CNN - Situation Room and Lou Dobbs Tonight - 2006-11-08

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Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Another

[0:03] record high for the Dow and the Nasdaq

[0:05] trading higher. It's making a six-year

[0:07] high. That's it from Wall Street. Now to

[0:09] Wolf Blitzer, he's in the situation

[0:11] room.

[0:13] >> Thanks very much. And we're bringing you

[0:14] our program today from Capitol Hill to

[0:17] our viewers. Uh you're in the situation

[0:19] room where news and information are

[0:21] coming in. New pictures all the time and

[0:23] the latest information. standing by CNN

[0:26] reporters across the United States and

[0:28] around the world bringing you today's

[0:30] top stories and they're happening right

[0:32] now. A post-election bombshell. Defense

[0:35] Secretary Donald Rumsfeld steps down

[0:37] after voters register their anger about

[0:39] the Iraq war. President Bush says the

[0:42] time is right for new leadership at the

[0:44] Pentagon. We're going to tell you who

[0:46] he's tapped to take the helm and what

[0:47] this all means for the war and for

[0:50] Washington. Plus, the woman poised to be

[0:52] the next speaker of the House of

[0:54] Representatives. Nancy Pelosi tells us

[0:57] about her plans for the new Democratic

[0:59] run house. Does she feel vic vindicated

[1:02] by Rumsfeld's resignation? I spoke with

[1:05] her earlier today and the final battles

[1:07] for control of the Senate in Virginia

[1:09] and Montana. One we say has now been

[1:13] settled, the other still undecided. The

[1:15] 2006 election isn't entirely over yet.

[1:19] I'm Wolf Blitzer on Capitol Hill and

[1:21] you're in the situation room.

[1:39] Up first, uh we begin with politics.

[1:41] Important politics. A political

[1:43] earthquake here in the nation's capital.

[1:46] First came the election night bombshell

[1:48] on Capitol Hill. Today, an almost

[1:50] equally powerful aftershock. After

[1:52] months of saying Donald Rumsfeld was

[1:54] here to stay, President Bush now says

[1:56] it's time for him to go. Today, Mr. Bush

[1:59] announced Rumsfeld's resignation as

[2:01] defense secretary. He says he'll

[2:03] nominate former CIA director Robert

[2:05] Gates to succeed him. The three men in

[2:07] the Oval Office just a short time ago.

[2:10] At a news conference earlier today, the

[2:12] president acknowledged that voters

[2:14] across the nation vented their concerns

[2:16] about the war. And he said he shares a

[2:18] large part of the responsibility for

[2:20] Republicans losing control of the House.

[2:23] Today, Mr. Bush is promising to work

[2:25] with Democrats and the woman in line to

[2:27] become the Speaker of the House, Nancy

[2:29] Pelosi. She too is talking about

[2:32] partnership after a very bitter

[2:34] election. My one-on-one interview with

[2:36] Nancy Pelosi, that's coming up. In the

[2:39] battle for the Senate, the Democrats

[2:40] appear to have picked up a seat in

[2:42] Montana. CNN now projects that Democrat

[2:45] John Tester will win the Montana Senate

[2:48] race, defeating incumbent Republican

[2:50] Conrad Burns. As it stands right now,

[2:53] CNN projects the Democrats will win 50

[2:56] Senate seats. The Republicans will win

[2:58] 49. The Virginia Senate contest still

[3:02] too close to call. It now appears

[3:04] Virginia will be the state that decides

[3:06] which party controls the United States

[3:09] Senate. The best political team on

[3:11] television standing by to bring us all

[3:14] the latest developments. Let's go to the

[3:16] White House first. Kathleen Ko with late

[3:18] breaking developments there. Kathleen.

[3:20] >> Well, a very emotional appearance um in

[3:22] the Oval Office just 30 minutes ago.

[3:24] President Bush introducing his selection

[3:27] as his next secretary of defense uh

[3:29] Robert Gates and now the uh president of

[3:32] Texas A&M and saying farewell to a man

[3:34] who he has stood by since the start of

[3:37] the Iraq war and who he earlier this

[3:39] afternoon described as a trusted adviser

[3:42] and friend. And in speaking about uh

[3:44] Robert Gates, former CIA director,

[3:46] President Bush said he's a patriot with

[3:48] a wealth of experience who would not

[3:49] only be able to well handle the wars in

[3:51] Iraq and Afghanistan, um but also lead

[3:54] the Department of Defense and reach out

[3:56] to both parties in Congress.

[4:00] >> He knows that the challenge of

[4:01] protecting our country is larger than

[4:03] any political party and he has a record

[4:06] of working with leaders on both sides of

[4:08] the aisle to strengthen our national

[4:09] security.

[4:11] He has my confidence and my trust and he

[4:14] will be an outstanding Secretary of

[4:16] Defense.

[4:18] Bob follows in the footsteps of one of

[4:20] America's most skilled and capable

[4:22] national security leaders, Donald

[4:24] Rumsfeld.

[4:26] Don is the longest serving member of my

[4:28] cabinet. And next month, he will reach

[4:30] another milestone when he becomes the

[4:32] longest serving Secretary of Defense in

[4:34] the history of our nation.

[4:37] I appreciate his willingness to continue

[4:38] serving until his successor is in place

[4:42] because in a time of war, our nation

[4:44] cannot be without a strong and steady

[4:46] hand leading our Department of Defense.

[4:49] Now, Donald Rumsfeld thanked President

[4:51] Bush for the opportunity to serve as a

[4:53] defense secretary for a second time in

[4:55] his career, saying, "It's been quite a

[4:57] time," and quoting another leader during

[4:59] a time of war, Winston Churchill.

[5:03] I have benefited greatly from criticism

[5:08] and at no time have I suffered a lack

[5:11] thereof.

[5:14] The the great respect that I have for

[5:17] your leadership, Mr. president uh in

[5:20] this little understood unfamiliar

[5:25] war the first war of the 21st century

[5:29] uh

[5:31] it is not well known it was not well

[5:34] understood it is complex for people to

[5:36] comprehend and I know with certain

[5:40] certainty that over time the

[5:43] contributions you've made will be

[5:45] recorded by history

[5:47] >> and an emotional Rumsfeld concluded um

[5:50] praising the the patriotism and the

[5:52] dedication of the young men and women in

[5:54] the US military saying that they have

[5:57] his respect and that they have been his

[5:59] constant inspiration. Wolf

[6:01] >> Kathleen Ko at the White House for us.

[6:03] Thanks very much. Here on Capitol Hill,

[6:06] the ramifications are enormous,

[6:08] especially for the woman who would be

[6:10] the next speaker of the House of

[6:11] Representatives. Dana Bash standing by

[6:13] with more on that. Dana

[6:17] >> the capital today for the first time as

[6:19] presumptive speaker of the house. She

[6:21] certainly had her talking points down.

[6:23] One of them was to keep pounding away at

[6:25] the White House for new leadership at

[6:27] the Pentagon. Well, little did she know

[6:29] she was about to get her wish.

[6:32] Democrats called their election night

[6:34] sweep a mandate for change in Iraq.

[6:37] Nowhere was the call for a new direction

[6:40] more clear from the American people uh

[6:43] than in the war in Iraq.

[6:44] >> They didn't have to wait long to see the

[6:46] spoils of their victories. Just as

[6:48] Democratic leaders sat down for a

[6:50] celebratory photo op, they got the news.

[6:53] Donald Rumsfeld was fired.

[6:54] >> I think it will give a fresh start to

[6:57] finding a solution uh to Iraq rather

[7:00] than staying the course.

[7:02] If the vote of last night

[7:06] from all over America

[7:09] didn't accomplish anything but this, it

[7:11] was a good night.

[7:12] >> But beyond the Rumsfeld bombshell,

[7:14] Democrats all but acknowledged even with

[7:17] control of the House and maybe the

[7:18] Senate, there is only so much they can

[7:21] do to change Iraq policy.

[7:23] >> The president is the president of the

[7:25] United States. I hope that he will

[7:27] listen to the voices of the people and

[7:29] that again putting aside partisanship

[7:32] and looking to a partnership uh to to

[7:34] end this war.

[7:35] >> That's part of the doublebarreled

[7:37] approach set by the presumptive House

[7:39] Speaker, a pledge for bipartisanship

[7:42] along with a firm promise to push for

[7:44] new policies. Beyond Iraq, Nancy Pelosi

[7:47] has an ambitious agenda. In the first

[7:49] 100 hours, she wants to raise the

[7:52] minimum wage to 725 an hour, enact

[7:55] recommendations from the 911 commission,

[7:57] cut interest rates for student loans,

[7:59] try to lower prescription drug prices

[8:01] under Medicare, and more. Democrats also

[8:05] promise new strict oversight of the Bush

[8:07] White House. But the woman whose new

[8:09] caucus will be made up of many

[8:11] conservative Democrats from red

[8:13] districts also tried to allay concerns

[8:16] about her liberal route. a House

[8:18] Democratic problem.

[8:19] >> Now, Republicans are also sifting

[8:21] through the wreckage of their losses. Uh

[8:23] today, the current House Speaker, Dennis

[8:26] Hastard, formerly announced that he

[8:27] would no longer be a part of the

[8:29] Republican leadership. And already angry

[8:31] members of the Republican rank and file

[8:33] are saying that Republicans simply uh

[8:36] did got what they what they deserved

[8:38] because the party had lost their way.

[8:40] And many of them are already throwing

[8:42] their hats into the ring to be a new

[8:43] crop of Republican leaders. For example,

[8:45] conservative Congressman Mike Pence

[8:47] announced formally that he would run for

[8:49] the top slot, what will be minority

[8:51] leader of the House, and he's going to

[8:53] have to run against uh John Boehner, who

[8:55] currently is the majority leader. Well,

[8:58] >> all right, Dana, thanks very much. Uh,

[9:00] and earlier today, I had a chance to sit

[9:02] down with the new speaker, the incoming

[9:03] speaker of the House of Representatives,

[9:05] Nancy Pelosi. We spoke about the

[9:07] elections, we spoke about what's going

[9:09] on in Washington, and we also spoke

[9:11] about Donald Rumsfeld's resignation.

[9:14] Let's talk about the news of the day.

[9:16] Lots of news, but we'll start with

[9:18] Donald Rumsfeld. Bombshell announcement

[9:21] only a few days ago. The president said

[9:23] he was doing a fantastic job together

[9:25] with the vice president Dick Cheney. Is

[9:28] this what you wanted Rumsfeld to step

[9:30] down?

[9:30] >> Yes. Well, there were two major

[9:32] interventions since the president's last

[9:35] uh re reaffirmation of his support for

[9:37] Secretary Rumsfeld. One was of course

[9:40] the vote and the voice of the American

[9:42] people yesterday. rejecting the uh stay

[9:45] the course policy of the president in

[9:47] Iraq and just before that the voice of

[9:50] the military in the army navy air force

[9:53] mer uh marine corps uh times uh saying

[9:56] that Rumsfeld must go to use their words

[10:00] uh the president got the message thank

[10:02] heavens and I think it's s uh signals a

[10:06] new change I hope uh for the better in

[10:09] Iraq

[10:09] >> what do you think is of his designated

[10:11] successor the former CIA director

[10:13] Robert Gates.

[10:15] >> Well, this is a matter for the Senate uh

[10:17] to deliberate on and the president has

[10:19] proposed uh they will confirm and and I

[10:23] very much look forward to the hearings

[10:25] on that nomination.

[10:26] >> But fundamentally, do you think there

[10:28] will be a real change in US policy

[10:31] toward Iraq or this is simply changing

[10:33] the cast of characters? Will the

[10:35] president, in other words, do what you

[10:37] want him to do? Well, first of all, the

[10:40] president is the commander-in-chief.

[10:41] Donald Donald Rumsfeld and whoever he

[10:45] the president appoints or is confirmed,

[10:47] Mr. Gates in this case is an employee of

[10:50] the president. So, the policy is the

[10:52] president's the imple implementation of

[10:54] the policy as Mr. Romfeld and that's why

[10:57] I think it was very important for him to

[10:59] go.

[11:00] >> If the president pursues the current

[11:02] policy as you call it, stay the course,

[11:04] which he no longer uses that phrase. One

[11:07] option would be in the House of

[11:09] Representatives the power of the purse

[11:11] to cut funding for the war in Iraq. Is

[11:15] that on the table?

[11:16] >> Not really. We would never.

[11:17] >> Why? Why isn't it?

[11:19] >> Well, because our troops are in harm's

[11:20] way. Uh they have been set sent there.

[11:22] Whether you agree with the policy or

[11:24] not, and I certainly did not agree with

[11:27] uh the resolution to go to war. Uh we

[11:29] would not withhold our funding for the

[11:31] troops there.

[11:34] And we're going to have a lot more of

[11:35] our interview with Nancy Pelosi. That's

[11:38] coming up in the next hour right here in

[11:40] the situation room. But for now, I want

[11:42] to bring in our chief national

[11:43] correspondent, John King, and our senior

[11:45] political correspondent, Candy Crowley.

[11:47] Candy, first uh to you. uh between the

[11:50] notion uh of the Democrats taking over

[11:53] the House of Representatives and poised

[11:55] potentially to take over the majority in

[11:57] the United States Senate and now Donald

[11:59] Rumsfeld resigning as defense secretary

[12:02] on this the day after the elections.

[12:05] These are hugely dramatic developments.

[12:07] Give us some context.

[12:09] >> Well, they are and one you couldn't have

[12:11] one without the other. It was

[12:14] interesting to learn that the president

[12:15] was thinking about this and probably has

[12:17] been thinking about this for a lot

[12:18] longer than a week. Uh the context of it

[12:21] is that it became sort of unsustainable

[12:24] once the election results uh began to

[12:26] come in. It it all of the talk was about

[12:29] Mr. President, the American people have

[12:31] spoken, you have to change your policy

[12:33] in Iraq. Uh all of the House leaders,

[12:35] the Democratic House leaders that came

[12:37] out did that. It seems to me that for

[12:39] the president to sort of seize back that

[12:41] commander-in-chief role that Nancy

[12:42] Pelosi was just talking about, uh, he

[12:45] needed to do something dramatic to sort

[12:47] of quiet the crowd. Um, certainly he

[12:50] accomplished that uh, in the resignation

[12:53] of Donald Rumsfeld.

[12:55] >> And John, uh, as you look at this and,

[12:57] you know, you've covered this story for

[12:59] so long, what goes through your minds

[13:02] uh, as far as the the shakeup that we're

[13:04] witnessing right now in the nation's

[13:06] capital? Well, Wolf, the president has

[13:08] two years left in his term, and he was

[13:10] rebuked very sharply in the election

[13:11] yesterday. He has a woman coming to

[13:13] office as the new speaker of the house

[13:14] with whom he has sparred repeatedly

[13:16] using some quite personal language over

[13:18] the years. What you saw today was a

[13:19] politician who knew that he needs a new

[13:22] beginning and he has only two years

[13:23] before the end. And so he's he had to

[13:25] give them what they wanted. Both

[13:26] Democrats and Republicans wanted Donald

[13:28] Rumsfeld. Well, today today they got

[13:30] Donald Rumsfeld. And then the president

[13:31] is trying to pivot saying we can do

[13:33] business on the minimum wage. We can do

[13:35] business on immigration. we can maybe do

[13:37] business on a few other issues. Iraq

[13:38] will still be the issue because he's not

[13:41] budging. And even as Nancy Pelosi says,

[13:43] "Let's start to bring the troops home."

[13:45] John McCain came out of the box and

[13:46] said, "We need to fix Iraq. We need to

[13:48] win Iraq. We might need more troops." So

[13:50] this drama is in a new chapter, but it's

[13:52] a pretty packed exciting chapter to go.

[13:55] But the president is trying to say,

[13:56] "Let's start over. I'm going to reach

[13:57] out to the Democrats." Something the

[13:58] Democrats would say has been sorely

[14:00] missing for six years. and Candy, only

[14:02] within the past few minutes, we heard

[14:04] from the junior senator from New York,

[14:06] Hillary Rodm Clinton, who herself was

[14:08] reelected yesterday. She's weighing in

[14:10] on Rumsfeld's resignation as well.

[14:13] Listen to this.

[14:16] >> The president uh made the right decision

[14:18] today. I wish he'd made it earlier, but

[14:20] now we can have a uh a new beginning uh

[14:24] a new face at the uh Pentagon who

[14:28] doesn't carry the baggage that Secretary

[14:30] Rumsfeld carried.

[14:33] >> So So is is is the campaign for the

[14:35] White House 2008 candy already underway?

[14:38] >> Yes, it's it continues actually. Um, a

[14:42] part of what, uh, Senator Clinton needed

[14:44] to do over this past year or so is,

[14:47] first of all, show her defense and

[14:48] military creds. She needed to be both

[14:52] tough and, you know, muscular in her

[14:54] language about the use of force. On the

[14:56] other hand, um, increasingly on the left

[14:58] wing of, uh, her party for the past two

[15:01] years has come this, you know, very loud

[15:03] anti-war uh, get out now crowd. So, she

[15:06] had to balance and I think has done a

[15:08] pretty good job of balancing those two

[15:10] needs uh when you want to begin to shape

[15:13] your resume. Uh she in fact called for

[15:15] Donald Rumsel resignation a little while

[15:18] back, but a number of others had already

[15:20] done it. And when uh it seemed that she

[15:22] wasn't being sort of tough enough on the

[15:24] administration, uh that's when she

[15:26] called during a hearing for his

[15:27] resignation to kind of up that half of

[15:29] her resume. John, how shaken is the

[15:32] White House by what has happened over

[15:35] the past 24 hours?

[15:37] >> Well, it clearly they knew it was

[15:38] coming. They said all along they were

[15:39] confident. They were optimistic they

[15:41] were going to hold their majorities, but

[15:42] you had the meeting with Secretary

[15:44] Rumsfeld and and Mr. Gates taking place

[15:46] before the election. So, they knew they

[15:47] were going to have to pivot after the

[15:48] election. They knew at a minimum they

[15:50] were going to lose seats and truth be

[15:51] told, they were pretty sure they were

[15:52] going to lose the House majority and

[15:54] were holding out hope for the Senate.

[15:55] So, it is it is not a surprise to them,

[15:58] but it is a slap at them. And one of the

[16:00] big challenges here is can George W.

[16:01] Bush go back to being the guy who came

[16:03] to Washington as the Texas governor who

[16:05] had a history of dealing with the

[16:06] Democrats who said he thought Washington

[16:08] was this partisan awful town and he

[16:10] wanted to change the tone. The Democrats

[16:12] would say and most people in the White

[16:13] House would concede he has since being

[16:15] president run a clearly conservative

[16:18] base conservative base conservative

[16:20] based driven strategy and pretty much

[16:22] ignored the Democrats on just about

[16:23] every issue. There was the education

[16:25] deal with Ted Kennedy early on the

[16:26] Medicare Medicare prescription drug bill

[16:28] deal early on but he has not especially

[16:30] on issues of national security which is

[16:32] now the big here's the cliche again

[16:34] elephant in the room Iraq he has not

[16:36] consulted the Democrats enough he said

[16:37] he would today he laid it out there

[16:39] today we'll see how this all plays out

[16:41] and boy does Mr. Gates have a tough job.

[16:43] >> And and John, I know you covered this

[16:45] president for a long time. When he said

[16:48] last week in that interview with wire

[16:50] service reporters that the vice

[16:52] president, Donald Rumsfeld were doing,

[16:53] in his words, a fantastic job and he

[16:56] said that both of them would stay until

[16:58] he left office January 20th, 2009. He

[17:01] sort of acknowledged today, you know, he

[17:03] he knew that was not necessarily going

[17:05] to be the case, but uh what what was

[17:07] what how was he how was he playing that?

