America Votes 2006; Dems Win Control of Senate; Bush's Challenge
ANNOUNCER: On Capitol Hill...</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: Democrats are not about getting even.</s>ANNOUNCER: So what is on the agenda for the Democrats? Tonight, a look at what the party hopes to accomplish with its newly gained power. Across the country and around the world, this is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360, "America votes 2006." Reporting tonight from CNN election headquarters in New York, here's Anderson Cooper.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for joining us in this hour of 360. It has been a good day for the Democrats. And tonight it may have gotten a whole lot better. The "Associated Press" is reporting that the Democrats have captured the Senate with a win in Virginia. For more on the breaking news, CNN's Ed Henry is in Richmond tonight; and Dana Bash is in Washington, checking their sources. Dana, let's start with you.</s>DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Well, Anderson, you mentioned that the Associated Press is declaring Jim Webb the winner. CNN policy, we should note, I guess, is that we do not declare a winner when the margin is less than 1 percent, and the person -- the candidate trailing has the opportunity for a recount, which is the case in Virginia. However, from our sources, we understand that all indications are that Jim Webb, the Democrat, is likely to become the next Senator from the state of Virginia. And what that means, of course, is a seismic shift here on Capitol Hill. We obviously already know about the House. But that would mean Democrats would take control of the U.S. Senate. Now, what we understand from a source close to Senator George Allen, who actually spoke with the Senator late this evening is that he says he does not want to drag this out. And what they understand in the Allen camp is that the canvassing or review of the votes that they are going back and looking at in Virginia is showing that there isn't much of a change, meaning the Democrat Jim Webb is still in the lead. So what this means is that we might actually have perhaps a concession from George Allen tomorrow. And we do know that the Democratic leaders, Anderson, are already planning on having a press conference tomorrow here in the capitol to declare that they have taken over the majority here in the Senate.</s>COOPER: Ed Henry, obviously this is a major development. There had been some concern that this could take days, weeks, months.</s>ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Down here in Richmond, the capital of Virginia, we've been talking to election officials who thought they could take up to a week for the first stage of all of this. The review that Dana was reporting about where they basically go county to county and check everything out. That is going so quickly because they're not really finding any major fraud that would stop them. They're also not finding any new votes for George Allen that were not counted the first time. And the Allen camp is admitting quite candidly that they're just not chewing into the 7,000-vote lead that Democrat Jim Webb has right now. And on the Webb side of it, we're told this evening that Jim Webb will be having a press conference tomorrow about noon in northern Virginia where he will declare, once and for all that he believes he is the winner. He's operating as a Senator-elect. In fact, his staff is referring to him that way. He's already making plans to get an office in the capitol. And when you look at the Allen side of this for some context, just a few months ago he was being talked about as not just a contender, but a very serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. That has all crashed and burned, that infamous Makaka moment and so on. The miscues that he had that really dogged him in this campaign. And it's really remarkable how far he -- his star has faded. And finally, I think what you hear from some Republicans is part of the reason why he doesn't want to drag this out, perhaps, is he's still young. He still harbors political ambitions potentially. And being the statesman here and maybe getting out, not dragging this on could help him rehabilitate his political image down the road -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: And Dana Bash, a primer on this for folks who don't follow it maybe as closely as some. Taking control of the Senate, what does that allow the Democrats that it wouldn't -- they wouldn't have gotten by just controlling the House?