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Cost Of The Presidential Race; CNN's I'm Voting App; Superstorm Sandy's Impact On The Election; Voter Enthusiasm; Candidates Make Final Push; What Insurance Covers; Digging Out From Superstorm Sandy; Belmar, N.J. Cleans up, Prepared for Next Storm, Elections; Campaigns Hit the Home Stretch; Why Obama Thinks He Deserves Another 4 Years
Aired November 05, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Mitt Romney, he is heading swing states along the east coast. Whether this is going to help push one contender out in front of the other, we don't know yet, but joining us to talk about where this race stands in the final hours, what happens after the election, CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen.
And, David, you've served four presidents. You know what this is like to be on pins and needles at this point. When you take a look at these polls, you see that the national polls, neck and neck, dead even, 49 percent to 49 percent on our CNN ORC poll. You go by state by state, the president has a slight lead in some of the crucial swing states. Do you think we're going to know who the president is Monday morning? Well, Wednesday morning?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we're going to wake up tomorrow morning not knowing who the president is. By Tuesday night, we may know, but Suzanne, it could all -- it could also stretch on with all these lawyers out there now already stirring up possible lawsuits. You know, if Ohio, for example, is very, very close and it all hinges on Ohio, it could take a couple of days before we know. And God help us we may even have Florida. I don't think so. But, you know, we'll get a good sense of this early tomorrow night when some of those Eastern states, where Mitt Romney is today, come in. If President Obama were to pull off Florida, for example, which closes early that would make it almost impossible for Mitt Romney to get it there. North Carolina, Virginia, important states early enough, too. But it's likely to be a long night.
MALVEAUX: A long night. It's a -- God help us, you're right. If we go back to 2000, we all --
GERGEN: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- know what that was like. Let's talk about the morning after. Let's say this thing plays out. The first new president, whoever it is, is going to have to deal with a number of really important things in determining whether or not he can govern. The first thing, of course, the fiscal cliff. You're talking about $110 billion in spending cuts out of $1.2 trillion over a 10-year period, but that is going to kick in at the start of the new year. Not to mention the fact that you've got the Bush tax cuts inspiring, which means that 90 percent of us are going to have higher taxes. The Republicans now make their final pitch. They argue that, well, if you put Romney in office, he will work better with Republicans to avoid the catastrophe, the fiscal cliff. Do you think that is a fair assumption?
GERGEN: I really don't think so because, you know, the truth is whoever is elected president is going to have one chamber of the Congress in the hands of the other party. If President Obama is elected, he's going to have the House in the hands of the Republicans. It's -- and we'll look at this as a status quo election. Democrats control the Senate, the Republicans control the House, and vice versa if it's Mitt Romney, the Democrats are very likely to control the Senate. So, I think each one will face serious difficulties.
Here's the thing, Suzanne. I thought about -- in late September, it looked as if President Obama could bust this race open. That was before the first debate.
MALVEAUX: Yes.
GERGEN: And had he busted it open and won by a substantial margin, then I thought he would come out of that with a lot of leverage, strength, and forcing the Republicans to come to the table on a grand bargain and getting past the fiscal cliff. I don't -- and that first debate, I don't think it cost him his presidency, but it very likely cost him a mandate. And I think it leads -- if he wins by a narrow margin -- if President Obama were to win by the narrow margin -- he is the favorite, although Romney could still pull an upset.
But if he wins by a narrow margin, don't you think Republicans are going to say, you know, we're back to where we were? And they are going to give a little bit here and there, but they're going to insist on a very -- you know, that he's got to go halfway. I think the real question after this election is is the winner going to be magnanimous? Is the winner going to willing to turn a new page with the Congress and is the Congress going to be willing to meet him half way? Without those two ingredients, I think we've got a tough road ahead.
MALVEAUX: And, David, does it give you pause at all, when you talk about a status quo election, that $2 billion have been spent between these two candidates, and we could see ourselves right back to where we started? What does it -- what do you think it says about our system?
GERGEN: Well, I -- it's such an interesting point. Dana Bash and I were talking about this last night. It's actually the number for the total amount spent on all federal elections is somewhere closer to $6 billion. That means we spent -- we will have spent $6 billion, and it's all just the same. And you wonder, maybe we should have made a better use of this $6 billion. And what kind of return on investment was that for all those multimillionaires and billionaires who put so much money in. Well, they call them business and ROI was darn low in this situation, and it maybe -- it may make us rethink just, you know, the campaign finance laws a little more clearly, because clearly, this is not -- this is not a healthy system when $6 billion is spent, and it really doesn't move the needle very much. It does illustrate, I must add, --
MALVEAUX: Yes.