[17:09] because I couldn't have the impress I

[17:11] couldn't but have the impression that

[17:12] when he said that uh to the wire service

[17:15] reporters last week he knew it wasn't

[17:17] necessarily true he

[17:18] >> he did know it was true and that's one

[17:20] of those moments I guess where you don't

[17:21] want to be president and welcome to the

[17:22] presidency he said that he didn't want

[17:24] to leak the news didn't want the news to

[17:25] come out before the election because it

[17:27] would be viewed in a political context

[17:28] so essentially he didn't tell the whole

[17:30] truth did he lie to the wire service

[17:32] reporters did he just withhold

[17:33] information you know we can have a

[17:34] semantics debate to the end but the

[17:35] president conceded the fact he was not

[17:37] ready to make the announcement he

[17:38] thought if he gave him any hints or

[17:40] clues. It would throw a whole new dicey

[17:42] bombshell into the political climate

[17:44] before the election. So, he fudged.

[17:46] >> He fudged indeed. And he had to

[17:48] acknowledge that today. Uh John King,

[17:51] thanks very much. Candy Crowley, thanks

[17:52] to you. Uh John and Candy, Dana,

[17:55] Kathleen Ko, they are all part of the

[17:57] best political team on television. And

[17:59] remember, for all the political news at

[18:02] any time, you can always go to our CNN

[18:04] political ticker, CNN.com/ticker.

[18:08] Also part of the best political team on

[18:10] television, Jack Caferty. He's standing

[18:12] by with the Caerty file. Hi, Jack. Wolf.

[18:14] Now that the Democrats are the new

[18:16] majority in the House and maybe the

[18:18] Senate, the question immediately arises,

[18:20] where do they go from here? Iraq's at

[18:23] the top of the list. Another 21 US

[18:25] military deaths there so far this month.

[18:28] Maybe it ought to be number one. Senator

[18:30] Harry Reid sent President Bush a letter

[18:31] asking for a summit with congressional

[18:33] leaders on Iraq. The Democrat, who's set

[18:35] to become chairman of the House Armed

[18:37] Services Committee, that would be

[18:38] Congressman Ike Skelton, says they will

[18:40] re-examine US policy in Iraq and

[18:42] institute better oversight of the

[18:44] Pentagon. That's not all. Not by a long

[18:47] shot. Nancy Pelosi, expected to be the

[18:49] new speaker, says in the first 100 hours

[18:51] of the new session, she will push for

[18:53] implementing all of the 9/11 commission

[18:56] recommendations, raise the minimum wage,

[18:59] get rid of corporate subsidies for oil

[19:01] companies, and impose new restrictions

[19:02] on lobbyists. It's a very tall order.

[19:05] Here's the question. What should the

[19:07] Democrats priorities be uh in the new

[19:09] Congress? Email your thoughts to

[19:11] Caffidity File at CNN.com or go to

[19:13] CNN.com/afityfile.

[19:16] And Jack, as you know, the Democrats

[19:18] will be for sure the majority in the

[19:20] House of Representatives. And they are

[19:22] poised potentially to be the majority in

[19:25] the US Senate as well if that vote count

[19:28] in Virginia goes their way. Right now,

[19:30] the Democratic candidate Jim Webb

[19:32] slightly ahead of George Allen. I I

[19:35] can't stress to you and our viewers how

[19:37] significant that would be if the

[19:39] Democrats are the majority not only in

[19:41] the House, but in the Senate as well.

[19:43] This is really going to put a tamper on

[19:44] these last two years of the Bush

[19:46] administration.

[19:46] >> It also points up the significance of

[19:48] everyone's vote and how few votes may in

[19:51] fact wind up at the end of the day

[19:52] tipping the balance of power in the most

[19:55] powerful nation in the world.

[19:57] >> Jack, we'll see you soon. Thanks very

[19:59] much. Coming up, we're going to have

[20:00] much more on the breaking news. We're

[20:02] covering the resignation of Donald

[20:04] Rumsfeld as defense secretary. I'll

[20:06] speak with Paul Begala and Babe

[20:08] Buchanan. They're standing by for

[20:09] today's strategy session. What does it

[20:11] mean? Plus, more on the battle for

[20:14] control of the Senate. It's all come

[20:16] down right now to Virginia and we're

[20:18] going to go live to Richmond where the

[20:20] voters uh are still the votes that is

[20:22] are still being counted and a big sky

[20:25] victory for the Democrats in Montana.

[20:27] We're live on the campaign trail from

[20:29] Billings, Montana. And I'm live on

[20:31] Capitol Hill and you're in the situation

[20:34] room.

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[22:07] >> Tonight, a big win for Democrats. CNN

[22:10] breaks down your votes. Plus, live the

[22:12] view from Iraq. CNN Tonight beginning 7

[22:15] Eastern.

[22:16] >> Okay, let's do it. Stand by, Wolf.

[22:18] >> Stand by everyone. Come to me. Thank

[22:19] you. Music.

[22:21] >> Straight to you, Wolf.

[22:23] >> Track. Go.

[22:25] >> Hi, Oregon and Southwest Washington. I'm

[22:27] Wolf Blitzer in the situation room. You

[22:29] see it when we see it. Raw unfiltered.

[22:32] Join me in the situation room weekdays

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[23:14] >> It's

[23:18] always outspoken Bill Maher on the

[23:20] elections winners and losers. Larry King

[23:22] tonight.

[23:25] Welcome back here on Capitol Hill. The

[23:27] balance of power in the Senate very much

[23:29] hanging in the balance right now. The

[23:31] latest CNN projection gives Democrats 50

[23:33] seats, 49 to the Republicans. One

[23:36] undecided race will determine which

[23:38] party controls Congress. That would be

[23:40] in Virginia, where the battle between

[23:42] Democrat Jim Webb and Republican

[23:44] incumbent George Allen continues. The

[23:46] latest raw vote total shows Web with a

[23:49] razor thin lead over Allen. Webb has

[23:51] declared victory, but Allen is not

[23:53] conceding, and a recount seems almost

[23:56] inevitable. In Montana, Democrat John

[23:59] Tester has declared victory over

[24:01] Republican incumbent Conrad Burns, and

[24:03] CNN projects Tester will ultimately be

[24:06] the winner. Tester has a narrow lead in

[24:08] the raw vote count. A recount is

[24:10] possible, but is considered less likely

[24:13] in Montana. CNN's Dan Simons is standing

[24:16] by in Montana. But first, let's bring in

[24:18] CNN's Brian Todd. He's joining us from

[24:20] Richmond in Virginia. Brian, what's the

[24:23] latest?

[24:25] >> Well, the latest is we're getting

[24:26] reports that James Webb is already

[24:27] starting to assume the mantle of Senator

[24:29] Elect. We're being told that he's

[24:30] starting to name members of a transition

[24:32] team. One report says he's starting to

[24:34] call himself senator elect. That's to be

[24:36] assumed in a situation like this for any

[24:38] candidate. Uh but right now, it really

[24:40] is too close to call. Some precincts are

[24:42] still being canvased at this hour. A

[24:44] couple of hours ago, we were told that

[24:45] at least three precincts were still

[24:46] outstanding. And the margin is, as you

[24:49] mentioned a moment ago, razor thin.

[24:50] We're told about 7,000 votes is the lead

[24:53] for Mr. Web right now. That is less than

[24:55] onethird of 1% of the vote in Virginia.

[24:58] That is what the US Senate hangs on

[25:00] right now. We have not heard from George

[25:02] Allen today. We have heard from his

[25:04] campaign, the Allen campaign, saying

[25:06] they are going to respect this process.

[25:07] They have not said flat out that they

[25:09] are going to call for a recount. They

[25:11] have until November 27th. Next week is

[25:14] when the canvasing will end. November

[25:16] 14th is the deadline for that. Then on

[25:18] November 27th is when uh is the deadline

[25:20] for the vote certification. On that

[25:23] date, if Mr. Allen is less than 1% of

[25:26] the vote behind, he has the right to

[25:28] request a recount. And we should know by

[25:31] that time whether he will do so. We can

[25:32] expect now that he will probably do so

[25:34] if this result holds the way it is.

[25:37] Wolf. And and in terms of the actual

[25:40] hard number, the advantage that Web has

[25:42] over Allen right now, there are a few

[25:44] thousand. Uh what is approximately?

[25:47] What's that number as as far as the

[25:49] latest tally is cons concerned?

[25:53] Right now we're getting that the number

[25:54] is at about 7,000 give or take a couple

[25:57] of hundred. We hear different figures.

[25:58] They all hover around 7,000. Wolf. It is

[26:01] a razor thin margin in this state

[26:03] because

[26:06] percent of the vote here that is well

[26:08] within the margin to ask for a recount.

[26:11] >> All right, Brian, thanks very much.

[26:12] Brian, we're going to be checking back

[26:14] with you. It all boils down right now to

[26:16] Virginia. Brian Todd reporting.

[26:25] And there's another development just

[26:26] coming into the situation room from

[26:29] Montana. Let's go to Dan Simon. He's

[26:31] joining us from Billings. Dan.

[26:34] >> Well, hi Wolf. Well, CNN and others may

[26:36] have declared this race for John Tester,

[26:39] but Senator Burns not ready to concede.

[26:41] We just got this statement a few minutes

[26:42] ago. It's a short statement. I'm going

[26:43] to read it. It says, quote, "John Tester

[26:46] ran a good race and has the lead right

[26:48] now, but it is extremely close. The

[26:51] state of Montana has a process in place

[26:54] and it is our obligation to see it

[26:56] through." Now, Wolf, in terms of the

[26:58] numbers, right now, John Tester has a

[27:00] 3,000 vote lead. In order for there to

[27:03] be a recount, the margin of victory has

[27:06] to be within 1/ half of 1%, which would

[27:09] mean 2,000. We understand there are few

[27:11] votes left to be counted.

[27:13] >> The next majority leader in the Senate.

[27:19] >> Unfortunately, we lost that connection

[27:20] at Billings, Montana. We're going to

[27:22] check back with Dan Simon, but uh

[27:24] clearly it's not over yet. As far as

[27:27] Conrad Burns is concerned, the

[27:28] Republican incumbent, he's not ready to

[27:31] concede, even though the indications are

[27:33] that John Tester, the Democrat, will be

[27:35] the next United States Senator from

[27:37] Montana. That brings the Democratic

[27:39] total up to 50. If they eventually are

[27:42] certified the winners in Virginia, that

[27:44] will be 51. The Democrats will be in the

[27:47] majority in the Senate. We know they are

[27:49] already in the majority in the House of

[27:51] Representatives. Coming up next, why did

[27:53] the vote go the way it did? Many exit

[27:56] polls are telling us what was on your

[27:58] mind on election day and where Iraq

[28:00] ranked among the issues you care about.

[28:02] Our senior political analyst Bill

[28:04] Schneider standing by with some answers

[28:06] and conservative assessment. What are

[28:08] the conservatives on talk radio saying

[28:11] about the big Democratic wins? We're

[28:13] going to bring you the latest buzz. I'm

[28:14] Wolf Blitzer on Capitol Hill and you're

[28:17] in the situation room.

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[31:02] >> Welcome back to the situation room. I'm

[31:04] Will Blitzer on Capitol Hill. Uh let's

[31:07] get back to our top story. The breaking

[31:09] news. Donald Rumsfeld calling it quits

[31:11] as defense secretary. Just a short while

[31:13] ago, President Bush appeared with

[31:15] Rumsfeld and the man tapped to replace

[31:17] him, the former CIA chief Robert Gates.

[31:20] Rumsfeld says he's benefited greatly

[31:22] from the criticism he's received in his

[31:24] tenure as the Pentagon chief. All this

[31:26] coming a day after voters sent a very

[31:29] clear message to the Bush administration

[31:31] about its handling of the war in Iraq.

[31:33] Let's bring in our senior political

[31:35] analyst, Bill Schneider. Bill Wolf, does

[31:38] Donald Rumsfeld's resignation have

[31:40] anything to do with the election? You

[31:42] bet.

[31:45] >> What was the message of this election?

[31:47] Ask the winners.

[31:49] >> Nowhere was the call for a new direction

[31:52] more clear from the American people uh

[31:54] than in the war in Iraq.

[31:56] >> The voters views were clear in our

[31:58] national exit poll. A clear majority of

[32:01] voters said they disapprove of the war

[32:04] in Iraq. Those numbers closely match

[32:06] people's views of President Bush,

[32:08] suggesting that the Iraq war now defines

[32:12] the president. But did it affect the

[32:14] vote? Yes. 59% of voters who disapproved

[32:19] of the war in Iraq said they voted to

[32:22] oppose President Bush.

[32:24] >> The more the president campaigned on the

[32:26] war,

[32:28] the fewer votes the Republicans who

[32:30] supported that got. And that it took its

[32:32] toll on the Republicans. It even took a

[32:35] toll on Republicans who opposed the war,

[32:38] like Senator Lincoln Chaffi, who lost

[32:40] his re-election bid in Rhode Island.

[32:43] Chaffi voted against the war, but

[32:45] anti-war voters in Rhode Island went

[32:47] nearly two to one for Chaffi's

[32:49] Democratic opponent.

[32:50] >> As much as they may have liked Lincoln

[32:52] Chaffy, they wanted to send a message to

[32:53] Bush.

[32:54] >> Message received sort of.

[32:57] >> I believe Iraq had a lot to do with the

[32:58] election, but I believe there's other

[32:59] factors as well.

[33:01] >> What were the voters trying to say?

[33:03] simply this. They want to see US troops

[33:07] begin to withdraw.

[33:10] Starting with Donald Rumsfeld because

[33:13] nearly half of Americans pled last month

[33:16] said they thought the Secretary of

[33:17] Defense should resign. Wolf.

[33:21] >> All right. What a bombshell today, Bill.

[33:23] Thanks very much for that. Let's bring

[33:25] in our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield.

[33:27] Jeff, give us a little historic context

[33:30] right now to what's happening in uh in

[33:32] Washington DC.

[33:34] >> Well, the question is whether this

[33:35] signals a change not in personnel but in

[33:37] policy. And I couldn't help thinking

[33:38] back to the Vietnam era. Early in 1968,

[33:41] President Johnson had become

[33:43] disillusioned with Defense Secretary

[33:45] McNamera who himself had become

[33:46] disillusioned with the war and prospects

[33:48] for victory. He was also a close friend

[33:50] of Robert Kennedy who was contemplating

[33:52] a challenge. So Johnson replaced

[33:54] McNamera with Clark Clifford, a longtime

[33:57] Washington insider, a veteran political

[33:58] operative for the Democratic Party, and

[34:00] a well-known hawk. At the time, the

[34:02] Pentagon was pushing for 200,000 more

[34:05] troops in Vietnam. They were already a

[34:07] half a million. Clifford took one look

[34:09] at the situation, or rather a long look,

[34:11] and decided the war was unwinable, and

[34:13] within a short amount of time convinced

[34:14] the president to change course, go for a

[34:17] bombing hall temporary, go for

[34:19] negotiations, and of course, not seek

[34:21] re-election. The question to this time

[34:23] is whether the appointment of Robert

[34:25] Gates signals some kind of decision that

[34:28] they have already decided to change

[34:29] policy, wait for the recommendations of

[34:32] the Jim Baker Lee Hamilton Iraq security

[34:34] group and realize that they could not

[34:36] implement any kind of substantive change

[34:38] in Iraq policy with one of the

[34:40] architects of the present policy, Donald

[34:42] Rumsfeld. Please introduce

[34:45] >> Is there is there a sense that you're

[34:47] getting that the Vietnam analogy and I

[34:50] know it's a lot of people have been

[34:51] making those comparisons is applicable

[34:54] right now Jeff because this is the last

[34:57] two years of the Bush administration uh

[35:00] and this president clearly can't get

[35:01] himself reelected even if he wanted to.

[35:04] >> For a while I was one of those who

[35:06] didn't think there was an analogy. there

[35:08] was no draft and therefore much less

[35:09] political pressure uh on a president. Uh

[35:12] the the casualties while awful are a

[35:15] fraction of what they were in Vietnam.

[35:16] But the analogy I think is is best

[35:20] captured by a famous song of the Vietnam

[35:22] era, waste deep in the big muddy. Uh

[35:25] Americans do not like in long wars when

[35:28] they can't see either a clear path to

[35:30] victory or progress. as has often been

[35:33] said by its critics, this now has gone

[35:34] on just about as long as American

[35:36] participation uh in World War II. Um and

[35:39] and the sense that things were not

[35:41] getting any better is so pervasive that

[35:43] as you know, Wolf, in this recent

[35:45] election, you had Republican after

[35:47] Republican, including some of the

[35:48] stalwart supporters of Iraq like Chris

[35:51] Shay saying, "Maybe we need a change of

[35:52] course, maybe we need a new Secretary of

[35:54] Defense." And that's where I think the

[35:56] analogy is applicable. Wolf,

[35:58] >> we're going to continue this

[36:00] conversation. And uh Jeeoff, thanks very

[36:02] much. Uh coming up soon uh here in the

[36:04] situation room, the former Secretary of

[36:06] State Henry Kissinger. He knows a great

[36:08] deal about wartime elections and their

[36:10] fallout. He'll join us in the next hour

[36:12] to talk about the Rumsfeld resignation,

[36:14] the Democratic takeover of the House.

[36:17] And up next, the rough morning after for

[36:19] Donald Rumsfeld and for President Bush.

[36:22] Is the Pentagon chief's resignation

[36:23] enough to satisfy those angry voters out

[36:26] there? Paul Begal and Babe Buchanan.

[36:28] They're standing by for our strategy

[36:30] session. Much more of our election

[36:32] coverage live from Capitol Hill. You're

[36:34] in the situation room.

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[37:52] Oh, this happen.

[38:00] >> I hope I said that right. I'm uh Matt

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[39:25] >> The winds of change are howling here in

[39:28] Washington right now. Not only do the

[39:29] final election results signal a power

[39:32] shift to Democratic hands in the House

[39:33] and possibly the US Senate as well. The

[39:36] Bush administration also signaling a

[39:38] possibly big shift on Iraq with the

[39:41] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's

[39:43] resignation. Joining us now for today's

[39:45] strategy session, Democratic strategist

[39:48] Paul Begala and Republican strategist

[39:50] Babe Buchanan. And uh Paul, let me start

[39:52] with you. Uh would it have made any

[39:55] difference in this election, do you

[39:56] believe, if Rumsfeld would have

[39:58] resigned, let's say a week ago?

[40:01] >> Yes. Uh even better for the Republicans

[40:03] if it had been a few months ago. And we

[40:05] saw all across the country Democrats

[40:07] pressing Republicans saying Donald

[40:09] Rumsfeld should resign and Republicans

[40:11] being in the awful position of being

[40:12] disloyal to their president who has

[40:14] helped them enormously over the years.

[40:16] Uh or hurting themselves politically. Uh

[40:18] the president, if he was going to make

[40:20] this change, should have done it a long

[40:21] time ago. Worse still, though, he went

[40:24] out of his way to mislead the country.

[40:25] Just a few days ago, he was asked and he

[40:27] didn't just say his usual response,

[40:29] well, he's doing a good job or I have

[40:30] confidence in him. He said he's going to

[40:32] be here for the next two years. when he

[40:34] made that statement, he was already

[40:36] interviewing Bob Gates to take his job.

[40:38] That's going to hurt Mr. Bush's

[40:39] credibility terribly in the future.

[40:41] >> Don't I I think a lot of people uh Babe

[40:43] Buchanan will agree that the president

[40:45] was caught in uh shall we say a little

[40:48] bit of a fib there.

[40:49] >> There's no question. There's no question

[40:51] he was. But I I think what the American

[40:53] people are concerned about really right

[40:54] now is is we have the first step. They

[40:57] obviously they've rejected the

[40:59] president's leadership. They've rejected

[41:01] his Iraqi policy. They've even rejected

[41:04] Republican leadership across the board

[41:06] and and but and so what did the

[41:08] president do? He receives the message.

[41:09] He says, "Okay, with Iraq, obviously a

[41:11] key issue. Let's get started." Donald

[41:14] Rumsfeld's the face of stay the course.

[41:16] Move him out. It gives both Repsats and

[41:20] the American people the feeling that

[41:21] maybe he's open-minded some changes

[41:23] here. That's the first step, but they're

[41:25] looking for the second one. and and and

[41:28] Paul, so what do you think happens now

[41:30] as far as Iraq's strategy is concerned?

[41:33] Because uh as you know, Robert Gates,

[41:35] the the man designated to be the next

[41:37] defense secretary, he's got a little bit

[41:39] of a different reputation than Donald

[41:42] Rumsfeld has.

