CNN: Election Night in America 2009Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwCRljbj7L87:00:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvUBrown: Welcome to CNN's coverage of the 2009 Off Year elections where we will cover all the major races for tonight as well as talk about what type of message are the voters sending with this result . First though lets send it to Wolf as CNN can make our first projection of tonight
Blitzer: Yes Campbell the polls have just closed in Virginia and CNN can now project that Congressman Tom Davis will be the next Governor of Virginia as he will easily defeat his democratic opponent Creigh Deeds tonight and while that was expected, it does mark a flip for the Republicans. Now lets look at the map and keep in mind we will be coloring in New York State for whatever the results of the Mayoral race is so it is easier for viewers at home to follow. Ok back to you Campbell
Brown: So while this is not a surprise this is big news
Gergen: Oh it is and I think the fact that it was called at poll closing times shows that despite some of the struggles the Republicans have been facing the past year, they are still a pretty strong party.
Borger: I agree with David here and I think this is no surprise as keep in mind the Democrats barely took back the house after 14 years in the wilderness in last year's election and of course the presidential race was a tie which that the democratic house broke in favor of President Clinton.
8:00https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvUBlitzer: The polls have closed in Massachusetts and CNN now project that Former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift will be the Republican Nominee for the Senate Race to replace the late Senator Kennedy in the senate and currently the Democratic Race is too early to call but we can say for sure it will either be State Attorney General Martha Coakley or Representative Mike Capuano.
The polls have also closed in New Jersey and CNN at this moment is unable to make a call in its gubernatorial race as that race is just too close to call according to our exit polls.
8:40Blitzer: CNN Can now project that State Attorney General Martha Coakley will defeat Representative Mike Capuano to become the Democratic nominee for the Senate Race to replace the late Senator Kennedy in the senate which will be held next month. So Far around a fifth of the vote as been counted in New Jersey and right now the Republican Tom Kean leads but its much too early. Ok Campbell back to you
Brown: So Paul how are the results so far
Begala: Well I will say they have gone like the polls have shown and I do want to point out that in every election since 1977 the party that has controlled the White House has lost Virginia, and in New Jersey it has been true since 1989. So I don't think these results say much about the state of play as I would more or less be interested to see how the New York Results go particularly the senate race to gauge where the state of play is.
Bennett: I think sure parties tend to overrate victories , they also tend to underrate loses and Paul here is beginning to do the second. The fact is given how small the Democratic Party's house majority is they basically will have to do something that has only been done twice in the modern era and that is win a midterm.
Begala: Yes and may I point out that the Democrats in 1997 and Republicans in 2001 lost both these gubernatorial seats and then ended up making gains in 1998 and 2002 so I will say lets see more before judging
9:00:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvUBlitzer: The polls have closed in New York and currently we are unable to make a projection in either the Senatorial or Mayoral race. Currently in New Jersey around a quarter of the vote is in and so far the Republican Tom Kean still leads. Back to you Campbell
Brown: Ok John so we have a quarter of the vote in so far in New Jersey, so how are the different counties coming in
King: Well Campbell , right now both Mr. Kean and Governor Codey are hitting their bench marks in their counties. For example in Morris County, Mr. Kean is getting around 63.5% of the vote which is very strong and in Ocean he is getting around 62.5% which is also very strong . On the other hand in Democratic strongholds like Essex county Governor Codey so far has 64% of the vote which again is a strong performance. So now some concerning news for the Governor is Union County while he is winning he is only up 5 which is not good at all but I want to stress that its early and these county numbers can change too.
10:13:Blitzer: CNN Can now project that the Democrat Caroline Kennedy will defeat former New York Governor George Pataki and will finish the term that was held by President Clinton before she vacated the seat to assume the presidency. Due to this result this will be the new balance of the Senate:
Democrats: 54Republicans: 46In the other major race in New York, the race to be the mayor of the largest city in our nation, currently Businessman Donald Trump leads though only a quarter of the vote is in so far. Ok Campbell back to you
Brown: Thank Wolf, so John why was CNN able to predict this race for Caroline Kennedy given the overall count between Mrs. Kennedy and Governor Pataki seems very close.
King: Well that is because more of the Republican Areas of the state particularly in upstate are in than the New York City area and here is a problem for Governor Pataki. When George Pataki won his 2 victories in New York State for Governor he would win upstate New York by massive margins, nearly 2:1 in 1994 and more than 3:1 in 1998 which he is not doing tonight and he just has not been able to do that and in New York City Mrs. Kennedy is winning more than 2:1 so far. Right now these results I would say look like the Democrats are headed for a high single digit to low double digit victory here and the race is actually reminding me of the 1998 senate race between in which Senator Schumer was able to knock of then Republican Senator Al'Dmato by 10 points.