</s>BASH: It's a very good question. Essentially, what it means, is a couple of things. First, we've been talking about the agenda that Nancy Pelosi and the House has laid out, things like raising the minimum wage, changing or rewriting the Medicare prescription drug plan, reforming and addressing health care, for example. Those are things that not only the House could do, but also the Democrats could do. What it means is that they control the agenda, they decide what is debated in the United States Senate. That's number one. Number two is, when it comes to nominations, that is something that only the Senate has to deal with. So the president's judicial nominations and other people he wants to be in the administration, that has to go now through perhaps a Democratic-controlled Senate. They also will have subpoena power or least the ability to call votes for subpoenas on anything inside the administration. So it changes it dramatically. But it would be a razor-thin margin and as we have seen, over the past several years in fact, you need 60 votes pretty much to get anything through the Senate. So it does not mean the end of gridlock at all.</s>COOPER: Dana Bash, Ed Henry, working your sources tonight. Guys, thanks very much.</s>COOPER: Jim Webb and George Allen are just two of the players whose political lives are taking dramatic turns. With the dust still settling and it's time for reality check on just how decisive the mid-term elections were. Take a look.</s>COOPER (voice-over): The president is taking the blame.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As the head of the Republican Party, I share a large part of the responsibility.</s>COOPER: But his party is paying the price.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a few minutes ago I called the new Senator-elect from Pennsylvania.</s>COOPER: And on Capitol Hill, the shift in power is seismic.</s>NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: Tonight is a great victory for the American people.</s>COOPER: For the Democrats, it was a landslide victory in the House of Representatives. Needing 15 seats, they picked up at least 29, including 28 Republican-held seats, giving the Democrats control of the House for the first time in a dozen years. And in the Senate, the "Associated Press" reporting tonight that Democrats also have won the majority. That, after Democratic challenger Jim Webb held onto his razor-thin lead over incumbent George Allen. In raw votes it was closer in the Montana Senate race.</s>SENATOR-ELECT JON TESTER (D), MONTANA: Thank you very much. Thank you.</s>COOPER: Where Democrat John Tester, an organic farmer, was declared the winner over Conrad Burns. But late today, Burns, the longest serving Republican Senator in state history, said he is refusing to concede.</s>SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: The great state of Missouri has spoken!</s>COOPER: Down in Missouri another nail-biter, but also going blue. With Claire McCaskill unseating Jim Talent. The same fate came to three other incumbent Republican Senators, conservative Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania and moderates Mike DeWine in Ohio and Lincoln Chaffey in Rhode Island. In each contest, the message was clear.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one indispensable person for this Democratic victory was George W. Bush. Six out of 10 Americans today reject his leadership in the exit polls. And the war is central to that.</s>COOPER: From the politicians to the proposals, Americans also used the midterm elections to vote on measures that could have far- reaching implications. Let's start with the minimum wage. Yesterday, six states decided to raise the wage above the federal rate of $5.15 an hour. Then, there's the contentious issue of same-sex marriage. Voters in seven states voted to ban the unions. Arizona rejected it. South Dakota could have become the first state to criminalize nearly every type of abortion, but a clear majority defeated the bill. And Michael J. Fox campaigned for it, and Missouri agreed, paving the way to provide funding for embryonic stem cell research. As the elections end, a new era begins, and challenges for the parties and the president.</s>COOPER (on camera): Well, CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeff Greenfield has been closely watching the races and the results. He joins me now. So the "A.P." is reporting Jim Webb winning in Virginia. What does this mean for the Senate?</s>JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well first, for Jeffrey Toobin's sake, I'm the senior analyst, he's the senior legal analyst. But we're all seniors because that's how old most of us -- not you -- are. Let's do this very quickly. This is the old Senate. No it wasn't, sorry. This was the old Senate. I'm sorry. Here was -- here's where we are now. Let's start with that. Until tonight, 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans in the new Senate. When Virginia was called by the powers that be, a Republican-held seat for James Webb, that tilted it to 51-49. That's where we are now. Now, assuming I can make this magic work, which I can, may I show you the House? We had 232 Republicans, 202 Democrats in the old House, with one Independent. What happens with the new House, 229 to 196. There are about 10 races where it's too close to call. Basically 28 to 30-something pickups for the Democrats and a majority.