Election Night 1996. A Kinder, Gentler American Nation

[AussieLaborite]

1996 NBC US Election Night




Tom Brokaw:Good evening and welcome to NBC's election night 1996 Coverage. It has certianly been a long campaign and going to all the indications it would appear we are in for a long night, Will Governor Gary Hart reclaim the white house for the Democrats,Can President Rumsfeld lead his party to a third consecutive term in the oval office for the first time since the 1920's,Will Newt Gingrich's Senate Republicans defend their majority in the Senate and can the Democrats expand their's in the House.So much is at stake tonight, its going to be one hell of a ride however Polls are now closed in two states, and we can make Two Projections.....

The State of Indiana is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 12 Electoral Votes


The State of Kentucky is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 8 Electoral Votes


Tom Brokaw: No surprises there then, The last time either state went for a democrat was during President Glenn's landslide reelection victory in 1984 but the last two times they have voted Republican by solid margins We also have a Senate Race in Kentucky between Senator Mitch McConnell and Former Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Steve Beshear, i have Tim Russert here with me to offer a bit of insight on this race and indeed on the rest of senate races this evening.
Tim Russert: Yes Well thank you Tom, at the moment we don't have enough information on the Senate race in Kentucky to make a call however going of the polls, the Democrat Steve Beshear would have to pull of a pretty big upset to beat Mitch McConnell. We have some really interesting races elsewhere to keep an eye tonight, the biggest of course is in Tennessee where the former attorney and actor Fred Thompson is challenging Senate Minority leader Al Gore in what is an extremely close race, the last poll had them tied.
Tom: Al Gore needs to win this race if the democrats are to have any hope of retaking the senate.
Tim:Indeed, the Democrats have four really important races in the south which they have to win,
First there's Zell Miller in Georgia whose looking to win a second term, he's up against The
Republican Guy Milner,then in Alabama Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the Republican
candidate, against Roger Bedford for the Democrats, this is an open seat with Democrat Howell Heflin retiring, the last polls showed Sessions ahead in this one and in Arkansas we have another close race for David Pryor's Old seat,The Democrat Winston Bryant and the Republican Tim Hutchison, in the last week of campaign Bryant crisscrossed the state with Senator Bill Clinton who occupies the other Arkansas senate seat.
Tom: Doesnt look good for Democrats in the south.
Tim: In Louisiana the Democrats will be hoping for a pick up with Mary Landriue challenging two term senator David Treen, again this is close but going by the polls the odds lean in Senator Treen's favor. For the Republican they'll be hoping they can also take out John Kerry in Massachusetts who is running against Mitt Romney, he's a rising star in the GOP and has funded his own campaign. and There's Maine and its three way senate race between Incumbent senator Angus King, who won a shock upset 6 years ago when he unseated Republican William Cohen, The Republican Susan Collins and Former Democratic Governor Joseph Brennan, Polls had this one neck and neck between Collins and King, with Brennan trailing, if the Republicans take this one, it becomes very hard to see how the Democrats can retake the senate.

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Tom Brokaw: Good evening and welcome back to NBC's election night 96' coverage, polls have now closed in 6 additional states with a total of 66 electoral votes, but first we can now make a projection on the Senate Race in Kentucky. Mitch McConnell will be reelected to the United States Senate for a third Consecutive term and we have a Projection to make in Presidential Race.

The State of South Carolina is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 8 Electoral Votes

this state has been reliably republican since 1968, The last democrat to win this state was President
Henry Jackson, when he defeated Vice President Rockefeller. and in these states we are saying it is
Too Close To Call at this Hour. Vermont and its 3 Electoral votes, New Hamshire with it is four Electoral Votes, Georgia and its 14 Electoral Votes, Virginia with its 13 electoral votes and then Florida, this big prize for either candidate tonight and its 25 Electoral Votes. Certainly a few Surprise's there in Georgia and Virginia, if the polls were to be believed we should be calling them right now for President, now here's a look at our election night map as you can the Presidents states there Colored Blue, the Undecided states colored in Yellow and when we do eventually call a state for Governor Hart it will be red, The Current Electoral vote total is 28 for the President,None for Governor Hart and 58 in the too close to call column. Of course 270 is winning number either candidate has to get too and something tells me we'll be here quite a bit longer before one of the candidates gets over the line. Tim i want get your thoughts on this.

