on a bipartisan basis. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. When you talk about -- when you look at what the actual Republicans voted for, Republicans voted for minimum wage increases.

BLITZER: But if he goes and unilaterally changes the illegal immigration laws in the United States going around Congress -- you heard Governor Mike Pence, of Indiana, say that would be poking the new leadership of Congress right in the eye.

NAVARRO: What you're bringing up is not inconsistent with what Republicans have been saying. What Republicans have been saying is minimum wage should be set by the states. It should be something -- as you know, it's not a federalist issue. It should be a state issue because different states have different dynamics and they know what their minimum wage should be.

BLITZER: Let me ask you, should he walk away from that pledge to sign an executive order and really -- if he does that, you know how's going to irritate the Republicans.

JONES: Here's the thing. This president made a promise and pledge to the Latino community that he was going to stop devastating Latino families, stop ripping moms away from their children, that he was going to take a step back from the kinds of horrific enforcement that has angered the Latino base. He has to deliver on that promise. Now if the Republicans are concerned, they should sit down and come up with a way forward together. But if Republicans continue to step away from their responsibility -- this president has to lead. If this president thinks he's going to walk away from the Latino community and not fulfill that promise, he's wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: He's stepped away from those promises the last seven years.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: Those are old promises not fulfilled.

BLITZER: Let's see what he does. This is going to be a critical issue. I know it will come up in the news conference.

Guys, thanks for much.

This note, for both our international viewers and our viewers in North America, stick around, I'll be anchoring CNN's special coverage as we get ready to hear first from the new Republican leader in the U.S. Senate, expected to be the majority leader, Mitch McConnell. He's going to be speaking at the top of the hour.

And then later in the next hour, President Obama begins with an opening statement that has a full-scale news conference in the East Room of the White House. We'll have live coverage coming up here on CNN.

Our coverage continues right after this short break.

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BLITZER: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Any minute now, the man expected to become the next Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, he'll talk about the GOP's victory. A huge victory in the midterm elections here in the United States last night.

Right after that, President Obama set to respond to what is widely seen as a major defeat handed to his Democratic party.

It's a sea change up on capitol hill as Republicans now take charge not only of the House of Representatives but also the U.S. Senate, snatching the Senate from the Democrats and expanding, I should point out, as well, the Republican's grip on the House of representatives.

Here's is what the balance of power in the U.S. Senate looked like before the election, with Democrats firmly in control. There you see it right there. 53 Democrats, two Independents who vote with Democrats, 45 Republicans. Here's where it stands right now. Democrats are shuffled to the back seat and Republicans in charge.

The Republicans picked up seven seats so far at least in the Senate. More potentially on the way, and gains in at least 14 in the House, giving Republicans their largest majority in the House of Representatives since World War II. And with several races still too close to call, the House could end up with its largest Republican majority since Herbert Hoover was president of the United States.

In addition, the number of Republican governors increased by four with Republicans taking the top office, in even reliably Democratic states that voted overwhelmingly for President Obama just two years ago. Let's point out Republicans won in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Illinois, the president's home state.

We have a team of the best analysts and reporters standing by. Our chief Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper, is here; our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger. Our CNN commentators, Ana Navarro, Van Jones, S.E. Cupp, are here as well; up on Capitol Hill, our chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.

Let's start with you, Jake.

Give us your analysis right now. A, what we're likely to hear from Mitch McConnell, and then a few minutes later, what we're likely to hear from the president of the United States.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think you're going to hear a conciliatory tone and Mitch McConnell talking about wanting to work with President Obama, wanting to work with Democrats in the Senate. Make no mistake, Republicans feel as though they were handed this and they have a mandate, that they were elected to stop some of the Obama administration's policies, to show leadership where they feel President Obama has not shown leadership, especially when it comes to the economy. So while I do think it's going to be an expression of a desire to work together, it's also going to be an expression of clear Republican imperatives and Republican principles.

BLITZER: Gloria, there will be some danger points very, very quickly if the president goes ahead and use his pen to sign executive orders that will deeply irritate the Congress, the Republican led house and Senate.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Yeah, and they're talking about that right now, Wolf. Obviously, if the president were to sign an executive action that was all encompassing, that it would be like sticking his thumb in the eyes of a bunch of Republicans who ran against immigration reform. I think the discussion that's going on inside the White House is while they're clearly going to extend an olive branch because they have no other choice but to do so, but they have to decide in what order they decide to do things.

Do they do immigration now? Do they try to get something done on taxes or infrastructure first and then do what they wanted to do on immigration? Make no mistake about it, nobody is saying that suddenly people are going to get together and write poetry together about immigration reform. That just is not going to happen before the next election.