</s>COOPER: So what does this all mean? I mean, having control of the House, having control of the Senate?</s>GREENFIELD: All right. Let's focus in on one key aspect that I'm not sure everybody gets. When you control the House and the Congress, all the committee chairs go to your party. In the House of Representatives it means, for instance, that the House Ways and Means Committee does taxes. It's going to be chaired by Charlie Rangel of New York. Clearly on the liberal wing, it means that the people who like cutting a lot of taxes for upper income people are going to have a much harder time. It means, for instance, that the government of Operations Committee, or the Government Reform Committee is chaired by Henry Waxman of California, who has been pummeling the Bush administration on corruption and the abuse of government. If we go into the Senate, what it means is that, for instance, Judiciary Committee, the chairman, that's where the Supreme Court nominees and all federal judges are vetted, that's Patrick Leahy. Very committed to civil liberties, very suspicious about the Bush administration's use of executive power and very suspicious about the kind of judges that Bush wants to put on the Supreme Court and the federal bench. That's just one example.</s>COOPER: So it could mean gridlock, it could mean compromise?</s>GREENFIELD: We saw under Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton where a divided government produced genuine results. When Reagan was president with a Democratic House, we had Social Security reform that saved that system for another 25 years. When Clinton was president with a Republican Congress, we had welfare reform. We had a balanced budget because there was an understanding that neither side could get everything they wanted. And in the documentary I did for this network about conservatism, a lot of conservatives have said you know what? Maybe divided government was better for us because it kept government -- each side balanced the other. Maybe we don't want any party, even ours, to control the whole system. Now, we may have a test of that come next January.</s>COOPER: Maybe the founding fathers got it right after all.</s>GREENFIELD: Well, I'm sure the founding fathers got it right. I think...</s>COOPER: Maybe we're getting it right.</s>GREENFIELD: That's the point. I think we've come -- we've gone a long way to screw up what they had it mind. Maybe we can start getting back together.</s>COOPER: Let's hope so. Jeff Greenfield, thanks very much.</s>GREENFIELD: Oh, thank you.</s>COOPER: I have no doubt the founding fathers had it right. Here's another angle. Independent voters make up some 26 percent of the national electorate, and they played a pivotal role in changing the Congress President Bush is going to now have to work with. Here's the raw data for tonight. Yesterday, Independents voted for Democrats by a 59 percent to 37 percent margin. That is the biggest vote they've given one party since exit polling began about 30 years ago. President Bush, meanwhile, has lost the House. It looks like he may have lost the Senate tonight. And he got rid of Rumsfeld today. It has been a rough couple of days for the president, to say the least. And he still has a few years left in the White House. CNN's John King now takes a look.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.</s>JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a new beginning of sorts, two years from the end, and he thought it best to start with a joke.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Say, why all the glum faces?</s>KING: The president knows the lame duck label is floating around, and doesn't it like. His goal the morning after a mid-term election rebuke, to make clear he gets the message, that he's not done. So Donald Rumsfeld is out.</s>BUSH: The timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon.</s>PELOSI: Thank you all very much.</s>KING: Outreach to Democrats suddenly is.</s>BUSH: I'm confident that we can work together. I'm confident we can overcome the temptation two divide this country between red and blue.</s>KING: Mr. Bush suggested compromise on a top Democratic priority, raising the minimum wage. And he voiced hope more Democrats in Congress means more support for his views on immigration issues.</s>DICK GEPHARDT (D), FORMER HOUSE MINORITY: He doesn't have to be a lame duck. If you get a couple of wins under your belt, for both sides, then you can go ahead and do the things that are a little harder.</s>KING: Starkly different views about whether to keep the Bush tax cuts in place are on that harder list. So is what to do about what the strain baby boomers are putting on Social Security and Medicare.</s>BUSH: If we do not have Republicans and Democrats at the table for entitlements, nothing is going to happen.</s>KING: The next campaign is already underway and could prove an obstacle to compromise on those bigger domestic challenges. But the turnaround in Mr. Bush's tone was striking. The reason, no secret.