Brown: What about the Mayoral race in New York City
King: Well currently Mr.Trump holds the lead over Congressman Fossella with a quarter of the vote in so now if we zoom into New York City and go over to each of the boroughs you can see some troubling signs for the Republican. First if you go over to Staten Island which is a place where Republicans must run up the total you can see Mr.Fossella is only getting around 60-61% of the vote while a Republican should get somewhere around 64 or 65% here so that is not good news. What is good news is in Manhattan a Democratic area so far is within single digits so right now you can see two underperformances in both candidates home turf. Though what is giving Mr.Trump so far the edge is if you look at Queens which is a borough the Democrats have not won in a mayoral race since 1985, is ahead and if that changes it is very hard to see how the Republicans can win. Keep in mind New York City is a very Democratic city so Democrats can afford to underperform in places but the Republicans just cannot and that is exactly what is happening.
Brown: Ok now lets go back to our team to talk about the impact of the New York Senate win
Begala: I would say it is a big win as the Democrats now need 6 Republican votes rather than 7 and that is big as that shifts the median senator one vote to the left. Currently Democrats must get the votes of Lincoln Chafee, Arlean Specter, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Michael Steele and also get the vote of two of these 3 senators: Lisa Murkowski , Richard Lugar or Gordon Smith while now they will need to get one of those 3 which makes a big difference .
Brown: How big of a difference does needing one vs two make
Gergen: Oh it does make a difference cause if you are only one vote short you usually when Senators or on the fence , what gets them over that fence are different reasons and I can tell you its way easier to come up with a compromise for one senator than two .
Bennett: I would agree with David here but I might like to add its very possible that one of those 5 senators move into the on the fence category now that they can see they can extract more concessions than they usually would have gotten so things may not seem as easy as they seem.
11:08:Blitzer: CNN can now project that Donald Trump , the Business Tycoon , will become the next mayor of New York as with 45% of the vote in Mr. Trump has increased his lead to 7-8 points and our team has determined that it is insurmountable at this point which is why we are able to call that race for Donald Trump. In New Jersey more than 70% of the vote is in and Mr. Kean still leads by 5 points and while that lead has dropped it is good news for him
Blitzer: Campbell back to you
Brown: With us now is DNC Chairwomen Kirsten Gillibrand to react to the results so far. So Representative Gillibrand , what do you think of the results so far
Gillibrand: Well so far we are really excited about the fact that we were able to win that Senate Seat in my state as not only will Caroline Kennedy be a great senator, but the fact is her win will enable the senate do do more on issues such as parental leave which is very important. We are also excited by the fact that we have taken back the mayoral office in the biggest city in our nation and it is my hope now with a Democratic Mayor in Donald Trump and a Democratic City Council, the city can make the changes it needs to improve the lives of all the people who live there.
Brown: What about the results in Virginia and New Jersey
Gillibrand: Listen the results in Virginia were really disappointing but Representative Tom Davis is a very popular figure in the state of Virginia so it is no surprise that he ended up winning big tonight. As for New Jersey , I can tell you that I am not ready to concede to the fact that Governor Codey will end up losing but if we do lose it does tell us the importance of having a united party because if we were united , Governor Codey would have been reelected for sure.
Brown: Ok thanks for coming on now. So John Does Governor Codey have a chance
King: Well I would say the biggest problem for Governor Codey is currently he is losing Bergen County a bellwether county in the state of New Jersey to the Republican Tom Kean Jr and it is very hard for me to see Governor Codey being reelected if this holds. I will say though I agree with Representative Gillibrand here as I can tell you the divisions that plagued the state Democratic party over the past 4 years and in this campaign put them in this situation they are now in where they could be losing this race. Also some last minute campaigning by Former President McCain for Mr. Kean did help as well.
11:52:Blitzer: CNN Can now make a Projection for the New Jersey Governor's race and that is we can project the Republican Tom Kean Jr will unseat Democratic Governor Richard Codey to be the next governor of that state.
Blitzer: Ok now lets send it back to Campbell so we can get our final thoughts from our election night panel
Brown: So Paul what do you think of this loss
Begala: Listen it is very disappointing but not surprising given how divided the party has been in New Jersey and how strong a campaign the Republican Tom Kean Jr ran and I applaud him . As for the night as a whole I would say the fact that we overperformed the polls in the New York Senate race was big and is some good news for us.
Bennett: Listen I do not know how you can call this night a win for anybody but the Republicans. Yes people are caught up on the New York results but keep in mind its New York the Democrats should be winning those races easily and the fact is they did not so I would say these results portend good news for our party
Gergen: I think tonight was a mixed night cause Democrats yes won the races that got the most attention but the Republicans won the closest race of the night as well so the night itself is mixed. Now where it can benefit the Democrats is the fact with one extra senate seat, it should at least on paper be easier to pass more of the President's agenda which they then can take into the midterm campaign next year. So I will say the winner of tonight comes down to how important the victory by Caroline Kennedy was cause if does end up being important than it is a win for the Democrats, if not I would say a win for the Republicans.
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