GERGEN: -- just how deep the divisions run. When you spend all that money, you can't bring people over to your side, that suggests philosophically people are pretty dug in on opposing positions.
MALVEAUX: Very much a divided country. David, --
GERGEN: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- thank you very much. We'll be up late --
GERGEN: OK, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: -- watching a lot of this and early into the morning as well. Thank you.
GERGEN: Take care.
MALVEAUX: We want you to weigh in on the race for the White House. CNN has partnered with Facebook now to create a new app, it's called I'm Voting. So, first, it does ask you to commit to vote this election. We want you to do that, that's important. Second shows how your friends and neighbors feel about a whole host of things. Just go to my Facebook page, Facebook.com slash SuzanneCNN. Click on I'm Voting app, and today's question, are the candidates driving you now to the polls? Let us know what you think. We're going to share some of your responses later in the hour. Here's what we're working on for this hour.
(voice-over): The October surprise. Superstorm Sandy's impact on the election. Will voters show up at the polls?
And New Jersey tests out e-mail ballots in the wake of Sandy's destruction. Is the future of voting online? And the race to the White House in a dead heat. Who will come out on top? President Obama --
(BEGIN VIDEO C LIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression, and today our businesses have created nearly 5 1/2 million new jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Or Mitt Romney?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Change can't be measured in speeches, change is measured in achievements. And four years ago, candidate Obama's -- he promised so much to so many people but he has fallen so very short. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The race to the finish line with last minute stops in swing states. CNN is covering the battleground as we count down to America's choice.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: One day before we elect our next president, some people who were hit hard by Superstorm Sandy have new options now for voting. Others in Florida say the state's early voting rules are unfair. Strap in for election day, folks, because Ali Velshi is keeping a close eye on all this stuff as it unfolds. He's joining us at the vote desk here.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
MALVEAUX: And, Ali, you were out there.
VELSHI: Yes.
MALVEAUX: You saw how this had a direct impact on
VELSHI: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- a lot of folks there. Let's start off with New Jersey. How is that going to affect how people actually go to the polls and vote tomorrow?
VELSHI: That's what we're thinking a week ago when hurricane Sandy hit, well, how are people going to get to these polling place? So, New Jersey has taken a lot of action to try and help people out. In fact, we're still developing. There's still more things happening but New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made a remarkable comment, which seems designed for the funny shows, where he said there will be -- there will not be one more fraudulent vote than usual or than normal.
MALVEAUX: Oh, God.
VELSHI: But -- so, he's not saying there won't be any fraudulent votes, he just says no more than usual. What they're doing is they are doing something they have allowed their naval officers to do -- naval -- is their sailors to do, vote by Internet or vote by fax. And because this hasn't been tried on a broad audience, we are not sure how this is going to work, whether it's open to abuse or frauds. We are monitoring it very carefully. Also, a whole bunch of people without power don't have the Internet and can't do that anyway.
MALVEAUX: Yes, how are you going to pull that off?
VELSHI: So, we're figuring that out. New York is going to be moving some polling stations to places where people can access them better. Some of them are still out of power. So, in the Northeast, it's going to be tricky. They're going to -- the governors of New York and New Jersey and Connecticut seem very committed to making sure everybody who wants to cast a ballot can cast one. I don't doubt that some people are going to end up casting their ballot after the election though.
MALVEAUX: And will those votes count? How does that work?
VELSHI: Yes, so the -- one of the things, we're looking at Ohio and Florida as well. The Northeast, in particular New York and New Jersey, there hasn't been a lot of doubt as to, at least in the presidential election, how that's going to go, so there isn't the concern that the election will be held up because of things going on there. There will be some Congressional races and some state races that will be problematic. Ohio and Florida are different stories, because these, as you know, are both swing states. Ohio very tight, Florida very big and also a tight vote. And we are still seeing pictures of long, long line ups today. We had some lines where there were 400 people. We have reports yesterday of people waiting seven to eight hours in line and then turning away because they've changes the voting system there. The --
MALVEAUX: Turning away after seven or eight hours?