Tim Russert: Yes, Surprises in the Georgia and Virginia, as well a Vermont, which Governor Hart had a healthy lead in for all of the campaign, in Virginia it's too early to say but maybe the Governors gamble of picking Senator Douglas Wilder as his Vice Presidential candidate is paying off, maybe Wilder is boosting the turnout of African american voters in the south and possibly that's carried over into Georgia. In Vermont lets just wait and see, i think the Governor will take that state, we just need more numbers is all. and then we have Florida. a very hotly contested state, both candidates spent a lot of time and money in this state and i think along with Illinois and Ohio, those are the three big battleground states that will decide this election.
Tom: It's not just the Presidency up for grabs tonight,the United States Senate is also on the line for
the Republicans, they currently hold 52 seats, to the Democrats 47 with Angus King the one independant,
with this latest round of poll closings we can now a projection for the the United States Senate
in South Carolina, the President Pro tempore of the Senate Strom Thurmond is Projected to win
reelection. We cannot yet determine the winner in the following states
New Hamshire where Bob smith is fending off Richard Swett,Goergia where Zell Miller hopes to win
a second term, and in Virginia where John Warner the Republican is facing Mark Warner is Democrat.
Tim: The New Hamshire and Georgia are both hopeful Democratic pick up's, the DNC really pulled out the stopsin both of these races.
Tom: You would think with Zell Miller being a Conservative Democrat, he'd be able to hold on in
Georgia,he is a friend of Majority Leader Newt Ginrich but you never know with these things,Poll's
only tell you so much.

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Tom: Hello again, we are back here at NBC's election Night 1996 coverage, and believe me weren't lying yesterday when we said this election would be the closest since Dewey Defeated Truman in 1948 when the results in Illinois weren't known until three days after the Election,with minutes until polls close in states of Ohio,West Virginia and North Carolina we are now ready to make a Projection

The State of Vermont is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 3 Electoral Votes

Thats the first state on the board for The Governor this evening,Vermont has been a Republican
stronghold for all of the last century,with President Glenn being first Democrat ever to
win the state at a Presidential Level, however over the last few elections the state has been trending
towards the Democrats with the President only winning it by 7 points 4 years ago, and then Governor Laxalt by 9 points in 1988. Here's an updated version of our election map, as you can see that slither of red in the top right corner.

Rumsfeld-28
Hart-3
Too close to call-55

Before the next poll closing, ill just update you on the vote totals we have in the States we have yet to call first up we have New Hampshire

New Hamshire-too close to call
Hart-50%-13,223-
Rumsfeld-49%-12,919-
5% of precincts reporting-26,394-

and next up the old Dominion

Virginia-too close to call
Rumsfeld-51%-51,864-
Hart-48%-49,322-
4% of precincts reporting-101,695

Georgia-too close to call-
Rumsfeld-52%-58,881-
Hart-47%-52,901-
5% of precincts reporting-112,412

and finally the Sunshine state

Florida-too close to call-
Rumsfeld-50%-119,272-
Hart-49%-117,672-
4% of precinct reporting-238,784
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Tom Brokaw:and here we are polls have now closed in Ohio,West Virgina, and North Carolina
with a combined electoral vote total of 40.....

In the State of West Virginia is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 5 electoral votes
 

In the States of Ohio and North Carolina we are saying its too close to call at this
moment in time however we some calls to make in the Senate races in West Virginia
and North Carolina,Jesse Helm's is Projected to win reelection for the fourth time
holding his seat from democratic challenger, former investment banker Erskine Bowles.
and West Virginia Democratic Senator Alan Mollohan will win reelection against Republican
challenger Betty Burks.I have Tim Russert with me, to talk us through how the night is
shaping up.

Tim Russert: North Carolina is interesting,its a state that's industrialising,a fair few new
democratic voters,its gone republican 6 election in row now and The President is counting on this state, along with Georgia and Virginia, i can tell you right now that'll he'll be very nervous that we've not called those states for him. But then again its still very early i can't see any trend in these returns. The President currently leads in all three of those states , its very hard to say this night is going one way or the other at this point, well start to get a better picture at 8 o'clock when the polls close in Illinois,Michigan,Pennsylvania and Missouri.

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Tom Brokaw:Hello Again and welcome back we are closing in on 8 o'clock, polls close in 17 states, from New England to the deep south and some big prizes in the mid west but before that we can finally make a call in the peach state...

The State of Georgia is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 13 Electoral Votes

that brings the President's Electoral Vote Total to 41, Governor Hart stays unchanged on 8.

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Tom Brokaw:It's just turned 8 o'Clock on the east coast and are starting to get very interesting as polls have now closed in 17 states and we can now make some Projections.......

