The morning after Election Day 2000, when Florida was counting absentee ballots, George Allen said, "we'll need to move America forward as soon as those votes are cast." Bush won that election night vote count in Florida by a little over 2,000 votes. Currently, Senator-elect Jim Webb is leading George Allen by 7,297 votes, nearly 4 times the Bush lead in Florida, the day after the 2000 Presidential election. So, George, do you still believe we need to move America forward as soon as the votes are cast? Hmmmmm.....
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
NBC News TranscriptsNovember 8, 2000, Wednesday
SHOW: TODAY (7:00 AM ET)
WITH ELECTION RESULTS, HOUSE AND SENATE ALMOST EQUALLY DIVIDED BETWEEN DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS
ANCHORS: KATIE COURIC; MATT LAUER
BYLINE: LISA MYERS
LENGTH: 1499 words
KATIE COURIC, co-host:
As votes continue to be counted, NBC's Lisa Myers has been keeping an eye on the House and the Senate. She's on Capitol Hill this morning.
Lisa, good morning.
LISA MYERS reporting:
Good morning, Katie. Congress is not a done deal, either. At this hour, Republicans appear to have held the Senate by a thread, 51 Republican seats, 49 Democratic, but one race in Michigan is too close to call. Republicans are headed toward losing a couple of seats in the House, but again will retain control there. Overall, it was a good night for incumbents in the House, but a bad one in the Senate.
The most dramatic story of the night, Republican senator John Ashcroft of Missouri, defeated by a dead man. Former governor Mel Carnahan, who died recently in a plane crash, was elected nevertheless to the US Senate. His wife, Jean, says she'll accept an appointment to his seat and addressed supporters by phone.
Senator-elect JEAN CARNAHAN: On this night, I pledge to you--rather, let us pledge to each other, we will never let the fire go out. God bless you always. Thank you.
MYERS: Also defeated, 79-year-old Republican William Roth of Delaware, done in by the age issue. And Slade Gorton of Washington, fighting for his political life against dot-com millionaire Maria Cantwell, one of three wealthy, self-financed challengers who appear to have won. Gorton may demand a recount. In Minnesota, department store heir Mark Dayton spent at least $ 9 million of his own money to defeat Republican Rod Grams.
Senator-elect MARK DAYTON: Well, it hasn't totally sunk in yet, but it feels fantastic.
MYERS: And in the mother of all spending sprees, former investment banker Jon Corzine devoted as much as $ 60 million of his fortune to win a Democratic seat in New Jersey. But Democratic hopes of a Senate takeover were dashed when one of their own, Chuck Robb, lost in Virginia.
Senator CHUCK ROBB: And I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to serve this great commonwealth for the better part of the last quarter-century.
MYERS: In the House, the most well-known loser, Republican Jim Rogan of California, whom Democrats vowed to defeat because of his role as a prosecutor during impeachment.
Representative JIM ROGAN: I cast that vote because I believed with all my heart that my duty to the Constitution and the rule of law required me to say that the rule of law must apply to all men or it can apply to no men.
MYERS: At this hour, Katie, some House races are still being counted. But so far, Democrats have not picked up any of the seven seats they'd hoped for. But they still believe they'll have a couple by the end of the day.
COURIC: All right.
Lisa Myers.
Lisa, thanks very much.
It is 7:44. Now here's Matt.
MATT LAUER, co-host:
Katie, thank you.
As Lisa just said, there will be some new faces in the Senate. Three of them are joining us right now, Jon Corzine, Democrat from New Jersey, George Allen, Republican from Virginia, and Debbie Stabenow, Democrat from Michigan.
Good morning to all of you and congratulations.
Senator-elect JON CORZINE (Democrat, New Jersey): Good morning.
Senator-elect GEORGE ALLEN (Republican, Virginia): Thank you.
Senator-elect DEBBIE STABENOW (Democrat, Michigan): Good morning. Thank you.
Mr. ALLEN: Good morning to my future colleagues.
Mr. CORZINE: Congratulations, Debbie.
LAUER: Yeah, as--as I issue my congratulations, let me ask you to put your personal races aside for just one second. And Mr. Corzine, we'll start with you. What's your reaction to what's happening in the presidential election? Could you have ever imagined this?
Mr. CORZINE: This is unbelievable. It's really quite remarkable. People are talking about it everywhere I go this morning. It is unprecedented, and we--we all in the Democratic side certainly hope that the recount in Florida will work out. Al Gore will make a great president.
LAUER: Senator-elect Allen, I know you probably have a different opinion there. What's your reaction?
Mr. ALLEN: Well, I think it's very interesting, and, hopefully, those absentee ballots will be cast for--for Governor Bush, and he'll be President Bush, and then we can work to move America forward. But, obviously, each side's hoping for one or the other to win. And--but we'll need to move America forward as soon as those votes are cast.
LAUER: And Senator-elect Stabenow, how about you?
Ms. STABENOW: Well, good morning, Matt. We're really proud that the vice president won Michigan, and we're very hoping--hoping that when all is said and done, he will have won Florida and be the next president of the United States.