VELSHI: Right. Well, turning away at some point in that thing. I mean, I don't -- I think if you are there seven hours, you might as well wait for the last hour. But you remember, obviously, you covered it, 537 votes decided the presidential election last time. In these three counties in southern Florida where about a third of the voters are. They had 14 days normally in advanced voting. The governor and the Republican controlled legislature reduced that to eight days, and as a result, you're seeing very big line ups. The good news is Ohio and Florida probably half of the voters have already cost -- cast their ballot.
MALVEAUX: And actually being in those flood areas and talking to those folks there, do you get a sense, Ali, that they really want to vote, that they are motivated to vote, --
VELSHI: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- or do you think, God, this is hard enough, I'm just not willing to do it.
VELSHI: In any place that's still hard hit, meaning if you don't have power or you've got problems getting access to your home, I think your survival instinct takes greater precedent than your Democratic instinct at the moment. I think they want to vote, they certainly want to be able to feel that their vote matters and will be counted. I just don't know what kind of turnout we're going to see in the hard hit areas, because it's just been very, very, very difficult and, frankly, for those that hard hit, a week ago they p were not expecting to be in this shape. So, I think the idea that, yes, we'll vote, things will be OK and we'll settle down, I'm not sure. But we'll be watching that all very closely all day tomorrow, and, by the way, if you see anything out there, please just let us know and we'll inquire.
MALVEAUX: Yes, because it's going to be confusing.
VELSHI: It's going to be confusing.
MALVEAUX: I think it's going to be difficult and confusing for a lot of folks.
VELSHI: More than anything else it's going to be confusing. Right. Where do I go? Where do I find out where to go? I got things to do, how long will it take me to get this done? But we -- the states are working very hard to allow people to get their ballot cast.
MALVEAUX: All right. Well, good to see you dry here --
VELSHI: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: -- indoors.
VELSHI: Good to be here.
MALVEAUX: Excellent coverage as always.
VELSHI: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Ali, appreciate it.
Both candidates promising a better future but is there enthusiasm going to drive voters to the polls?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The race to the White House no longer about convincing folks one way or the other. It really is about getting them out to vote and bringing them to the polls. Want to get both sides to weigh in on this last day. Strategies for the Republicans. CNN contributor Ana Navarro. She is here with Democrat prospective Donna Brazile. My favorite folks here.
Ana, let me start with you.
Mitt Romney hitting Florida, Virginia, Ohio, ending his day in New Hampshire. What is the key -- the combination to get to the magic 270 electoral votes needed to win?
ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think you just said it -- Florida, Virginia, and Ohio. And there's a reason why he's going there this last day.
Look, the good news for Romney is that he's doing very well in Florida. It's going to be a very tight race, but I think he's got -- he's ahead one or two points in most polls. It is a must win state for him. I see a very hard path for him without Florida to the 270 electoral votes. He probably also has to win Virginia. Ohio is more iffy. But if he doesn't carry Ohio, then he's got to make up those electoral votes either through a combination of smaller states, like Wisconsin, Colorado, or through another big state.
MALVEAUX: Donna, let's talk about the firewall that we keep hearing for the Obama campaign, hitting Wisconsin, as well as Ohio and Iowa today. If he loses any of those states, is there another strategy? Another way to get to the 270? DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Oh, yes. Think about being on a driving tour right now. Up 95 from Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, all the way up to New Hampshire, across the country, I-80, where we can pick up much needed votes in Ohio, the mother of all Republican states. If Mitt Romney loses Ohio, he will be an also-ran, an orphan. There's hardly a path to 270 if he loses Ohio.
I think President Obama is strong in Colorado, strong in Nevada. And, you know, the one thing that the Democrats have done quite well over the last couple of months is they've registered new voters -- 1.8 million voters. And 28 percent of them have already cast their ballots early.
MALVEAUX: You know, there's often a period during the campaign where you can feel like something has changed, something has turned. I remember back in 2008 it was really two weeks before the election and the Obama folks really started to feel optimistic like, wow, I think we got this. Do you have that feeling, Ana? Do you think that that's the kind of feeling that the Romney folks are experiencing now? Are they still very uncertain?
NAVARRO: You know, I think the entire country is uncertain. If we see poll after poll and all of the swing states, they are just very close. Too close to call. Almost flip a coin close. I think nobody should be feeling optimistic, everybody should be feeling nervous and getting out the vote until the very last minute. We can feel optimistic after winning.
