Election Day Expectations; U.S. Steps Up Cargo Security
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Starting a brand new month this morning. It's the first of November. Thanks for joining us. I'm John Roberts.</s>KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot to talk about this morning so let's get right to it. It's the final countdown to Election Day. The numbers don't look good for Democrats although party leaders are still holding out hope. President Obama pleading with people to get out and vote tomorrow. There's a influence CNN Opinion Research poll revealing a majority of Americans will cast ballots for any candidate who opposes the president.</s>ROBERTS: New information this morning on the man who allegedly built the bombs found on planes headed for the United States. He could be the same person who made the so-called Underwear Bomb that was found last Christmas on a flight to the United States. And Yemen is promising to make changes. Jeanne Meserve has the latest information for us this morning.</s>CHETRY: And the Supreme Court justices are taking up an unusual First Amendment case. At issue: whether states can prevent minors from purchasing violent video games. A videogame expert, as well as senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin will be joining us to talk about it.</s>ROBERTS: First, though, no matter how you break it down, it's not looking good for the Democrats tomorrow, just one day to go before the midterm elections now. And to get an idea of the mood of voters, the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll reveals a majority of Americans will choose any candidate who opposes the president.</s>CHETRY: And get this. The number of people who say that things are going badly in this country now stands at 75 percent. Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, I asked -- well, John asked Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele if he would be OK with Sarah Palin becoming the GOP nominee for president in 2012.</s>MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: If she goes to the process and the Republican primary voters vote for her -- absolutely, I would -- why wouldn't I be? And again, another point here -- you know, these Republican leaders who don't put their names in print but make comments in shadows need to shut up.</s>CHETRY: Yes, you heard it.</s>ROBERTS: Well, joining us now to get a handle on how things stand one day before the midterm elections, John King, CNN's chief national correspondent and anchor of "JOHN KING USA." Some tough talk from Michael Steele this morning, "Shut up."</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is remarkable. Republicans are on the verge of recapturing the House of Representatives, of getting close and if they have a wave of capturing the United States Senate, they're going to pick up many governorships across the country, dozens of state legislative seats across the country. And yet, even on the verge of such significant progress for them, they are in the middle of this remarkable family feud. And Michael Steele is dead center in it.</s>KING: I've never seen anything like it.</s>CHETRY: You're talking about the family feud between those who believe that Sarah Palin is taking up the mantle as the new leader of the party and who?</s>KING: Well, there are a lot of -- there are a lot of Republicans out there who don't see Sarah Palin as a good presidential nominee and they will start working Wednesday morning on, you know, Governor Romney, Governor Pawlenty, Governor Barber, what are we going to do here. Because if she's the nominee, based on polling today, they don't think she can win. Forget the polling today. Sarah Palin has had a very interesting year. She's established herself as a favorite of the Tea Party people and the conservative base. And she's a threat to some of the more establishment Republicans, number one. But the reason he gets so riled up and says "shut up" is because he also knows many of those same people are organizing to block him from getting a second term.</s>ROBERTS: Yes.</s>KING: And I'll tell you, I've been doing this for 25 years, and I don't know a Republican involved in a big race this year who listens to Michael Steele for one second. He is viewed in his own party as the irrelevant chairman and that frustrates him. That makes him mad. And he knows those people are trying to block him from a second term. That's why he is telling them to shut up.</s>ROBERTS: OK. So, we've gone through the 2012 election and Michael Steele.</s>ROBERTS: What about tomorrow?