America's Maverick Part 2: Madame President

[OSR stands with Israel]

2012 Election Night Preview:

Blitzer: With 24 Hours left till the election lets go over to John King and the Magic Wall to see where we stand.

King: Really the Battleground Map has not changed much since the debate other than the fact that we were able to move Oregon from Lean Clinton to Safe Clinton after the Senator Jindal camp pulled out of that state in the final couple weeks. This as you can see gives the President a pretty big advantage going into election night



Clinton/Rockefeller 257 51%
Jindal/Romney 185 46%

Blitzer: What can Senator Jindal do if he wants a chance to pull out the upset

King: Well first he must and I mean must win Florida , Ohio and Virginia as each one of those states alone would be enough to put the President over the top. So those 3 are mathematically must win states for Senator Jindal and if we see any of one those 3 states go to President Clinton election night than we will pretty much know its all over. Next Senator Jindal must win Colorado as while that is not mathematically needed, the fact is if a combination of Colorado and Nevada have 15 electoral votes which is enough to put the President over the top so he will need the more Republican of the two states which is Colorado.

So if he wins the 4 must win states of Florida, Virginia, Ohio and Colorado we are in an interesting position as that would give the President Clinton 257 votes and Senator Jindal 254 leaving Nevada , Missouri, Arkansas and West Virginia as states that are still undecided. From this point there are two ways either candidate can win , one by winning every state other than Missouri or winning Missouri plus one other state.

Blitzer : Is it possible to get to yet another 269-269 tie

King : Yea it is , as say you give President Clinton Nevada and Arkansas and then give Senator Jindal Missouri and West Virginia then the result as you can see would be 269-269. I would like to point out though that thanks to the electoral reform amendment, this time rather than each house delegation having one vote for president , each representative will have one vote for president and it is almost impossible to see the democrats taking the House if they aren’t well above the 270 EV line . So if it’s 269-269 , it’s almost certain that Senator Jindal would be the next president.

Blitzer: Thanks John, and For fun lets now go over to our panel for their final predictions.

Carville: I think the President gets solidly reelected as I think she will end up winning every swing state on this map with the exception of Virginia and Arkansas which would give her 334 Electoral votes compared to the Senator Jindal at 204

Begala: My prediction is similar to James but I also think the President actually carries Virginia which would give her 347 electoral votes compared to Senator Jindal at 191

Martin: My prediction is a little more conservative than my Democratic friends on the panel as I have President Clinton carrying Ohio , West Virginia, Missouri , Colorado and Nevada while Senator Jindal carries Virginia and Arkansas. This would give President Clinton 305 electoral votes and Senator Jindal 233 Electoral Votes

Cupp: Unfortunately I do not think Senator Jindal wins but I do have it close as I have Senator Jindal winning Florida Arkansas Virginia Colorado and Nevada but loses Ohio and West Virginia which would give the President 280 Electoral votes and Senator Jindal 258

Buchanan: My prediction is similar but I think demographic changes in Nevada and Colorado will cause those states to also vote Democratic which gives the President 295 Electoral Votes while Senator Jindal gets 243.

Gingrich: I will go out of a limb and say not only will Senator Jindal win the election and not only will he win every swing state on the board but also carry the states of New Hampshire and Iowa which would give him 291 Electoral Votes compared to President Clinton who will finish at 247.

Blitzer: Ok we will check back to see which one of you had the closest prediction but for our viewers at home, I hope you join us tomorrow night on CNN for full coverage of the 2012 Election

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2012(Exit Polls)



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITO8F3KUlE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvU

Blitzer: The polls are about to close in the first states tonight and we will soon be getting an indication of whether or not the first female President in our history will be getting another first years or whether or not we will get our first President of South Asian descent . Its gonna be a really exciting night but to get our first indications of how this night will go , lets go to John King to see our exit polls.

King: Well I want to start out by noting that exit polls while different from other polls given exit polls are based on polls of people after they have voted rather than before , they still have a margin of error so all they give us is an indication of how the night will go but we will still need to wait for the actual results to come out. So here are some of our exit polls

Race:

White: 73%; Jindal 56% Clinton 43%
African American: 12%; Clinton 90% Jindal 9%
Hispanic 10%; Clinton 65% Jindal 34%
Asian 3; Clinton 63% Jindal 36%
Other 2%; Clinton 60% Jindal 39%

Gender:

Male: 48%; Jindal 50% Clinton 49%
Female: 52% : Clinton 54% Jindal 45%

Age:

18-29: 17%; Clinton 54% Jindal 45%
30-44: 28%; Clinton 53% Jindal 46%
45-64: 38%; Clinton 51% Jindal 48%
65+: 17%; Jindal 50% Clinton 49%

Income:

0-30k: 18%; Clinton 59% Jindal 40%
30k-75k: 42%; Clinton 53% Jindal 46%
75k-150k: 28%; Jindal 51% Clinton 48%
150k+: 12%; Jindal 54% Clinton 45%

King: So really some things our exit poll is telling us is that African American Turnout is up which is certainly news for President Clinton in key battlegrounds like Ohio and Missouri given how Democrats are reliant of running up the Margins in places like Cleveland, Kansas City and St Louis in winning those key midwestern states. Also another interesting thing to point out is the fact that Senator Jindal is leading with seniors which is a change from 4 years ago which is good for him in a place like Florida but of course on the flip side, the drop of Hispanic support from 39% to 34% is not good for him in a state like Florida either.

Blitzer: Thanks John, so David what do you think

Gergen: Well I think the main fact is these exit polls are in line with what the pre election polls have been saying so far . Now I want to remind everyone that these are just exit polls and elections are not decided based on that so if you have not voted yet, please go ahead and do so.

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2012(Part 1)



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITO8F3KUlE

7:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvU

Blitzer: The first 6 states have just closed their polls and CNN can now project that President Clinton will win the reliably Democratic State of Vermont while Senator Jindal will win the reliably Republican States of Indiana and South Carolina. We are currently though unable to make a projection in the state of Kentucky, Virginia or Georgia



Blitzer: So far in Kentucky, Senator Jindal leads the President 51.5% to 47.5% with around 2/3rd of the vote so lets go over to John King to see how the state of Kentucky is going so far.

King: Many Democrats at home may be looking at the state of Kentucky so far and saying wow its much closer than expected but I want to point out that its misleading because at the moment none of Western Kentucky is in because while the polls have closed on the Eastern half of the state for just over and hour, they just closed in the Western Half. As you can see Western Kentucky is more Republican than Eastern Kentucky so its very likely that once these voters come in that Senator Jindal starts expanding his lead more to what was expected.

Blitzer: As you may know many Democrats believe that Virginia , a state that has not gone Democratic since all the way back in 1964, may fall into their column tonight. What will the President have to do to make those dreams a reality

King: Well the first thing to keep in mind is Virginia is changing and no more profoundly than in Northern Virginia which is the fastest growing part of the state and Democrats are hoping to capitalize on that fact. We have seen the shift in Northern Virginia all throughout the past decade as if we go back in time we can see that Northern Virginia was Republican for the longest time, then in 2004 the Democrats were able to take Fairfax County, in 2008 take Prince William County so the question is will they add Loudon County to that list as well. Another key thing for the President in the state is to reduce the Republican Margins in the GOP suburbs around Richmond and in particular Chesterfield County. It is a place where Republicans have gotten over 60% of the vote in every election going back to 1972 other than 1992 which was a three way race thanks to Ross Perot, so if the President is to take Virginia then she must keep Senator Jindal under 60% in counties such as that.

If she can do both then the state will truly be 50/50 and we will likely have to wait all night before seeing the winner.

Blitzer: Now lets go back to Anderson Cooper and hear what our panelists have to think

Cooper: So James what do you think of the exit polls and some of the early results so far

Carville: I would say I am pretty optimistic as the exit polls are in line with pre election polls and I would say I like what I see from Kentucky so far. The fact that the state was not able to be called at poll closing time tells me that Senator Jindal has not been able to to get the swings he was hoping for in Appalachia which may be critical in places like West Virginia, South Western Virginia, and South Eastern Ohio all of which Senator Jindal is hoping for strong performances tonight

Buchanan: I would like to point out that Kentucky was less contested this time by the Democrats than it was back in 2008 which means you would likely see larger trends to the Republicans than you would see otherwise. So I would not even be certain that we can extrapolate whats happening in the rest of Appalachia because Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia were all heavily contested unlike Kentucky.

Also I’d like to point out that the President doenst need any of those states as given her 30 point advantage with Hispanics , you have to say she’s the favorite in Colorado and Nevada and if you add those electoral votes to the 257 that already lean or are solidly in her camp then she ends up with 272 electoral votes . So unless Governor Romney can deliver Senator Jindal an upset in New Hampshire, I would say the Clinton camp is very happy at these numbers.

Borger: I would like to say though Republicans would argue that these exit polls have a margin of error so if Senator Jindal gets 37% of the Hispanic vote rather than 34% then he probably would be favored in at least Colorado so I would say we should wait before really jumping to any conclusions.

Cooper: Dana any updates on the Senate so far

Bash: At this moment we are classifying Virginia as too early to call but based on the exit polls done for that race and insider comments in both the Republican and Democratic camps , the senate race in Virginia seems more like the Presidential race there 4 years ago rather than the one tonight. To make following these races easier, we will color in a race yellow on the key battleground list if the polls have closed but we are unable to make a call in that race just like we do on a map

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia


7:30

Blitzer: The polls have just closed in Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina and CNN is unable to make a projection in any one of those states at the moment. On the other hand we are able to project that Senator Jindal will carry the state of Georgia and its 16 electoral votes as expected.



Blitzer: Now lets go over to John King and the Magic Wall to see how things are going in the battlegrounds. John lets go to Florida first

King: Keep in mind 4 years ago , Senator Bush won Florida by 4.4 points so really what we will be looking at is not only how the counties have changed since 2008 but if they have changed by that amount. One county the President is hoping to make gains in is Miami-Dade which is the biggest county in the state and also very Hispanic so the hope is the gains the President is making among Hispanics nationwide can be replicated here. Right now she is ahead by 13 or so points which is up 6 points from 4 years ago so that is good for her on the flip side some of these rural counties you can see Senator Jindal is actually overperforming what then Senator Bush did so that is good news for him.

So it is very likely I would say given these early results we will be waiting quite a while before we know who has won this state as its likely to be within a point either way.

Blitzer: What about in Virginia

King: As you can see Senator Jindal is ahead but so far not much in Northern Virginia has come in yet. From what little that has come in we can see so far the President is leading by around 18 points in Fairfax County which is up 7 points from 4 years ago but again you can see that Senator Jindal has flipped Tazewell County a county in the south western part of the state which is good news for him too. The question really is can he withstand the late surge democrats get in the state of Virginia as democrats usually get on there. One test I think we can use is to see how he is doing compared to Lieutenant Governor Bill Bollings and if we flip over to the senate side we can see not only does Mr. Bollings have a bigger lead, but he only trails Former Governor Kaine in Fairfax County by 11.5 points which is more similar to the margin of the presidential election 4 years ago than it is tonight.

Blitzer: Dana any update on the senate races

Bash: Currently CNN Is at the moment unable to make a projection in Ohio which is a critical senate race when it comes to deciding control of the chamber. Wolf, back to you

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia


Blitzer: Lets now see what our panel has to say so far about the results so far

Cooper: So Alex looking at the results in Florida so far what do you think

Castellanos: I would say the Miami-Dade number so far does not look good for Senator Jindal but on the other hand he is overperforming in many rural areas that do make up the state so things do not look really bad for him. So in my mind this race in Florida will come down to the I-4 corridor and in particular Hillsborough County which is a good bellwether in the state and I think whomever wins that county should be favored in Florida.