MALVEAUX: Donna, what do you think of this new line that we've heard from the Romney folks? This talk of a movement. Even appropriating President Obama's slogan saying, you know, Romney's now the guy of hope and real change, trying to really kind of capture the spirit of Obama from 2008. A closing argument that sounds a lot like President Obama's opening argument for years ago.
BRAZILE: Yes, you know, Mitt Romney can tap into our song, but he doesn't have the dance, he doesn't have the groove, he doesn't have the movement, he doesn't have the people, he doesn't have the diversity. He doesn't really have what I believe is the essential ingredients for bringing a country together. Mitt Romney, throughout the primary campaign, campaigned to be the severe conservative. Now he's trying to be the muddled Mitt Romney.
The bottom line is, President Obama has the movement, the dance, he has the song, he has the rhythm. Look, this is about winning and bringing people together. That's why his closing message of forward together, bringing the country together to solve our problems are not looking for, you know, solutions for one side but bringing both sides so that we can solve our problems. That's why President Obama has the last minute momentum.
MALVEAUX: And --
BRAZILE: President Obama, not mama. My mama is not here, but God knows if she was alive, she would vote. But I voted already and I voted early. MALVEAUX: All right.
NAVARRO: I voted. I voted absentee. And I'll tell you this, I will not argue with Donna that President Obama has the rhythm, the dancing down and the groove, but what you need is the votes.
BRAZILE: We've got that too.
MALVEAUX: Now, the votes are very competitive, Ana, because I do want to bring this up. We saw him in Lynchburg, Virginia, Mitt Romney, and the Republicans are worried about former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode. He is the constitution party candidate, the third party candidate. He served six terms in the House. He's from South Side, Virginia. So this is really a conservative part of the state. Goode -- I mean, when you think about it, if he takes even away 1,000 votes from Romney, that could cost him Virginia. Is there a real effort here, a real concern about that?
NAVARRO: You know, Suzanne, the smart thing at this point is, as I said before, to be concerned about everything. It's just too close a race not to take the details into consideration. And, yes, there should be concern about Virgil Goode. That's why it's important that Mitt Romney was in Virginia today to remind people that there's really two candidates in this race -- President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. Anything else is really -- no other candidate is going to become president. You can make a statement if you'd like, but it's -- you know, but that statement's not going to turn into a president the next day. And so I think it's a good reminder of what he was doing in Virginia today.
MALVEAUX: All right. Ana and Donna, we're going to leave it there. We'll be watching closely who's got the moves, the grooves, the talk and the votes. Good to see you both.
BRAZILE: Hey, Obama.
NAVARRO: White men can dance.
MALVEAUX: All right. Dancing on all sides. Thank you.
Campaigns usually staying away from guarantees. It is bad luck, right? But two of President Obama's big guns, they are guaranteeing victories in key states. They are willing to even put themselves at risk. What are we talking about here? Senior campaign advisor David Axelrod even made his bet on the results in Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: You bet your mustache on the president winning --
DAVID AXELROD, OBAMA SENIOR CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: Yes.
WALLACE: Pennsylvania. How secure is your mustache today? AXELROD: I am -- the next time we see each other, Chris, I guarantee you that mustache will be right where it is today. And where it's been for 40 years, by the way, so you know how serious a bet that was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: All right. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney making stops in Pennsylvania over the weekend. So should we get ready for this? This is what Axelrod would look like without the mustache. Still smiling, apparently. Then there's Jen Psaki, campaign spokesperson for the Obama administration. She is guaranteeing wins in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Mexico. Now she says she'd dye her hair black, put on a mustache if they lose any of those states. Hopefully that's not Axelrod's mustache. An air of confidence, but notice, no guarantees on Ohio and Florida. We'll see how they do.
Be sure to watch CNN on Election Day. We'll be with you all day tomorrow. I'll be joining you at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. And then our special coverage beginning tomorrow night at 6:00.
And Superstorm Sandy left homes destroyed, millions of people without power. What are they going to do now? Christine Romans. She's explaining in this week's "Smart is the New Rich."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have lost our house, our pool, and God only knows what else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable. It's in a war zone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not exactly sure where to go from here besides calling the insurance company.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's the first step. Then comes calculating the loss and cashing the check. In Sandy's wake, tens of thousands of homeowners are now asking, if a tree falls in a hurricane, who pays?