[41:43] >> Well, absolutely. He comes out of a long

[41:45] career in public service, but

[41:47] particularly the Bush one

[41:49] administration. And of course, President

[41:50] Bush's father and Donald Rumsfeld were

[41:53] famous and uh pretty intense rivals in

[41:56] their younger days. And so now it looks

[41:58] like the triumph of the father over over

[42:00] Don Rumsfeld yet again. Of course, it

[42:02] was the father who became president, not

[42:03] Mr. Rumsfeld. Uh but I have to tell you,

[42:05] I think the president's missing an

[42:07] opportunity here. I'm sure Mr. Gates is

[42:08] a lovely man. I don't know enough about

[42:09] him to pass any kind of intelligent

[42:11] judgment on him. But he could have, the

[42:13] president could have today named Joe

[42:15] Lieberman, the Democrat turned

[42:17] independent senator from Connecticut,

[42:19] very strong supporter of the war. And

[42:22] yet he was Al Gore's running mate. And

[42:24] the Connecticut voters just re-elected

[42:26] the Republican governor yesterday, Jod

[42:27] Re. She could then put a Republican in

[42:30] there and give Republicans control the

[42:31] Senate for another year or so. He missed

[42:34] an easy opportunity to both be

[42:35] bipartisan, but also help his political

[42:38] team at the same time. It's a rare

[42:40] opportunity. And I I I really for my

[42:42] sake I'm glad he missed it for my

[42:43] party's sake, but I was intrigued that

[42:45] he didn't take that option.

[42:46] >> All right, let's shift gears and talk

[42:48] about Virginia right now, Baby Buchanan,

[42:50] because it it would appear that the

[42:53] outcome in that state will determine

[42:55] whether the Democrats or the Republicans

[42:56] are the majority in the United States

[42:58] Senate. It looks as of right now with

[43:01] about 7,000 votes an advantage for the

[43:05] challenger Jim Webb as opposed to George

[43:07] Allen. Uh what do you make? Should

[43:09] George Allen demand that kind of recount

[43:12] or should he just call it a day?

[43:14] >> You you know this is a very tough call.

[43:17] First of all, you you've invested what

[43:19] 1520 million in this effort. You

[43:21] obviously don't want to walk away when

[43:22] you're not sure the results. I think if

[43:24] it's not enormously burdensome this here

[43:26] in in Virginia, it's all electronic. I

[43:29] don't see it's it's you have a right to

[43:31] have a recount, but I would like it not

[43:33] to go to the courts. I think we just

[43:34] have a legitimate recount and stop

[43:36] there. But uh you know you could have if

[43:39] this thing were to flip and ended up

[43:41] George Allen winning it. You're going to

[43:42] have resentment going on across this

[43:44] country. It's going to be deeply felt as

[43:46] if we stole the Senate and uh the Senate

[43:49] the Senate, not only the that particular

[43:51] seat, but the Senate itself.

[43:53] >> What do you think, Paul?

[43:54] >> Yeah, I think Bay makes a good point.

[43:55] Senator Allen presumably still has a

[43:58] desire for a political future. He

[43:59] stumbled desperately just a few months

[44:01] ago. uh dummies like me were seeing him

[44:02] as a very serious candidate for the

[44:04] presidency and now he's on the verge of

[44:06] being an ex United States senator, but

[44:07] he's young and he still has a chance, I

[44:10] think, to have a serious career ahead of

[44:11] him. This period of time will define him

[44:14] probably even more than his years in the

[44:15] Senate. If he pushes the his

[44:18] commonwealth and our country through a

[44:19] long difficult court battle the way that

[44:21] Bay is telling him not to, and I wish he

[44:23] would listen to B, it'll hurt him

[44:25] politically terribly. And guess what?

[44:27] He's going to lose. You're not going to

[44:28] pick up 7,000 votes in a recount. It's

[44:31] just not going to happen. So, but I'm

[44:32] sure he's got a lot of pressure from

[44:34] national Republicans saying save the

[44:35] Senate. Well, the time to save the

[44:36] Senate was yesterday when the votes were

[44:38] being cast. Not now in a recount.

[44:40] >> Paul Begala and Babe Buchanan, thanks to

[44:42] both of you very much. And as you saw

[44:44] earlier, Bill Schneider and Jeff

[44:46] Greenfield, all of them are part of the

[44:47] best political team on television. And

[44:49] remember, for the latest campaign news

[44:51] at any time, check out the political

[44:53] ticker. CNN.com/ticker.

[44:57] Coming up, she stands to become the

[44:59] first female House Speaker in American

[45:01] history. I sat down today here on

[45:03] Capitol Hill with Congresswoman Nancy

[45:05] Pelosi. It's an interview you're going

[45:07] to want to see. That's coming up at our

[45:09] next hour, 5:00 p.m. Eastern, right here

[45:11] in the situation room.

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[48:12] Americans took to the nation's modern

[48:13] day forum today to pick apart the

[48:16] results of yesterday's elections. Our

[48:18] senior correspondent, Alan Chernoff,

[48:19] spent his day in New York listening to

[48:22] talk radio. Alan,

[48:24] >> that's right, Wolf. The radio was

[48:25] buzzing today with calls from Democrats

[48:27] and Republicans, liberals, and

[48:29] conservatives, all wanting to share

[48:30] their glory or their grief. After

[48:33] speaking with their votes yesterday,

[48:35] Americans today were speaking their

[48:36] minds on talk radio.

[48:39] It's gratifying to see the Americans

[48:42] finally wake up.

[48:44] >> On liberal talk radio network Air

[48:46] America, Mark from Oakland was gloating.

[48:49] >> It was just one of the most

[48:52] >> incredible and wonderful feelings.

[48:54] >> Your your point is

[48:55] >> we've got our we've got our we we've

[48:57] we've made the first step. We've got our

[48:59] country back.

[49:01] >> Democrats were pumped up on talk radio

[49:03] today, energized, feeling new power to

[49:05] demand change.

[49:06] >> You're with John Gambling. Good morning.

[49:08] New York's Republican leaning talk show

[49:10] host John Gambling got an earful from

[49:12] some Democratic callers this morning.

[49:14] >> Bush wake up now. Do you have the

[49:17] message? Couple of them called and said

[49:19] they didn't think he has the message.

[49:22] >> We have said that we do not want stay

[49:24] the cost anymore. We do not want

[49:27] Rumsfeld. We want a new foreign policy

[49:30] in Iraq. We want someone to listen to

[49:33] us. I think that the Democrats have no

[49:35] intention of working with the

[49:36] Republicans for the next two years. What

[49:37] they're going to try to do is impeach

[49:40] the president.

[49:41] >> Ladies and gentlemen,

[49:42] >> the president apparently was listening.

[49:44] An hour later, Derek from Brooklyn got

[49:46] part of his wish when the president

[49:48] announced Donald Rumsfeld was resigning.

[49:51] >> It was a day for Republicans to lick

[49:53] their wounds.

[49:54] >> I'm really sad for this country. I'm a

[49:56] very disappointed conservative today.

[49:59] But amid the complaints, one Republican

[50:01] caller, Moren, reminded fellow party

[50:04] members to keep the loss in perspective

[50:06] by recognizing the blessings of

[50:08] democracy.

[50:09] >> Yeah, we're disappointed, but chins up.

[50:11] We decide our destiny. We can vote in

[50:14] this country.

[50:16] >> When you hear the passion that people

[50:17] have for politics on talk radio, it

[50:20] really makes you wonder why more

[50:22] Americans simply don't vote. Wol,

[50:26] >> good question. Uh, Alan, thanks very

[50:27] much. Up next, we'll get reaction to the

[50:29] election and to the Rumsfeld

[50:31] resignation. And it isn't confined

[50:33] necessarily to talk radio. Bloggers,

[50:35] both conservative and liberal, have

[50:37] plenty to say about what's going on.

[50:40] Also coming up, my interview with Nancy

[50:42] Pelosi preparing to make history as the

[50:44] first woman speaker of the house. Can

[50:47] she and the president put their bad

[50:48] blood behind them and get things done

[50:51] here in Washington? We're reporting live

[50:53] from Capitol Hill on this the day after

[50:56] the vote. We'll be right back.

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[53:43] >> Get to the truth. It's time for answers.

[53:46] Lou Doss tonight, CNN 6 Eastern.

[53:51] >> Returning now to our top story. The

[53:53] Defense Secretary of the United States

[53:55] Donald Rumsfeld stepping down. The news

[53:57] uh is being greeted around the world,

[53:59] but how is it being greeted online? Our

[54:02] internet reporter Abby Tatton standing

[54:04] by with some details. Abby

[54:05] >> Wolf and of course it's a day of

[54:07] celebrations for liberal bloggers online

[54:09] about their gains in the House and also

[54:12] from conservatives some of those urging

[54:15] wholesale change in House Republican

[54:17] leadership. That's how the day started

[54:18] and then with the news about Donald

[54:20] Rumsfeld the conversation changed a

[54:22] little bit online and it's the timing of

[54:25] the decision as much as the decision

[54:27] itself that is being discussed out

[54:28] there. One of these to talk about this

[54:30] liberal think progress. They're pointing

[54:33] out that the president told reporters

[54:35] last week that Rumsfeld would not be

[54:37] stepping down and they're linking to the

[54:38] news conference today when the president

[54:41] said that he did that to get reporters

[54:43] to move on to another topic. He did not

[54:45] want to inject a major decision on the

[54:48] war into the final days. And that's been

[54:50] questioned by some like James Joiner, a

[54:52] conservative outside the beltway who's

[54:54] asking, well, isn't that exactly the

[54:56] kind of information that would have been

[54:58] useful to voters in the final few days?

[55:00] But the decision is also getting support

[55:02] from some conservatives online from the

[55:05] National Review calling it very

[55:06] decisive. Michelle Markin and other

[55:08] conservatives saying that this proves

[55:10] he's not the stubborn cowboy that some

[55:12] people sometimes accuse him of. But for

[55:14] the liberals at my DD, this is a site

[55:16] that's been supporting anti-war

[55:18] candidates throughout this election

[55:20] cycle. But Matt Stal saying the Bush ad

[55:22] administration knew exactly what the

[55:24] election was about and that is why

[55:26] Donald Rumsfeld is out of office. Wolf.

[55:28] >> All right, Abby. Thank you very much. Up

[55:30] next, Jack Cavern returns with your

[55:32] email. The question of the hour, what

[55:34] should the Democrats priorities be in

[55:36] Congress? We're live on Capitol Hill and

[55:39] you're in the situation room.

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[56:09] I am holding halfway

[56:15] to that Michigan.

[56:20] I am carrying this scrap of paper.

[56:25] Bringing back the darkest sky wide on

[56:30] me.

[56:31] Every burden ten from me. Every night my

[56:39] heart I'm

[56:43] When it's people who do the right thing,

[56:45] they call it being responsible. When

[56:48] it's an insurance company, they call it

[56:50] Liberty Mutual. Responsibility. What's

[56:53] your policy?

[56:55] Liberty Mutual.

[56:59] >> Steve is like a big kid. He gets out

[57:01] there and plays like he's four.

[57:02] >> I want to be around to see them get

[57:03] married off. But my cholesterol was a

[57:06] problem. So I did eat the quick oatmeal

[57:08] every day for 30 days. It helped lower

[57:10] my cholesterol.

[57:11] >> Seven points. It was really something to

[57:13] smile about.

[57:16] >> I saw several girls raped.

[57:18] >> Raped right in front of my eyes. Then

[57:20] they burned them to death.

[57:23] They killed my sons,

[57:24] >> then my husband and my brother.

[57:27] >> The government just wants us to

[57:28] disappear.

[57:33] >> The rest of the world isn't doing

[57:35] anything.

[57:35] >> isn't doing anything.

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[58:25] explain it.

[58:29] >> Tonight, a big win for Democrats. The

[58:32] campaigns are over, but the politics

[58:34] continues. CNN breaks down your votes

[58:36] and the battle for Congress. Plus, live

[58:39] the view from Iraq. CNN Tonight,

[58:41] beginning 7 Eastern.

[58:46] Check back with Jack Caferty. He's got

[58:47] the Cafferty file. Jack,

[58:49] >> the question this hour is, what should

[58:50] the Democrats priorities be in the new

[58:53] Congress? In uh 07, Jeff in Yellow

[58:56] Springs, Ohio writes, "Now that the Dems

[58:57] have ridden a wave of voter discuss with

[59:00] Washington into power, they better get

[59:02] some bipartisan work done pronto.

[59:05] They've got two years to enact the 9/11

[59:07] Commission findings, promote alternative

[59:09] energy, and end lobbying corruption. If

[59:11] they waste time trying to vilify

[59:13] Republicans with hearings, etc., they're

[59:15] going to end up ticking off the voters.

[59:17] And as we saw last night, the voters can

[59:19] and do show their annoyance at the

[59:21] polls. Mike writes, "Jack, the first and

[59:23] most important thing the Democrats need

[59:25] to do is impeach George Bush so this

[59:28] nation of ours can get back on the right

[59:30] track." Joe in Kentucky, Jack, the first

[59:32] priority of the new House should be to

[59:34] bring back the 5-day work week. The

[59:36] speaker should give notice that all

[59:37] votes will be taken on Friday of each

[59:40] week. It's time to give the people the

[59:42] right work ethic for the overpay that

[59:44] they now receive. Mark in New Jersey,

[59:46] immigration, immigration, immigration,

[59:49] immigration in that order. James, the

[59:51] day after the election, I haven't heard

[59:53] anyone talking about the genius of Carl

[59:55] Rove. I have three words for Mr. Bush.

[59:58] Touchdown, George. Touchdown. And

[60:01] Richard Galino, Ohio, the Democrat's

[60:03] first priority should be to become the

[60:05] minority party again in 2008. Wolf

[60:08] >> Jack, thank you. And to our viewers,

[60:10] you're in the situation room where new

[60:12] pictures and information are arriving

[60:14] all the time. Standing by CNN reporters

[60:17] across the United States and around the

[60:18] world to bring you today's top stories.

[60:21] Happening now, the aftershock from an

[60:24] election earthquake. Defense Secretary

[60:26] Donald Rumsfeld resigns and a lame duck

[60:28] president apparently picks a

[60:30] replacement. Will there be a change of

[60:32] course in Iraq? Big changes ahead in

[60:35] Congress where Democrats clean house.

[60:37] I'll have a special interview with Nancy

[60:39] Pelosi, slated to serve as the first

[60:41] woman speaker of the House. And a

[60:44] seessaw struggle for control of the

[60:46] Senate. One last race still too close to

[60:48] call. We'll take you to the battleground

[60:50] in Virginia. I'm Will Blitzer live on

[60:53] Capitol Hill, epicenter of this election

[60:55] upheaval. You're in the situation room.

[61:14] A ground swell of voter outrage shakes

[61:17] the foundations here on Capitol Hill and

[61:19] rocks the White House. The first pillar

[61:21] to fall, Defense Secretary Donald

[61:23] Rumsfelt stepping down amid public anger

[61:26] over the Iraq war. President Bush picks

[61:28] a replacement, but Democrats feel they

[61:30] can now call the shots. At least many of

[61:33] them. Only one seat may stand in the way

[61:35] of their control of the US Senate, but

[61:37] it's still a cliffhanger in Virginia.

[61:40] Takeover of the House already in the

[61:42] works. I'll speak with the Democratic

[61:44] leader Nancy Pelosi. She's set to become

[61:46] America's first female speaker. Standing

[61:49] by our senior Pentagon correspondent

[61:51] Jamie McIntyre, CNN's Michael Wear in

[61:54] Baghdad. But let's begin with our White

[61:56] House correspondent, Suzan Malvo. Suzan,

[61:59] >> well Wolf, as you know, Don Rumsfeld is

[62:01] out. Bob Gates is in. It is really a

[62:03] stunning turnaround for this president,

[62:05] at least publicly. The news broke just

[62:08] before the press conference uh occurred

[62:10] in the East Room. Blackberries were

[62:12] buzzing. Uh we had some hint of

[62:14] something a foot when White House

[62:16] officials refused to actually rule out

[62:18] the possibility that there'd be a major

[62:20] announcement and a personnel

[62:21] announcement. And that of course uh is

[62:23] when the news broke. The president

[62:25] making that news in the East Room. And

[62:27] of course the reason why this was so

[62:29] surprising, it was just a week ago that

[62:31] the president in a print interview

[62:33] outright rejected the possibility of

[62:35] Rumsfeld stepping down saying he would

[62:37] take him uh through the remainder of his

[62:40] second term. But that of course is not

[62:42] happening. President Bush acknowledged

[62:44] that he was less than forthcoming with

[62:46] reporters today, saying that he and

[62:48] Rumsfeld actually had a series of

[62:50] meetings about the possibility of him

[62:52] stepping down and that it wasn't until

[62:54] Sunday in Crawford when he met with his

[62:56] potential replacement.

[62:59] >> In this time of war, the president

[63:00] relies on the Secretary of Defense to

[63:02] provide military advice and direct our

[63:04] nation's armed forces as they engage our

[63:06] enemies across the world.

[63:09] Secretary of Defense must be a man of

[63:11] vision who can see threats still over

[63:14] the horizon and prepare our nation to

[63:16] meet them. Bob Gates is the right man to

[63:19] meet both of these critical challenges

[63:21] for six years. Uh it's been quite a

[63:24] time. It it recalls to mind the

[63:28] statement by Winston Churchill something

[63:30] to the effect that I have benefited

[63:33] greatly from criticism

[63:36] and at no time have I suffered a lack

[63:39] thereof

[63:43] and Wolf President Bush saying that the

[63:45] reason why he wasn't forthcoming about

[63:47] Runsfeld potentially stepping down he

[63:49] didn't want to influence the midterm

[63:51] elections and interfere with the

[63:53] political climate here. But of course,

[63:56] Wolfe, this is really part consiliatory,

[63:58] but also partly a political calculation

[64:00] as well. Republican strategists as well

[64:03] as friends of the White House and even

[64:04] some lawmakers quietly going to the

[64:07] White House suggesting that they needed

[64:08] to do something dramatic. They needed to

[64:10] do it quickly, that the elections

[64:12] essentially was a referendum on the

[64:14] president in his Iraq war. Wol.

[64:16] >> All right, Suzanne. Thanks very much.

[64:18] For almost half a dozen years, Donald

[64:20] Rumseld worked his will at the Pentagon.

[64:22] But voters angry over the war in Iraq

[64:24] have now made their will clear. Let's go

[64:26] live to our senior Pentagon

[64:28] correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. Jamie,

[64:30] what does the defense secretary's

[64:32] departure actually mean for the

[64:34] management of the war in Iraq? Well, it

[64:36] means a couple of things. Wolf. One, of

[64:38] course, is it's a consiliatory gesture

[64:40] to Democrats on the Hill who had been

[64:42] calling for Rumsfeld's resignation for

[64:44] quite some time. It also obviously does

[64:46] clear the decks, provides, in the

[64:48] president's words a chance for a fresh

[64:50] perspective on what's going on in Iraq.

[64:52] And by selecting Bob Gates as the new

[64:56] defense secretary, assuming he's

[64:57] confirmed, it gives more credence to the

[64:59] Iraq study group of which he was a

[65:01] member, which has been studying, getting

[65:03] briefings, trying to come up with

[65:05] options for a major course correction.

[65:06] Without Rumsfeld at the helm, the

[65:09] chances for a major change in policy are

[65:11] greater because uh you won't have

[65:13] Rumsfeld arguing for uh the current

[65:16] policy which he continues to believe is

[65:18] the right one.

[65:19] >> And what's the buzz in the corridors

[65:21] over there at the Pentagon? I'm sure it

[65:23] must it must have caused quite a jolt.

[65:25] >> Yeah, big surprise. Nobody saw this

[65:27] coming as far as I can tell. most of the

[65:29] uh rum key rumald aids who came in this

[65:31] morning were in meetings with him and he

[65:33] didn't give a clue that this was up

[65:35] until about midm morning when he started

[65:36] to uh to brief some of the senior

[65:38] people. So a big shock particularly

[65:40] because President Bush had just given

[65:42] him another uh endorsement.