Cooper: Do you think Florida will be within a point

Castellanos: Yes I do

7:51:

Blitzer: CNN can now project that Kentucky and its 8 electoral votes will be won by Senator Jindal.



Jindal 44
Clinton 3

Cooper: Early on this was a state that the President thought she could win but it was clear that it would be a very uphill battle so President Clinton and the Democrats didnt contest it as much as they did back in 2008.

Roland: Doing so was a good decision in my mind Anderson as keep in mind Bill Clinton in 1996 barely carried the state of Kentucky and likely only did cause of Ross Perot so it was never realistic and without a senate race in play like in 2008, I don't think this call is any surprise.

Begala: Yes I have to say what really is big though is the fact that we are seeing the fact that Florida a state Senator Bush won by 4.4 points 4 years ago and Virginia a state that he won by 5.6 points 4 years ago and is a state no Democrat has won since 1964 , are both very close is a very good sign for the President.

Cooper: We will be taking a quick break but will be back for the biggest round of poll closings at the top of the hour.

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2012(Part 2)



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITO8F3KUlE

8:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvU

Blitzer: It is 8 PM in the east where we will have our biggest batch of poll closings for the night and CNN can now project that President Clinton will win the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, 3 of the 4 electoral votes in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. We can also project that Senator Jindal will win the states of - Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

At this time though we are unable to make a projection in Florida , Missouri , New Hampshire and Pennsylvania



Clinton 78
Jindal 77

Blitzer: President Clinton has just gone into the lead into the electoral vote count , and now lets send it to Dana for updates for Senate and House races

Bash: Thanks Wolf. Polls have closed in many of these key senate races and CNN Can now project that in Maryland- The Democrat Doug Gansler will defeat Republican Senator Michael Steele to be the next Senator of that State. We though are unable to make projections in Missouri, Rhode Island or Tennessee


Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia


Bash: For the House it is currently very early in the evening but we currently believe that at the end of the night the Republicans will hold anywhere between 213 and 230 house seats while the Democrats will hold anywhere between 205 and 222 house seats.

Cooper: Those house projections are very close to what the polls have been saying so is that bad news for the Jindal campaign

Cupp: It clearly is not a good sign but I would like to point out that most of the projections at this stage still come from exit polls given not many results from house races have actually come in yet and the upper end of the prediction of the projection would clearly imply that Senator Jindal has probably pulled out the upset. So his hopes are again what many have said they always were, which is the margin of error favors him and then he is able to pull out a win in the electoral college.

Carville: I would like to point out that we do have clues on how the night is gonna go from actual results too. Tazewell County a county in South Western Virginia usually votes 4 to 5 points more Republican than neighboring West Virginia and given Senator Jindal seems to have only won that county by around 3 points, it looks like the President should be favored in West Virginia.

Gingrich: I think thats just a ludicrous comparison James, as how can you compare a small county to an entire state. The fact is yes we are seeing swing to the Democrats in Northern Virginia and in South Florida but we are also seeing swings towards the Republicans in Appalachia as we saw in Eastern Kentucky and the fact that counties in South Western Virginia are flipping from Democrat to Republican so I think right now the results show that its gonna be a long night

Borger: The fact is I think as political analysts we try to read sometimes way too much into these individual results of counties to then judge how other states will go. Keep in mind that campaigns now days microtarget far more than they used to so the type of message you saw from the candidates in Virginia wont be the same as you see in West Virginia so its very possible you can see Senator Jindal perform better or worse with White Working Class whites in West Virginia than he has in Virginia so far.

Cooper: Back you Wolf


8:30

Blitzer: The polls have just closed in Arkansas and currently we are unable to make a projection in that state but we are able to project that Senator Jindal will carry the state of North Carolina and its 15 electoral votes.



Jindal 92
Clinton 78

Blitzer: Lets now go over to John King and the Magic Wall. John currently the President leads in Ohio so far but not much is in so how do things currently look

King: For a Democrat to win they usually must perform very well in the North Eastern part of the state and run up the numbers in cities like Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Youngstown and now in Columbus . Currently we have votes coming in from Mahoning County and as you can see the President is leading there by a whopping 28 points which is more than she won the county by 4 years ago as well. Now the question is whether or not Senator Jindal is running it up in the more rural areas and if you look at Morrow County here is an issue for him as it is a county that Senator Bush won by 26 points 4 years ago and tonight he is only leading it by 24.

Blitzer: Not much difference

King: It is not much difference but pretty much everyone expects the cities to vote more democratic than they did 4 years ago so for Senator Jindal to hold on here must at the very least match if not exceed Senator Bush's performance there and the early signs is he is not doing so.

Blitzer: What about in Florida where we are just over 60% in and currently President Clinton leads by a point

King: Yes she does but I do want to bump the breaks in the celebration in the Clinton camp as keep in mind much of the panhandle has still not come in yet and there are more than enough votes in those areas to not only wipe out that lead but give Senator Jindal the lead as well but there are also lots of votes as you can see left to count in South Florida as well so I would say really say this state is truly too close to count but we should know around 10 who the favorite is here.

Blitzer: Ok Anderson, back to you

Cooper: So Ana what do you think of the results so far in Florida

Navarro: I have to say things look good for Senator Jindal as keep in mind Republicans usually do around a couple points better from this point of the count onwards and given the President is only up 1 in Florida right now, I think that Senator Jindal will end up carrying my home state and its 29 electoral votes.

Gergen: Yes I would also agree that things do look promising for Senator Jindal in Florida but they do not look promising at all in Ohio as so far Senator Jindal is underperforming Senator Bush in both the cities and rural areas that have reported so far and Senator Bush didnt even with Ohio by much so it does not look promising at all.

Buchanan: I would like to point out that places like Youngstown, and Toledo are not places  that Republicans should be losing by anywhere near as much as they do. There are many cultural conservatives there who keep in mind voted for Ronald Reagan twice and George HW Bush in 1988 but the fact is since then the Republicans have sold them out by outsourcing their jobs so they have gone back home to the Democratic party.

O'Brien: I have to say that if you include the fact Black Turnout is up then it is very likely that President Clinton does better than she did 4 years ago in Cleveland as well in which case things do look pretty promising for her in Ohio at the moment

Cooper: Thanks , we now will be taking a quick break and will be back soon


8:51:

Blitzer: Lets go over to Dana for an update for the Senate Races

Bash: CNN at this time is able to project that Lieutenant Governor Bill Bollings will be the next Senator from Virginia as he will defeat former Governor Tim Kaine .

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia

Bash : Currently in Ohio , Senator Brown is leading but keep in mind the more democratic areas have come in at the moment and that he currently is underperforming President Clinton which could be huge . In Missouri, not much has come in but the Democrat Jay Nixon is ahead albeit again the more democratic areas have reported in but in this case he is actually overperfoming President Clinton and in Rhode Island the Democrat Elizabeth Roberts is ahead but it’s very early so far . In Tennessee you see the flip side of Ohio where the more Republican areas are in and you see the Republican Ron Ramsey ahead .

Wolf back to you

Blitzer : Thank Dana , let’s now go over to John King and the magic wall to see how the road to a senate majority has changed

King : Democrats started the night with 45 senate seats once you add in all the safe holds and Republicans with 43 and now it’s gone to Democrats at 46 and republicans at 44. Now let’s say for the sake of this argument republicans win Nebraska like everyone expects and democrats win Michigan like they are favored too , then you get to Democrats at 47 , republicans at 45 . Now the problem for the republicans is this and that is if you give the democrats Rhode Island where they are ahead and Missouri where they are ahead and over performing President Clinton then the Democrats get to 49 meaning republicans have to run the table to win a majority. That means they must win two close but tough races in Wisconsin and Washington state in order to get the majority, and win one of them in order to even get to a 50-50 tie .

So at this moment you could definitely say taking the senate will be an uphill battle for the republicans

Blitzer : We will take a break and be back at the top of the order for more poll closings

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2012(Part 3)



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITO8F3KUlE

9:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvU

Blitzer: Its 9 in the east and CNN can now project that President Clinton will carry the states of New York and Michigan along with the outstanding electoral vote in Maine while Senator Jindal will carry the states of Arizona, Wyoming , North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana and Texas

We currently our unable to make projections in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and New Mexico



Jindal 169
Clinton 124

Blitzer: Now lets go to Dana for an update on the senate races

Bash: Yes Wolf, we can now project that in Nebraska- the Republican Deb Fischer will defeat former Senator Bob Kerrey to be the next senator of that state. We are though unable to make projects in Michigan and Wisconsin at the moment

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia

Cooper: Thank Dana and now lets go over to our panel to discuss the most recent results. So Paul what is your reaction to President Clinton being called the winner in Michigan

Begala: It is big news and by that I don't mean the fact that the President won Michigan but won Michigan at poll closing and while yes I understand that large parts of the state closed an hour ago it is still the earliest Michigan has been called since 1996. So that very likely means that President Clinton is performing strongly in the rust belt overall which would be very good for her hopes of winning a 2nd term.

Cupp : While it isn’t good news , I don’t think it’s as big as you are making it out to seem . The past 3 elections convinced the Jindal campaign that Michigan is what you can call fools gold for republicans and thus he didn’t contest it anywhere near as much as John McCain or George W Bush did . So it makes sense that the democratic margins in Michigan would be larger than they otherwise would have been if he did but at the end of the day the margin of victory in a state makes no difference when it comes to the electoral college .

Martin: I think it goes to show you that again that African American turnout is up which in turn put Michigan out of reach for the GOP and really could complicate their attemps of winning key states like Ohio and Missouri if Democrats are able to run up the margins in Cleveland , St Louis and Kansas City. The Detroit Numbers in so far show me that its very realistic that it happens at this point.

9:26:

Blitzer: CNN is now able to project that President Clinton will carry the states of Minnesota and New Hampshire



Jindal 169
Clinton 138

Blitzer: Lets now go over to John King at the magic wall to see how the race is shaping up in the battlegrounds so far. First Lets go to Ohio which is such a major battleground state

King: Well at the moment President Clinton does have a pretty healthy lead in Ohio but again thats due to more Democratic areas being in at the moment. So the question really is how the candidates are doing compared to their bench marks and I can say one major red flag for the Jindal campaign right now is Hamilton County. Its a county thats long been a core Republican stronghold going back decades as since WW2 its gone Republican in every election but 1964 and so far tonight as well which is not good news at all for a Republican. Another piece of bad news so far for the Jindal campaign is Lake County a key bellwether county neighboring Cleveland is so far going to President Clinton as well while 4 years ago it was a county that Senator Bush won by 2 points.

Blitzer: How does the senate there look like in both counties

King: So far John Kasich the Republican is winning both Hamilton and Lake and is still overperforming Senator Jindal statewide

Blitzer: What about in Virginia

King: One key county all of us have been looking at all campaign season is Loudon County, a key suburban to exurban Northern Virginian County and while Senator Jindal currently has a very narrow lead there is a lot left to count there and its very possible that county could flip Democratic if the more remaining vote out in the county is from Democratic Areas. Another county to look at is from the Richmond area which is Henrico County and as you can see currently the President has a very narrow lead there which is a change from 4 years ago as Senator Bush won this county by 7.5 points. So I would say so far it looks like Virginia will be a nailbiter and yes while Senator Jindal is ahead by a healthy margin right now, that number likely will drop significantly as the more Democratic areas come in and the race here truly will be anyone's ballgame

Blitzer: What about Florida

King: As you can see in Florida, Senator Jindal has taken the lead with the panhandle in and while there is still vote out in South Florida there isnt that much out . So really this race comes down to the I4 corridor and right now in Hillsborough County Senator Jindal leads but its been going back and forth all night , in Pinellas County President Clinton leads but again very narrowly. So the fact is Florida is gonna be close even though things are starting to look optimistic here for Senator Jindal.