JEANNE SALVATORE, SR. VP, INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE: If the tree hits your house, you call your insurance company and file a claim. You're going to be covered for the damage that that tree does to your house, for anything that's in the house, and for the cost of removing that tree.
ROMANS: Jeanne Salvatore of the Insurance Information Institute.
ROMANS (on camera): How does wind damage -- that comes under your homeowner policy?
SALVATORE: Correct. Wind is covered. I mean wind is one of those standard disasters that it's covered.
ROMANS (voice-over): With Sandy's wind came water.
SALVATORE: Most people bought flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program. So if you have a flood insurance policy, you're going to be covered for that.
ROMANS: About 14 percent of homeowners in the northeast have flood insurance. More than the 5 percent who were covered when Irene howled through.
ROMANS (on camera): Will some people who don't have flood insurance be able to be made whole or at least get relief from the federal government?
SALVATORE: Well, people need to get in touch with FEMA and to find out what is available to them. There might be some sort of disaster aid or loans.
ROMANS (voice-over): Another enduring image of Sandy -- flooded cars.
SALVATORE: You're covered for a lot of natural disasters under the comprehensive portion of your car insurance. So that's going to cover wind damage. It's going to cover flooding.
ROMANS: Keep notes. Find as many receipts as you can. Be thorough with the claims adjustor. No damage is too small to mention. Keep your patience and perspective.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A home always can be rebuilt. You know, as long as we have our lives and we're safe.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Well, many people are still homeless. Cold without power. A look at the devastation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's still a sense of sadness and emotions are still raw. And we've only begun to recover from this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Election eve. Victims of Superstorm Sandy, they are still struggling to recover. The storm is blamed for 110 deaths in the United States. Almost 1.5 million homes and businesses still without power. And most of the outages are in hard hit New Jersey and New York.
Plus, people are having difficulty finding gas for their cars and their home generators. Now, adding to that, a new storm, a nor'easter, that is threatening the region. Jim Clancy, he looks at how one devastated New Jersey city is cleaning up from Sandy while preparing for the next storm and tomorrow's election.
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, Ocean Avenue, the city of Belmar, a small town on the Jersey shore -- that you can see the sand drifts that have come up here. That was the beach before. The entire boardwalk, 1.2 miles of it, ripped out by the storm. They are working feverishly right now. They're preparing for that nor'easter that is reportedly on its way. Now it's not going to be as bad as any superstorm, but you have to understand that this city's water table is now so high the mayor told me, just a short time ago, that if they get even an inch of water from that storm, it could flood the basements of this town all over again. So what are they doing? They're pumping. They're pumping tens upon tens of thousands of gallons. The mayor says 60,000 gallons a minute are being pumped out of these two lakes as they try to lower the water there and protect this town from many of the effects of that upcoming storm.
On another front, voting. There's been a lot of talk about the electronic balloting, the possibility of voters turning in their ballots by e-mail or by fax. But in a town that doesn't have any electricity, that's not really a very viable option. Yes, it may work for some of the residents who have taken shelter outside of the town, in areas that do have power. But for the residents that remain here, the town is making arrangements to have everyone come to one place. Remember, this is a small town. Most people could walk to the borough hall and cast their ballots there where generators have been set up. They can charge their cell phones even as they cast their ballots.
People are still very interested in the national election, and they do want to take part. Right now, they're also thinking about cleaning up after this superstorm and perhaps bracing for the next one.
Suzanne, back to you.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Jim.
For more about those affected by Sandy and how you can help, check out CNN.com/impact.
Much of the east coast focusing on cleaning up after Sandy and the election might be the last thing on their minds. But it is the final count down, key for both candidates really to get out the ground game. What states you should watch for tomorrow, get an idea of who is winning the presidential election.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Presidential campaign in the homestretch. Candidates are in one final blitz across battleground states trying to rev up supporters and get people to the polls tomorrow.
Joining us to talk about where things stand and what to look for tomorrow night, Ron Brownstein, editorial director of the "National Journal."
Ron, let's focus on this breakdown here. Good to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, NATIONAL JOURNAL & CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
MALVEAUX: They are very different than what we saw four years ago. It has a lot to do with racial and ideological differences in our country now. Explain how that either benefits or hurts the candidates.