</s>BUSH: It was a thumping. But nevertheless, the people expect us to work together. That's what they expect.</s>KING: If that spirit of goodwill breaks down, even a weakened president can hold significant sway.</s>FORMER SENATOR ALAN SIMPSON (R) WYOMING: When you're talking presidential power, if you really want to see a president with teeth, it's a president who's going to veto legislation that is passed by the Congress.</s>KING: Iraq was the biggest campaign divide and will now be the biggest test whether Mr. Bush gets a fresh start. He bought goodwill by making the personnel change the Democrats wanted.</s>BUSH: ... to be the next secretary of the defense.</s>KING: He gave no hint of the major policy shifts his critics also want.</s>BUSH: To our enemies, do not be joyful. Do not confuse the workings of our democracies with a lack of will.</s>KING: The debate over timelines and troop levels will intensify once the power shift becomes official in January. Testing Mr. Bush's commitment to bipartisanship...</s>BUSH: This isn't -- you know, this isn't my first rodeo.</s>KING: And his skills and influence navigating a divided government.</s>COOPER: It is such a fascinating time right now. I mean, there is such a clamoring for whether change or something to be done in Washington, not for gridlock, and yet gridlock is a real potential.</s>KING (on camera): There are a lot of people predicting total gridlock. All indications are today, I think, that that would be an over-exaggeration. There is huge pressure on both sides. The Democrats, to prove they can govern after being in the wilderness for 12 years. This president, to prove he's not a lame duck. So I do believe, and the president hinted today, you'll get a minimum wage compromise. What will the president get out of that? Maybe tax credits to expand health care access, not the bigger plan the Democrats want. Immigration is something that could be done almost in a blink. The president has to deal still with his conservative base, but they don't run the House anymore. So, a few thing likes that. The big one, Social Security, Medicare. All the people running for president in 2008 will say, whoa, whoa, whoa, making Bush's tax cuts permanent. The Democrats aren't willing to do that. The Republicans actually want it as an issue in 2008. But on some things that are some modest, some not so modest, actually can get things done.</s>COOPER: You know, this is a president that used to say, you know, that he was a uniter, not a divider. And yet that doesn't seem to be in the DNA of this administration, at least it hasn't in the last several months or years.</s>KING: He was a uniter, not a divider, until he became the decider. And he decided to run a part -- strategy, excuse me, based on his base. He had the majorities in both Houses of Congress and decided he could get things done. And he did not reach out to Democrats much. Not at all. It would be a mistake to say not at all. They got No Child Left Behind, the education bill with Teddy Kennedy's help. They got the Medicare Reform Bill that the Democrats don't like, with a compromise again with Senator Kennedy and other Democrats' help. So he has done this a couple of times in the past. On foreign policy, he has totally ignored the Democrats and that is the biggest pushing divide right now. Iraq, perhaps Iran and North Korea. So the president has a lot of repair work to do.</s>COOPER: The election strategy of finding wedge issues of trying to appeal to the base, did that just not work?</s>KING: The results tell you it did not work. They thought putting the same-sex marriage initiatives on some of the ballot would drive up turnout. It drove up -- turnout was actually pretty good. They just didn't get the votes they needed to win in most of those states. They thought the president coming out -- the White House thought, not all Republicans thought -- the White House thought making the president very visible at the end, talking about Iraq, trying to say again, elect the Democrats and you will get higher taxes. But more importantly from the president's objective, they will make us weaker. That was the president's argument. It worked in 2002. It worked in 2004. It flatly failed in 2006.</s>COOPER: We're going to talk with David Gergen, also Andrew Sullivan about this a little bit later on. John King, thanks very much. Left, right or central, last night was certainly a big one. And so is the Rumsfeld announcement today. Up next, more perspective on it all from David Gergen, who's seen it all from the inside. That story is next. And later, how evangelicals did and didn't vote. How it affected the race and whether or not conservative Christians still have the same faith they once did in the Republican Party. We'll look at the numbers. And live reporting from Iraq on what troops there think of their old boss and the man chosen to be their new boss. Trying to get some early reaction. Across the country and around the world, this is a special election edition of 360.