Two Days Until the Midterms
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN HOST: Thanks, Fredricka. And hello everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Deborah Feyerick in New York. We are just two days away from nationwide election that could change the way Washington does business. Pollster, the Republicans stand a very strong chance of winning a majority of U.S. Senate seats giving them complete control on Capitol Hill. That would have a huge impact on President Obama's final two years in office. A handful of tight races could decide it all. We have complete coverage of what you need to know as you count down to Election Day. CNN's Erin McPike is at the White House, our Nick Valencia is tracking the candidates in the tight Georgia Senate race and Mark Preston is man in Washington desk. He is he executive editor of CNN politics. So Erin, I'm going to begin with you because a lot of folks inside that White House looking to see what's going on. This could be the president's sort of last trip around the campaign trail, but he hasn't really hit the campaigns that might matter most in this election.</s>ERIN MCPIKE, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Deb, that's right. He is in Connecticut today. He is later tonight, heading to Philadelphia. He's been campaigning for gubernatorial candidates in blue states, should be slam dunk to the Democrats. Some of those have tighten in the last few days. But tonight will be just his seventh campaign rally for the entire election season. That's it and he won't be campaigning on Monday or Tuesday. As you know, for the last decade or so, he has been a campaign king, but this is then very rare and it's because Republicans are making what they say is his incompetence, his failed leadership, the key issue this year, Deb.</s>FEYERICK: But you know, look. The president has a knack for raising a lot of money and he has been giving some of that money away to other campaigns. Are these campaigns basically saying, look, it actually would help us if you use the money to get out the vote, to maybe help us with ads, but perhaps the best thing is not to sort of stand next to us, not at this point anyway?</s>MCPIKE: That's right. And in our latest poll, he is polling at 45 percent in terms of his job approval rating. A lot of Republican Senate candidates are using him in his ad saying that or in their ads saying that it's his policies that are on the ballot. And we're seeing a lot of ISIS, Ebola, and the most recent campaign ads again, they are using President Obama as the wedge to drive out Republican votes.</s>FEYERICK: All right. Erin McPike, thank you so much. Nick Valencia is in Atlanta. And Nick, you have been watching the Georgia race there. Is voter turnout going to be key in that close Senate race between Republican David Purdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn?</s>NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this Baptist church that we were at earlier today is any indication voter outreach is the main message. And while early voting in Georgia ended on Friday, that hasn't stopped the Democrats from continuing to sort of rally their base who are going after young voters, single women, of course the minority voter. That's made them competitive especially in this Senate race between Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Purdue. It could mean the difference of who controls the Senate going forward in the last two years of President Obama's administration. It's a tight race here so far between Nunn and Perdue. And the hey number in all of this is this 50 percent plus one threshold, Deb. Neither candidate, Nunn or Perdue has polled at that number and that could mean a run-off on January 6th. So this is a race that we could be talking about well into next year -- Deb.</s>FEYERICK: All right. And Mark, is it fair to say that voters there and thank you, Nick Valencia. We are going to turn to Mark Preston. And Mark, is it fair to say that voters really haven't sort of fallen in love with Republicans so much as lost confidence in Democrats, perhaps?</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, I think you are right about that. I mean, if you are to look across the whole landscape right now, we've spent so much time talking about Washington and dissatisfaction with the U.S. Senate, but there's dissatisfaction at government. There's certainly dissatisfaction with President Obama. But if you look at the map beyond the United States Senate, we're looking at seven Republican governors who could also lose on elect night. But it's really a situation for Democrats at this point, Deb, where you look at the map. It's not a good map for Democrats. They are trying to defend seats in Arkansas, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alaska. These are states that are not traditionally democratic strongholds. These are Republican strongholds and that's working much against Democrats trying to hold on to the majority.</s>FEYERICK: You know, it's always so interesting as somebody who doesn't follow politics as sort of the knitty-gritty of politics to see how people predict which way the races are going to go and how many seats are going to go to who and all that kinds of stuff. And you know, I watch it and I think, OK, well there is that sort of that wild card of either voter turnout, whether in fact the Democrats may be able to mobilize more than the Republicans, you know, we've seen that happen before. So is there a wild card here where perhaps the Democrats could sort of squeak it out or is it a done deal?</s>PRESTON: Well, there's no question, there's a wild card that Democrats could potentially hold on to the Senate. There's many mathematical scenarios you could play out. One of them being is that the Senate goes 50-50. That Democrats are able to hold off Republicans. The Senate goes 50-50 and the person who would then preside over the Senate is vice president Joe Biden. So, if you can imagine that Joe Biden, the last few years of the Obama presidency would be spending the mount of his time on Capitol Hill, not even from the Senate. That would be quite the scene. But really, when it really comes down to, when you talk about wild cards, perhaps it doesn't come to that. Perhaps it happens in Georgia where Nick was talking about the race down there between David Perdue and Michelle Nunn or in Louisiana, where Mary Landrieu and seven other candidates are running right now down there. We might not know who controls the Senate until January 6th, 2015 because of potential run- offs in both of those states, Deb.</s>FEYERICK: And last question. And you got to look at the White House. Erin is standing outside of that. You have to wonder what people are thinking inside, because if they lose control of the Senate, and if they the Republicans get more seats in the House, then effectively the Democrats would have minority status for the first time in 1948. Erin, are you sensing any fear?</s>MCPIKE: Well, Deb, we have been hearing all morning long from people on both sides of aisle who are really expecting Republicans to take Senate control. As Mark said, we still don't know. President Obama will not be campaigning on Monday or Tuesday. Certainly the White House is preparing. Minority leader Mitch McConnell is preparing as well to become majority leader on Wednesday. I would point out, though, that the really important thing here is that if Republicans take control, it's President Obama's nominations. He hasn't really been able to get many through in recent years as he's wanted, at least not as liberal the nominations. If there's a vacancy on the Supreme Court and Republicans control the Senate, that's going to be a legacy issue for Obama. As you know, he is searching now for a new attorney general since Eric Holder announced that he would be stepping down. The then legislatively, if Republicans control both houses of Congress, there won't be a lot of action. Obviously, President Obama would have to sign whatever that Congress is able to pass. But it may be that something is done on immigration reform, very smaller scale but Republicans may like to do that ahead of the 2016 elections to help them with Latino vote that they have not done well within past cycles, Deb.</s>FEYERICK: All right. That's why races like that one that Nick Valencia is there covering in Georgia are going to be crucial to see how this sway. Erin McPike, Nick Valencia and Mark Preston, thank you to all of you.</s>PRESTON: Thanks, Deb.</s>FEYERICK: And all of you out there watching, stay with CNN for election night coverage hosted by Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer, that's Tuesday night beginning at 5:00 p.m. eastern. So what's it going to take to win these races? My next guest gives his view on who will win Tuesday. Plus, a health worker with Ebola rushed to France. And in Switzerland, doctors are rushing to find a cure. What's next in the fight against Ebola coming up.