[65:45] >> Jamie McIntyre, thank you very much. So

[65:47] what impact will the departure of Donald

[65:49] Rumsfeld and the political turnabout

[65:51] here in Washington have on the war in

[65:53] Iraq? Let's turn to CNN's Michael Wear.

[65:55] He's joining us live from Baghdad.

[65:58] What's the likely reaction going to be

[66:00] first of all in the Iraqi government of

[66:03] the Prime Minister Nuriel Maliki?

[66:07] >> Well, Wolf, I mean, clearly the Iraqi

[66:10] government has no influence over the

[66:13] appointments within the US

[66:15] administration. Indeed, the

[66:16] administration makes it very clear that

[66:19] Iraq itself is a sovereign government. I

[66:22] mean really they're just going to have

[66:24] to accept this obviously and they're

[66:26] going to have to work with whomever is

[66:28] in the position that has now seen

[66:33] being filled. Wol,

[66:35] >> what about the insurgents uh or the

[66:38] terrorists or those uh who who

[66:41] presumably might say, you know what,

[66:44] this is a victory for uh for the

[66:46] insurgency, those who are against the

[66:48] United States. It's a sign of American

[66:51] weakness that could cause potentially

[66:53] some serious ramifications.

[66:57] >> Oh, certainly. I think you will see the

[67:00] insurgent propaganda campaign attempt to

[67:02] capitalize on this in any way it can. I

[67:06] mean, it's leapt on every opportunity

[67:08] that has come its way in the past. And

[67:11] as we are well aware, they monitored

[67:14] this election very closely. So the

[67:17] aftershocks as seen with the departure

[67:19] of Secretary Rumsfeld will have

[67:21] registered out in the insurgency and

[67:23] they'll very clearly start including

[67:25] that now in their information operations

[67:29] or propaganda

[67:30] >> and there was a strong message sent from

[67:32] Washington. Don't misread what is

[67:35] happening because US resolve according

[67:36] to the White House still remains strong

[67:39] in dealing uh with the insurgency

[67:42] dealing with the the war in Iraq. Uh on

[67:44] a day-to-day basis though as you talk to

[67:47] US troops and you've been embedded with

[67:49] a lot of US military personnel over

[67:51] these past 3 years plus. Uh what what do

[67:54] you sense they're saying to themselves

[67:57] as they are on the front lines actually

[67:59] fighting this war?

[68:02] Well, Wolf, as someone here in Baghdad,

[68:04] be it the soldiers, be it people from

[68:07] the State Department, be it contractors,

[68:09] be it anyone involved with the US

[68:11] mission here, the big question now is

[68:13] what will this mean to us here on the

[68:16] ground? Is this going to be a shift? I

[68:18] mean there's been many schools of

[68:20] thought within military circles,

[68:22] political circles, within strategic

[68:25] analytical circles about the path for

[68:28] this war, about assessing the true

[68:30] nature of this war, what the problems

[68:33] really are and how to address them. So

[68:35] they'll be asking, does this change

[68:37] that? Is this a signal of any kind of

[68:40] shift in policy or in thinking? And most

[68:43] urgently, one wonders what the generals

[68:46] must be thinking. They'll now be

[68:47] wondering what will happen if they ask

[68:49] for more troops. If they ask for a

[68:51] different kind of composition of their

[68:53] forces, who's going to decide? Is there

[68:56] a clear policy line? Everyone's going to

[68:59] be asking themselves these kinds of

[69:00] questions. What does it mean, Wolf?

[69:03] >> Michael Wear reporting for us from

[69:04] Baghdad. Michael, thank you. Let's go to

[69:06] Jack in New York with the Cavern File.

[69:08] Jack,

[69:09] >> we took a whipping last night and we

[69:12] understand that. That was former House

[69:14] Majority Leader Tom Delay. He says the

[69:17] Republicans lost the majority in the

[69:19] House because not enough of them came

[69:21] out to vote and because GOP leaders

[69:23] didn't tell the voters what they stood

[69:25] for. A delay went as far as to say,

[69:27] quote, "The Democrats didn't win, the

[69:30] Republicans lost," unquote. He added,

[69:32] "The Democrats voted against Republicans

[69:35] because of the war in Iraq." But he says

[69:37] he holds out hope for the future and

[69:39] thinks that if the GOP members fight for

[69:41] what they believe in, the public will

[69:43] support them and they'll have the chance

[69:45] to take back the house in 2008. Delay

[69:48] resigned after being indicted on state

[69:50] moneyaundering charges in Texas. And CNN

[69:53] projects that Democrat Nick Lamson won

[69:55] the hammer's former congressional seat

[69:57] uh in that district in Texas. The

[70:00] question is this then Tom Delay says the

[70:02] Democrats didn't win, the Republicans

[70:04] lost. Is he right? Email us at caertdity

[70:08] file at CNN.com or go to

[70:10] cnn.com/cafertyfile.

[70:12] Wolf.

[70:13] >> All right, Jack. Thank you. Up ahead,

[70:15] Capitol Hill cliffhanger. The plot

[70:17] thickens over who will control the US

[70:19] Senate as the Virginia Senate race lies

[70:22] undecided still. Also, Nancy Pelosi

[70:25] poised to become the first ever female

[70:27] speaker of the House. I'll speak with

[70:29] her one-on-one about the privilege and

[70:31] the perils of the Democrats newly

[70:33] acquired power. and resignation

[70:35] ramifications. Might Donald Rumsfeld's

[70:38] departure signal a major turning point

[70:40] for the war? I'll ask the former

[70:42] Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. He's

[70:44] standing by live. Stay with us. You're

[70:46] in the situation room.

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[73:31] >> I'm Wolf Blitzer. We're live on Capitol

[73:33] Hill. A generation ago, he helped

[73:35] preside over another unpopular war that

[73:38] was in Vietnam. He helped see it through

[73:40] to its conclusion. And joining us now,

[73:42] the former national security adviser,

[73:44] the former Secretary of State, Dr. Henry

[73:46] Kissinger. Dr. Kissinger, thanks for

[73:48] coming in.

[73:49] >> Good to be here.

[73:49] >> What do you make of this bombshell?

[73:52] We'll start off with Donald Rumsfeld's

[73:54] resignation today on this the day after

[73:57] the election.

[74:00] Well, Ramsfeld is a great patriot

[74:03] and he must have decided that he was

[74:06] drawing too much fire

[74:09] too difficult to carry out his task

[74:14] and that he wanted to provide a

[74:16] possibility for different perspective

[74:20] facts change

[74:23] because the conclusion from the

[74:25] electorate from the American people who

[74:27] voted is that this war was very

[74:29] unpopular. An enormous amount. It was in

[74:32] effect a referendum on the war and on

[74:33] the Bush presidency

[74:36] >> except that uh there certain objective

[74:39] conditions which

[74:42] don't necessarily respond to what the

[74:44] vote is. We we don't want a Taliban in

[74:48] Iraq. We don't want terrorists to be

[74:51] trained in Iraq.

[74:53] >> That looks to a lot of voters out there,

[74:55] a lot of Americans that that's exactly

[74:57] what's happening. despite the enormous

[74:59] the enormous initiative, the enormous

[75:01] effort underway.

[75:03] >> But there's no doubt what the president

[75:06] has asked for a reassessment and he's

[75:10] asked the Baker Commission to make a

[75:12] report and all of us who are concerned

[75:15] with foreign policy and with bipartisan

[75:17] foreign policy will approach that effort

[75:20] with sympathy and with an attitude that

[75:23] we'll try to support it. How does the

[75:26] United States, the Bush administration

[75:28] right now convince the insurgents, the

[75:32] terrorists out there that they're not

[75:34] winning? Because a lot of them are going

[75:36] to conclude by the way the American

[75:38] public voted repudiating the president's

[75:40] policy in effect and by the decision of

[75:42] Rumsfeld who was one of the architects

[75:44] of this war to step down. They they

[75:46] inevitably are going to conclude they're

[75:48] winning.

[75:49] >> Well, that's the problem. That's the

[75:51] problem in any guerilla war that the

[75:54] guerillas think that just as long as

[75:56] they can keep themselves from losing

[75:58] eventually they'll win because the

[76:01] support for the effort will will

[76:03] disappear. That is the dilemma and our

[76:07] national debate has to be conducted on

[76:10] the premise of facing the consequences

[76:13] of whatever decision we You see the you

[76:15] see the similarities you have to see the

[76:17] similarities between now and Vietnam.

[76:20] >> Well, there was a different in Vietnam.

[76:24] In Vietnam, there was a functioning

[76:25] government in Vietnam in the period of

[76:29] the war that uh the administration which

[76:32] I served inherited because we didn't

[76:34] start that war. We inherited it from a

[76:37] previous administration.

[76:39] In the period we inherited, there was

[76:41] very little guerilla war. It was mainly

[76:44] a regular conventional war and we were

[76:48] gaining in that guerrilla war in that uh

[76:51] conventional war. So uh Vietnam was an

[76:55] aspect of the cold war. This is an

[76:58] aspect of a guerilla war and of a uh

[77:02] terrorist effort. They're not the same

[77:04] situation. How does the Democratic

[77:07] victory in the House of Representatives

[77:09] and maybe even in the United States

[77:11] Senate impact the final two years of the

[77:14] Bush administration in waging uh this

[77:17] policy, this war in Iraq? Well, these

[77:20] wars or no war can be won if it isn't

[77:24] conducted on a bipartisan basis whatever

[77:26] the election is because when the country

[77:28] gets divided then the enemy is bound to

[77:32] uh believe that he only has to hold on.

[77:35] Now the fact that there has been a

[77:38] democratic victory makes the need for

[77:41] bipartisanship even more urgent. But uh

[77:45] both parties have to keep in mind that

[77:48] after the next presidential election,

[77:50] the legacies of whatever happened now

[77:53] will still be with us. So that we should

[77:56] try to establish a bipartisanship not

[77:58] only for two years but for a

[78:02] considerable period of time to see us

[78:04] through this crisis. In Bob Woodward's

[78:06] new book, State of Denial, he reports

[78:08] extensively and he and what he says is

[78:10] your extraordinary influence inside the

[78:12] White House that you meet regularly with

[78:14] the president and the vice president to

[78:16] offer advice. You're here in Washington.

[78:19] May I ask you if you've met with the

[78:21] president or the vice president on this

[78:23] trip to give them some advice?

[78:26] >> No, I haven't met uh and I don't come to

[78:29] Washington to volunteer advice,

[78:31] >> but they ask you for it. When I am

[78:33] asked, I uh I offer advice, but I've

[78:37] literally just arrived and the first

[78:39] person second person I've seen here.

[78:41] >> So, you're giving us advice, right?

[78:42] >> It's you.

[78:44] >> Will you be heading over to the White

[78:46] House?

[78:46] >> Uh, probably tomorrow.

[78:48] >> Probably tomorrow. And

[78:49] >> but not to see the president.

[78:50] >> But without going into too much

[78:52] confidentiality, in a nutshell, can you

[78:55] share with our viewers what you think

[78:57] the administration should be doing at

[78:59] this critical moment right now?

[79:03] I think the administration should do

[79:06] substantially what the president today

[79:08] said he would do. Emphasize

[79:10] bipartisanship and not just in rhetoric

[79:13] but in practice. Secondly, to try to get

[79:16] an assessment of the situation that a

[79:20] group of responsible people support and

[79:24] then to design a policy that achieves

[79:28] as many of the objectives as our public

[79:30] wants. And if we find we cannot achieve

[79:33] all of these to tell the public honestly

[79:37] uh as I know they will want to do why

[79:40] for the sake of their children and for

[79:42] the sake of their own security some

[79:45] modifications have to be carried out and

[79:47] what the what the public seems to have

[79:51] asked for yesterday.

[79:53] >> We'll leave it right there Dr. Kissinger

[79:55] as usual. Thanks very much for coming

[79:56] in.

[79:57] >> Pleasure to see you.

[80:00] And coming up next, celebration on hold.

[80:02] Democrats and Republicans hope to

[80:04] celebrate a win in the Virginia Senate

[80:06] race, but that might not happen for

[80:08] weeks. We're going to tell you what's

[80:09] going on. And one-on-one with a woman

[80:12] who would become the first female

[80:14] secretary, uh, excuse me, Speaker of the

[80:16] House. I'll ask Nancy Pelosi how she

[80:18] feels about this potentially major

[80:20] moment in American history. We'll be

[80:22] right back.

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[83:07] Always outspoken Bill Maher on the

[83:09] elections winners and losers. Larry King

[83:11] tonight.

[83:17] And this just coming into the situation

[83:19] room. Another uh pickup for the House

[83:21] Democrats in a race that was dominated

[83:23] by debate about the war in Iraq.

[83:25] Democrat and Iraq War veteran Patrick

[83:27] Murphy has won the congressional seat in

[83:30] Pennsylvania's eighth district outside

[83:32] Philadelphia. He defeated Republican

[83:34] incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick. Murphy

[83:36] portrayed Fitzpatrick as being willing

[83:38] to go along with President Bush. Another

[83:41] major pickup for the Democrats in the

[83:43] House. One day after election day, a

[83:46] Capitol Hill cliffhanger continues in

[83:48] Virginia. The two men carry the fate of

[83:50] the Senate on their shoulders right now.

[83:52] And in Montana, one man claims victory

[83:55] while his opponent so far refusing to

[83:57] concede. We'll have more on that

[83:59] showdown out west in a moment from CNN's

[84:01] Dan Simon in Billings, Montana. But

[84:03] first, let's go to CNN's Brian Todd.

[84:05] He's watching the dramatic developments

[84:07] unfold in Virginia from the state

[84:09] capital in Richmond. Brian

[84:12] Wolf. Tonight, 24 hours after you

[84:14] brought everyone the news that this was

[84:15] all unfolding. Almost 24 hours later, we

[84:18] have a situation where the Republican

[84:20] Republican incumbent Senator George

[84:21] Allen is on the verge not only of losing

[84:24] his seat, but of losing the

[84:25] Republicans's majority in the Senate.

[84:27] Mr. Allen, we have not heard from him

[84:28] today. We have heard from members of his

[84:30] staff. They all seem to be girding for a

[84:32] recount. Uh they they say that uh they

[84:35] are going to respect this process as it

[84:37] goes forward as the precincts and

[84:39] everything is being canvased right now

[84:40] to make sure the votes are tallied

[84:42] correctly, but they are uh making

[84:44] statements uh to to indicate that they

[84:47] believe there were some irregularities

[84:48] in this vote. They had some of their

[84:50] attorneys speak at a news conference

[84:51] earlier today. They're giving all

[84:53] indications that they will contend this

[84:55] vote very very closely. James Webb, on

[84:58] the other hand, Democrat, is basking in

[85:00] what he believes is a victory. His

[85:02] margin right now is only about 7,000

[85:04] votes. That's less than 1% of the entire

[85:07] vote in this state. But Mr. Webb is

[85:09] already acting like a senator elect and

[85:11] uh we will see in a couple of weeks when

[85:13] this recount uh comes to comes to pass

[85:15] and it likely will uh what will develop.

[85:17] Wolf.

[85:18] >> All right, Brian, thanks very much. I'll

[85:20] continue to watch it with you. Let's go

[85:21] to the other nailbiter out there, the

[85:23] Senate race in Montana. Their victory is

[85:26] being claimed, but it's not yet

[85:27] officially declared. CNN's Dan Simon

[85:30] joining us now with the latest. Dan

[85:33] >> Wolf, while CNN and others are declaring

[85:35] John Tester the winner in this race,

[85:38] Senator Conrad Burns not ready to throw

[85:40] in the towel. Uh a few minutes ago, uh

[85:42] we received a statement from Senator

[85:44] Burns and it says, quote, "John Tester

[85:47] ran a good race and he has the lead

[85:49] right now, but it is extremely close.

[85:51] The state of Montana has a process in

[85:54] place and it is our obligation to see it

[85:56] through. There are still votes out there

[85:58] that deserve to be counted." Well, in

[86:00] terms of where we are right now with the

[86:02] vote, uh CNN has Mr. Tester leading by

[86:05] about 3,000 votes. In order for there to

[86:08] be a recount, the margin of victory has

[86:10] to be within 1/ half of 1%. That would

[86:13] put it at only 2,000 votes. So, at this

[86:16] point, if the numbers hold up, uh John

[86:19] Tester will be the next senator from the

[86:21] state of Montana. Earlier today, uh he

[86:23] declared victory. He called on Senator

[86:25] Burns to concede, but at this point, uh

[86:27] he's not willing to do just that. Wolf,

[86:29] back to you.

[86:30] >> We'll stay on top of this story as well,

[86:31] Dan. Thanks very much. And coming up,

[86:33] the woman who would become the first

[86:35] female speaker of the house. She's

[86:37] reacting to Donald Rumsfeld's

[86:39] resignation, Nancy Pelosi, telling us

[86:42] just how she feels about that and a lot

[86:44] more in my special one-on-one interview

[86:46] with her. And in other Rumsfeld

[86:49] reactions, how are members of the US

[86:50] military responding to the defense

[86:53] secretary's intention to depart his

[86:55] post? Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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[88:30] Tonight, a big win for Democrats. The

[88:33] campaigns are over, but the politics

[88:35] continues. CNN breaks down your votes

[88:38] and the battle for Congress. Plus, live

[88:40] the view from Iraq. CNN Tonight,

[88:43] beginning 7 Eastern.

[88:46] >> It's been an election earthquake as

[88:48] Democrats win control of the House and

[88:50] may yet do the exact same thing in the

[88:52] Senate, set to take over one of the most

[88:54] powerful positions in the country, is

[88:56] Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of

[88:58] California, currently the House Minority

[89:01] Leader. I sat down with her for a

[89:03] one-on-one interview just a little while

[89:05] ago.

[89:08] >> Thanks very much for joining us. I don't

[89:09] know whether to call you madam speaker

[89:11] designate or what's the formal title

[89:13] till you're actually sworn in as speaker

[89:15] what January 3rd

[89:16] >> well this week still Nancy

[89:19] >> no I'm not going to call you Nancy but

[89:20] the president when he spoke with you on

[89:22] the phone this morning he called you

[89:24] >> he called me speaker elect but

[89:25] technically the caucus still has to act

[89:28] once they act and then it's the speaker

[89:30] is a constitutional officer elected by

[89:33] the house of representatives so that

[89:35] happens in the first week of January

[89:37] >> I'll call you congresswoman for the time

[89:39] But there'll be plenty of time later to

[89:40] call you speaker. It's it's obviously a

[89:43] historic moment. A woman becoming

[89:46] speaker of the House of Representatives.

[89:48] Uh what is the impact? What does that

[89:50] mean for you?

[89:51] >> Well, what it means for our country, I

[89:53] think, is something very important. The

[89:54] Congress of the United States, as you

[89:56] know, Wolf, is an institution steeped in

[89:59] history and tradition. Uh for a woman to

[90:01] break through what I call the marble

[90:03] ceiling here is something quite

[90:05] remarkable. It sends a message that

[90:08] women can do anything.

[90:09] >> And do you feel a special responsibility

[90:11] knowing that historically this has never

[90:13] happened in our country before that a

[90:15] woman becomes the speaker of the house?

[90:17] >> I do. I feel a very special

[90:19] responsibility. I feel a responsibility

[90:21] to have the most most honest and open

[90:23] Congress, to have a Congress that has

[90:26] civility as its hallmark, bipartisanship

[90:29] in our debate, in our deliberations, and

[90:32] fiscal soundness of as a woman would

[90:35] would want to have not heaping mountains

[90:37] of debt on future generations. And as

[90:39] the first woman speaker, I would want to

[90:42] conduct myself, perform my duties in a

[90:44] way that would be sure that it wouldn't

[90:45] be too long before we'd have another

[90:47] woman speaker of the house. puts a

[90:49] little added pressure on you. But we'll

[90:51] get back to that. Let's talk about the

[90:52] news of the day. Lots of news, but we'll

[90:54] start with Donald Rumsfeld. Bombshell

[90:57] announcement only a few days ago. The

[90:59] president said he was doing a fantastic

[91:02] job together with the vice president,

[91:04] Dick Cheney. Is this what you wanted

[91:06] Rumsfeld to step down?