Blitzer: Thanks John and stand by as we have yet another projection to make and that is we can project President Clinton will carry the state of Pennsylvania and its very crucial 20 electoral votes.




Jindal 169
Clinton 158

Blitzer: That win puts the President just 11 electoral votes short of Senator Jindal and keep in mind California still has yet to close its polls. Now lets go to Anderson and see what our panel thinks

Cooper: Thanks Wolf, Newt looking at these election results are you still optimistic that Senator Jindal can win

Gingrich: Anderson, I will admit things arent going as good as I thought they would but I would like to point out that there is still much of the vote left to count in Ohio so its still in my opinion to early to say he is a major underdog there so if he wins it along with Florida , and Virginia where I think hes favored and Arkansas where I think he is heavily favored then he gets to 251 electoral votes. So from that point give him Missouri and Colorado and he wins the presidency so I think its still way to early to say that hes out of it yet

Carville: Sure but I would have to say that Ohio does not seem anyone's game as the President at this stage is definitely favored there and if she wins that its ball game and that isnt including the other battleground states too so I have to say the President is a clear favorite at this stage.

Blitzer: Before we go to break , lets get an update on the House so far and get an important projection for the Senate

Bash: Yes Wolf, So far CNN believes the Republicans will end up anywhere between 215 and 228 house seats while the Democrats will end up with anywhere 210 and 223 house seats. CNN Can also project in the Michigan Senate Race, Senator James Blanchard will be reelected .

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia

Blitzers : Thank Dana, and we shall be back after this quick moment

9:51

Blitzer: Now lets get an update on some of the key governor's races up tonight

Bash: So far CNN has been able to project the Democrat Bekki Cook has won a full term as governor in Missouri and in North Carolina the Republican Pat McCrory has won.  We are unable to make a projection currently in Indiana but right now the Republican Mike Pence holds a narrow lead nor are we able to make a projection in Vermont but again the Democrat Peter Shumlin holds the narrow lead.

Blitzer: stand by as we are right now able to project that President Clinton will win the state of  New Mexico and it’s 5 electoral votes .



Jindal 169
Clinton 163

Blitzer: The President is now only 6 electoral votes behind Senator Jindal going into the 10 PM poll closing and we will now be taking a short break and will come back for those poll closings

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2012(Part 4)



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITO8F3KUlE

10:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvU

Blitzer: It's 10 In the East and CNN can now project that Senator Jindal will carry the rock ribbed Republican States of Montana and Utah while in Iowa and in Nevada we currently are unable to make a projection. On the other hand though we are able to project that President Clinton will carry the state of Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes



Jindal 178
Clinton 173

Blitzer: Now lets go to Dana for an update for the Senate Races

Bash: Wolf, the polls have closed in Nevada and Montana but at the moment we are unable to make a projection in either contest but we are able to project that in the Wisconsin Senate race the winner will be Representative Tammy Baldwin as she will defeat Former Governor Tommy Thompson to become the next senator of that state.

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia

Cooper: Thanks, Dana now lets go back over to our panel to see what they think of the recent calls in Wisconsin. So David what do you think

Gregen: I have to say it is big news because while everyone expected Wisconsin to go Democratic, people did expect it to be called later than it was. The fact that it was called just an hour after polls have closed tell me that President Clinton should be in good shape to keep the state of Ohio in her column and if she does she will almost certainly be reelected

Borger: I agree with David but I would like to add that Tommy Thompson's defeat will create some headscratchers for the Wisconsin GOP. The fact is over the past decade with the exception of 2010 and maybe 2004, the Wisconsin GOP has had a pretty bad 10 or so years in the state so while the tandem of Governor Scott Walker and Senator Paul Ryan seems strong, the fact is their record other than the year they were swept in has not been great.

O'Brien: I also have to add the fact that New Mexico a state that for so long was considered a key tossup state was called for the President so quickly signals support in the West as well


10:19:

Blitzer: CNN can now project that Arkansas, a state that has not gone Republican since 1988, will be won by Senator Jindal tonight. A huge win for Senator Jindal and also a must win as well .



Jindal 184
Clinton 173


So far with around 65% of the vote in Colorado President Clinton leads Senator Jindal 51% to 48%, in Florida with over 90% of the vote in Senator Jindal still leads the President 50.2% to 49%, With 68% of the vote in Ohio President Clinton leads Senator Jindal 51.5% to 47.5% , in Missouri with 60% currently Senator Jindal only leads the President 51 to 48, in Virginia with 85% Senator Jindal is still holding on to his very tight 50.3% to 48.8% lead and in West Virginia the President Currently enjoys a 51-48 lead there. Let's go now to John King and the Magic Wall so John how is the Missouri Belweather doing so far

King: I would like to point out that so far the votes have reported from more Republican areas so the lead Senator Jindal has is overstated and really if you go county by county you can see so far the results are very similar to the results here 4 years ago and an example of this is Jefferson County a key suburban county which went to the President by 9 points 4 years ago is going to the President by 8.5 so far. A similar thing you can see in the suburbs of Kansas City where in Clay County where the President won it by 7 points points 4 years ago and is leading it by around 7 points right now so so far the President is holding her margins in the suburbs from 4 years ago.

I want to remind folks that close elections are fought in the suburbs because in the vast majority of states what you will see happen is that Democrats will run up the margins in Urban Areas while Republicans will do the same in rural areas so the question is then who will win the suburbs. 4 years ago in the state of Missouri it was then Senator Clinton and right now it seems like President Clinton is once again doing well in their suburbs .

Blitzer: Lets now go over to Colorado where the President leads given its a county she lost by more than 4 points back in 2008

King: Well the key so far is again the suburbs as yes while Democrats do put up large margins in Urban Areas and Republicans in Rural Areas, what decides elections are the suburbs. One of those key suburban counties is Jefferson County Colorado which 4 years ago went to Senator Bush by 7 points and is a county which since the end of World War two has only voted Democratic once is currently showing President Clinton running ahead of Senator Jindal. Again a similar story is true in Arapahoe County which again was a county that other than 1964 has voted Republican in every election in the post WW2 era and 4 years ago was a county that Senator Bush won by more than 5 points is now a county that the President is up by over 3 points in.

So going across this map you see a similar patten going on in most of these swing states, whether in Ohio, Missouri, and now even Colorado and Virginia and that is increased support for the President in the suburbs of those states has been huge for her chances of getting reelected.

Blitzer: Thanks John for the update

10:31:

Blitzer: Let's go to Dana for an update for the senate races

Bash: Yes Wolf and that is CNN can currently project that in the senate race of Rhode Island- The Democrat Elizabeth Roberts will defeat Senator Lincoln Chafee to become the next senator of that state and in Tennessee- We can project that the Republican Ron Ramsey will defeat Senator Harold Ford to become the next Senator of that state.

In States we have been unable to make a projection in, currently in the state of Missouri Senator Talent currently leads 50%-49%, in Ohio currently Senator Brown leads Ohio 50-49 as well but that is an underperformance for him compared to President Clinton

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia

Bash: Wolf Back to you

Blitzer: Lets now go over to John King and the magic wall to see now how the Senate Map looks like at this moment

King: Right now Wolf the Democrats have 47 senate seats and if you give them California and Hawaii like everyone expects then that increases their number to 49 meaning the Democrats only need 2 more seats if they want to hold the Senate and only 1 if they keep the Presidency. Given Missouri is looking like its trending there way that would give them 50 meaning all they they would need to hold the senate is either to keep the Presidency or win any one of these battleground senate races. So I would say at this moment the Senate looks very good for them.

Blitzer: Stand by as we have a very major projection to make and that is CNN Can Project that Ohio and its extremely crucial 18 electoral votes will be won by President Clinton.



Clinton 191
Jindal 184

Blitzer: This is a huge deal indeed as keep in mind Ohio is a state Democrats have not won since 1996 and is also a state that no Republican has ever won the white house without carrying. So John is it possible now for Senator Jindal to win

King: Well lets do the math. Now if you give President Clinton the states of California, Washington and Hawaii all of which have long been safe for her and Oregon given Senator Jindal's campaign gave up on it in the end then you get to President Clinton at 269 electoral votes meaning the best Senator Jindal can do from here is tie, tie. Now lets say you give Senator Jindal Idaho and Alaska states that have long been safe for him and for the sake of argument you give Senator Jindal Florida and even Virginia then he gets up to 233 electoral votes. That leaves 5 states he must sweep to even tie and currently in 4 of them: Nevada, Colorado, Iowa and West Virginia he trails and in Missouri while he leads things the map is ending up very similar to 2008 there so you have to say the President has an advantage there as well. This means in all 5 of those remaining states hes an underdog and he cannot lose a single one if he wants any hope of remaining in the White House.

To use an analogy, I will have to say its greater than being down 3-0. Its more like being down 5 touchdowns in the middle of the 3rd quarter which while hypothetically its possible for the team down that much to win, it would be nearly impossible.

Blitzer: Roland wants to seem to say something so lets go to him

Martin: I would just like to point out if you hand over all the states each candidate is favored in so give Florida and Virginia to Jindal and Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri and West Virginia to Clinton then you get exactly the map I predicted which would be the President at 305 electoral votes and Senator Jindal at 233.

Cooper: Speaker Gingrich do you still have hope that Senator Jindal can win

Gingrich: To be honest, no I don't as the fact is no Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio and it does not look like that fact will change tonight. I will have to say though that while Senator Jindal does look like he will lose, the fact is he still likely will come closer than any losing challenger to an incumbent has since 1916 as he does seem like he will get at least 220 electoral votes tonight which would be more than what Dewey, or Biden got . Also while the senate does not look good either, I have to say we still have a chance at gains because while Missouri does not look good, Ohio does not which means we will have at least 47 senate seats and only need one of the remaining 3 to break even and 2 to gain seats.

Begala: I have to say that is is ultimately grasping at straws as the fact is unlike in 1996 it does not look like Republicans will have the senate so its hard to say overall this is a better night for the party than 1996 was . In fact I will have to say that tonight looks like it will be the worst defeat for the Republicans since 1992 as unlike 4 years ago it does seem like we will win outright and unlike in 1996 we will likely have the senate as well.

Navarro: Yes I have to agree with Paul that is night does seem to be going down as the worst defeat for the Republicans since 1992 and while yes it is not as bad as that night, things are worse than they were in 1996 and 2008. The fact is the reason for this is Republicans for the past 4 years really I have to say have not offered much to the voters other than talking points and while yes they can get you over 200 electoral votes they dont get you over 270 which is the number that actually matters.

So I will have to say for the Republicans to win in 2014 and then 2016, the party has to realize you have to offer the voters more than just a prepared lines come up by consultants in DC as voters are smarter then people give them credit for and when parties dont respect that they end up not doing well .

Cooper: Wolf back to you

10:50:

Blitzer: Lets now go over to Dana to get a update for the house races

Bash: Thanks Wolf and currently CNN is projecting that Democrats will pick up at least 4 house seats tonight and that numbers could go as high as 14 which would be just enough to take the house though it is not looking likely now

Republicans: 216-226
Democrats: 209-219

Right now in those 10 races , the polls have closed in 7 of them and so far the Democrats are leading in 4 of those seats while the Republicans are leading in 3. Those 3 would be enough for the Republicans to take the house but with a very narrow majority. Wolf Back to you

Blitzer: Thanks Dana and we will take a break and be right back for the poll closing in the West Coast.