</s>KING: That's what makes it fascinating. There's a huge election tomorrow and it's consequential. It's not just about who wins in Washington. And most Democrats will concede to you privately they think the House is gone. They think Nancy Pelosi will lose the speaker's gavel. So, what does that mean? You will have a House that wants -- that's run by Republicans, that wants to repeal the Obama health care plan; that wants to rein in federal spending. The Tea Party people in that caucus will demand votes on eliminating the Department of Education, on completely repealing Obamacare. And the establishment Republicans are going to have an internal feud there because, John, you know this very well, they don't have the votes in the Senate to repeal Obamacare. And even if they did, the president will have a veto pen. And so, Washington is going to be fascinating after this election. The energy of the Tea Party movement is what gave the Republicans so much energy, but they are going to have big gains because they have taken the middle of the electorate back from President Obama, independent voters. Independent voters actually want cooperation in Washington. One of the things they don't like is that it looks like a daycare center. So, how do the Republicans deal with the energy on the right, the legitimate enthusiasm of the Tea Party people but then also address the moderate independent voters who have said the president reached too far, the Democrats reached too far, so we're going to vote Republican Tuesday, but that doesn't mean we want you to just fight the president every day?</s>CHETRY: Right. And I mean -- but it is interesting when you take a look at our polling, 75 percent of people are unhappy with the direction of the country right now. I mean, I understand that there's perhaps not going to be a ton getting done because you are likely going to have a split chamber.</s>KING: And so, the American people will send most likely divided government to Washington, that number is off the charts, and that's the biggest in a midterm election year, how do people feel about right wrong, wrong track in the country.</s>CHETRY: Right.</s>KING: When 75 percent of the people think the country is on the wrong track, the other party -- meaning the Republicans -- are going to have big gains in the election. History tells you that overwhelming. The question is: what next? But they are in the grumpy mood in part because of 10 percent unemployment. This is not all the president's doing, if you will. Now, people think the stimulus wasn't effective. He spent too much money maybe. But you -- and there's -- have you met an economist who thinks it's going to get any better in the next year? So, these political debates are going to play out at a time when we will have continued high unemployment, a continued 2 percent or 2.5 percent or 3 percent growth in the economy. The question is: if the Republicans take one chamber of congress, how much are they accountable for what happens in Washington, and who is to blame? And I think, sadly, what most people in both parties expect two years of finger-pointing and gridlock.</s>KING: Yes, that one that Michael Steele was telling you all to shut up about.</s>ROBERTS: So, what do you make of what's happening in Alaska where Joe Miller seems to have run into some trouble. His polls were way up here and Lisa Murkowski's were down here. And they were doing this. But now, he's stabilized a little bit. But do you think that Republicans will, if not overtly, at least tacitly, try to throw their support behind her?</s>KING: But what is interesting that any ads funded by Republican committees have dropped any critical reference to Lisa Murkowski. They showed Joe Miller, they might promote Joe Miller, but they dropped any critical reference to her. And truth be told, in a private conversation in Washington, most Republicans will tell you, "We hope Lisa Murkowski wins that seat," because she's one of them. She's an incumbent senator now.</s>CHETRY: They threw her overboard two months ago, right?</s>KING: The primary voters did throw her out. But if she wins, she gets six more years to figure that one out and to make peace with the people of Alaska. And they would rather have her than what they do as a Tea Party agitator in their caucus. Either way, the expectation is, a Republican will win that seat. So, while it's great drama if you're Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, you stay quiet for 48 hours and you assume that at least whoever wins will be a Republican.</s>CHETRY: You think we're going to know tomorrow?</s>KING: No. In Alaska, I think it's possible we'll be up late. I think Alaska race could keep us up late, and perhaps the next day and the next day and the next day.</s>KING: I think the Nevada Senate race could keep us up. That one there -- there are a lot of lawyers out in Nevada getting ready to do things. So, strap in.</s>ROBERTS: Fascinating races.</s>CHETRY: We'll be watching. Thanks.</s>ROBERTS: Thanks, John. Good to see you this morning.</s>CHETRY: Well, stay with us, because in less than 30 minutes, we're going to speak to Amy Kremer. She is the chairwoman of the Tea Party Express. We're going to ask her what the grass roots organization is doing to get the supporters to the polls and once some of these candidates get elected, how do they work with in the</s>GOP. ROBERTS: Now to an A.M. Security Watch. A new information on those mail bombs that slid past airline security in Yemen late last week. First, the fingerprints of al Qaeda we're finding out the terror suspect who created the Christmas Day underwear bomb could be connected to this plot as well.