[91:07] >> Yes. Well, there were two major

[91:09] interventions since the president's last

[91:12] uh re reaffirmation of his support for

[91:14] Secretary Rumsfeld. One was of course

[91:17] the vote and the voice of the American

[91:19] people yesterday rejecting the uh stay

[91:22] the course policy of the president in

[91:24] Iraq and just before that the voice of

[91:27] the military in the army navy air force

[91:30] mer uh marine corps uh times uh saying

[91:34] that Rumsfeld must go to use their words

[91:37] uh the president got the message thank

[91:39] heavens and I think it's s uh signals a

[91:43] new change I hope uh for the better in

[91:46] Iraq.

[91:46] >> What do you think is of his designated

[91:48] successor, the former CIA director,

[91:50] Robert Gates?

[91:52] >> Well, this is a matter for the Senate uh

[91:54] to deliberate on and the president has

[91:56] proposed uh they will confirm and and I

[92:00] very much look forward to the hearings

[92:02] on that nomination.

[92:03] >> But fundamentally, do you think there

[92:05] will be a real change in US policy

[92:08] toward Iraq or this is simply changing

[92:10] the cast of characters? Will the

[92:12] president in other words do what you

[92:14] want him to do?

[92:15] >> Well, first of all, the president is the

[92:17] commander-in-chief. Donald Rumsfeld and

[92:21] whoever he the president appoints or is

[92:24] confirmed to Gates in this case is an

[92:26] employee of the president. So the policy

[92:28] is the president's the imple

[92:30] implementation of the policy as Mr.

[92:33] Rumsfeld and that's why I think it was

[92:35] very important for him to go.

[92:37] >> If the president pursues the current

[92:39] policy as you call it stay the course

[92:41] which he no no no longer uses that

[92:43] phrase. One option would be in the House

[92:46] of Representatives the power of the

[92:48] purse to cut funding for the war in

[92:51] Iraq. Is that on the table?

[92:53] >> Not really. We would never have

[92:54] >> Why isn't it on the table?

[92:56] >> Well, because our troops are in harm's

[92:57] way. Uh they have been set sent there

[92:59] whether you agree with the policy or

[93:01] not. And I certainly did not agree with

[93:04] uh the resolution to go to war. Uh we

[93:06] would not withhold our funding for the

[93:08] troops there.

[93:09] >> So what what can the House of

[93:11] Representatives do as you with you as

[93:13] speaker if the president over the next

[93:15] two years continues the strategy the

[93:18] policy as is? Well, what we have done,

[93:20] the House and Senate now, majority, a

[93:22] Democratic majority in the Senate, I

[93:24] anticipate uh Senator Reid and I, the

[93:27] Democratic leader there, have put forth

[93:30] some uh principles for uh solving the

[93:33] problem in

[93:34] >> you can make recommendations basically,

[93:36] but but there's not much more. If you're

[93:37] not going to use the power of the purse,

[93:39] there's not much more that you could do.

[93:41] You could do some oversight.

[93:42] >> Well, the oversight will be very

[93:44] important because then the truth would

[93:46] be revealed. But remember that stay the

[93:48] course has with it whether the president

[93:50] changed the slogan. He hasn't changed

[93:52] the strategy or the approach. And on the

[93:55] stay the course also implies staying the

[93:58] course of having a one party policy in

[94:00] Iraq. Even his own Republicans in some

[94:03] cases are deserting him on this. So it I

[94:06] think the interest of our national

[94:07] security in protecting the American

[94:09] people and bringing stability to the

[94:11] region and to honoring the the our

[94:13] commitment to our troops, we need a

[94:15] different approach and in the extending

[94:18] the hand of partnership to the

[94:20] president, not partisanship, but

[94:22] partnership to say let's work together

[94:24] to come to some common ground where we

[94:27] can solve the problem in Iran.

[94:28] >> Can you work with this president?

[94:30] because he was asked at the news

[94:32] conference earlier today about some

[94:33] things you've said of him. Our Suzan

[94:36] Malvo asked the very pointed question of

[94:38] the president quoting some of the

[94:40] remarks a liar misleading the country.

[94:42] >> I never called the president a liar. I

[94:45] never called him that.

[94:46] >> But but you have a problem working with

[94:48] this president. Is all that in the past

[94:50] now? Are you ready to start a fresh in

[94:52] working as the incoming speaker?

[94:55] >> Absolutely. You know, the campaign is

[94:57] over. Democrats are ready to lead,

[95:00] prepared to govern and absolutely

[95:02] willing to work in a bipartisan way and

[95:05] partnership, not partisanship, with the

[95:07] Republicans in the Congress and with the

[95:09] president of the United States.

[95:10] >> The vice president said the other day,

[95:12] uh, the president has made clear what

[95:13] his objective is, its victory in Iraq,

[95:16] and full speed ahead on that basis, and

[95:18] that's exactly what we're going to do.

[95:20] Uh, do you consider that statement that

[95:22] was pre-election still operable? I would

[95:25] say to the vice president that it's a

[95:27] little too late for full speed ahead.

[95:29] We've been in Iraq three and a half

[95:30] years, longer than the US was in Europe

[95:33] during World War II. So full speed

[95:35] ahead, I don't think so. Uh right now,

[95:38] again, we need a new direction uh that

[95:40] brings stability uh to the region and

[95:43] makes the American people safer.

[95:44] >> The uh power that you will have as the

[95:47] majority is subpoena power when you

[95:50] conduct your investigations, your

[95:52] oversight. Uh, you said on Meet the

[95:54] Press back on May 7th, well, we will

[95:56] have subpoena power. Investigation does

[95:58] not equate to impeachment. Investigation

[96:01] is the requirement of Congress. It's

[96:03] about checks and balances. Tell us how

[96:06] you plan on pursuing using this subpoena

[96:09] power.

[96:10] >> Well, first of all, there's said to us

[96:12] that, do the Democrats want to get even

[96:14] now that we're in the majority? We're

[96:16] not about wanting to get even. What we

[96:18] want to do is to help the American

[96:19] people get ahead, not to get even with

[96:22] the Republicans. And so as we go forward

[96:24] with our hearing process, which is the

[96:27] normal checks and balance responsibility

[96:29] of Congress, it will be to what is in

[96:32] furtherance of passing legislation that

[96:35] makes the policy better, that improves

[96:36] the lives of the American people. Uh in

[96:39] order to make important decisions, you

[96:41] have to base them on facts. That's the

[96:43] only way your judgment.

[96:44] >> So you'll use that subpoena power. Well,

[96:46] you subpoena power is a last resort. We

[96:49] would hope that there would be

[96:50] cooperation from the executive branch in

[96:53] terms of uh uh investigating the uh

[96:56] intellig pre-war intelligence. I don't

[96:58] know what those those decisions will be

[97:00] made by our caucus uh with the wisdom of

[97:03] the committees of jurisdiction. They may

[97:04] or may not be a priority. We're a brand

[97:06] new caucus. We have many new excellent

[97:09] members coming in and we will establish

[97:11] our priorities together. Uh but we will

[97:14] not abdicate our responsibility as the

[97:16] first branch of government, article one,

[97:18] the legislative branch, and our checks

[97:20] and balances responsibility.

[97:22] >> I I asked the question about subpoena

[97:24] power because the vice president once

[97:25] again made clear he if if you subpoena

[97:27] him, he's not necessarily going to play

[97:29] ball. I have no idea that I'm going to

[97:31] be subpoenaed, he said the other day.

[97:32] And obviously we'd sit down and look at

[97:34] it at the time, but probably not in the

[97:36] sense that the president and the vice

[97:37] president are constitutional officers

[97:39] and don't appear before the congress.

[97:42] Well, as you know, uh, President Ford

[97:44] did and he wasn't subpoenaed because he

[97:47] came without a subpoena. But why are we

[97:49] even talking about this? We're so far

[97:51] from that. We're at a place where we're

[97:53] here about the future. Uh, whatever

[97:56] information we need to make the future

[97:57] better, to go forward, whether it's to

[97:59] protect our country, to end our

[98:01] engagement in Iraq, uh, to make our

[98:03] economy fair, whatever it is, we need to

[98:06] move toward energy independence, I might

[98:08] add. uh that's that's where our

[98:10] priorities are and information is

[98:12] central to that. So we would have uh

[98:16] hearings to obtain information.

[98:18] >> As we speak right now, the majority in

[98:20] the House will be the Democrats. Right

[98:22] now it looks like the Democrats have an

[98:24] excellent chance in the Senate as well,

[98:26] assuming that Virginia goes to Jim Webb.

[98:29] It's still uh unclear, but if it does,

[98:32] the Democrats will be the majority in

[98:34] the Senate. Here's what you said on 60

[98:35] Minutes back in October. This election

[98:37] is about them. this is a referendum on

[98:39] them. Making them lame ducks is good

[98:42] enough for me.

[98:43] >> Well, that was an answer to their

[98:45] question about impeachment. I said

[98:47] impeachment is off the table. Uh that

[98:50] making the president a lame duck, that

[98:52] is to say, not a president with uh uh

[98:55] total power where there is no

[98:58] congressional questioning, oversight or

[99:00] hearings about his policy when there

[99:02] should be. Uh so we now will work

[99:05] together. The campaign, as I said, is

[99:06] over. We're ready to lead, prepared to

[99:08] govern, and look forward to working with

[99:10] them.

[99:10] >> We're almost out of time, but a a couple

[99:12] of housekeeping questions. The majority

[99:14] leader in the new Congress, we know

[99:16] Steny Hoyer wants it. John Murtha, an

[99:19] outspoken critic of the war in Iraq,

[99:21] wants it. Who do you want to be the

[99:23] majority leader?

[99:24] >> I haven't finished counting the votes

[99:26] from last night. We don't even know how

[99:27] many Democrats we have. We know it's in

[99:29] the mid to high 20s. Uh when we know who

[99:31] we are as a caucus, we can move forward

[99:33] with those races. Uh but right now uh

[99:36] right now we're not at a place where I

[99:38] would even talk about such.

[99:39] >> So you're not ready to endorse or

[99:41] support anyone at this point.

[99:42] >> I I don't even know completely who's

[99:44] running there. All kinds of ambition

[99:46] emerges uh after you win a majority as I

[99:49] am learning and so when we see all of

[99:51] that we'll go forward. But I will say

[99:52] though on the uh both of them have

[99:54] served our party very well. Uh Steny

[99:56] Hoyer I've known since we were interns

[99:58] and uh Senator Brewster's office here

[100:00] when I'm from Maryland as you know. And

[100:02] then um uh Jack Murtha performed a great

[100:06] service uh to the country in blowing the

[100:09] whistle on this war one year ago.

[100:10] >> And finally, can we assume that the

[100:12] ranking members now the minority members

[100:14] of the various committees will

[100:16] automatically step up and become the

[100:18] chairman of those committees?

[100:20] >> Well, again, that will be a decision of

[100:21] the House Democratic Caucus. merit,

[100:24] seniority, uh, diversity, and the

[100:27] support of the caucus are some of the

[100:29] criteria that are spelled out in our in

[100:32] our own rules. Um, most of them, I

[100:35] think, will pro go forward, but it I

[100:38] can't speak for the entire caucus.

[100:40] >> What about the intelligence committee?

[100:42] >> What about it?

[100:42] >> Do you think Jane Harmon would be the

[100:44] appropriate chair? Alsie Hastings would

[100:47] be the appropriate chairman. What you

[100:48] have to understand about the

[100:49] intelligence committee is this the

[100:51] speaker of the house and the minority

[100:53] leader on the first day of Congress

[100:55] appoint a whole new intelligence

[100:58] committee each term. Sometimes they

[101:00] reappoint the same people, sometimes

[101:02] they don't. But there is no seniority on

[101:04] the intelligence committee.

[101:05] >> Well, let me just congratulate you and

[101:07] wish you the best of luck. This is going

[101:09] to be an exciting ride. We started off

[101:10] that you're going to be the first woman

[101:12] to be the speaker of the house. So, you

[101:14] have an enormous amount of

[101:15] responsibility that comes with the job a

[101:17] little bit extra because you're making

[101:19] history.

[101:19] >> Well, I appreciate you're saying that

[101:20] and I think one of my first uh acts as

[101:24] post election will be to become a

[101:26] grandmother for the sixth time. We're

[101:27] anxiously awaiting the birth of our

[101:29] grandchild who's due uh the first week

[101:31] in November. So, uh a good omen we get

[101:35] ready for our new grandbaby as we get

[101:36] ready for a new Congress.

[101:38] >> Well, we we'll wish you only the best on

[101:40] that front as well.

[101:40] >> As well, thank you. Thank you, Wolf. And

[101:43] up next, the Virginia Senate race. The

[101:45] Senate's balance of power spins on the

[101:47] close contest. Our senior legal analyst,

[101:50] Jeffrey Tubin, will take us there and

[101:52] walk us through what's going on. Also,

[101:56] our senior political correspondent,

[101:57] Candy Crowley, will join us uh to uh

[101:59] prime the pump for 2008. All that coming

[102:02] up in our 700 p.m. Eastern hour. Stay

[102:05] with us.

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[104:19] >> Senator Kennedy,

[104:21] welcome to the Ambassador Hotel.

[104:23] >> More and more young men keep coming back

[104:25] in body bags.

[104:26] >> What if Kennedy loses? We can all forget

[104:28] it, man. I'm 19. Jimmy, I don't want to

[104:29] live in Vietnam.

[104:31] >> Let's keep the brown man down. Let's

[104:33] send the brown man back across the

[104:34] border. We didn't cross the border. The

[104:36] border crossed us.

[104:38] >> You're on stage in Night Shark and

[104:40] you're introducing Senator Kennedy in

[104:41] the embassy ballroom. Now that Dr. King

[104:43] is gone. Mama left. No Bed

[104:47] Raters everywhere Thanksgiving Day.

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[105:36] Lou Dob's getting ready for his program

[105:38] that begins right at the top of the hour

[105:40] east. Anybody tell us what he's working

[105:41] on, Lou? Well, thank you very much.

[105:44] Coming up at 6 p.m. Eastern here on CNN,

[105:46] we'll have the very latest on the

[105:48] resignation of Defense Secretary Donald

[105:50] Rumsfeld. We'll also be reporting on the

[105:52] likelihood of a recount in the Senate

[105:54] race in Virginia, a race that will

[105:56] determine who controls the US Senate.

[105:59] And Americans sending a powerful message

[106:02] to elected officials as the war on the

[106:05] middle class is escalating. Voters

[106:06] demanding an increase in the minimum

[106:08] wage, new measures to protect private

[106:10] property rights, and will the Democrat's

[106:13] election victory make it easier for the

[106:15] president to push his amnesty agenda for

[106:18] illegal aliens through Congress? We'll

[106:20] have that special report and a great

[106:21] deal more at the top of the hour here on

[106:24] CNN. Please join us. Back to you, Wolf.

[106:27] Lou, before I let you go, what do you

[106:29] make of this notion that there's

[106:30] probably going to be a recount in

[106:32] Virginia, about 7,000 votes separating

[106:35] George Allen and Jib Webb right now? Uh,

[106:38] is this a good idea for uh for you for

[106:41] Senator Allen to be asking for such a

[106:43] recount?

[106:43] >> Well, it's I I think in human nature

[106:46] terms and political terms, it is uh it's

[106:49] understandable. At the same time, we are

[106:52] being told by uh everyone from Common

[106:54] Cause to to e- voting machine experts uh

[106:58] that it's going to be a very difficult

[107:00] recount and could be uh tanamount to

[107:03] another Florida 2000 uh in Virginia this

[107:06] time. So, uh, you know, personally,

[107:08] Wolf, I would urge, uh, Senator Allen,

[107:11] and I would say this if the roles were

[107:13] reversed between he and James Webb, uh,

[107:15] I think the gracious and, uh, caring

[107:18] thing for this country would be, uh, to

[107:20] exceed to the will of the people and

[107:22] forego the recount. As difficult as that

[107:24] may be for him. This is a time in our

[107:27] country's history, Wolf, I, truly

[107:29] believe it's it's a time for

[107:30] graciousness. It's a time for class and

[107:33] forbearance of self-interest

[107:35] >> because the Republicans will argue it's

[107:37] not just Senator Allen's seat that's at

[107:39] stake. It's the Republican majority in

[107:41] the United States Senate. I think

[107:43] there's something else at stake as I I

[107:45] am in animating here, Wolf, and that is

[107:48] uh it's for the good of the country and

[107:50] it would be nice uh to see George Allen

[107:53] set a uh a solid foundation for the for

[107:56] the future uh for his future, for the

[107:59] Republican party's future, and for the

[108:00] good of the country uh and to forego

[108:02] that recount. Lou is going to be coming

[108:05] up right at the top of the hour and then

[108:06] he's going to be staying with us

[108:07] throughout our 700 p.m. hour as well.

[108:10] Lou working a little bit harder, but

[108:12] he's a young guy. He can certainly do

[108:13] that. Lou, thanks very much.

[108:16] >> Man, partner, it was great being with

[108:18] you throughout the election day and

[108:20] night and morning. Uh, you're the best.

[108:23] >> Well, thank you very much, Lou. We'll

[108:24] see you at the top of the hour. See you

[108:26] at 7:00 p.m. Eastern as well. Lou Dos,

[108:29] uh, coming up, let's check in with Zayn

[108:31] for a quick check of some other stories

[108:33] making news. Sing

[108:34] >> Wolf. For the first time in six years,

[108:36] the Supreme Court has heard oral

[108:38] arguments in a landmark abortion case.

[108:40] Justices today heard lawyers for the

[108:41] Bush administration and abortion rights

[108:43] groups debate the constitutionality of a

[108:45] federal law banning certain late term

[108:48] abortions. It's unclear how the court

[108:50] will rule or when. At one point, an

[108:52] anti-abortion protester was removed from

[108:54] the court chambers when he tried to

[108:55] disrupt proceedings.

[108:58] Life in prison for six murders in

[109:00] Maryland. That's the sentence delivered

[109:02] today to convicted sniper Lee Boyd

[109:04] Malvo, now 21. Malvo was one of two men

[109:07] found guilty of a three-week shooting

[109:09] sniper spree that terrorized suburban

[109:11] Washington DC. In all, 13 people were

[109:14] shot in the 2002 rampage. Malvo pleaded

[109:17] guilty last month to carrying out the

[109:19] spree with companion John Alan Muhammad,

[109:21] who's already been convicted.

[109:24] Israeli leaders have expressed regret of

[109:26] the deaths of civilians during an attack

[109:28] on Gaza today. 18 people, including

[109:30] eight children, were killed in the

[109:31] Israeli artillery barrage on a densely

[109:34] populated neighborhood. They were

[109:35] members of a prominent Palestinian

[109:37] extended family. The angry exiled leader

[109:40] of Hamas called off a ceasefire.

[109:42] Militants called for attacks on

[109:43] Americans. Hamas leaders in Gaza quickly

[109:46] distanced themselves from those calls.

[109:48] Wol,

[109:49] >> thanks very much, Zane, for that. Up

[109:51] ahead, what really happened yesterday?

[109:53] The former House Majority Leader Tom

[109:54] Delay says, and I'm quoting now, the

[109:56] Democrats didn't win, the Republicans

[109:58] lost. Jack Caferty asks, is he right?

[110:01] We're taking your email. And next, he's

[110:03] been their boss for 6 years. How are the

[110:05] armed forces taking news that Donald

[110:08] Rumsfeld is resigning? We'll check with

[110:10] the military blog. Stay with us. You're

[110:13] in the situation room.

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[113:05] >> Check in with Jack Caferty. He's got the

[113:07] Caerty file. Jack

[113:09] >> Wolf, the former House Majority Leader,

[113:11] Tom Delay, crawled out of the woodwork

[113:13] this morning and made the following

[113:15] pronouncement. The Democrats didn't win,

[113:18] the Republicans lost. Do you think he's

[113:20] right in that assessment is the question

[113:22] we asked. Jonathan in Glen Falls, New

[113:24] York, wrote, "Jack, this guy isn't even

[113:25] in the mix anymore. Or isn't he one of

[113:27] the main reasons that the GOP got

[113:29] slaughtered last night? Why is anyone

[113:32] giving this scandalous weasel any

[113:34] airtime at all? Deb writes from

[113:36] Wimberly, Texas. The Republicans lost

[113:38] because of those just like Tom Delay.