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2012(Part 5)



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITO8F3KUlE

11:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvU

Blitzer: The polls have just closed on the West Coast and CNN can now project that President Clinton will win the states of California, Washington and Hawai while Senator Jindal will win the state of Idaho. The polls have also closed in Oregon but we are unable to make a projection there at this time



Clinton 262
Jindal 188

Blitzer: President Clinton is now just 8 electoral votes away from getting the magic 270 number. Now lets go to Dana for an update on the senate races

Bash: The polls have just closed in Washington and at this moment we are unable to make a projection in that race between Senator Jay Inslee and Governor Dino Rossi . Wolf back to you

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia

Blitzer: Thanks Dana and for those who are wondering why we have not called Oregon at poll closing, the reason is since the Republicans have won that state in the past 3 elections and since all of Oregon votes by mail, we arent able to do as reliable exit polls there. So for that reason we want to wait for the first results to come in which should in 15 or so minutes and when it does we will see if it fits with our post voter survey there before deciding whether or not to call the state. Anderson lets head to you to see what our panel thinks so far

Anderson: Alex with these results , are there any early lessons you believe the Republicans need to take in order to do well in 2014 and 2016

Castellanos: First the Republicans will have to figure out what went wrong in the suburbs in these battleground states. The fact is a Republican cannot afford to lose Hamilton County in Ohio, Clay County in Missouri, Jefferson County in Colorado and Loudon County in Virginia if they want to have a good shot of winning those states. Now is it possible to win without those counties, yes but only by a nailbiter and that's not something you can rely on to win future elections.

Now how they start to do better in those areas, is something they deeply need to look into because coming back will require hardwork and not just rephrasing of bumper stickers.

Cupp: I agree with Alex but I think the key is Republicans need a positive agenda that resonate with voters which is something that Ronald Reagan had and something John McCain had which is not something Bobby Jindal had or going back something Bob Dole or George HW Bush had which is why 1992 and 1996 were bad defeats for them as well. Yes I agree doing so will require hard work and will require Republicans to work at a grassroots level in those areas and find a candidate who can appeal to swing voters without causing your own party turnout to fall which is what Ronald Reagan and John McCain both did. Now again doing so is not easy and requires hard work and its something they have neglected to do over the past 4 years and its come back to haunt them as winning elections is more than just repeating a bunch of talking points your consultants came up with.

O'Brien: I would like to add that something Ronald Reagan and John McCain could do better than any other Republicans was their ability to appeal to the Latino Vote. John McCain in 2004 won 44% of the Hispanic vote and while the numbers for 1984 are a lot more muddied, LA Times exits had Reagan getting as much as 46% of the Hispanic vote then . So while Republicans dont need to do that well with Hispanics, I think they will need around 40 or so percent to be able to win states like Nevada and Colorado in the future which while not big are 15 crucial electoral votes . If Democrats are able to win those, then they could win even without Ohio which shows while those states are small they are still important.

Cooper: We will take a short break and come back right after this


11:20:

Blitzer: CNN is now able to project Oregon and its 7 electoral votes will be won by President Clinton



Clinton 269
Jindal 188

Blitzer: As you can see that puts the President up to 269 electoral votes, just 1 short of the magic number. If we look at how the other states are doing so far then so far . In Colorado with 68% in President Clinton so far leads 51.3%% to 47.6% , In Iowa with 59% in President Clinton leads 53.7% to 45.1%, in Missouri with 55% in Senator Jindal Leads 52.9% to 46.4%, in Florida with 92% in Senator Jindal still leads 50.2% to 49%, in Virginia with 90% of the vote in just look at that Senator Jindal only leads President Clinton 49.8% to 49.2%  in West Virginia with 88% in President Clinton leads 51% to 48.2%.

In Nevada only about 1% is in so far but Senator Jindal leads there by a huge margin so far but again only 1% is in so that's misleading as only the Republicans areas are in so far. So John, Senator Jindal needs to sweep the rest of the states just to get to 269, so how realistic is that

King: It is not realistic at all because if you look at West Virginia, its becoming harder and harder to see how Senator Jindal can win that state and if he loses that state its over. The Real question in my opinion is whether or not the President can get over 300 electoral votes because if she does not , it will be harder for her to go to congress and claim a mandate so that is crucial. Now the key for that is whether or not the President can take 2 of Missouri, Virginia and Colorado. Now Colorado looks good so lets look at Missouri and Virginia, first at Virginia. In Virginia Senator Jindal leads but again the issue is that there are more votes to come from places like Fairfax County then there are the more Republican parts of the state so its gonna be a nailbiter. Before we leave Virginia though, I want to point out to Alex's point earlier that Loudon County a County that from 1952 to 2008 only voted Democratic in 1964 is going to the President 50% to 49% and that could really be key in deciding who wins the state.

Blitzer: What about Missouri

King: Again, Senator Jindal's lead there looks good but I want to point out that more of the vote is out in Kansas City and St Louis than in the more Republican Rural Parts of the state as we can see by just going to them as we are now. One small county though thats almost all in that acts like a bellweather in the state is Saline County and as you can see right now the President is actually leading there 49.7% to 49.5% which is big and if you look 4 years ago, the President won this county by a little more than half a percentage point so not much change.

Same is still true in key suburban counties like Jefferson and Clay where the President leads so really this is a state that despite its lead, I think we will have to wait till its at least 97% in before we can call it tonight.

Blitzer: Stand by as we have major news to report

Breaking News: Hillary Clinton Reelected President of the United States

Blitzer: CNN Can now Project that Hillary Clinton will be Reelected as President of the United States and will be sitting behind the Resolute Desk for 4 more years. The reason we can make this projection is we can now make a projection in West Virginia, Vice President Rockefeller's Home State, and that is we can project President Clinton will win that state and its 5 electoral votes. That bumps her electoral count from 269 to 274 which means she will have surpassed the 270 electoral votes a candidate needs to be elected President.



Clinton 274
Jindal 188


Blitzer: Lets now go over to our panel to see their reactions

Cooper: James you worked with the Clintons for many years, so what is your reaction to this result

Carville: I am very happy as the fact is Hillary Clinton has been a really good President in both a domestic and foreign policy side and I am happy she got reelected as she deserved. I also do think she has a mandate because not only will she win reelection , I believe she will get over 300 electoral votes as well and its looking very likely we keep the senate and really reduce the GOP margin in the House. So all in all, I have to say this is probably the best Democratic night in 20 years

Begala: As someone who also worked with the Clintons , I have to say I am very excited as well and really look forward to how a 2nd term goes. While many may call this too optimistic, I think it is very possible to see the type of success the President saw her first two years get repeated over the next two . The reason is at this point, Speaker Boehner cannot afford to lose more than 10 votes on key bills if he wants to keep his influence so he will rather want to be the one who makes the compromises himself rather than risk losing floor votes on key bills.

Cooper: Pat what do you think the significance of this win is

Buchanan: Really it is hard to say at the moment as we will have to wait because the fact is it looks like Republicans will retain the house and while you say Speaker Boehner will have to make compromises, the fact is so will President Clinton so thats not as comparable to the first two years. Also I would like to add about the Republicans, I think really the Republicans need to find someway to expand their appeal among Reagan Democrats in the Midwest because losses in Colorado Nevada could easily be made up by taking Michigan for example . To do that though Republicans will have to return to how Republicans used to be on economic policy which was in favor of free markets but also economically nationalist.

Cupp: First of all I want to congratulate the President and her supporters on this win but I would like to add this speculation is a bit too early. Really I would say we need to wait till at least the 100 day mark of the new term before judging how significant this reelection win as we need to see how her new cabinet is gonna be and also what she gets done in the new term as well . I will say though she will probably get more of what she wants in the next two years than the last two but its still up to question if it will be comparable to the first two.

Gergen: I agree but really the question in my opinion comes also down to who Republican Leadership will be. Will John Boehner keep his job as speaker after another disappointing result and who will replace Jon Kyl. Will it be Jeb Bush or will it be Lamar Alexander so I think the impact of this result is inconclusive until at least the first month of the new session of congress which is something we haven't seen since 1988. In 1992 there was a clear Democratic Mandate, 1996 a clear mandate for keeping the centrist status quo, 2000 and 2004 were Republican Mandates under McCain , 2008 was slight wins for the Dems across the board while this we will have to wait and see.

Borger: I have to agree with that but I have to point out the fact that we now are gonna have the Clintons has President for 16 of the past 24 years is pretty significant and that does make this election significant in that way.  

Cooper: We will take a short break and be right back after this


11:41:

Blitzer: CNN Can now project President Clinton will win the state of Iowa and its 6 electoral votes.



Clinton 280
Jindal 188

Blitzer: Lets now go to Dana for some updates on the Congressional Races as well as the results on some of the major referendums as well

Bash: CNN Can now project that John Kasich will win the Ohio Senate race and defeat Senator Sherrod Brown to be the next Senator of the state.

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia


In the House we can now project that Republicans are just one seat away from retaining their house majority and this is our new projection now:

Republicans: 217-224
Democrats: 211-218

In the state referendums CNN is able to project gay marriage will be legalized in all 4 states it was up those being Maine, Maryland , Minnesota and Washington which many believe may set the precedent up for many more states to put legalization on the ballot in 2014. On Marijuana we can project that the states of Colorado and Washington have voted to legalize recreational marijuana while in Oregon we are currently unable to make a projection but right now it does seem like the no vote is winning.

Blitzer: Thanks Dana and we will be back after a short break

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2012(Part 6)



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITO8F3KUlE

12:29:

Blitzer: Let's now go to Baton Rouge where Senator Jindal is about to give his concession speech

Excerpts from Jindal's Concession Speech:




Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/bobby-jindal-believe-candidate-stands-10-issues

Jindal: A few moments ago, I called President Hillary Clinton to congratulate her on winning the election and told her that I look forward to working with her in helping unite our nation after a tough campaign. While the President and I may have pretty significant different policy beliefs we both love this country and we both want to see it succeed which is why it is important that we all root for the President's success as her success over the next 4 years will be our nation's success(Applause). While losing a hard fought campaign is always tough, that does not mean the fight for the ideas we fought for dies as long as we keep pushing for them and I hope those of you who voted for me continue to push for those ideas(Applause). As the Senator of this great state, I can tell you that I will do my best to try to advocate for these policies on the floor of the senate and in trying to get them passed into law(Applause).

As someone who traveled all across this nation over the past 15 months, I can tell you that I have never been more optimistic about our nation's future and an outcome of an election does not change that(Applause). At the end of the day regardless of who wins or loses an election, it is not politicians or even a President who makes a nation great but its people and I can confidently say the spirit that made our nation great is more alive than it ever has been before(Applause) . I also want to thank my campaign staff for all of their hardwork over the past 15 months because I would not have come this far without you, to Mitt Romney for being an amazing running mate who I am sure would have been a great Vice President, and to my family for providing the type of support any candidate needs to run such a long and tough campaign(Applause). Thank You May God Bless You And May God Bless America

Blitzer: Before we analyze this concession speech, lets go over to Dana for some major projections

Bash: Yes Wolf and that is that CNN Can now project that the Republicans will retain control of the House of Representatives

Breaking News: Republicans to Retain Control of the United States House of Representatives
Bash: CNN at this current moment can project that Republicans will have at least 218 house seats when everything is decided while Democrats will have at least 212 seats meaning there are still 6 seats which we believe will be too difficult to project either way. This is a huge sigh of relief for Republicans who had worried about potentially losing control of the house which would have given the Democrats full control of the federal government again given that CNN Can now also project that Democrats will Retain Control of the Senate.