The State of Alabama is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 9 Electoral Votes

The State of Kansas is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 6 Electoral Votes

The State of Mississippi is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 7 Electoral Votes

The State of Oklahoma is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 8 Electoral Votes

The State of Tennessee is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 11 Electoral Votes

The State of Texas is Projected for President Rumsfeld [X] 32 Electoral Votes


The State of Connecticut is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 8 Electoral Votes

The State of Delaware is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 3 Electoral Votes

The District of Columbia is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 3 Electoral Votes

The State of Maine is Projected for Governor Gary [X] 4 Electoral Votes

The State of Maryland is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 10 Electoral Votes

The State of Massachusetts is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 12 Electoral Votes

The State of New Jersey is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 15 Electoral Votes

The State of Rhode Island is Projected for Governor Hart [X] 4 Electoral Votes

Rumsfeld-114
Hart-67
Too Close To Call-151

and we are saying at this moment these states are too close to call Pennsylvania,
Michigan,Illinois and Missouri they join Florida,New Hamshire,Virginia,North Carolina
and Ohio in the Undecided column, the Undecided total up to 151 Electoral votes,
None a big toss up states have fallen for either candidate so far so it's all to
play for in the Presidential Race. Now Tim Russert is going to take us through
the number in some of these Undecided states

Tim Russert: Well we'll have a look at some of those earlier undecided states which we
have fair chunk of votes to look at first up Florida

Florida-too close to call
Rumsfeld-50%-414,557-
Hart-49%-403,118-
14% of precinct reporting-824,373

The President is leading in Florida,from what i can tell The Economy has been a big
issue here and voters who said it was their biggest issue voted for the President by
a margin of three to one and for Governor Hart it was Social Security and Medicare,
it seems that The President cuts to medicare back in 1993, are costing him in the
sunshine state.Now lets have a look at North Carolina

North Carolina-too close to call-
Rumsfeld-52%-62,156-
Hart-47%-54,058-
3% of precincts reporting-117,538-

The President is leading by just over 12,000 votes, we've already called the senate race
race here and i think these state is on a Republican bound trajectory on the Presidential
level,but the fact we are here after 8 o'clock on the east coast and we have called north
carolina, its bad news for the President and then again in Virginia

Virginia-too close to call-
Rumsfeld-52%-204,471-
Hart-47%-186,268-
16% of precincts reporting-393,138

Again in Virginia The President is leading, but its nowhere near as big a lead as you would
think, perhaps thats down to Senator Wilder being on the ticket, its slowly trending
towards the President but i think we'll probably wait until some of Big democratic
counties in northern virginia start reporting, when we get a better idea of the margins
Governor Hart is pulling out in the DC suburbs before we call this state.

Ohio-too close to call-
Hart-51%-128,149-
Rumsfeld-48%-122,364-
5% of precincts reporting-251,519-

Ohio as ever, the national bellwether,Governor Hart has an early lead here, but its
early here, 5% of Precincts reporting, you'd be a braver man that me if you
predict who will win Ohio at this point

New Hamshire-too close to call
Hart-49%-54,758-
Rumsfeld-49%-54,538-
18% of precincts reporting-110,289

New Hamshire is the closest state in terms of votes at this point with Governor Hart
leading by 220 votes, We are yet to get the bulk of the returns from Rockingham and ]
Hillsborough county and those are two counties that decide this state more times than
not, and 4 years ago they went heavily for Rumsfeld and we will have to wait and see for
them tonight.

Tom Brokaw: And in the United states Senate we can confirm our first pick up of the evening
in the State of Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions will defeat Democratic Congressman Glen
Browder in the race for Retiring Democrat Howell Heflin's old seat,In Mississippi Republican
Thad Cochrane has won Reelection over Democrat Bootie Hunt, In Texas Phil Gram has won a
third term in the Senate defeating Victor Morales, Senator Jim Inhofe has defeated democratic
challenger James Boren, In Kansas Republican Pat Robert has beaten Sally Thompson the
Democratic Challenger, Democratic Senator Joe Biden from Delaware has secured reelection
for a 5th term in the senate and in Rhode island Democrat Jack Reed has beaten Republican
challenger Theodore Leanord,In Michigan Democrat Carl Levin has won a 4th time defeating
Ronna Romney ,in new jersey Democrat Robert Torricelli has won the race to succeed Bill
Bradley,Senator John Kerry has won reelection defeating Republican Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, In Illinois Representative Dick Durbin has defeated Bob Kustra and now in Virginia
we can say Republican John Warner has defeated Democrat Mark Warner.In the following
races we cannot make projection, in Georgia Zell Miller and Guy Milner are
battling it out and exchanging the lead, in New Hamshire Democratic Challenger Richard
Swett is ahead of Republican Bob Smith but not my much,in the three way race in Maine
Republican Candidate Susan Collins leads narrowly leads Independant Senator Angus king but
polls have only just closed and in Tennessee tonight high profile senate race between
Senator Minority Leader Al Gore and Republican challenger Fred Thompson its to early to call.