[113:41] The Democrats won because Americans are

[113:43] desperate for change and want some sort

[113:45] of hope for our future. Middle America

[113:48] and many others in this crazy world have

[113:50] lost a lot because of the neocons's

[113:52] fascist views of all of us. Tom Delay

[113:55] and his gerrymandering and his outright

[113:56] pandering to special interests have

[113:58] harmed many lowerincome Texans like my

[114:01] family. I hope Mr. Delay crawls back

[114:04] into the swamp he crawled out of so I

[114:06] never have to look upon his lizard face

[114:08] again. Jennifer in Ponttoalk,

[114:11] Mississippi. Tom Delay is right. It is

[114:13] certainly a great loss for us and it

[114:15] will make it harder for the president to

[114:17] get Congress to pass vital bills. Even

[114:19] though I'm a woman, I believe that men

[114:21] should be the leaders and I dislike the

[114:23] idea of a madam moderator in the House.

[114:26] Sue in Clarksville, Georgia, the

[114:28] Republicans didn't win. Neither did the

[114:29] Democrats. America won. It's time to

[114:32] realize our political parties need to

[114:34] work together for the welfare of America

[114:36] and not for the individual parties.

[114:37] That's the message Americans sent to

[114:39] Congress last night. And Chris in

[114:41] Warden, Illinois writes, "Jack, when the

[114:42] Cardinals won the World Series, you

[114:45] didn't hear the Tigers saying, "Oh, the

[114:46] Cards won just because we lost." That is

[114:49] just stupid. If you didn't see your

[114:51] email here, you can go to

[114:52] cnn.com/cafertyfile

[114:54] and read some more of these online.

[114:56] Wolf.

[114:57] >> All right, Jack. Thank you. So, what are

[114:59] members of the United States military

[115:00] saying about Donald Rumsfeld's

[115:02] resignation? Our internet team standing

[115:04] by to show us. Stay with us.

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[118:26] So how are members of the United States

[118:28] military reacting to Donald Rumsfell's

[118:30] resignation? And our internet reporter

[118:31] Jackie Shakar is monitoring the

[118:34] situation online. Jackie, what are you

[118:35] seeing?

[118:36] >> Wolf, we're starting to see reaction

[118:38] just coming in. We've got some from the

[118:40] front lines in Afghanistan from a sailor

[118:43] who's actually helping out with the US

[118:44] Army on the ground wondering about the

[118:46] overall change in leadership, not just

[118:48] Runsfeld leaving, but the Democrats

[118:50] coming in and wondering if this means

[118:52] now the development of an exit strategy.

[118:55] Really just curiosity and wonderment at

[118:57] this point. It's a little early to get

[118:58] reaction coming out of Iraqi blogs on

[119:00] the front lines or servicemen on the

[119:02] front lines just because the news broke

[119:03] so late in the day for them. But we are

[119:05] getting plenty of military bloggers here

[119:06] in the United States that are reacting.

[119:08] This is a a soldier who served in

[119:10] Romani. He was a sniper and he's now

[119:13] recovering from some wounds in New

[119:14] England. But he says this is a

[119:15] double-edged sword for him that for

[119:17] somebody who supports the war that uh

[119:19] it's tough to see the architect of the

[119:22] war depart. Now, we've also got Jim

[119:24] Hansen, or James Hamson, rather, who

[119:26] goes by Uncle Jimbo. He bugs at

[119:28] blackfive.net. He's retired special ops,

[119:30] and he's actually very angry at

[119:32] President Bush. He says, why not make

[119:34] this Runsfeld announcement before the

[119:36] election? Instead, he managed to

[119:38] alienate some moderate Democrats and

[119:40] Republicans who would otherwise be

[119:41] supportive of the war on terror, and

[119:43] he's very, very angry at the president

[119:45] for waiting on that one. And we've also

[119:47] got uh Patriot, who's an anonymous uh US

[119:49] Army. He 34 years old, blogging at a

[119:52] solders's perspective, talking about

[119:53] Robert Gates coming in, how it's

[119:55] actually going to be good to have

[119:55] somebody with military experience

[119:57] stepping in and somebody with the

[119:59] intelligence experience of the CIA, but

[120:01] they're saying if it wasn't somebody who

[120:02] was military, Wolf, that Romsfeld was a

[120:04] good one.

[120:06] >> Jackie, thank you very much. And we'll

[120:08] be back in 1 hour and much more of our

[120:10] coverage coming up. In the meantime,

[120:11] let's go to Lou in New York. Lou,

[120:13] >> thank you. Wolf. Tonight, Defense

[120:15] Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has abruptly

[120:17] resigned one day after the Democrats

[120:20] seize control of the House of

[120:21] Representatives and apparently the US

[120:24] Senate as well. But will President Bush

[120:26] change US strategy in Iraq? We'll have

[120:29] complete coverage for you here tonight.

[120:31] And Democrats celebrate their victory in

[120:33] the House and they are obviously on the

[120:35] verge of winning the Senate as well.

[120:37] Democrats say they will launch a bold

[120:40] series of reforms in their first 100

[120:42] hours. We'll have that story a great

[120:45] deal more straight ahead here tonight.

[120:49] >> This is a special edition of Lou Dos

[120:51] tonight. America Votes 2006 live from

[120:55] CNN's election headquarters in New York.

[120:57] Here now, Lou Dos.

[121:00] >> Good evening everybody. President Bush

[121:02] today announced the resignation of

[121:03] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and he

[121:06] admitted the Republican party received

[121:08] what he called a thumping in the

[121:10] election. President Bush acknowledged

[121:12] that the Democratic victory indicates

[121:14] voters are unhappy about the progress of

[121:17] the war in Iraq. The Democrats now

[121:19] control the House of Representatives for

[121:21] the first time in 12 years. They also

[121:24] stand a strong chance of soon winning

[121:26] the Senate. Only one Senate seat remains

[121:30] uh too close to call. A projected winner

[121:33] not in place yet. The battle in Virginia

[121:35] between Senator George Allen and James

[121:38] Webb. Suzan Malvo reports from the White

[121:40] House tonight on the sudden resignation

[121:43] of the defense secretary. Dana Bash

[121:45] reports tonight from Capitol Hill on

[121:47] Democratic reaction to Donald Rumsfeld's

[121:50] resignation and their ambitious plans to

[121:52] introduce new legislation. And Jamie

[121:54] McIntyre reports from the Pentagon on

[121:56] whether US strategy in Iraq is likely to

[121:59] change after this election. We'll also

[122:02] be talking with three of the country's

[122:04] brightest political analysts. We begin

[122:06] with Suzan Malvo at the White House.

[122:09] Suzan,

[122:10] >> well Lou, Donald Rumsfeld is out. Bob

[122:12] Gates is in. It really was a stunning

[122:15] turnaround. It had much of Washington in

[122:16] disbelief. That news breaking of

[122:19] blackberries buzzing right before the

[122:20] president's news conference in the East

[122:22] Room this afternoon. It was just last

[122:24] week. President Bush in print interviews

[122:27] reassured reporters that Don Rumsfeld

[122:29] was here to stay through the remainder

[122:31] of his term. Uh, President Bush today

[122:33] making a public announcement saying in

[122:35] fact that the opposite was true and he

[122:37] did acknowledge that he had been less

[122:39] than forthcoming with reporters that in

[122:41] fact he and Rumsfeld had had a series of

[122:43] discussions about the potential for him

[122:45] stepping down and it was on Sunday that

[122:48] the president met with Rumsfeld's

[122:50] possible replacement. by sending she a

[122:53] demand for

[122:55] >> in this time of war. The president

[122:56] relies on the secretary of defense to

[122:58] provide military advice and direct our

[123:00] nation's armed forces as they engage our

[123:03] enemies across the world.

[123:06] Secretary of Defense must be a man of

[123:07] vision who can see threats still over

[123:10] the horizon and prepare our nation to

[123:12] meet them. Bob Gates is the right man to

[123:15] meet both of these critical challenges.

[123:19] And President Bush said that he did not

[123:21] actually uh acknowledge that he was

[123:23] thinking about replacing Rumsfeld

[123:25] publicly because he didn't want to

[123:26] inject a major decision in the campaign,

[123:28] that it wasn't political. But Lou, of

[123:30] course, part of the decision was

[123:32] pragmatic, part of it was consiliatory,

[123:34] and a big part also political. Uh this

[123:37] uh election was widely seen as a

[123:38] referendum on the Iraq war and the

[123:40] president and quietly quietly the

[123:42] Republican strategists as well as

[123:44] lawmakers who were telling the White

[123:46] House they needed to do something

[123:47] dramatic and to do it quickly. Lou

[123:53] >> it's been quite a time. It it recalls to

[123:56] mind the statement by Winston Churchill

[123:59] something to the effect that I have

[124:02] benefited greatly from criticism.

[124:06] And at no time have I suffered a lack

[124:09] thereof.

[124:12] >> And Lou, of course, Bob Gates will have

[124:14] to go through a process, the Senate

[124:16] approving him, and that Senate

[124:18] composition could change depending on

[124:20] the kind of information we get perhaps

[124:22] the next couple of weeks, whether the

[124:23] Democrats as well will take control of

[124:26] that chamber. Lou,

[124:27] >> thank you very much. Susan Malvo from

[124:29] the White House. The resignation of

[124:31] Donald Rumsfeld is unlikely to lead to

[124:33] any major changes in US strategy in

[124:36] Iraq, at least in the short term. Nearly

[124:39] 150,000 of our troops are fighting

[124:40] insurgents and terrorists in Iraq. Jimmy

[124:43] McIntyre reports from the Pentagon now.

[124:46] Jimmy, just what effect, if any, will

[124:48] the resignation of the defense secretary

[124:50] have on the management, the conduct of

[124:53] this war? Well, Lou, it's interesting

[124:55] that President Bush said in his private

[124:57] conversations with Rumsfeld that

[124:58] Rumsfeld himself admitted that the war

[125:01] in Iraq needed a fresh perspective. He

[125:04] said that uh Rumsfeld himself

[125:06] understands that Iraq is not working

[125:09] well enough, fast enough. Uh and that

[125:11] played into President Bush's decision to

[125:14] replace his embattled defense chief. He

[125:17] claims even before he knew the results

[125:19] of Tuesday's elections. Uh Rumsel always

[125:22] said he served at the pleasure of the

[125:23] president and as he was leaving said

[125:26] that he felt the war on terror was

[125:28] misunderstood.

[125:29] But by selecting Bob Gates, the former

[125:32] CIA chief, Bush appears to be signaling

[125:35] that he's going to be giving more weight

[125:37] to the recommendations of the Iraq Study

[125:39] Group headed by former Secretary of

[125:41] State Jim Baker and former Congressman

[125:43] Lee Hamilton. Gates was a member of that

[125:46] group and he as part of that received

[125:49] briefings from US commanders uh in Iraq

[125:51] and had a good handle on where the

[125:53] recommendations of that group were

[125:54] going. But Rumsfeld's departure was

[125:57] greeted both by Republicans and

[126:00] Democrats as something that was an

[126:02] opportunity for a fresh start and in a

[126:05] way it was smart politics as well

[126:07] because it puts uh the onus takes away

[126:10] an issue for the Democrats and puts the

[126:12] onus on them to cooperate on the way

[126:14] ahead in Iraq. So I think we will see

[126:16] some kind of course correction in the

[126:17] days and weeks ahead. Lou,

[126:19] >> thank you very much. Jamie McIntyre from

[126:21] the Pentagon. Insurgents in Iraq have

[126:23] killed two more of our troops. A Marine

[126:26] killed in Alanbar province west of

[126:28] Baghdad. A soldier killed near Kirkook

[126:31] in northern Iraq. 2,839

[126:36] of our troops have now been killed.

[126:38] 21,572

[126:40] of our troops wounded. Of those, 9,820

[126:44] seriously.

[126:46] Turning to the outcome of the election

[126:48] and the new balance of power in

[126:50] Congress. In the House, the Democrats

[126:52] are now in control with a net gain of 29

[126:56] seats, giving them a 229

[126:59] seat position. The Republicans had a net

[127:02] loss of 28 seats and in the Senate, a

[127:04] net gain of five seats, for the

[127:06] Democrats, giving them 50 seats. The

[127:09] Republicans have had a net decline of

[127:11] five seats, leaving them with only 48.

[127:15] But control of the Senate hangs on one

[127:17] race that remains undecided. All eyes

[127:20] now on Virginia as Democratic challenger

[127:22] James Webb holds on to a slight lead

[127:25] over incumbent Senator George Allen.

[127:27] We'll be going live to Virginia later

[127:29] here in this broadcast. And Democrats

[127:32] believe voter anger and frustration with

[127:34] the president's conduct of the war was a

[127:35] major factor behind their victory.

[127:38] Democrats say the resignation of Donald

[127:40] Rumsfeld is an important first step, but

[127:42] they say the Bush administration must do

[127:44] far more to address voter concerns about

[127:46] the war. Dana Bash reports from Capitol

[127:49] Hill.

[127:51] >> Democrats call their election night

[127:53] sweep a mandate for change in Iraq.

[127:56] >> Nowhere was the call for a new direction

[127:58] more clear from the American people uh

[128:01] than in the war in Iraq.

[128:03] >> They didn't have to wait long to see the

[128:05] spoils of their victories. Just as

[128:07] Democratic leaders sat down for a

[128:09] celebratory photo op, they got the news.

[128:11] Donald Rumsfeld was fired. It will give

[128:14] a fresh start to finding a solution uh

[128:17] to Iraq rather than staying the course.

[128:21] >> If the vote of last night

[128:24] from all over America

[128:28] didn't accomplish anything but this, it

[128:30] was a good night.

[128:31] >> But beyond the Rumsfeld bombshell,

[128:33] Democrats all but acknowledged even with

[128:35] control of the House and maybe the

[128:37] Senate, there is only so much they can

[128:39] do to change Iraq policy. the president

[128:42] is the president of the United States. I

[128:44] hope that he will listen to the voices

[128:46] of the people and that again putting

[128:49] aside partisanship and looking to a

[128:51] partnership uh to to end this war.

[128:54] >> That's part of the double-barreled

[128:56] approach set by the presumptive House

[128:58] Speaker. A pledge for bipartisanship

[129:00] along with a firm promise to push for

[129:02] new policies. Beyond Iraq, Nancy Pelosi

[129:05] has an ambitious agenda. In the first

[129:08] 100 hours, she wants to raise the

[129:10] minimum wage to 725 an hour, enact

[129:13] recommendations from the 911 commission,

[129:16] cut interest rates for student loans,

[129:18] try to lower prescription drug prices

[129:20] under Medicare, and more. Democrats also

[129:23] promise new strict oversight of the Bush

[129:26] White House. But the woman whose new

[129:28] caucus will be made up of many

[129:29] conservative Democrats from red

[129:31] districts also tried to allay concerns

[129:34] about her liberal roots. I know

[129:37] understand my role as leader of the

[129:39] Democrats, but even more important than

[129:41] that, I very very very much respect that

[129:45] I will be the speaker of the house, not

[129:47] of the Democrats.

[129:50] Now, Pelosi will of course have to deal

[129:52] with Republicans here too once they sift

[129:54] through the wreckage of their losses.

[129:56] Several angry rank and file Republicans

[129:59] said today that its party lost its way

[130:02] and that the Republicans got what they

[130:04] deserved. And a few of those

[130:05] Republicans, Lou, say that they're going

[130:07] to run for leadership positions because

[130:09] it's time for a change there, too. Lou,

[130:12] >> Dana, thank you very much. Dana Bash

[130:13] from Capitol Hill. Joining me now,

[130:16] Republican strategist Ed Rollins, former

[130:18] White House political director, Errol

[130:19] Lewis, columnist at the New York Daily

[130:21] News, and editorial board member and

[130:24] Democratic strategist, Democratic

[130:25] National Committee member, Robert

[130:27] Zimmerman. I I think it's only

[130:29] appropriate, Robert, we begin with you

[130:30] tonight. uh congratulations on what uh

[130:33] it was an overwhelming victory.

[130:34] >> On behalf of my party, I thank you.

[130:37] >> Now, how much of that is uh that victory

[130:40] is to the credit of the party and how

[130:42] much of it is, do you think uh uh blamed

[130:46] appropriately upon the Bush

[130:48] administration and a Congress,

[130:50] congressional leadership that failed to

[130:52] meet the expectations of voters? You

[130:54] know something? With all the frustration

[130:55] and all the anxiety about the Bush

[130:57] agenda, the bottom line is if you didn't

[130:59] have a Democratic party that was

[131:01] prepared to be a 50-state party, we

[131:03] would not have been competitive. I

[131:04] really have to give credit to Howard

[131:06] Dean and Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer

[131:08] in their sele and their selection of

[131:10] candidates and in Dean strategy of

[131:12] building a Democratic party that was

[131:13] competitive in 50 states. It wasn't just

[131:16] the victories that we had, it's where we

[131:17] won them in states that really were for

[131:20] many years off limits. single Democratic

[131:22] incumbent

[131:23] >> lost his or her seat.

[131:25] >> That's exactly right.

[131:25] >> I mean, that's remarkable, Ed

[131:26] Rollinsson.

[131:27] >> That's that's unbelievable. And and I

[131:29] think I think to their credit, uh, you

[131:31] know, first of all, the absurdity to me

[131:33] is, as I've said on this show many

[131:34] times, why the president allowed them to

[131:37] dictate the agenda. And if he was

[131:40] willing to dump Rumsfeld, which

[131:42] obviously he was willing to do today,

[131:44] why didn't he do it two months ago? Why

[131:46] didn't he give uh uh Republicans an

[131:48] opportunity to basically say things were

[131:50] going to be different in a second term?

[131:51] And I think that may have made some

[131:53] difference. It certainly would have

[131:54] changed the overall dynamics, but to

[131:55] wait till today to do this and to

[131:57] basically mislead the press last week on

[131:59] doing this convinced a lot of voters

[132:01] that he was trying to sell the war and

[132:03] he couldn't sell the war and nothing was

[132:05] going to be any different. And he forced

[132:06] a lot of Republicans to run under that

[132:08] banner and that was a destructive

[132:10] banner. When you say basically mislead

[132:13] the press last week, uh

[132:14] >> told him he was keeping Rumsville to the

[132:16] end. And that's that's not an honest

[132:17] statement.

[132:18] >> It's not. And I think that maybe uh it

[132:20] could also be framed as a straight out

[132:22] lie. Uh you have to give him credit for

[132:24] being candid about the fact he lied, but

[132:26] he straightforwardly lied. Uh Errol, let

[132:28] me ask you this. This uh this election

[132:31] uh has produced obviously euphoria on

[132:34] the part of the Democratic party, some

[132:35] dispondency amongst Republicans. uh

[132:38] where does it move us uh in terms of the

[132:41] common good, the national interest uh in

[132:43] in the interests that are that are most

[132:46] uh uh important that is the quality of

[132:48] life for middle class Americans, a

[132:50] standard of living uh these basic

[132:53] issues.

[132:53] >> Well, there are there are some of those

[132:55] that are going to get dealt with

[132:56] allegedly in the first 100 hours and

[132:57] it'll be good to see whether or not we

[132:58] finally get some progress on the minimum

[133:00] wage. What the president said by way of

[133:02] offering an olive branch in his press

[133:03] conference today suggested that he might

[133:05] uh help move it along. So that that'll

[133:08] affect 7 million people right off the

[133:10] bat. So there could be some progress

[133:12] right in in that area. But there are

[133:14] other issues like stem cell research

[133:15] that really haven't been fought out. You

[133:17] know, the the uh the Senate race out

[133:19] Missouri

[133:20] >> in Missouri arguably the margin of

[133:22] victory for the Democrat there, Clare

[133:23] Macascal, was pretty much the same as an

[133:25] initiative on stem cell research, but

[133:27] that's not a national consensus. That's

[133:29] not a national battle. and we'll see if

[133:31] some of these other things get moved on

[133:33] or if indeed this becomes yet another

[133:35] fight over the conduct of the war in

[133:37] Iraq.