Breaking News: Democrats to Retain Control of the United States Senate
Bash: The reason we can project that is CNN Is now able to project that Jay Nixon will be the next senator of Missouri as he will defeat Senator Jim Talent to become the next senator of that state. This moves the Democrats up from 49 seats to 50 meaning that even if they lose every other seat up tonight, Vice President Jay Rockefeller will break the tie for them to control the chamber.

In Montana with around 20% of the vote in currently John Tester leads Representative Rehburg 51.5% to 47.7%  , and in Washington with around 55% of the vote in currently Governor Rossi leads Senator Inslee 50.5% to 48.5% so there is still a long way to go in both races. Wolf Back to you

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia

Blitzer: Thanks Dana, now lets go over to our panel and ask for their reaction to Senator Jindal's concession speech. Newt first to you

Gingrich: Listen, I am very disappointed in the outcome of this race but I have to say that I think his concession speech hit all the right tones. First he showed he was classy and not bitter by not only congratulating the president but also reaching out and saying hes willing to work with her and second he left his supporters with an optimistic note. The reason is he made it clear that he will continue to fight for the policies he advocated for on the campaign in the senate and also told them multiple times not to give up as policy battles are more than just elections.

Navarro: I will have to agree with Newt here and have to add that while he did lose , it was no blowout. As a Floridian I have to add that , it does seem like with today's results it could be quite a while before Democrats win Florida again as if they are not winning Florida on a night they are getting over 300 electoral votes than its likely they won't contest the state as hard as they did this time. So it does seem like at this point 1996 and 2000 were aberrations and given how Democrats have fallen in the rural areas of the state since then and how Miami is different from other major urban areas, I do think it will be a state that leans Republican for a while to come.

Gergen: I have to agree with both Newt and Ana overall but where I disagree is that Senator Jindal's speech was particularly optimistic.



1:00

Blitzer: CNN Can now project that Senator Jindal will win the state of Alaska but we can also project that President Clinton will win the Western states of Colorado and Nevada.



Clinton 295
Jindal 191

Blitzer: Also in a major turn of events that has taken place, the President has just taken the lead in Virginia a state that has not gone Democratic since 1964 with around 97% of the vote in and the trend line looks very good for her there. In Missouri with 92% of the vote in, right now both candidates look at this are tied at 49.6% to 49.6% and the President only needs either one of those 2 to get passed the elusive 300 electoral mark that was their goal from the start. Ok now we will take a break and when we come back we will head to the Javits Center where the President will be giving her victory speech.

1:13:

Blitzer: Welcome back to CNN's coverage of the 2012 election and now we will be heading to the Javits Center to hear the President give her victory speech

Excerpts from Clinton's Victory Speech:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG8cGkbGbYQ

Clinton: A short while ago I spoke to Senator Jindal who congratulated us on our victory and I congratulated him on running a well spirited campaign and pledged to work with him over the next 4 years to help make our country a better place(Applause). While we may disagree with each other on the issues, we both agree that the next few years will be an important period for our nation and it is critical that now we all come together not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans to solve the issues we are facing(Applause). While there are a lot of things we do great , it is important to understand the way to make our nation even better is to tackle the problems we currently face head on and resolve them and that is what we will do(Applause).

While we may face economic uncertainty, it is my belief we will come out of this time stronger than we ever have before and campaigning all across the nation over the past few months has only strengthened my belief that we will(Applause). I want to end by thanking all the people who have supported me through not only this campaign but throughout my political career because this victory is your victory and I will do all I can to repay that trust(Applause). Thank You, May God Bless You and May God Bless America.


Blitzer: There you have it , the President just gave her victory speech thanking her supporters for reelecting her and pledging to bring the country together to try to solve the problems our nation faces. Lets send it to Anderson now to see what our panel thinks of this speech

Cooper: So Roland what was your thoughts about the speech

Martin: I think the speech was well delivered and a clear attempt by the President to reach out to those who did not vote for her and I think she did a good job at that like most candidates who give victory speeches do. I think what is interesting is the fact that while she did not directly say it but clearly implied the fact that she is claiming a mandate to push through many policies she did not get through in her first term and time will only tell if she is successful in that endeavor or not.

Borger: I have to add what is important is the fact is President Clinton will have regained the momentum she needed to push through a domestic agenda given the fact that it does look like she will get over the 300 electoral vote mark at this point , and we know the Democrats will retain the senate as well as pick up at least 8 seats in the House of Representatives which is why the President mentioned what she mentioned in her speech as I think the speech was not only aimed at her supporters or those watching at home on tv but also moderate House Republicans she will need to really deliver on this new mandate.

Begala: I have to say that no surprise but I thought it was a great speech as it did 1. make it clear she intends to unite the nation after a toughly fought campaign 2. at the same time claim a mandate to push for certain policies. I have to add given the circumstances of 4 years ago, the President also definitely is happy she can give her speech in front  of supporters back home rather than at DNC headquarters.

Cooper: Before we hear from more of you , I have to send it back to Wolf for one second

Blitzer: CNN Can now project that Florida and its 29 electoral votes will be won by Senator Jindal which while wont get him over the 270 mark, will get him well passed the 200 mark.



Clinton 295
Jindal 220


Blitzer: Anderson back to you

Cooper: Pat as a long time Republican how did you feel about this speech

Buchanan: I have to say that while it was not bad , I dont think it was that memorable either. I do have to agree with my colleagues that while she did claim a mandate , I don't think there was any line we will remember here. I think really what we should be watching is her inaugural address and her first state of the union in her new term to see how what will come out of this election.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Good work, as usual. I think Hillary will win Virginia on top of that while Jindal takes Missouri. But still kind of odd a Democrats wins West Virginia in 2012.

Well , a large reason for this is because the Republican president of the 2000s was John McCain rather than George W Bush . McCain was known to be an environmentalist for a Republican as he pushed stuff like cap and trade even as far back as 2003(and in this TL got that legislation passed as well) while George W Bush was the exact opposite and under his presidency the environment became a major wedge issue between the two parties .

With McCain that does not happen so while West Virginia still trends Republican it’s not as rapid as OTL . Without Rockefeller on the ticket , it’s likely that Hillary loses WV here as well and republicans do have a senator there as well (Captio and Manchin’s seats are opposite classes of OTL though).

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2012(Rest of Results)



2:13:

Blitzer : Let’s go over for Dana for a projection

Bash : Yes Wolf and that is CNN Can also project that Nevada Senator Dean Heller will win a full term to the US senate . This win means the Republicans at the very least will retain the 48 seats they had going into this election although they will remain in the minority in the senate .

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia

Bash: In the gubernatorial race CNN can now project that in Vermont The Democrat Peter Shumlin will be the next governor of that state in Indiana , The Republican Mike Pence will be the governor and in Washington- The Republican Rob McKenna will be the next governor of that state . We are currently unable to make a projection in Montana but at the moment Steve Bullock the Democrat is slightly outrunning Jon Tester so things do look favorable for him there . Wolf Back to you

Blitzer : Those are some interesting results indeed . Let’s now head to Anderson to see what our panel thinks

Cooper : James what do you think of those results

Carville : I am disappointed in Indiana but I have to say that Mike Pence is probably very happy the gubernatorial races there are in presidential and not midterm years as Indiana’s presidential lean almost certainly carried him over the top this year . As for Washington , I have to say that Governor Rossi probably is regretting running for the senate when he could have just run for reelection and easily won given McKenna won . The reason is while the Washington senate race isn’t over , multiple websites that do running probabilities on candidates chances of winning now have Senator Inslee chances at 90% and rising so it does seem like Governor Rossi will have given up his job for nothing .

Navarro: I disagree with James here as the fact is Governor Rossi has been governor for 8 years now which is a while in the position so why would he not want to try out something different. It’s not like the timing was gonna get better as the next senate race would be in 2016 as well which is a presidential year

Carville: Maybe so but at least you have a job in that case and also 2016 would have either been in a year which would be either open if President Clinton won like she did or with a Republican incumbent if Senator Jindal won both of which is better than running in a year with a democratic incumbent. So I think it does look like to be a miscalculation by Governor Rossi but not an uncommon one.

Cooper: Wolf we will head back to you


2:49:

Blitzer: CNN is now able to project that President Clinton will win the state of Missouri and its 10 electoral votes to go over the elusive 300 electoral mark she was targeting. With over 99% of the vote in the President is leading Senator Jindal by around half a percentage point and given the precients out we do not believe that Senator Jindal can overcome that margin in Missouri.



Clinton 305
Jindal 220

Blitzer: Now lets go over to John King and the magic wall to see how that happened

King: The reason the President won the state of Missouri and all these battlegrounds is actually very similar and that is she won the suburbs in those states. As has been said before, presidential elections are decided in the suburbs as we know rural areas will go republican and urban areas democratic so suburbs are what decides election.

Republicans after this election will have to see and reasses what they are doing wrong because if you go through these states and you can see a pattern : the President won the suburbs of Kansas City and St Louis and won Missouri, she won the suburbs of Cincinnati and won Ohio, won the suburbs of Denver and won Colorado, won the suburbs of Las Vegas and won Nevada and in Virginia you can see she is winning the suburbs of DC and is leading in Virginia. Heck even go to these smaller states that went Republican the last 3 elections and you can see in New Hampshire that the suburbs of Boston that used to be very Republican in New Hampshire have trended Democrats and in Oregon the suburbs of Portland that the last 3 times only barely went Democratic went Democratic by a healthy margin this time.

Blitzer: How hard of a problem is it for the Republicans to solve

King: I would say it all depends on the type of candidate as remember 8 years ago we were all talking about the problems the Democrats are having in the suburbs, in 1996 talking how the break up of the once solid GOP suburbia could make it hard for them to win elections and of course in the 1980s people said that that the GOP strange hold on the suburbs would make it impossible for the Democrats to win. Each time of course the party out of the white house did come back but the key is they had to work for it and the test for the Republicans is whether or not they are willing to put in the hard work to do it . Of course there also will be a test for the Democrats as outside the Clintons no Democrat has done well in the suburbs since 1964 so the next few elections are shaping up to be interesting.

Blitzer: Thanks John and we will take a short break

3:49:

Blitzer: Let's go over to Dana for our last downballot projections of the night

Bash: Yes Wolf and that is CNN can now project that in Washington - Senator Jay Inslee will be re-elected in a tight race over Governor Dino Rossi . In Montana though CNN can officially now say that we will not be able to project the winner of the senate race and as such we will now be coloring it purple given this news. This means at the end of the night the Democrats will have 51 Senators , the Republicans will have 48 while 1 will still remain outstanding.

 

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Nebraska
Michigan
Montana
Ohio
Tennessee
Washington
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held by Republicans:

Maryland
Missouri
Nevada
Rhode Island
Virginia


Bash: This though is not true in the other Montana race as CNN Can project the Democrat Steve Bullock will be the next governor of that state.

In the House CNN Can now project at the end of the night the Republicans will have won 219 house seats, the Democrats will have won 214 house seats and in two of the races we will not be able to make a projection. Those two races will be Calfornia's 26th district where the Democrat Julia Browney currently holds a tight lead vs the Republican Tony Strickland and in California's 36th district where the Republican Mary Bono holds a tight lead vs the Democrat Raul Ruiz.