BROWNSTEIN: Right. So the overall national story is that we are seeing an electorate that's deeply polarized along ideological lines, gender lines, especially racial lines. President Obama consistently running in polling right around 80 percent of the combined vote among minority voters, but struggling to get to even 40 percent among whites. And as this plays out in the battleground states, what you see is really two different races unfolding, Suzanne, one in the Sun Belt states like North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada. Another in these Rust Belt states, like Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and above all, Ohio.
MALVEAUX: And the fact that you are saying, as well, that the voters -- the population has changed that we are seeing more non-white voters, how does that impact Romney's campaign, his chances?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, even inside the Romney campaign people have said to me this is the last time anyone will try to do this. And by this, they mean win a national election almost entirely on the backs and the support from white voters. The Romney campaign really has not had an effective outreach to minorities. The president, again, as I said, is looking at winning a combined 80 percent, including over two- thirds among Hispanics, despite the fact that unemployment among Hispanics has been in double digits every month of his presidency. What that means is that he can win a national majority with support of only around 40 percent of whites and, in turn, what that means is that Romney could run as well among whites as any Republican challenger ever, including Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, Ronald Reagan in 1980 or George H.W. Bush in 1988, still lose. He can squeeze out a majority almost entirely from whites in this election, but there's a long-term proposition having to win 61 percent or 62 percent of the future with whites every time is a very difficult road for Republicans. And I think you see a big debate in the party after the election, win or lose about how they can reach out better to minority voters.
MALVEAUX: Ron, what should we be watching out for tomorrow night, particularly in Ohio?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I mean, you know, right now, if you look at the Electoral College math, there are 18 states that have voted Democratic in every election since 1992. They have 242 Electoral College votes. That includes Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania that to varying degrees are competitive this year. But if Obama can hold all of those and add Ohio to it, all he has to do is win, at that point, Nevada and New Mexico where he is in a very strong position in the southwest, some of those Sun Belt states.
So it really is critical in Ohio. And I think, in Ohio, the core question is whether the electorate is going to look more like 2008 or 2004. Historically, as you know, Suzanne, Ohio has been more Heartbreak Hill for Democrats than a source of reassurance, and it is very anomalous for a Democrat to be relying on that as a firewall. The question will be, if Romney can produce the massive turnout in the more conservative rural parts of the state as Bush did in '04. If not, and he comes up short, very hard for him to get to 270? MALVEAUX: One of the things the Obama campaign did early on was spend a lot of money in Ohio on ads, attacking Romney on Bain Capital, portraying him as an out-of-touch fat cat, a job buster instead of a job creator.
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
MALVEAUX: Has that strategy actually successfully created a cultural divide between Romney and the working class? Has that played out in Ohio? Are we seeing evidence of that?
BROWNSTEIN: Absolutely. I think the evidence is, yes, and that is the central paradox of this campaign. As we said before, on a national basis, the president is struggling, especially among working class or blue collar white voters. He may have the weakest national performance of any Democrat since Walter Mondale during the Reagan landslide. And yet, in these core battleground states in the Midwest, particularly Iowa, Wisconsin, and, above all, Ohio, he is running ten to 15 points better among working class white men and women than he is nationally, and I believe that is largely because of the Bain story. The image of Romney as a corporate raider who comes to town and shuts down the factory detonates with just a lot more emotional and cultural power there. That really is part of the shared economic narrative that people have lived through than it does in the Sun Belt. And as long as Obama can hold that better performance among working close rights whites in the upper Midwest, that is the last hill that Romney hasn't been able to get over in this race.
MALVEAUX: All right. Ron, we'll be watching closely. It's all about Ohio.
Thanks, Ron.
Election Day tomorrow. The candidates making their final pitches. Hear why President Obama thinks he deserves another four years from his deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, laying out his plan, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: A whirlwind final day of campaigning for the president who has already hit Wisconsin and then it's on to Iowa and Ohio the three- state fire wall we've heard so much about.
Joining us from Chicago, Stephanie Cutter, President Obama's deputy campaign manager in Chicago which is where the president is going to end his day.
Stephanie, good to see you.
STEPHANIE CUTTER, OBAMA DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Good to see you.
MALVEAUX: Let's assume that he -- the firewall holds and the president wins. The first challenge that is going to have is obviously dealing with the fiscal cliff, and everybody knows we're talking about the first $110 billion in spending cuts out of $1.2 trillion over 10 years, not to mention the Bush tax cuts that are going to expire. That's going to be a tax increase for 90 percent of Americans. What does he do on Wednesday? His day-one in dealing with the fiscal cliff.