LAUER: Senator-elect Corzine, let me go back to you now. So much was made in your race in New Jersey about money, the fact you spent upwards of $ 60 million of your own money to get this seat. Your critics say you simply 'bought' a Senate seat. Why are they wrong?
Mr. CORZINE: Well, I think voters are smart enough. They will look for a person to represent their interests in that process. They want a prescription drug benefit. They want someone that will fight for reasonable gun control. This is the home of the Million Mom March. They want someone to defend a woman's right to choose. And I think the voters, when they go into the polling booth, they are independent. They have the ability to make a decision. And I accept their judgment, and I hope the--the commentators and others will, as well.
LAUER: Senator-elect Allen, your--your fight in--in Virginia got a little bit nasty between you and Senator Robb, and--and your popularity numbers, both of your popularity numbers plummeted during the campaign. Did you come out of this race a slightly dam--damaged candidate?
Mr. ALLEN: No, I think what actually happened is that people responded to our positive agenda, of--of one of protecting Social Security, improving education, empowering parents with a thousand-dollar tax credit, and controlling criminals--not taking away the rights of law-abiding citizens--and also reducing taxes. Eliminating the marriage penalty tax, for example. And so we stayed positive. And--and I think it actually helped us that my opponent stayed so negative towards the end. And so I think in campaigns, people want to be inspired and motivated to vote for someone, rather than so often the scare tactics and divisiveness that occurs.
LAUER: Senator-elect Stabenow, your--your polls right now, or the numbers coming out of Michigan, have you at 49 to 48 percent for your opponent. Obviously, we've been talking a lot this morning about a recount in Florida. Do you think you may face the same situation there?
Ms. STABENOW: Well, Matt, we're not sure yet. Actually, we have not officially declared my victory, although we feel very, very confident that that's going to be there. There's about 93 percent of the vote in. And we're waiting a little longer just because of what's happened around the country. But I'm anxious to go to work to fight for Michigan families in the Senate and work on the things that I know that families really care about.
LAUER: Here's a question for all of you. And--and Senator-elect Corzine, I'll start with you. The--the razor-thin majority, the difference in the Senate, it's either going to be 51-49 or something that resembles that. We've already seen gridlock over the past several years. With such a close separation, can anything actually get done in the Senate?
Mr. CORZINE: Oh, I think there are a number of issues that we can reach across the aisle and have bipartisan responses to. I heard many of the words that Senator-elect Allen talked about are the same kinds of issues the Democrats want to work to address. So I think we'll--we'll reach out, hopefully in a spirit of progress--progress across the aisle to help working families and America move forward.
LAUER: Senator-elect Allen, we're talking about compromise, apparently. Is that something we talk about the day after the election and we forget about come January?
Mr. ALLEN: I don't think you ever compromise your principles. You never compromise the promises you've made. But as Senator-elect Corzine said, you'll find that in many states, some of the same issues come up. In fact, Senator-elect Corzine had the marriage penalty tax come up. And I'm sure it came up in--in New Jersey and other states. We ought to be able to reach across party lines because I think it's ludicrous that a man and woman have to pay 1200 or $ 1400 more a year more in taxes just because they're married. And I think we can do--reach across party lines to empower parents and--and communities to improve education and look towards strengthening our national defense, as well. So what you do is, you find areas of common agreement and bring out the best from both sides, and that's for the benefit of all the people of America.
LAUER: Ms. Stabenow, real quickly, when do you roll your sleeves up?
Ms. STABENOW: Oh, right away. And let me just say, Matt, I think the public's demanding that we work together. Everyone's talking about lowering the cost of prescription drugs for seniors. It's about time we get it done. That's going to be at the top of my agenda in January. Putting doctors and nurses back in charge of our medical decisions and making sure that every single child has a safe, quality school. Everybody's been talking about it. I think the public...
LAUER: Right.
Ms. STABENOW: ...is going to demand that we get to work.
LAUER: Debbie Stabenow, Jon Corzine, George Allen, all senator-elects. Congratulations to all of you. Good lucks--good luck.
Ms. STABENOW: Thank you.
Mr. CORZINE: Thank you, Matt.
Mr. ALLEN: Thank you.
LAUER: All right.
We're going to be back with much more election news in just a moment. But first, these messages.
Senate Majority Leader Reid. I like the sound of that. Give em hell, Harry!
Mr. Mcdonnell how would you like your words? Grilled? Fried? Have a seat, we'll find you a waiter.
I read this as saying that it's unlikely that there will be a recount if the official tally matches up closely with what we're seeing now. In other words, odds are we'll have a concession speech on or about Nov. 27th.
And how could it not? The machine will always show the same results, no matter how many times you look at it. So, the only votes in question are the provisionals and there aren't likely to be enough of those to swing things Allen's way. The elephants may have outsmarted themselves with their Die-Vote.
And we may have a concession even before 27th, if the red-pressure on Allen keeps mounting...