Lastly for the Referendums up - CNN can project that voters have voted to legalize gay marriage in every state up tonight :  Maine, Maryland , Minnesota and Washington but Marijuana had a more split night as the voters in Colorado and Washington voted to legalize recreational use while voters in Oregon by a narrow margin voted to not legalize it.

Ok Wolf Back to you


Blitzer: Thanks Dana and it also was perfect timing as CNN can now project that the state of Virginia and its 13 electoral votes will go to a Democrat for the first time in 48 years as we can project President Clinton will win that state.



Clinton 318
Jindal 220

Blitzer: Lets now get some final thoughts from some members of our panel before we officially wrap up our election night coverage

Cooper: David do you think the fact that the President won Missouri and Virginia to put her over the 300 mark makes an actual difference in governing or is it just for bragging rights

Gergen: In my opinion it absolutely makes a difference as the President can now go to congress and really have the ability to say they represent the country as a whole while if you get less than 300 electoral votes it is hard to really exercise your influence if another party holds congress for example.  Also I think really what this election also signifies is really how good democratic recruiting has been . The fact is both Howard Dean and Kirsten Gilibrand have been extremely successful leaders of the DNC and it will be interesting to see whether or not the democrats can keep up that success with their next leader .

O'Brien: I will say my takeaway from this election is that while Republicans can get to 200 Electoral votes fairly reliably which is a number they did not reach in either 1992 or 1996, getting to the 270 mark is still not easy despite having a higher floor. The fact is what the President did very effective in this election was she went in with pretty good chances of sweeping West Coast, the Upper Midwest and the North East which means Senator Jindal had no margin for error if he wanted to win and thats not really a good strategy for the future. Now again that is though what everyone also thought after 1996 and in 2000 and 2004 we saw a state from each one of those regions go for President McCain .

Castellanos: I think the biggest takeaway is the takeaway we can take from every election in the past 30 or so years and that is the candidate who wins the suburbs will win the election. The Clintons have been very effective at appealing to those types of voters which is why they won in 1992, 1996 , 2008 and now in 2012. Whether the Democrats can hold those gains, only time will tell

Borger: Before we go I want to point one last thing and that is it is gonna be very hard for the Republicans despite holding the house to change the President's agenda as the fact is if Republicans move to the right after this, you will see them far more vulnerable to losing key house votes from moderates and thus giving Democrats effective control of the chamber or if they move to the center they face the risk of facing the wrath from their own members. So because of that I would have to say this election is a mandate for the President and like I said earlier we shall now see how she uses it.

Blitzer: We want to thank all of you for watching our coverage of the 2012 election and we are very grateful for our team who made this coverage possible. We now shall return to regular programming where our regular scheduled hosts will be analyzing the election results and the impact in more detail.

[OSR stands with Israel]

2012 Election Results:

Presidential Election Results:



President Hillary Clinton(D-NY)/Vice President Jay Rockefeller(D-WV) 51.73% 318
Senator Bobby Jindal(R-LA)/Former Governor Mitt Romney(R-MA) 47.26% 220

States Decided by 5 points or Less:

Virginia: Clinton 49.71% Jindal 49.28%
Missouri : Clinton 49.88% Jindal 49.26%
Florida : Jindal 50.05% Clinton 49.08%
West Virginia: Clinton 51.33% Jindal 47.89%
Colorado : Clinton 50.91% Jindal 47.36%
Ohio : Clinton 51.47% Jindal 47.54%
Arkansas: Jindal 51.67% Clinton 47.51%
Nevada : Clinton 51.42% Jindal 46.91%
Iowa : Clinton 51.76% Jindal 46.84%%

States Decided by Between 5-10 points

New Hampshire: Clinton 51.90% Jindal 46.86%
Pennsylvania: Clinton 52.12% Jindal 46.84%
Wisconsin: 51.97% Jindal 46.32%
North Carolina: Jindal 52.63% Clinton 46.53%
New Mexico: Clinton 52.73% Jindal 46.37%
Kentucky: Jindal 52.93% Clinton 46.22%
Michigan: Clinton 52.98% Jindal 45.95%
Maine-2nd: Clinton 52.84% Jindal 45.71%
Minnesota: Clinton 53.22% Jindal 45.53%
Oregon: Clinton 53.63% Jindal 44.51%
Georgia: Jindal 54.53% Clinton 44.63%
New Jersey: Clinton 54.36% Jindal 44.39%


Senate Results:



Democrats: 51(0 - -1)
Republicans: 48(0 - +1)
Too Close to Call: 1

Note: Independent Senator Bernie Sanders is counted in the Democratic Tally

Battleground Senate Races:

Montana : Tester 48.82% Rehberg 48.67%
Washington : Inslee 49.83% Rossi 49.07%
Ohio: Kasich 50.58% Brown: 48.46%
Missouri: Nixon 50.77% Talent 48.54%
Nevada: Heller 47.89% Barkley: 45.12%
Tennessee: Ramsey 51.56% Ford Jr 47.61%
Wisconsin: Baldwin 51.63% Thompson 46.59%
Virginia: Bollings 52.21% Kaine: 46.88%
Rhode Island: Roberts 52.13% Chaffee 46.18%
Michigan: Blanchard 53.03% Cox 45.92%
Maryland: Gansler 55.97% Steele 42.94%
Nebraska: Fischer 56.43% Kerrey 42.53%

House of Representatives:

Republicans: 219(-9 - -11)
Democrats: 214(+9 - +11)
Too Close to Call: 2


Gubernatorial Races:



Battleground Gubernatorial Races:

Indiana: Pence 49.44% Gregg 48.57%
Montana: Bullock 49.08% Stapleton 48.11%
Vermont: Shumlin 47.48% Dublin 46.23%
Washington: McKenna 50.35% Brown 48.19%
North Carolina: McCrory 51.74% Dalton 47.63%
Missouri: Cook 52.12% Brunner 46.89%

Are the Democratic Inroads into Suburbia a Democratic thing or a Clintons thing:

Blitzer: Throughout election night when we went over to the magic wall , we saw a pattern emerge and that is President Clinton overperformed usual Democratic margins in the suburbs. We saw this in the suburbs around DC, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Denver, Las Vegas all of which were critical in the President carrying those states and thus getting reelected. So the question is are these gains Democratic Gains or just the suburbs liking the Clintons

Borger: In my opinion we have to wait and see because if you look at the downballot races this was much more a mixed bag given you saw Republicans like Dean Heller, John Kasich and Bill Bollings put up the numbers Republicans usually do in the suburbs but on the other hand in places like Philadelphia and Kansas City you saw Democrats like Bob Casey and Jay Nixon do even better than the President did.

So I would say we have to wait cause at the moment it seems very candidate specific

King : in my opinion one major test for this will come next year in the off year elections. It is very unlikely they will be able to unseat governor Kean but the question arises whether or not they can retake the Virginia gubernatorial mansion next year . According to rumors , outgoing chief of staff Terry McAullife is expected to run for governor so the question really arises whether or not he can defeat his likely opponent in Bob McDonnell in such a race .

If not then I think the conclusion is these gains are more the Clintons popularity then the democrats popularity but if they do then I think we can say there is a trend in the suburbs for the democrats.


What will be the top priorities by Democrats in the next term

Blitzer : Assuming the two house races split like the current vote count shows and the recount in Montana confirm Tester’s lead , what will be the first priorities of the next term by democrats.

Carville : my belief is the president will Tackle the issue of reducing the costs of higher education . The fact is the amount of debt students are having to incur to go to universities are unsustainable and I think her universal scholarship plan will help deal with that issue . I believe that you can see also an bipartisan bill pass as well as you’d see probably republicans wanting to use such an opportunity to cut the so called fat out of many of these universities

Begala : I agree but I think it will be one part of the President’s investment plan . We also likely will see major increases in funding for R&D which is necessary to keep us the economic super power in the future, and in then moving towards a balanced budget but asking the wealthy and large corporations to pay slightly more to ensure we can start paying down our debt . I think we are likely gonna see a very focused effort on these 3 things and given how tiny the gop majority in the house is , it’s gonna be hard to see how they can block this .

Martin : I agree with James and Paul but I’d like to add that her greatest impact in a 2nd term might not come legislatively but through her cabinet as they will be implementing the legislative achievements passed in term 1 . For example on education she signed a bill which had provisions meant to reduce the gaps we see in education. For example it correctly addresses the fact that it is our responsibility to make sure kids who come from inner cities or rural areas have the same opportunities as the kids who live in rich suburbs and really her department of education in this term can really make that a reality . Furthermore on financial reform , will the provisions be enforced in a way to really lead to a more responsible financial system because if they do that will have greater impact than any bill that gets passed .

Super Early 2016 GOP Predictions:

Blitzer: Now for fun let's have our Republicans on the panel prediction who their party's nominee will be come 2016 assuming neither Bush runs . Pat you first

Buchanan: I think you have to say it has to be Mitt Romney as one he has the most name recognition out of everyone in the field and that always helps but more importantly I think he is the candidate who will be the most acceptable to the widest swath of Republicans possible. Now there are many types of Republicans: Business Conservatives , Religious Conservatives, the Neocons are the main 3 but you also have your Nationalists and yes they still exist, your libertarians and your moderates. Mitt Romney will likely be the primary candiate of the business conservatives while able to appeal to 4 of the 5 remaining groups so I think he has the wide potential swath of support. Now obviously thinks can change but as of today, I think you have to say Mitt Romney

Navarro: I think it will be Marco Rubio. He has everything republicans are looking for in a candidate which is hes young, he has proven appeal with Hispanics, and hes governor of the 4th largest state in the union and very likely will be the third come 2016. He also is a conservative who comes from working class roots so I think he will be able to expand the republican tent more than anyone as he will be able to appeal to young voters, hispanics and working class voters in general that usually vote democratic.

Gingrich: While I may be biased since hes my friend, I am going with John Kasich. Kasich with his victory over Brown was able to successfully get his feet back into the waters of modern politics and the fact is he has a better track record than any other potential candidate. He already is the only house budget chair in the past 4 decades to balance the budget and he did it while cutting taxes and I believe the budget will be the next major issue for conservatives. The fact is for too long Republican and Democratic administrations have been irresponsible when it comes too the budget and John Kasich will be able to make the case better than anyone that he can balance the budget without raising taxes because he already has done it before.

He also hosted a successful show on Fox for 18 months so I think he will have more experience in knowing what the base wants more than anyone else as well.

Cupp: I have to go with Paul Ryan here . He is a solid conservative who was a very successful OMB chair during the McCain administration and has more substantive plans when it comes to conservative priorties than anyone whether it comes to the budget, healthcare, entitlements and is someone who can appeal to both your libertarians and national security conservative as well despite many thinking you cant in a primary. So If I had to choose today, I think the nominee would be Paul Ryan and I think he would win too

Castellanos: I agree with Ana that it will be Governor Rubio



  

[OSR stands with Israel]

President Clinton names long time ally Rahm Emanuel as her new chief of staff:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFfXHKDKkhY

Blitzer: The newly re-elected President announced earlier today that she would be naming Congressman Rahm Emmanuel to be her new chief of staff for her 2nd term. Congressman Emmanuel has been a long time ally of the Clintons going back decades as he worked on then Governor Bill Clinton's primary campaign back in 1992 and then worked in the Bill Clinton white house until 1998. So David how big of a pick is this and what does that entail

Gergen: Well I think this does show the President is aware of the fact that during a President's 2nd term , a huge problem is a lot of people in the administration or in the party generally are very much thinking of whom the next party leader could be which many times reduces the power a President has over their staff and party. So I think Mr. Emmanuel was picked with that in mind because he is someone who you do not want to cross according to many reports so it makes sense he was picked.