BLITZER: As we wait to hear from Mitch McConnell, we widely expect him to be the new majority leader in the U.S. Senate, although when I interviewed Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican of Texas, last night, I asked him a couple times, will you support Mitch McConnell as the new majority leader, and he refused to say he would. He didn't say he wouldn't. Republicans will get together and talk about it.

How divided are the Republicans right now in the United States Senate as far as Mitch McConnell being their leader?

NAVARRO: I think they are a lot less divided than an interview with Ted Cruz would have you believe, frankly. That's Ted Cruz being Ted Cruz. That's vintage Ted Cruz. It's part of his persona and profile to be a thorn on the side of the institution and the establishment. So that's very typical of Ted Cruz.

I do think President Obama and Republicans are between a rock and a hard place when this comes to this executive immigration action, particularly President Obama. He's under tremendous pressure from Latinos from immigration advocates and from his progressive base. He's been making promises on immigration since he was campaigning as Senator Barack Obama in 2007, and time and time again, groups have had to hear from him, it's not your turn, and for political reasons, you have to wait and many are done waiting. But on the other hand, you have Republicans, some of whom I think have a genuine desire to work on immigration, but it will poison the well. When you have people like Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and John McCain, authors of the bipartisan agreement in the Senate on immigration, sending him a letter saying really think about it and this will have consequences, I think it's a very difficult place.

BLITZER: Let me go to Dana Bash on Capitol Hill.

Dana, you cover all of these men and women in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Set the scene, what we're about to hear right now from Mitch McConnell.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Mitch McConnell is an interesting character. He is somebody who is going to be introduced much more to the American people than they ever have seen him before. To those of us who cover him in Congress, we have seen the way he operates for some time, and it will probably be illustrated in this press conference. He's known as somebody who is one of the most, if not the most, strategic politicians in Washington.

I think Democrats and Republicans alike will say that. He's somebody who plans so many steps ahead, and for this, being the majority leaders, he's been planning for, for years. He thought possibly he would get this job four years ago and then it didn't happen. Two years ago. they had a crop of Republican candidates who couldn't perform and couldn't get elected. Now he finally got the prize that he's wanted forever.

He's one of the few Senators who doesn't look in the mirror and say I want to be president. He joked about that with me when I was in Kentucky. He's always wanted to do this. He has a very clear idea of how he wants to do it. He wants to return the Senate to regular order. That sounds like process.

To explain it in layman's terms, he wants it to work the way the founders said. He wants everything to go through committees, where things tend to work in a much more bipartisan way, and to try to bring those things to the floor. Whether he can get that done, who knows. But at least he definitely has a plan and we're going to hear at least a little bit about it when he speaks shortly.

BLITZER: Let me bring S.E. Cupp into this conversation.

S.E., is it a done deal he'll be, Mitch McConnell, the majority leader in the Senate?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I think there's consensus. Ted Cruz, not withstanding. And Ana is absolutely right, Ted Cruz never misses an opportunity to try to separate himself from the pacK. I think there's a consensus that Mitch McConnell deserves this and will be good at this.

To something that Jake said earlier, I think he's right that it's really easy to see what happened last night as a mandate for Republicans, but I don't think that's true. I'm hoping that Mitch McConnell comes out and celebrates a hard-fought victory especially in his own case in his own state but also acknowledges the fact that this was a rejection of Barack Obama's "my way or the highway" attitude. And it doesn't make much sense for Republicans to come in with a "my way or the highway attitude" in the face of rejection.

(AUDIO PROBLEM)

BLITZER: We just lost S.E. We'll reconnect with her.

Van Jones, what about that? She's making a point you hear a lot, that the president really hasn't reached out during these first six years and tried to cultivate not only Republicans but even a lot of Democrats up on Capitol Hill, inviting them to the White House and watching a movie and having dinner. He really hasn't gone to the Bill Clinton playbook, shall we say, in trying to establish that personal rapport with a lot of members of Congress.

JONES: That is something that's said about him often. When he does do it, it's overlooked or seen as political.

I think more important than the personal touches, he has reached out on the policy side. There have been many, many times where he put forward ideas that were Republican ideas, infrastructure, tax breaks for small businesses, and was rejected because you had a strategy on the part of the Republicans to really try to say no to him on everything.

Now we do have a chance for a reset. And there are issues on which we can work together well. Criminal justice reform is something that Rand Paul and Eric Holder agree on. That's an issue. Infrastructure. If you look at the way the Republicans voted, they actually voted for things like minimum wage. They voted for things like marijuana laws. So there is common ground that I think we can get to.

But I think the idea that the gridlock was created by Obama not wanting to reach out as a progressive Democrat, that's never been our critique of President Obama. He's been trying to reach out. Our concern is that Republicans ran against gridlock that they created. They may have been rewarded for that. We hope they learn the right lessons, too.

BLITZER: David Gergen, there is plenty of gridlock in Washington. So now there's a new dynamic going on, the Republicans, a majority in the House and in the Senate.