[133:37] >> Okay. Our uh our panel will be with us

[133:40] throughout the broadcast uh as we

[133:42] examine the issues and the events of the

[133:44] day. We'll also be joined here later.

[133:47] Two retired military commanders who have

[133:49] publicly called for Donald Rumsfeld's

[133:51] resignation in criticism of his conduct

[133:54] of the war uh in Iraq. Christine Romans

[133:57] joins us here to report on voters

[134:00] powerful message to Washington DC about

[134:02] the escalating war on the middle class

[134:04] and will the Democratic victory make it

[134:07] easier for President Bush to push his

[134:09] amnesty agenda for illegal aliens

[134:11] through Congress? We'll have that

[134:13] special report and the battle to control

[134:15] the US Senate hanging in the balance.

[134:18] Senator George Allen, Democratic

[134:19] challenger James Webb,

[134:22] they're tied almost. We'll have a live

[134:25] report for you from Richmond, Virginia.

[134:26] Here next. Stay with us.

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[137:11] Welcome back to our special election

[137:13] coverage tonight. President Bush today

[137:16] at a news conference said recent

[137:18] success, as he put it, on achieving

[137:20] border security will bring the new

[137:23] Congress aboard when he presents his

[137:25] comprehensive immigration reform

[137:27] proposals.

[137:30] show me progress on the border and then

[137:32] we'd be interested in talking about

[137:34] other aspects. Well, there is progress

[137:36] being made on the on the border in terms

[137:37] of security and I would hope we can get

[137:38] something done. It's a vital issue. It's

[137:40] an issue that there's an issue where I

[137:42] believe we can find some common ground

[137:44] with the Democrats.

[137:46] >> In fact, the president saying it's going

[137:48] to be much easier to get through his uh

[137:50] comprehensive immigration reform with a

[137:52] Democratic Congress than it was with a

[137:54] Republican Congress. But in the states

[137:57] that must deal with illegal immigration

[137:59] each and every day, voters are taking a

[138:01] much firmer line. And a new balance of

[138:04] power in Congress may bring new federal

[138:06] action on illegal immigration. Despite

[138:09] the president's position, Casey Wyan

[138:11] reports tonight on efforts in Arizona

[138:13] and Colorado to restrict the flow of

[138:15] taxpayer money to illegal aliens. Lisa

[138:18] Sylvester reports tonight on how illegal

[138:21] immigration reform will fare in a new

[138:24] Congress. We begin with Casey Wy in Los

[138:26] Angeles. Casey

[138:28] >> Lou, despite the Democratic takeover of

[138:30] Congress, most lawmakers who support

[138:32] strong border security survived the

[138:35] midterm elections

[138:38] >> to have papers to vote.

[138:39] >> San Diego Republican Brian Bily's

[138:42] message of border security first

[138:44] delivered a convincing victory over

[138:46] Democrat Francine Busby, who infamously

[138:48] told an audience of immigrants, "You

[138:50] don't need papers for voting. Illegal

[138:52] immigration is an issue that um you just

[138:55] can't ignore and you can't look the

[138:57] other way and you darn well shouldn't be

[138:59] rewarding them with uh an amnesty or

[139:01] with voting.

[139:02] >> Fellow Border Security Californians Ed

[139:04] Royce and 2008 presidential candidate

[139:07] Duncan Hunter also won easily. Michael

[139:10] McCall and Ted Poe from Texas retained

[139:12] their seats as did Colorado's Tom

[139:14] Tenredo and Iowa's Steve King. However,

[139:17] a Minuteman Project endorsement failed

[139:19] to save Indiana's John Hostettler and

[139:22] Arizona lost border security advocate

[139:24] Randy Graph and apparently JD Hworth

[139:26] who's refusing to concede despite a

[139:28] preliminary four-point deficit. Illegal

[139:31] immigration was by far the most

[139:32] important issue to Arizona voters. They

[139:34] passed Propositions 100, denying illegal

[139:37] alien felony suspects bail 102, barring

[139:40] them from collecting punitive damages in

[139:42] civil lawsuits. 103 declaring English

[139:46] Arizona's official language and 300

[139:48] restricting state funded adult education

[139:51] and child care to citizens and legal

[139:53] residents. All received more than 70% of

[139:56] the vote.

[139:57] >> This is not a silver bullet. It's not

[139:59] going to solve the problem. Uh but it

[140:02] definitely helps.

[140:03] >> Colorado's referendum disallowing

[140:05] illegal alien wages as a business

[140:06] expense is narrowly ahead. and another

[140:09] measure ordering the state to sue the

[140:10] federal government to enforce its own

[140:12] immigration laws easily passed. Now,

[140:15] it's clear border security hawks still

[140:17] have plenty of political power. Illegal

[140:20] immigration was the number one issue for

[140:22] California voters and they reelected

[140:24] proborder security governor Arnold

[140:26] Schwarzenegger in a landslide. Lou,

[140:28] >> thank you very much. Casey Wyan from Los

[140:30] Angeles. President Bush may believe that

[140:33] the new Congress will approve his

[140:35] comprehensive immigration reform

[140:37] proposals, but there are indications the

[140:39] president's plan to give amnesty may

[140:42] still face considerable congressional

[140:44] hurdles. Lisa Sylvester reports.

[140:49] >> The Democratic pickup of House seats may

[140:51] not be enough to guarantee passage of

[140:53] comprehensive immigration reform pushed

[140:56] by the president and the open borders

[140:58] advocates because of the numbers. You're

[141:01] still going to need 60 70 Republicans in

[141:04] the House, 10, 20 Republicans in the

[141:06] Senate.

[141:07] >> It's not a given that those votes are

[141:09] there. Many of the Democratic newcomers

[141:11] in the 110th Congress are more

[141:13] conservative on immigration than the

[141:15] 109th Congress. Democrats in close races

[141:19] who took a tough stand on border

[141:20] enforcement include Missouri's Claire

[141:22] McKascal and Pennsylvania's Jason

[141:25] Altmire. Not a single Democrat ran for

[141:28] reelection promising a big amnesty, a

[141:31] guest worker program, or flooding uh

[141:34] middle class jobs with foreign workers.

[141:36] Not one. It would be the height of

[141:38] cynicism for the Democrats to turn

[141:39] around and do that. We have to assume

[141:41] that while we lost some moderate

[141:43] Republicans, we gained some moderate

[141:44] Democrats. The biggest challenge for

[141:47] opponents of a guest worker amnesty plan

[141:49] will be the House leadership change.

[141:52] Congressman James Sensen Brener, a

[141:54] strong opponent of a comprehensive

[141:56] immigration plan, will likely be

[141:58] replaced by Representative John Conurs,

[142:01] who is a strong advocate for the

[142:03] comprehensive approach. Indiana's John

[142:05] Hostettler, who chaired the immigration

[142:07] and border security subcommittee and

[142:10] opposed open borders, lost his race. His

[142:13] position could be filled by

[142:14] Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee,

[142:16] another ardent supporter of the

[142:18] comprehensive plan.

[142:20] At least for now, it doesn't appear that

[142:22] Democrats are willing to revisit the

[142:24] immigration issue anytime soon. House

[142:26] Democrats put out a list of the issues

[142:27] they will tackle first. Middle class

[142:30] concerns top the agenda, and the guest

[142:32] worker amnesty plan was not included,

[142:34] Lou.

[142:35] >> And of course, the importation of cheap

[142:37] uh uh foreign labor is chief among those

[142:40] concerns for the middle class. Thank you

[142:42] very much, Lisa Sylvester. Uh let's turn

[142:45] now, if I may, to our panel. Uh well,

[142:48] first of all, I mean, what's your

[142:49] reaction? Do you think that uh the

[142:51] Democrats are going to make uh uh the

[142:53] amnesty agenda uh their own?

[142:55] >> Uh I think they're going to take their

[142:57] own approach to it. I think they're it's

[142:58] going to be very much more lenient than

[143:00] what we saw in the last Congress because

[143:01] while some moderate Democrats got

[143:03] elected by being tough on border

[143:04] security, there are many more people and

[143:06] we just saw some of their faces in the

[143:07] Black Caucus, in the Hispanic caucus, uh

[143:09] who have very deep attachments to uh pro

[143:13] uh open borders

[143:15] >> and uh those open borders amnesty

[143:17] advocates. Uh, in point of fact, uh,

[143:20] doesn't sound like they're paying a lot

[143:22] of attention here, Robert Zimmerman, to

[143:24] what happened, uh, to this Republican

[143:26] Congress, ignoring the will of the

[143:27] people.

[143:28] >> I think, Earl, you're underestimating

[143:29] the Democratic the new de the new

[143:31] Democratic members of Congress and also

[143:32] the agenda of the Democratic Congress.

[143:34] Border port security has been one of the

[143:36] top priorities. Putting in place the

[143:38] 9/11 Commission recommendations has been

[143:40] critical, and you're not going to see a

[143:42] Democratic Congress ignore or be for

[143:45] open borders and open ports. the

[143:46] president tries to push through this

[143:48] with Democrat support, he might as well

[143:50] move in Pelosy's office, the speaker's

[143:51] office, because he's going to have no

[143:52] support from Republicans who feel that

[143:54] he basically led them over the cliff

[143:56] yesterday and he might as well just pack

[143:58] his bags cuz the next two years he'll

[144:00] have no Republican support on any major

[144:01] issues. I wonder if many members of the

[144:03] House of Representatives particularly

[144:04] and I think he less led them over the

[144:06] cliff than uh push them toward that

[144:08] cliff uh on issues like uh comprehensive

[144:12] immigration reform where he aligned with

[144:14] 31 Democrats in the Senate to get his

[144:16] legislation through.

[144:17] >> I think there's a lot of nashing of the

[144:18] teeth and a lot of second guessing today

[144:20] of of the strategy or lack of strategy

[144:22] in this campaign.

[144:23] >> I think also the bottom line is even his

[144:25] strategy for the fence along the Mexican

[144:27] border turned out to be deceitful.

[144:28] Neither the money nor the legislation's

[144:31] been put in place to implement that

[144:32] bill.

[144:33] >> Robert Zimmerman, thank you very much.

[144:35] We'll be back with these three gentlemen

[144:36] throughout the broadcast. Next, how the

[144:38] middle class fared in this election and

[144:41] the results of the Virginia Senate race

[144:44] still in the air. Control of the Senate

[144:45] hanging in the balance. We'll have a

[144:47] live report for you from Virginia. And

[144:49] just last week, President Bush voiced

[144:51] support for his Secretary of Defense.

[144:53] Today, his Secretary of Defense is

[144:56] Adios. We'll hear from two former

[144:58] military commanders who've been calling

[145:01] for his resignation. Stay with us.

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[147:11] >> Tonight, a big win for Democrats. The

[147:14] campaigns are over, but the politics

[147:16] continues. CNN breaks down your votes

[147:18] and the battle for Congress. Plus, live

[147:21] the view from Iraq. CNN Tonight,

[147:23] beginning 7 Eastern.

[147:28] Voters across this country vented their

[147:30] frustration, their anger, and they sent

[147:33] a very strong message to Washington. In

[147:35] ballot initiatives all across the

[147:37] country, voters fought back to gain

[147:39] ground in the war on the middle class.

[147:41] Christine Romans reports.

[147:45] What voters did here will make a big

[147:48] difference here. The message doesn't get

[147:50] louder or clearer than this. Six more

[147:53] states raise the minimum wage. A clear

[147:56] majority of states declaring the federal

[147:58] wage of 515 an hour is simply not enough

[148:02] for working families.

[148:03] >> The minimum wage has eroded to uh the

[148:06] lowest level adjusted for average wages

[148:09] in about a half a century. The business

[148:12] community has long opposed higher

[148:14] minimum wages, preferring instead low

[148:16] taxes and less regulation.

[148:18] >> When you increase the minimum wage, you

[148:21] increase the cost of doing business. And

[148:22] that that's kind of tough.

[148:24] >> Voters overwhelmingly disagreed. And in

[148:28] 10 states this fall, they offered a

[148:30] sharp rebuke of last year's unpopular

[148:32] Supreme Court decision, which allowed

[148:35] private homes to be raised for

[148:37] commercial development. They basically

[148:39] say that the government can't take

[148:40] property for economic development. So,

[148:42] they can't take your house and turn it

[148:45] over to a developer to build a strip

[148:47] mall. Arizona's measure went even

[148:49] further, requiring compensation for

[148:52] property owners if land use regulations

[148:54] lower their property values. And that

[148:57] one passed. Now, historically, less than

[148:59] half of ballot initiatives are passed by

[149:01] voters. This time around, voters sending

[149:03] a very clear signal about the issues

[149:05] that matter most to the middle class.

[149:07] >> Absolutely. And uh you know the US

[149:09] chamber of commerce, the heritage

[149:10] foundations, the enterprise and I mean

[149:12] all of these people have better

[149:14] understand something that clear in that

[149:16] at least to me and that is when when the

[149:19] voters go to the trouble of an

[149:21] initiative to get around their lo their

[149:23] state legislatores to get around the

[149:25] federal government uh and say you know

[149:27] business is pushing just way too hard

[149:30] against the interest of the common good

[149:32] working men and women in this country.

[149:34] uh you know, we're going to see some

[149:35] real fireworks unless this this new

[149:39] Congress uh led by the Democrats awakens

[149:42] to the the needs of middle class

[149:44] Americans. Christine, thank you very

[149:46] much. Christine Romans, turning uh to

[149:48] our poll tonight, the question is, what

[149:51] was the deciding factor in casting your

[149:54] vote yesterday? The war in Iraq,

[149:56] corruption in our government, the

[149:58] economy, or illegal immigration? Please

[150:00] cast your vote at ludobs.com. We'll have

[150:02] the results coming up here later. Next,

[150:04] it shouldn't come as a shock. We were

[150:06] warned uh countless times about

[150:08] paperless voting, but now it's left us

[150:11] with a cliffhanger in Virginia.

[150:13] Unbelievably, unbelievably, no one knows

[150:17] who will control the Senate. And we have

[150:19] some other incredible information to

[150:21] share with you about that election in

[150:23] Virginia tonight. We'll have complete

[150:25] coverage. And the Republican bombshell

[150:27] today, the resignation of Donald

[150:29] Rumsfeld. More reaction from two former

[150:32] military commanders who have called for

[150:34] his resignation. Stay with us.

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[152:41] Tonight, control of the Senate hangs in

[152:43] the balance on the outcome of the

[152:45] Virginia Senate race between George

[152:47] Allen and James Webb. Almost 24 hours

[152:51] after the polls close, there still is no

[152:53] winner. Ed Henry is in Richmond,

[152:55] Virginia, and has the latest for us. Ed,

[152:57] are you starting to see a lot of lawyers

[152:59] roll into town?

[153:01] >> Oh, yeah. On both sides. Lou, in fact,

[153:03] these candidates, as you know, were

[153:04] already on a collision course. Charges

[153:06] of racism and sexism flying back and

[153:08] forth. But now both sides are in fact

[153:10] bringing in the lawyers, getting ready

[153:12] for the possibility of this getting even

[153:14] uglier now that so much is at stake,

[153:17] control of the US Senate itself. The

[153:19] Democrat Jim Webb now has a lead of

[153:21] about 7,000 votes and he's trying to

[153:23] create an aura of inevitability. He's

[153:25] calling himself senator elect. He's

[153:26] making preparations to land himself a

[153:28] capital office. But just in case, he has

[153:31] started gathering volunteers and lawyers

[153:33] to prepare for the possibility of a

[153:35] bitter recount fight. Senator Allen,

[153:37] meanwhile, conceded nothing uh last

[153:39] night on election night. Uh said that

[153:41] the vote counting has to continue. He

[153:43] has his own team of lawyers and

[153:44] strategists. It's led by Ed Gillespie,

[153:46] the former Republican National Committee

[153:48] chairman. He's a veteran of the 2000

[153:50] recount uh fight down in Florida. Uh at

[153:53] this point, what we're seeing is a

[153:54] statemandated review uh of the official

[153:57] vote count. That is not decided by

[153:59] either campaign. That was already in

[154:00] place. It goes on for about a week. For

[154:02] now, the Allen camp is leaving open the

[154:05] possibility of a recount down the road,

[154:07] but all signs are starting to point uh a

[154:10] lot of Democrats saying they don't think

[154:12] Allen will have a recount, really a case

[154:14] to launch a recount fight after that.

[154:17] And even Republicans privately

[154:19] suggesting that they really don't think

[154:20] at this point, barring some major

[154:22] development in in some sort of a voting

[154:25] uh miscue or something, uh the bottom

[154:27] line is most people are expecting that

[154:28] at some point the senator will in fact

[154:31] concede.

[154:32] Thank you very much. Ed Henry from

[154:34] Richmond, Virginia. What's happening in

[154:36] Virginia and problems in a number of

[154:38] other states confirms some of the worst

[154:40] fears of voting activists about e voting

[154:43] machines. Kenny Pilgrim reports.

[154:48] >> In Virginia, a tight race and no voter

[154:50] verified paper trail. It's something

[154:52] voter activists have been warning about

[154:54] all along. over 75% of the votes that

[154:57] were cast uh yesterday uh in Virginia

[155:00] were cast on machines that do not

[155:02] provide an independent means of

[155:03] verification. So there's no way to do a

[155:06] really meaningful recount. Um if uh

[155:10] Senator Allen requests a recount, uh all

[155:13] he can get is a reprint.

[155:15] >> Virginia based activists say efforts to

[155:17] enact paper trail legislation failed

[155:20] last year. There's no evidence of how

[155:22] the voter originally voted, what their

[155:24] intent was. All we have is an electronic

[155:26] record that you just look at the

[155:28] printouts from the machines and total

[155:30] those up and make sure that you didn't

[155:32] miss any machines. So that's why it's

[155:34] it's really a reti. It's not a recount.

[155:37] >> Activists warned of this and worse, the

[155:40] use of widespread electronic voting

[155:42] across the country had sporadic problems

[155:45] and a few hot spots. In Kyhoga County,

[155:48] Ohio, with a checkered history of

[155:50] electronic voting, the problems were not

[155:52] entirely worked out.

[155:54] >> The ballot has been cancelled,

[155:56] >> but election officials managed the

[155:58] problems well.

[155:59] >> They're trying to send a technician out

[156:00] here.

[156:01] >> In Maryland, also long lines.

[156:03] >> Our machines are never perfect, and uh

[156:06] some of them did give some of the judges

[156:08] a harder time, but overall, we seem to

[156:10] be doing very well. Denver had hour-long

[156:13] lines by mid-afternoon because of

[156:15] problems with electronic registration.

[156:17] Several jurisdictions in numerous

[156:19] states, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana,

[156:22] North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and

[156:24] South Carolina, moved to keep polls open

[156:27] later to accommodate voters. In Florida,

[156:30] Republican Vern Buchanan's win over

[156:32] Democrat Christine Jennings less than

[156:34] 400 votes appears to be headed for a

[156:36] recount. and that would also face

[156:38] technical problems because of the

[156:40] touchscreen technology without a paper

[156:42] trail.

[156:43] >> Thank you very much, Kitty. Joining us

[156:46] now to discuss what is to be done about

[156:48] the turmoil, the uncertainty in

[156:51] Virginia, Shelley Pingry. She is the

[156:53] president of the voter advocacy group,

[156:55] uh, among other things, the group Common

[156:57] Cause, and our senior legal analyst,

[157:00] Jeffrey Tubin. Uh, Shelley, let me turn

[157:02] to you. Is there any prospect you in

[157:05] your judgment that Virginia could turn

[157:07] into the 2006 version of Florida 2000?

[157:11] >> Well, I think it is. I actually think

[157:13] it's the poster child for what's wrong

[157:15] with electronic voting in this country.

[157:17] You may have a recount called for here.

[157:19] And in fact, as some of your earlier

[157:20] spokespeople said, all they're going to

[157:22] get is somewhat of a retalling. There's

[157:24] going to be a tremendous amount of

[157:25] frustration. And I think it will add to

[157:27] the cry of why don't we have electronic

[157:29] voting machines with paper trails that

[157:31] you can verify.