List of Cabinet Members who will be retained in current positions:

Secretary of Agriculture: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tom_Vilsack,_official_USDA_photo_portrait.jpg

Secretary of Commerce: Secretary of Commerce Kathleen Sebelius



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kathleen_Sebelius_official_portrait.jpg

Secretary of Transportation: Secretary of Transportation Mortimer Downey



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downey.jpg

Secretary of Energy: Secretary of Energy Ed Rendell



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ed_Rendell_ID2004_crop_(cropped).JPG

Cooper: Paul any surprises here, particularly the fact that no one from the President's foreign policy team seems to be staying on

Begala: Well this announcement is more just announcing who will be staying on in their current roles and says nothing about the people who will get reshuffled in the administration. For example pretty much all reports have indicated that National Security Advisor Wesley Clark will move over to head the defense department , that UN Ambassador Susan Rice then either will take Wesley Clark role as national security advisor or become deputy Secretary of State to whoever the President picks as the next Secretary of State. 

So the fact is we are likely to see quite a bit of reshuffling and this type of stuff always happens.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Speaker John Boehner announces he will step down from Speakership at the end of this term



Source : https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Boehner_official_portrait.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Blitzer: Speaker Boehner earlier today announced he will step down from the speakership at the end of this term and pass the baton to a new generation of Republican Leadership. This comes of an election where Republicans will end up losing anywhere between 9 to 11 seats but despite that many believed he would continue as speaker. Gloria are you surprised by that

Borger: No I am not Wolf and the reason for that is the fact is after 3 consecutive disappointing house elections : losing the house in 2008, not picking up 20 house seats in the midterms, and almost losing the majority again there was gonna be a push to remove him from house leadership and that is what happened. 

Blitzer: Who will replace him as the new speaker

Borger : All expectations are House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will but we are told the conservative wing of the caucus wants some concessions in exchange for giving their support. One major concession we are hearing that they want is either getting the chairmanship of either the house ways and means or budget committees.

President Clinton makes Foreign Policy team for 2nd term:

Secretary of State : Delaware Senator Joe Biden



Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Joe_Biden_official_portrait_crop.jpg

Secretary of Defense: National Security Advisor Wesley Clark



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQVOKLCd9lk

National Security Advisor: Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jim_Steinberg.jpg

UN Ambassador: Representative Gary Ackerman



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gary_Ackerman_Portrait_c111-112th_Congress.jpg


Cooper : Seems like the President is going with seasoned veterans in each of these picks .

Gergen : Like many suspected President Clinton does not want her cabinet in her 2nd term to be dominated by people who try to get the spotlight as a potential springboard of 2016 which could reduce her power overall . As you can see for Secretary of State  Senator Joe Biden is a seasoned politician who probably would have retired 2 years from now and for UN Ambassador Representative Ackerman already has retired from the house so that leads into that theory .

[OSR stands with Israel]

Biden being named Secretary of State means there will be a Special Senate Election.
Maybe Lisa Blunt Rochester is going to run here and waltz into the Senate a few years earlier then expected.

Also, why has the North Carolina Governor Race between McCrory and Dalton being this close? I think Roy Cooper will run in 2016 and win quite comfortably even if the State goes Red on the Presidential Level.

Finally I am wondering if Governor Rubio may dump Crist from the Ticket in 2014 and name Carlos Lopez-Cantrera as Running Mate or even a Woman.

- Actually since Biden’s term was about to expire in 2014 there will be no special election given Delaware downs require there to be early special elections for seats

https://ballotpedia.org/Filling_vacancies_in_the_U.S._Senate

- Keep in mind in OTL The NC Dem party was absolutely decimated in 2010 which really their hurt party organization there and resulted in them losing comfortably in 2012 . Before that , the NC dem party was quite powerful so given there wasn’t a huge gop wave in 2010 here the Dems in NC still have a lot of organizational strength.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Newly Elected Republican Iraq War veterans who look to make a name for themselves join Crossfire

Cupp: Today on a special episode of Crossfire two newly elected Republican Iraq War veterans join us , them being Congressman Elect Ron DeSantis from Florida's 6th district and Congressman Elect Tom Cotton from Arkansas's 1st district Tom Cotton. While we will get to where you guys think the Republican Party has gone wrong in the past few years, I want to first know why you are Republicans to begin with and what do you like about the party

DeSantis: SE, as you know the President of my childhood was Ronald Reagan and the President I served in Iraq under was John McCain both of whom were great Presidents and both of whom were Republicans. Under Reagan , the country came out of the malaise we were in the 1970s in an economic, foreign policy and a spiritual way and really was reborn in many ways and under McCain we really were able to come out of one of the darkest days in our nation's history and tame the threat of terrorism that had plagued us for so long. We also were able to successfully do what many including me were skeptical of and that is bring democracy to a nation like Iraq which is great.

So I have to say , that our party has a great history even recently and I would like to see it continue.

Cotton: I would like to add that I always was a conservative and as you know I was on the editorial board of the Harvard Crimison and part of its conservative minority. So I have been battle tested to fight for conservative ideas since I was in college and I think I can bring that time of attitude to Washington as well . What I like about the part is the fact that since our founding we have been the party that has stood strong in favor of strong national security which is the most important issue at the end of the day for a government .

Cupp: On the flip side what is something you want to see the Republican Party change in and how would you recommend the party go about in setting up its new leadership team in the house

DeSantis: For me it has to be actually being serious when it comes to fiscal discipline. As much of a fan I am of Presidents Reagan and McCain the fact is they were not good when it came to the issue of fiscal discipline and I believe that needs to change for the sake of the country and party. I can tell you though, that as a 34 year old who likely will face the consequences of fiscal irresponsibility, many Americans my age believe the same and they will be willing to vote for someone who has a serious plan to balance our budget. Just look at Paul Ryan , whose proposals are usually laughed at as too right wing, won a senate seat in the purple state of Wisconsin so the fact is if Republicans are willing to stand strong and fight on major issues that are facing the country we will win.

The reason is that while Americans may not know what exactly we need to do to balance our budget, they do know that we do and will vote for candidates regardless of ideology who intend to do it.

Cupp: The question though is given there is a Democratic President and Senate how should Republicans approach the issue

DeSantis: Well for one have a strong fiscal conservative on the House Budget Committee as thats where all of this starts and I want to remind you that Senator-Elect John Kasich as Budget Chairman was able to work with a Democratic President to balance the budget so the fact is this can be done. It can only be done though if you are willing to offer the types of budget deals which we saw then which is Democrats got the cuts they wanted on the budget and so did Republicans rather than what we see now which is Democrats get the spending increases they want and so do Republicans

Cupp: Congressman-Elect Cotton what about you

Cotton: I agree with Congressman-Elect DeSantis here and its why the both of us are supporting Tom Price to be the next House Budget Chair . I would like to add though that I would want to see our party to pivot away from our current policy on China because the fact is in the long run they are our biggest threat we face . Even now the Chinese Communist party bans our companies like Facebook and Twitter, manipulate their currency and are looking to diminish our influence in the world and we cannot let that happen.

So it is my belief we need to tell China that while yes we are believers in free trade, we also believe that its a two way street so if they want to ban our companies then we should respond in kind, and if they want to break trade rules then we should respond with tariffs until they start actually following the rules.

Cupp: The question though I have is wouldnt doing so increase prices on American consumers and also would our European Allies be willing to go along with that

Cotton: The answer to your question is yes they will in the short run but the fact is if we do nothing now, then the type of response we will have to do 10-15 years in the future will be far more painful and will have far more drastic impact and that is something we should avoid. So it is better to actually incentivize China to play by the rules now so we dont face such a future.

Cupp: Thanks Congressman DeSantis and Congressman Cotton for coming on and good luck for your futures.

President Clinton names 2nd term Economic team :

Secretary of Treasury: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lawrence_Summers_2012.jpg

Secretary of Labor : Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKux363Dg64

Secretary of Health and Human Services : Advisor Neera Tanden



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkk1ZNVeuQA

Director of Office of Management and Budget: Director of National Economic Council Gene Sperling



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gene_Sperling_(National_Economic_Council)_(cropped).jpg

Blitzer: It does seem like so far her cabinet looks more to be a reshuffling then any major changes.

Gergen: Oh absolutely and really all 4 of these names on this list are loyalists of the President so it does show the President is keeping a more tighter circle this time then she did in her first term like expected. The question though really is whether or not this leads to the President being very competent in her 2nd term or being someone who runs out of any new ideas and only time will tell which one of the two her 2nd term will be like.

[OSR stands with Israel]

McConnell is going to filibuster the Nominations of Neera Tanden and Jennifer Granholm I am pretty convinced of that. Particularly Tanden could be the 1st Nomination Hillary might have to withdraw unless Majority Leader Harry Reid invokes the Nuclear Option allowing Cabinet Secretaries to be confirmed with a simple Majority Vote.

Keep in mind McConnell lost here in 2008 and Reid lost here in 2010 so the leaders in the senate are:

Dems: Schumer
GOP: TBA as it was Kyl from 2008-12 and he retired. I will announce the GOP leaders in both the House and Senate in the update after my next

[OSR stands with Israel]

Breaking News: Recount Confirms that Jon Tester Wins Montana Senate Race by 703 votes

Copper : We have some breaking news to report and that is an official statewide recount has confirmed that Senator Jon Tester has been re-elected by 703 votes . While it’s down from the 731 votes the initial results showed , the recount didn’t change the results by much at all . This means the democrats will remain at the 52 senate seats they have had the past two years for another 2 years while republicans will remain at 48 .

In the House we are also now able to project that The republicans will win the outstanding race in California’s 36th district and the Democrats will win the outstanding race in California’s 26th meaning the House Balance for the next two years will be 220 Republicans to 215 democrats.

President Clinton names heads of Justice , DHS and FBI:

Attorney General: Solicitor General Elena Kagan



Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/reports-obama-to-name-elena-kagan-as-supreme-court-pick

Department of Homeland Security: FBI Director Robert Mueller



Source: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Director_Robert_S._Mueller-_III.jpg#

FBI Director : Attorney Lisa Monaco



Source: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/author/lisa-o-monaco

Blitzer: With the Pick of FBI Director Mueller , it seems like the President has picked her first Republican so far for the 2nd term

Borger: Yes and the pick is no surprise given that Director Mueller is someone who is well renowned in both parties given the fact that in the after math of 9/11 he was able to transform the department into being an effective agency in the war on terrorism. So it is no surprise that now that his tenure is about to end in a few months, he is being asked to now head the DHS as well given that experience.

As for the new pick for FBI, Mrs. Monaco worked directly under Mueller at some point in the FBI so this pick is no surpirse as well.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Florida Senator Jeb Bush to take over as Republican Leader of the Senate while House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to be the next speaker


[size=pt6]Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/jeb-bush-believe-candidate-stands-11-issues
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eric_Cantor,_official_113th_Congress_photo_portrait.jpg[/size]

Blitzer: We have breaking news to announce and that is Florida Senator Jeb Bush, the son of Former President George HW Bush and brother of Texas Governor and former 2008 Republican Nominee George W Bush has been officially named the new Republican Senate Leader.  The Florida Senator was first elected in 2004 after serving as governor of the state of Florida for 6 years now be the 2nd most powerful man in the Senate so Alex what do you take of this news.

Castellanos: One , I would have to say it is no surprise as many expected that Senator Jeb Bush would succeed Jon Kyl as long as his brother does not have any presidential ambitions left and it seems like thats the case. The fact is though he will be tested almost immediately and only time can tell how good of a job he will do as leader.

