Bloomberg On 2020 Presidential Race.
COOPER: In addition to hotly contested, very closely watched Georgia House race, there is also a Special House Election tonight in South Carolina. We told you about it right before the break. CNN is projecting a Republican, as expected, will win it. And we have new numbers in Georgia for that. Let's go to John King. What are you looking at, John.</s>KING: Anderson, look at the map right now. Jon Ossoff ahead 51 to 49. If you look district right again. About half of the expected vote is in anyway. That's the full district. Let me break it down by county. And again, I'm going to be doing this throughout the night just the way that fills it here. I'm going to pull this out to make it a little bit bigger. The Congressional District is not all three of these counties. It's up here in the northern part of these -- northern part of Fulton County. This is Cobb and this is Dekalb. The biggest area for Jon Ossoff, one of the reasons he has the lead at the moment narrowly is because he's running it up, as expect. Now we have not only early vote, but some votes cast today are coming in, 51-49 in Dekalb County. It's the most Democratic area of the district. He needs to keep the numbers in the ballpark of something like that, run up the vote total here to help him over here, where you see Karen Handel holding. This number has been pretty consistent all night long, a 20-point lead, 60-40 in the most conservative part of the district, the northern quarter here of Cobb County and the most populist part is the northern part of Fulton County here and Karen Handel ahead there at the moment, 53-47. If she can keep that lead, that bodes well for her. But at the moment ago when you come back to the full district, Jon Ossoff ahead at the moment, as we count the votes. And this is where now we have most of the early vote in, Anderson, starting to get some of the votes cast today. This is a big turnout test for both parties. Jon Ossoff with a narrow lead right now. Remember early on back in April when you had that crowded field in the first election, Jon Ossoff started he was up about 60 percent at one point. He ended up winning the race just below 50 percent at 48 percent. So don't bet on this right now, but if you're the Democrats, Jon Ossoff leading at 51-49. Still counting the vote, Anderson. We're going to be here for a little bit.</s>COOPER: Although, what, a few minutes, Karen Handel was in the lead. So it's going back and forth.</s>KING: That tells you you've got a very competitive district. And just the fact it's competitive is news because this is a Republican district since the Carter administration. But after losing Montana, losing in Kansas, just losing in South Carolina, four Republican House members joined the Trump cabinet. There have been now the four special elections will be down by the end of tonight. Republicans have held three of those seats. This is the one left in play. The Democrat leading at the moment. Stay with us.</s>COOPER: All right. John King, we'll continue to watch. We're back now with the panel. Susan, should this race be so closely watched? Because I mean a lot -- you know, from both Republicans and Democrats are putting a lot into this, $50 million.</s>PAGE: I think I speak for all of us when I say, we've always watched Georgia 6th with great intensity every election. You know, I'm not sure it should. You look at -- remember Jack Murtha's special election was up in 2010, spring of 2010, really fiercely fought like this seen as a big sign of how things were going to go in November. Democrats held on to that, didn't matter. They lost control of the House in November, anyway. And so, you don't want to over interpret this, but I think it has a huge effect. And if Karen Handel can hold on, I think helps Mitch McConnell get health care next week or wherever he brings it up for a vote. I think it is -- even if Democrats have a kind of a moral victory, that was close in a district that didn't used to be close, I think it is somewhat reassuring to Republicans that they can figure out a way how to maneuver around Pres. Trump and his low approval ratings and still hold on to their seats.</s>COOPER: Matt, do you agree that it would help McConnell get health care done next week? And if so, why?</s>LEWIS: Well, you know, I think that winning, nothing succeeds like success, right. And so if there's momentum, that could give some recalcitrant Republicans, Republicans who are maybe getting a little bit of cold feet, a little bit worried about the voters a little comfort. And I do think that although this isn't predictive, right, you can't extrapolate from -- say if Democrats win this, you can't extrapolate what this means that the House is going go Democratic. I, you know, I use a sort of sports analogy. When a team is out of the game, you want to keep them out of the game. And if all of a sudden they make a good play, they score a touchdown, the crowd gets in the game now. Now, they have momentum. That is what Republicans want to keep Democrats from getting. If Democrats win this race tonight, then all of a sudden you're going to have Democratic activists, and candidates and donors who are excited and motivated. And that, you know, actually could have consequences.</s>COOPER: That's the only sports analogy I've ever heard that I actually understand. I appreciate that, as I know nothing about it. How important do you think this race is?</s>POWERS: Well, I think it's already important no matter who wins, because I think if you are a Republican who has a wealthy, highly educated district, you're paying attention to this. Because this is saying that there is a certain group of people that are unhappy with Donald Trump, because the only way that it gets this close is if Republican voters are crossing over. So, you know, so I think even if she pulls it out, it doesn't look like it will be like -- by a lot. And so -- so a certain segment of the Republican Party, I think if they're not, should be start stepping back and going. OK, this is a little bit of a referendum, at least from a certain element of Republican voters. You know, this isn't a super, super conservative district but it is a Republican district, and it is one that will require Republican voters voting for, you know, crossing the line.</s>COOPER: Scott, you don't look nervous.</s>JENNINGS: I don't feel nervous because number one I think Karen Handel is -- looks to me like she's in a pretty good spot right now. Number two, if the Democrats go on and lose this race, it is extraordinarily demoralizing. They've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at this race. The average Congressional candidate who wins normally spends about $1.6 million.</s>COOPER: That's incredible.</s>JENNINGS: And Ossoff has spent, what, $25 million? If you can't win under these conditions with that amount of money, if you're sitting on the sidelines tonight as a possible Democratic candidate, wouldn't you say to yourself, I'm in a worse district than this, why in the world should I even run? And so I think tonight, the Democrats have more at stake that be the Republicans because if they lose, it is demoralizing to candidate recruitment efforts.</s>COOPER: Jen?</s>PSAKI: Look, I think, one, there's an historic number of candidates expressing an interest in running. So many that there are going to be 10, even more in a lot of districts around the country. I think Democrats will have to play a role in keeping the party energized and keeping people across the country energized, who gave small dollar donations. But there are more than 90 districts who are more Democratic friendly, Democratic leaning than this district. So, while we're going to have some work to do if we lose this race, this is by far, there are a lot of other opportunities. Let's also --</s>COOPER: Although the Democratic Party has plenty of issues facing just in terms of internally of what is the Democratic Party? Who are they?</s>PSAKI: No doubt about it. That's for sure. And what's interesting, often, about special elections, is that they may not be an indicator of everything to come, but they can also be an opportunity to try things out. And in this race, health care is a huge issue. And the AJC poll 81 percent of respondents care deeply about health care. So if the Democrat does win, that is going to be a big sign for Democrats to keep running on that issue too.</s>COOPER: All right. I want thank everybody. Up next, no answers to simple questions from the White House. And how this White House compares to other when it comes to transparency? Keeping them honest, ahead.