[157:32] >> Uh Jeffrey Tubin, we just heard Ed

[157:35] Henry's report. You just heard what

[157:37] Shelley Pingry said. Uh what are the

[157:39] prospects?

[157:40] >> Well, uh Allen clearly has the legal

[157:42] right to ask for a recount. But what

[157:44] we've learned just last year in Virginia

[157:47] is that not much happens in a recount

[157:49] with these kind of machines. There was a

[157:52] recount in the attorney general's race

[157:53] last year. It took a very long time. It

[157:56] went from election day the first week of

[157:58] November to December 22nd. But it only

[158:01] shifted 37 votes because it's not, as

[158:04] Kitty's report suggested, it's not a

[158:06] real recount. It's simply looking at the

[158:08] numbers that were already printed and

[158:11] just checking that you got the right

[158:13] numbers. You're not looking at ballots.

[158:14] >> Uh Shelley, let me ask you this. I if

[158:17] are we basically because there is no

[158:19] what's called verified uh uh voter paper

[158:22] trail voter verified uh paper audit

[158:25] trail uh are we basically in the

[158:27] situation where we're going to be

[158:28] reliant upon the manufacturers of those

[158:30] machines to say you know these are good

[158:32] numbers these are bad numbers the votes

[158:34] were accurately tall

[158:36] >> yeah and what a horrible position to be

[158:38] in I mean you already have there's a

[158:40] high level of voter distrust in this

[158:41] country and uh we can't get inside the

[158:44] machine in fact most people state we

[158:45] know more about what goes goes on inside

[158:47] of gambling machines than we do in our

[158:48] electronic voting machines.

[158:50] >> Uh Jeffrey Tubin, how in the world I

[158:53] mean u you know there are all sorts of

[158:55] considerations in this but without that

[158:57] verified paper audit trail we're sort of

[159:00] up a creek here.

[159:01] >> This is the another reflection of what

[159:03] went on in Florida in in 2000.

[159:05] Government spends money on things that

[159:08] people pressure government to spend

[159:09] money on. There's no real constituency

[159:11] for elections. It's the the benefits are

[159:14] too general. There's no advocacy group.

[159:16] There's no labor union. There's no

[159:17] business that says you must spend money.

[159:19] So, they do it on the cheap and they do

[159:21] it badly.

[159:22] >> Uh on the cheap, just about $2.5 billion

[159:25] for the Help America Vote Act. All that

[159:27] spread around all of these districts. Uh

[159:30] but I understand cheap by Washington

[159:31] standards. That's cheap. Uh Shelley,

[159:34] Common Cause going to be pushing hard uh

[159:36] to make sure we don't uh well, we're

[159:39] going to run into problems without

[159:40] question, but that uh we run into far

[159:43] fewer problems in 2008. Well, it could

[159:46] be again a significantly close

[159:47] presidential election. We don't want to

[159:48] see a vote count like we did in 2004.

[159:51] And there were many problems at the

[159:53] polling places, particularly with

[159:54] electronic voting machine. So, we're

[159:56] going to work very hard. We have a

[159:57] website called GetItStraight by 2008.

[160:00] And we're encouraging people to start

[160:01] fighting now to to fix these machines

[160:03] and fix many of the problems at the

[160:04] polling place.

[160:05] >> That's get itstraight208.org.

[160:09] >> That's right. Get it straight by 2008.

[160:11] >> By 2008. All right. Great, Charlie.

[160:13] Thank you very much, Jeffrey. As always,

[160:15] good to see you again. It's just been a

[160:16] few hours this

[160:18] >> morning, noon, and night.

[160:19] >> Well, you did a wonderful job. Thank you

[160:21] very much, Jeff. Just ahead, two of the

[160:23] military's most outspoken critics of the

[160:25] defense secretary join me to discuss his

[160:27] resignation, the war in Iraq, and what

[160:30] these decisions, what effect they may

[160:32] have on our men and women in uniform,

[160:34] and the Democratic 100hour plan. Will it

[160:37] be good enough for you? We'll see. We'll

[160:40] be talking with our panel of experts.

[160:41] Stay with us.

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[162:38] though the use of coal to generate

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[162:42] emissions, they're down 35%. Here, check

[162:45] it out.

[162:52] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has

[162:54] resigned. Rumsfeld did not acknowledge

[162:57] any errors in the conduct of the war in

[162:59] Iraq, nor did he express any regret

[163:02] about strategy. Joining me now, uh, two

[163:05] retired military commanders who have

[163:07] called for the resignation of the

[163:09] defense secretary, Colonel Thomas Hams,

[163:11] who served in Iraq with the US Marine

[163:13] Corps, Major General Paul Eaton. He'll

[163:15] be joining us here in just a moment.

[163:17] There he is. Uh, who led the US training

[163:20] of Iraqi police and security forces. Uh,

[163:23] and loud and clear. Thank you very much.

[163:25] We thank you to We thank you both for

[163:27] being here. Let me start out with you uh

[163:29] Tom Hams. Uh this decision to resign

[163:32] coming as it does now, what is the

[163:34] likely impact first uh on our troops in

[163:38] Iraq and Afghanistan?

[163:41] >> I think the key is going to be how they

[163:43] resp how the the administration uses

[163:46] this. If they use it to change the

[163:47] strategy so it's effective and to

[163:49] provide equipment for the troops both in

[163:51] country and training, it's very

[163:53] positive.

[163:54] All right. Uh, General Eaton.

[163:57] >> Hey, Lou. Great to be with you again.

[163:59] Uh, it's going to energize the troops.

[164:01] It's going to energize the Pentagon. In

[164:02] fact, it's already started. The feedback

[164:04] that I'm getting is that, uh, the energy

[164:07] levels, uh, have just popped in the

[164:09] Pentagon. Now, when you say the energy

[164:11] levels have just popped, uh, as you

[164:14] know, I've been on this broadcast

[164:16] extremely critical of our generals, uh,

[164:18] the Pentagon, uh, the general staff, uh,

[164:21] because, uh, in many cases, they have

[164:22] been inserted into, uh, domestic as well

[164:26] as international political issues. Uh,

[164:28] they have asked the American people for

[164:30] patience while not procuring uh, victory

[164:33] nor enunciating a strategy. Are we going

[164:35] to see a real substantive difference in

[164:37] the uh in the actions of the of the

[164:40] general staff?

[164:42] >> Lou, I think that one of the outcomes of

[164:44] the election that we've just gone

[164:45] through and the fact that we're changing

[164:47] to a very reasonable man, this Robert

[164:50] Gates is uh is a man of considerable uh

[164:53] professional background, positive, and

[164:56] he's a he's a reasonable man. Uh, I

[164:59] expect to see generals and men of all

[165:01] ranks testify before Congress on what

[165:04] they really need, where they really want

[165:06] this thing to go. So, I see it as a

[165:08] liberating influence for uh for the

[165:11] uniform military.

[165:13] >> Uh Tom Hams, as uh General Eaton just

[165:16] said, uh there are very few uh men and

[165:20] or women who have served this country uh

[165:23] with with greater distinction than Bob

[165:26] Gates. He is just enormously respected.

[165:29] Uh is is it your sense that he will be

[165:33] able working as he has with the Iraq

[165:35] study group uh the group being led by

[165:38] the former Secretary of State James

[165:39] Baker uh Congressman Lee Hamilton uh to

[165:43] make a profound difference uh within

[165:45] this administration on the conduct of

[165:46] the war. Whether that means a a strategy

[165:49] for victory or a strategy for

[165:51] withdrawal.

[165:52] >> I think he can make a difference. He's

[165:54] certainly got the background uh with his

[165:55] background in human intelligence. He

[165:57] should understand more clearly the human

[165:59] aspects of this war which are the

[166:00] critical aspects. It's going to be

[166:02] whether he then chooses to really

[166:04] mobilize the Pentagon, use that

[166:06] enthusiasm and put it on a wartime

[166:07] footing or not.

[166:09] >> And give us your best judgment

[166:12] militarily. Uh uh General Eaton, should

[166:14] this country prepare for a greater

[166:17] engagement in Iraq uh or should it begin

[166:21] a uh an acceleration, if you will, just

[166:24] to give you two options here, an

[166:26] acceleration of withdrawal and bringing

[166:30] more Iraqis online as we do so?

[166:34] >> Well, a great question. Uh we need to uh

[166:37] change the the method that we're dealing

[166:39] with the problem in Iraq. certainly not

[166:41] back away from it. We cannot accept a

[166:44] failed state. And the single greatest

[166:47] factor that we've got to get after aside

[166:49] from the political solution with the

[166:52] Iraqi government is the Iraqi security

[166:54] forces. We had a Lieutenant Colonel Doug

[166:57] Olivan publish a uh an article in

[167:00] military review, a distinguished review,

[167:02] and this man's got an approach at

[167:04] dealing with the Iraqi security forces

[167:06] very different from what the

[167:08] administration has been doing. Tom Hams,

[167:12] I'm going to have to give you the last

[167:13] word. We're out of time.

[167:16] I think that uh we have to stay stay and

[167:20] win because if we don't there's too

[167:22] large a disaster potential in the Middle

[167:24] East and if we are going to discuss

[167:26] withdrawal we have to discuss what the

[167:28] impact is of the potential for a greater

[167:30] Sunni Shia civil war with experts from

[167:33] the Middle East.

[167:34] >> Colonel Hamus General Eaton we thank you

[167:36] both for being here. Appreciate it.

[167:38] >> Thanks Lou.

[167:38] >> Thank you very up next here the

[167:40] situation room with Wolf Blitzer. Wolf

[167:42] >> thanks very much Lou. Uh we're going to

[167:44] check more into the situation involving

[167:46] Donald Rumsfeld. Was in an about face

[167:49] stepping down as defense secretary.

[167:50] We'll find out what the impact is and

[167:53] what will be the impact on the war in

[167:55] Iraq. Also, the presumed speaker of the

[167:58] house, Nancy Pelosi. She's had some

[168:00] sharp words for the president in the

[168:02] past. Can she actually work with him

[168:04] right now in Washington? I'll ask her.

[168:06] Plus, getting in line for the White

[168:08] House. One election's over, but now the

[168:10] title fight is about to begin. And the

[168:13] key to the control of the Senate lies in

[168:15] Virginia. Will there be a recon? All

[168:18] that coming up. And Lou Dobs himself

[168:20] will be joining us throughout our 7 p.m.

[168:23] hour. Lou, I'll see you in a little

[168:24] while. Looking forward to it, Wolf.

[168:26] Thank you very much. And a reminder now

[168:28] to vote on our poll. What was the

[168:30] deciding factor in casting your vote

[168:33] yesterday? The war in Iraq, corruption

[168:34] in our government, the economy, or

[168:36] illegal immigration. Cast your vote at

[168:38] ludabs.com. We'll have those results

[168:40] here in just a few minutes. Coming up

[168:42] next, a cliffhanger in Virginia, control

[168:44] of the Senate, and the president's

[168:46] amnesty agenda for illegal aliens, the

[168:49] future uncertain. We'll be talking about

[168:51] those issues and more with our panel.

[168:53] Stay with us

[168:57] tonight. A big win for Democrats. CNN

[169:00] breaks down your votes. Plus, live the

[169:02] view from Iraq. CNN next beginning 7

[169:05] Eastern.

[169:06] >> Word around the watering holes that

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[169:10] And they done br the whole kitten

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[169:11] >> We're just bouncing like jack rabbits on

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[169:14] >> It's big fun in the big D all week on

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[169:21] >> What good are you as a police officer if

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[169:23] >> We investigate police officers who carry

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[169:31] cops still on the job? Thursday night at

[169:34] 6:30, only on K2 News.

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[171:08] >> Outspoken Bill Mah on the elections

[171:10] winners and losers. Larry King tonight.

[171:15] Well, this may have been a Democratic

[171:17] victory, but uh no one does victory like

[171:20] uh two New York congressmen, many close

[171:23] races across the country, but two

[171:25] congressional matchups in New York City,

[171:28] anything but close and anything but tame

[171:31] in the result. In fact, they were

[171:32] nothing less than monumental blowouts.

[171:35] Congressman Charlie Wrangle, the

[171:37] incoming chairman of the House Ways and

[171:39] Means Committee, reelected with only

[171:42] only 94% of the vote. And Congressman

[171:46] Jose Serran, he is uh New York City

[171:50] Congressional District is right next to

[171:51] Wrangles. He won a re-election with a

[171:55] slightly more impressive 96% of the

[171:58] vote. Uh, back with me now, Ed Rollins

[172:00] and Errol Lewis and Robert Zimmerman.

[172:02] Uh, I suppose there's some folks in

[172:04] Virginia who would like to have seen

[172:05] that margin apply to that Senate race.

[172:09] What's your instinct tell you, Arl?

[172:10] We're going to see um are we going to

[172:12] see a recount or do you think that uh

[172:15] Allen uh will be gracious and uh simply

[172:19] concede?

[172:19] >> Allan would be wise to be gracious.

[172:20] There's almost no scenario where he can

[172:22] win. You have close to 8,000 votes uh

[172:24] separating the two candidates. And if

[172:26] you look just a year ago, there was a

[172:28] similarly close race, a much closer race

[172:30] actually. There's only a couple hundred

[172:31] votes in the attorney general's race.

[172:33] And um after the count, only 37 votes

[172:36] swapped. So it's fair to say and and

[172:38] keep in mind,

[172:39] >> you can imagine the pressure uh that

[172:41] Allen is under from the Republican party

[172:43] because that Senate uh does hang in the

[172:45] balance control.

[172:46] >> But there's this thing called reality. I

[172:48] mean, the absentee votes have already

[172:49] been counted. There's no there's no new

[172:51] information coming in. Ed

[172:52] >> Rollins, I would I would agree. I would

[172:54] do it quick. First, I want to make one

[172:55] comment about wrangles. That 95% is what

[172:57] his new t tax rate is going to be for

[172:59] all you rich guys. He'll split 95%

[173:02] between him and

[173:03] >> I'm not letting you get away with that.

[173:04] >> I think I think any impression that we

[173:08] are are sore losers and that we not that

[173:10] I I I think we go through the process

[173:12] process needs to be over in a few days

[173:13] and then we move on. We don't challenge

[173:15] it. We don't challenge it in the courts.

[173:17] Uh the country will feel that the

[173:19] Republicans are trying to steal this and

[173:20] I think it'll just really do us in. You

[173:22] know, I think that George Allen gracious

[173:24] scenario pretty much passed. That that

[173:26] strategy disappeared several months ago.

[173:27] So, don't count on George Allen being

[173:29] gracious. What I do enjoy watching is Ed

[173:31] Gillespie, the former Republican

[173:33] National Chairman and Enron lobbyist now

[173:35] advocating that every vote be counted.

[173:38] Where were they about counting votes in

[173:39] Florida back in 2000? I'm impressed by

[173:41] their newfound faith in democracy.

[173:43] >> You know, I don't know about you bitter

[173:45] about Ed. Ed, Robert, just you know,

[173:48] you've got you have that warm feeling.

[173:50] I've got that the healing process after

[173:52] that bitter campaign election. We're

[173:54] coming together.

[173:55] >> We just beat Katherine Harris by

[173:57] a,100,000

[173:59] votes and they want to still stop it.

[174:00] >> And on behalf of Charlie Wrangler, we're

[174:02] not going to quickly get 100% of the

[174:03] vote.

[174:04] >> Well, you know, those aspirations are

[174:07] what makes this country great.

[174:08] >> We do our best.

[174:09] >> All right, we'll be back here in just a

[174:10] moment. Still ahead, final thoughts from

[174:12] our panel, the results of tonight's

[174:13] poll. Please stay with us.

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[176:35] >> Let's start with the results of our

[176:37] poll. 34% of you responding that the war

[176:39] in Iraq was the deciding factor in your

[176:42] vote in yesterday's election and uh

[176:45] coming in close behind corruption in

[176:47] government and the issue of illegal

[176:49] immigration. Let's turn to our panel for

[176:51] some final thoughts. Errol, the where do

[176:54] you think the country is now after going

[176:56] through this election? the the the

[176:58] overwhelming victory by the Democrats uh

[177:00] is nationwide.

[177:02] >> There's a chance now, I think, for the

[177:03] Democrats, and they had said that they

[177:05] were going to do this, to allay those

[177:07] fears, to say, "We're not crazy. We're

[177:09] not going to triple your taxes. We're

[177:11] not going to yank the troops out

[177:12] tomorrow, but to govern responsibly.

[177:14] It's an opportunity in the next two

[177:16] years to show what they can do as we go

[177:18] into the next presidential season."

[177:20] >> Do you think they're going to be able to

[177:21] pull it off?

[177:21] >> I I you know, my my sense is uh it's

[177:24] going to be a big test. Uh we're going

[177:25] to come back at them full boore. Uh we

[177:27] think there's a lot of these seats we

[177:29] can get back. Uh we've got a big

[177:31] defense. We got a lot of Senate seats up

[177:33] in 2008. It's a presidential year.

[177:36] Presidential politics will start in

[177:37] about 2 weeks. Uh so we're not going to

[177:39] let them rest on their laurels. I don't

[177:41] think you have to worry about that. With

[177:42] a 20 seat margin of maybe 20, maybe a

[177:44] little bit higher at the end of the day.

[177:46] Democrats are going to be very focused

[177:48] on protecting and building upon that

[177:50] majority. And you're going to see Nancy

[177:52] Pelosi as speaker and chairman like

[177:54] Charlie Wrangle at Ways and Mean be very

[177:57] conscious of governing from the center,

[177:59] protecting middle inome working

[178:00] families, protecting middle class tax

[178:02] cuts. You're going to see a Democratic

[178:04] party that does reflect the country.

[178:06] Remember where

[178:07] >> thinks they've got to get them before

[178:08] they can be protected.

[178:09] >> Let me tell you something. Look at where

[178:11] our new me look at where the new members

[178:12] came from. Look at the fact the

[178:13] Democratic Party is now a 50state party.

[178:16] >> The center of San Francisco though is

[178:18] not exactly the center of the country.

[178:20] Pelosi is very conscious of being

[178:22] speaker of the house. So that tactic

[178:24] didn't work in the campaign. It's not

[178:25] going to work now.

[178:26] >> We'll see.

[178:27] >> Ed's going to try cuz he enjoys

[178:29] >> he's not giving up on that one. Yeah.

[178:30] >> Well, let's that that is really the

[178:32] fundamental issue. Uh I I don't know how

[178:35] you all feel, but I I truly believe that

[178:37] yesterday's election was about saying a

[178:40] loud voice that was not fractured uh uh

[178:43] by special interest wedge issues. Uh but

[178:46] basically middle class America saying

[178:48] we're not going to be ignored in

[178:50] Washington DC. Uh you can play your

[178:52] partisan games, your special interest

[178:53] games. You can try to slice and dice us

[178:55] into socioeconomic demographic groups,

[178:58] but we're going to speak. Do you think

[179:00] that message is truly taken to heart by

[179:03] the Democratic leadership?

[179:04] >> I don't I don't think it is to tell you

[179:06] the truth and I worry about it. I mean,

[179:07] when you see when you look at some of

[179:09] the pocketbook issues that they they

[179:10] have pledged to, they're going to be

[179:11] done with those in the first 100 hours

[179:13] by and large. The question will be what

[179:14] do they do with things like the basic

[179:16] corruption question earmarks tens of

[179:19] thousands of these these oneshots that

[179:21] are just dropped all over. very easy for

[179:22] you to figure that out because speaker

[179:24] Speaker elect Pelosi has already put

[179:26] forward proposed legislation to address

[179:28] that issue and to put forward lobbying

[179:30] reform. The issue is this the fact that

[179:32] Democrats have this majority in the

[179:35] House and Senate which by the way in

[179:36] this show I predicted several months ago

[179:38] let me remind you Ed reflects the fact

[179:40] that we have heard that voice of the

[179:42] middle class and we're responding to it.

[179:43] the you get the last word.

[179:45] >> What this proves is it's not election

[179:46] proof Congress anymore. And just as we

[179:48] lost yesterday, you can lose very

[179:49] quickly if you get out of touch with the

[179:51] where the country is.

[179:52] >> Say that again cuz I just love this.

[179:54] >> Not an election proof Congress. Not an