Navarro: I think it is a good choice from Republicans as not only is Jeb Bush is a very capable individual given his record as governor and senator shows that but he gives the Republicans in many some sort of counter bully pulpit to President Clinton.

Blitzer: Now turning to the House , it seems like Republicans have named House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to be their new leader and thus he will be the next speaker of the house of representatives. We did here he did have to make some concessions though

Borger: Oh Absolutely as not only was Eric Cantor named the new GOP Leader, it was also announced that Congressman Tom Price a huge budget hawk will be leading the budget committee for the next two years. This is very big because keep in mind that the vast majority of legislation that gets to floor of the house has to go through committee first and with a major budget hawk like Tom Price as the head of the budget committee, its gonna be very challenging for the President to get her spending priorities through. Now don't get me wrong it can be done but its gonna be tougher with someone like Tom Price heading the budget committee.

Gergen: I also want to add while yes the Republicans have a super slim majority, that is exactly why different factions of the party can now extract concessions. Moderates usually have a lot of leverage in situations like this purely because of the fact that bills cannot pass without their vote and its very hard to enforce the whip against them because the party needs them to keep that district in their column. Now the ideologues also have a lot of power too in this situation as well because keep in mind that Eric Cantor is not speaker yet as that election has yet to take place and 1. a candidate must get a majority of the house to become speaker not just a plurality 2. there is nothing stopping other candidates from being nominated too.

So in a situation like this its very easy for these types of politicians to extract concessions from their party leadership and usually it is committee chairs. The reason for that is they know they have very little leverage on policy promises because of moderates so the best avenue for them is to get a like minded person head a major committee and thats exactly what happened.

President Clinton names heads of Interior and EPA:

Secretary of Interior: Former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Bradbury.jpg

EPA Administrator: Commissioner of Connecticut Department of Energy Daniel Esty



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dan_Esty_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2011.jpg

Cooper: Seems like President Clinton is once again picking people with long time experience for the jobs

Begala: Yes it does seem like that as Mr. Esty has spent decades working on environmental policy including working in the EPA during the Bush administration so he could very well have bipartisan credibility. This is especially true given how much he has spent his career talking about how to balance the interests between growing the economy and protecting the environment which is generally what the median voter believes needs to be done.

As for Mr.Bradbury he has also been a long time environmentalist and with his experience as the Secretary of State in Oregon, I think he fits this position as well.

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Breaking News: Mass Shooter murders 20 elementary school students in Newton , Connecticut



Blitzer: Today has been an extremely tragic day as a Mass Shooter opened fired in an elementary school and murdered 20 elementary school students as well as 6 teachers causing the 2nd worst mass shooting in the history of the country before killing himself. What began as just another ordinary day turned into something more tragic than any of us could have imagined and all of our thoughts and prayers today are with the families of those who lost loved ones as well as survivors of the shooting.

The President is expected to give a statement about this tragedy so lets listen in

Clinton: As a parent, today was a day that I truly never hoped to see . 20 elementary school kids who began there day like it was another day , going to school to learn something new and meet their friends but instead it ended in something completely tragic. A shooter came into their school and murdered countless amount of innocent children and scarred countless more for life as well . The shooter also robbed the parents of all those children so many joyful memories any parent hopes to have with their kids . As a mother, like I am sure all mothers did made sure to tell their child that they love them and cry for all the mothers who no longer have the ability to tell that to their child.

In our sadness though we all must work together to ensure something like this never happens again.  From reforming our gun laws to improving mental health across this nation, we must all now resolve to take action regardless of ideology. There are too many of these shootings that take place across our nation, and it is unacceptable that we continue to do nothing and let our kids die because of such inaction. Due to this I will be creating a bipartisan commission in the White House to research what policies we can do to ensure such shootings dont happen again and then propose concrete reforms to achieve that goal.

May God Bless all the victims of today's shooting and their families.


Republican Governors Giuliani and Schwarzenegger call for bipartisan action on gun reform

Giuliani: I want to second the President's call to action as it is critical that we never let the tragedy that took place in Sandy Hook Elementary School ever happen again and to do that we must reform our gun laws. At the very least I believe its high time, we implement universal background checks to ensure that no criminal or someone with mental issues can have access to guns as well as increase penalties for people who commit crimes with guns . I also believe that the laws we have passed in the state of New York are a good model for the nation to follow as I believe such laws would greatly improve public safety as well while staying true to the 2nd amendment

Schwarzenegger: The issue of guns is a very emotional issue and I think that it would be a mistake to implement a policy that gets rid of guns but also a mistake not to pass some sort of reform . In fact I think the best way to get reform passed is to have the 10 most moderate Democrats and Republicans in the senate work together on a bipartisan basis and come up with potential solutions for the rest of the senate to vote on. Doing so would ensure individuals right to bear arms isnt infringed while also we pass the types of reform needed to prevent the tragedy that happened in Sandy Hook to never happen again.

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New Senate Minority Leader Jeb Bush says he does not believe gun control is the solution to shootings

Blitzer: New Senate Minority Leader Jeb Bush has stated that he does not believe gun control is the solution to mass shootings, believing rather more security at schools and addressing mental health is the solution. He also said he believes that it would be the responsibility of states and not the federal government to deal with such an issue so he’d oppose any federal solution to such an issue .

So Gloria with Senate Minority Leader Jeb Bush coming out in opposition to gun control, that means that any bill would require 60 votes.

Borger: Yes it would meaning you would need at least 9 republicans to vote for it and probably even more given not every democrat will probably vote for the bill. So it seems like for such reform to pass you probably will have to adopt some version of Governor Schwarzenegger’s suggestion of taking the 10 most pro gun democrats and 10 most pro gun control republicans and get them to write such a proposal.

Blitzer: What about in the house , with the Republicans controlling the chamber will it be able to pass

Borger : Probably given how narrow the Republican majority is , it will be very hard to stop such a bill in committee and if it passes the committee it likely will pass the house given reforms made to house rules in 2001 that reduced the Speaker’s power .

So really the question is whether or not a proposal could get the support of 60 senators or not and really only time will tell

President Clinton finishes out her cabinet:

Secretary of Education: Rhode Island Senator Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lincoln_Chafee_official_portrait.jpg

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Former Speaker of NYC Council Christine Quinn



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvp2nVcxa-E


Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Former Director of Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tammy_Duckworth,_official_portrait,_113th_Congress.jpg

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HHS Secretary Nominee Neera Tanden in hot water after prior comments about Republicans and Progressive Democrats get leaked

Blitzer: President Clinton's Nominee for HHS has gotten into hot water recently for many comments she has made over the years about republicans , and progressive Democrats which could make it tougher for her to be confirmed . Many believe these comments are also exactly the type of comments needed for Senate Minority  Leader Jeb Bush to find the justification needed to launch a filibuster effort which in turn would make confirmation impossible. So David how big of a deal do you think this is

Gergen : To me it depends greatly on the reaction you see from conservative commentators on Fox News such as Bill O Riley and Sean Hannity as well as talk show radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh because they could put the pressure on republicans to indeed filibuster Mrs. Tanden in which case I think it would happen

Blitzer : Cant Republican leadership defy them like they have in the past

Gergen : Oh absolutely but keep in mind that Republicans are just coming of their worst election defeat in 20 years so the power of republican leadership is at the moment very weak which is why the influence of conservative cables News and talk show hosts likely will be at the strongest . A year from now it probably wouldn’t be which is why those hosts know that if there is any time for them to flex their influence, it is now as they likely won’t have an opportunity like this in quite some time .


President Clinton names Congressman Tim Ryan to head the DNC:



source : https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rep._Tim_Ryan_Congressional_Head_Shot_2010_(cropped_3).jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Copper : The president today announced that she would be appointing representative Tim Ryan of Ohio to head the Democratic National Committee over the next few years . So Paul what do you think of this pick

Begala: I think its a fantastic choice as Congressman Ryan really is someone who is a rising star , a really strong fighter for working class Americans and is someone who being from Ohio can help bring a perspective to the Democratic Party that many bellwether voters feel. Now whether he is successful or not only time will tell as he will follow in the footsteps of two successful DNC Chairs in Howard Dean and Kirsten Gillibrand and we have to see if he can build upon their work.

 

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President Clinton holds final press conference of her first term:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwZg_lqpMA

Media Member 1: With the issue of gun control being very divisive and polarizing , how can you ensure that you can get such legislation passed without endangering the program that you ran on in the campaign

Clinton: Well, we just have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time and that's exactly what we will do. So yes we will work hard to ensure that we can pass legislation that reforms our gun laws, while also focusing on making the investments we need in healthcare, higher education , childcare, green energy and a lot more to improve the long term health of our economy.

In fact I also would like to add that I do not accept the framing that the efforts to reform our gun laws is divisive and polarizing as poll after poll shows an overwhelming majority of Democrats, Independents and even Republicans want us to do that. Now we might not agree on the solutions but thats why its the job of congress to make the compromises needed with each other to mend the disagreements and address an issue the public wants solved. That is exactly what is happening as a group of both democrats and republicans in the house and senate are working behind the scenes to craft such legislation and I am confident in the passage of such legislation.

Media Member 2: With the increases in protests in Syria over the past couple weeks, are you worried about the potential risk of the situation spiraling out of control and if so what would be your administrations action

Clinton: We are closely monitoring the situation in Syria and what we have stated is that we will defend the right of the protestors to protest and the best way to avoid the situation from spiraling out of control is by defending that right. We have many tools we can use such as stricter sanctions and we have made it clear that we will use them if the Syrian Government tries to violate their people's right.

Media Member 2: Many though think the situation could spiral into civil war, do you think that is possible

Clinton: Well I do not think it's wise for us to publicly state what we think or not think is possible and rather its better to use our resources to prevent such a situation from happening to begin with. While yes behind the scenes we have every contingency prepared, I do not think it would be wise for us to state what they are at the current moment.

Media Member 3: Is there any lessons you have learnt from the first that you will take to your 2nd term

Clinton: 100% as the fact is no person can be fully prepared for a job like this. You pretty much learn something new every day from the various departments and agencies you are in charge off , to the nitty gritty of policy, how to work with congress and a lot more. While this might not be a one big lesson , the fact is its the various little things that also matter and in my opinion make you more effective at the job.

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Neera Tanden withdraws nomination after multiple democratic senators come out in opposition to her nomination:

Copper : HHS appointee Neera Tanden announced today she had asked President Clinton to withdraw her nomination to head the department of health and human services after multiple democratic senators came out against her appointment. While these are only rumors many believed that Senate Minority Leader Jeb Bush made a deal with multiple democratic senators to either come out in opposition to Mrs. Tanden’s nomination or face a Republican filibuster of couple other nominees as well. So David how true are those rumors

Gergen : I would not be surprised at all because once past comments Mrs. Tanden made came out , it gave republicans the justification they needed to launch a filibuster effort over her nomination which almost certainly would have also defeated her nomination . So my guess is Senate Minority Leader Bush went to other Democratic senators and told them that they can publicly come out against Mrs. Tanden’s nomination or face the defeat of 2 other cabinet nominees as well .


President Clinton appoints Montana senator Max Baucus to lead HHS



Source : https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Max_S_Baucus.jpg

Blitzer: The President earlier today announced she would be appointing Montana Senator Max Baucus to lead the Department of Health and Human Services following the withdrawal of Neera Tanden . Many analysts believed that Senator Max Baucus was gonna announce that this would be his last term in the senate so this appointment would not have any negative implications for 2014 as well . If confirmed Governor Steve Bullock would pick his replacement so there would be no change in the senate balance either due to this appointment.