</s>CHETRY: Also, security officials in Yemen announce that every piece of cargo and luggage will go through extensive searching from now. The U.S. is also stepping up screening, saying procedures will, quote, "evolve" based on the latest intelligence. Our Jeanne Meserve spoke to the TSA administrator just minutes ago and she joins us live from Washington this morning. Hi there, Jeanne.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. Authorities are currently taking a look, as you know, at all packages shipped from Yemen. John Pistole, the administrator of the TSA, says, at this point, they have not found any additional bombs. He says forensics on the devices found in the U.K. and Yemen are continuing. He didn't offer definitive information on how they were supposed to detonate and whether the intended targets were airplanes or the destinations in Chicago. There seems to be some ambiguity about that. Still, even when tipped to the packages, authorities in Britain and in Dubai had trouble finding them. I asked the administrator if current screening technology was up to finding something like these well-disguised PETN bombs.</s>JOHN PISTOLE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: We know that the enemy we face is creative in terms of design, in concealment as we saw both on 12/25 and, of course, in this recent incident. And then also, in the effectiveness of the device, that if they operated effectively, could have catastrophic consequences.</s>MESERVE: Pistole says the biggest challenge in screening aviation cargo is the international aspect of the system. The U.S. needs buy-in from other nations around the world. He's on his way today to an aviation security conference at Frankfurt, Germany, where the issue is sure to be discussed. Kiran and John, back to you.</s>ROBERTS: So, Jeanne, in terms of the number of bombs, they got two of them. And they were quite cleverly hidden, it's copy machines and cartridges for copy machines. Do they think that there might be more of them out there?</s>MESERVE: Well, that's why they are taking a look at all of these packages from Yemen. There were specific ones they wanted to track down last Friday. I was told that they had indeed found all of them. We suspect that perhaps they were shipped from the same cities at the same time. But in addition, they're backtracking. They're looking at other packages sent from Yemen over the last several weeks, we understand, to try and figure out if there's any threat in there -- and as Pistole said, they haven't found anything yet.</s>ROBERTS: Yes, I should have said printers, is what I meant to say. Jeanne, thanks so much. Good to see you this morning.</s>CHETRY: Check in with Rob Marciano right now. Nine minutes past the hour. He's keeping track of everything for us, weather-wise. Hey, Rob.</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. A bit of a chilly start to this first day of November. Halloween in a lot of spots was definitely on the nippy side. But dry. And it's dry across the Northeast and chilly. Temperatures in the 30s in some spots below the freezing mark to start your day. Today's temps, what it feels like right now on the way out the door. It's pretty much what it's going to feel like tomorrow from D.C. up to Boston, that will remain dry. But it will be certainly cool at least in the morning. Temps will bounce to about 50 in New York, 54 D.C., some thunderstorms rumbling later on today in Houston. You'll see them tomorrow for the vote, the big vote. The rains will be across the Northwest and the Deep South for Election Day. The other item of concern is Tropical Storm Tomas, which has winds of 50 miles an hour. This was a strong hurricane over the weekend, beating up places like St. Lucia and Barbados. It is heading west and maybe drifting a little bit down to the southwest. It will continue that direction and then make a sharp turn to the right or towards the north. Jamaica, eastern Cuba, Hispaniola, including Haiti, of course, will be in the danger zone as we get towards this weekend. We'll talk more about the different options for Tomas later on in the program.</s>ROBERTS: Let's hope it's no mas Tomas.</s>MARCIANO: I like that.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Rob.</s>MARCIANO: OK.</s>CHETRY: Well, Tea Party chairwoman -- Tea Party Express chairwoman, Amy Kremer, is going to be joining us live coming up with last-minute develops about what's going on in Alaska and the Senate race, as well as Delaware. We're also going to ask her about Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity. Did she think it was a success firing up young voters?</s>ROBERTS: Plus, some scary moments on the football field. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre already playing with a bad ankle gets his bell rung and knocked out of the game. It's 11 minutes after the hour.