CUTTER: Well, Suzanne, the president has laid out plain to deal with the fiscal cliff. It's called his deficit reduction plan. And he has made a couple of things clear. That we can't reduce the deficit without putting revenue on the table. And I think that on Election Day the overwhelming majority of the American people are going to agree with him. He is also going to not agree to anything that extends as high-end Bush tax cuts. You know, the way forward on the fiscal cliff is pretty clear. I think that when the American people vote on Tuesday they're going to make their feelings on the way forward clear, and hopefully that means that we'll have some more willing partners across the aisle to forge consensus on this.
MALVEAUX: Let's talk about the willing partners because right now the Republican campaign is arguing, well, if you put Mitt Romney in, another Republican, is he going to work better with fellow Republicans to avoid falling off this cliff.
CUTTER: Right.
MALVEAUX: We expect the balance of power and the House and Senate basically are going to stay the same. What will the president do to change, in some way, to get beyond the gridlock that we've seen the last four years?
CUTTER: I think the American people are going to help us get beyond the gridlock. I think that we're going to see that tomorrow. They're going to make their voices heard. And I think Republicans -- hopefully are open to hearing those voices.
You know, the thought that Mitt Romney is going to be bettered at bringing people together in Washington is ridiculous, given the positions that he has taken over the course of this campaign, and the pledges that he signed. He signed the no-tax pledge, the Grover Norquist pledge. You can't achieve deficit reduction -- every expert knows this, Simpson-Bowles, every economist -- you can't achieve real deficit reduction without taking a look at revenue, and he has already taken that off the table. So having somebody come to Washington who has completely endorsed and embraced the Tea Party agenda is not a good place to start if you are looking to bring people together. In fact, you are driving more people away.
The president is taking a different approach. You have heard him on the stump today and heard him on the stump over the course of the last several weeks that we can do this. We know how to affect real change. We can put real change in place and point the way forward. He has a deficit reduction plan in place on the table for Congress, and that's a good place to start. It's a balanced deficit reduction that asks everybody to give a little bit for the sake of this country.
MALVEAUX: Is the president optimistic that if he does win, that he is going to have people across the aisle, Republicans, who are going to want to work with him over the next four years, that it's going to be different than it was the last two?
CUTTER: He is optimistic. And he has made it clear that he is willing to work with anybody who is ready to come to the table with good ideas. So, of course, we're optimistic. You know, we're also realistic, and that's why we need the American people to make their voices heard tomorrow. You know, there's a lot of things on the table, a real choice, and very stark differences on how to approach this economy and how to grow this economy. I think that when the American people go to the polls tomorrow, they're going to choose growing the economy from the middle out. The president's economic plan asks everybody to pay their fair share, and everybody has their fair shot.
MALVEAUX: I want to ask specifically about one group that is very important to the president, and that's obviously Latinos. The president talked to the "Des Moines Register" about the possible path to victory saying a big win -- a big reason I will win a second term is because of a Republican nominee and Republican party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country. Is he planning -- is that part of his agenda, comprehensive immigration reform? Is there something that is on the horizon essentially that will give a nod to those Latino voters he is talking about?
CUTTER: Well, he has talked about comprehensive immigration reform in a second term. It's one of his second term goals, in fact. He has done everything he could to bring people together around immigration reform -- Republicans, business leaders, faith leaders, Hispanic leaders -- all over this country, to lay the ground work for comprehensive immigration reform. He has had to take actions by himself, like the deferred action -- for the Dream Act kit. But I think that -- I was listening to your interview earlier, whoever was saying that this will be the last election where Republicans can afford to alienate Latino voters, and I think that's absolutely right. Mitt Romney ran on a platform of self deportation. So if you want to talk about insulting and driving away Hispanic voters, just look to Mitt Romney. I don't think Republicans can afford to do that. And I hope that means they will come to the table and work with us on comprehensive immigration reform. The president is ready to do that, and we need to do that.
MALVEAUX: Stephanie, one final point here. David Axelrod, Jen Sokie (ph), putting their look here on the line. You had Axelrod betting his mustache wins in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota. I don't know if you can see the picture, but we actually did a little graphic there to try to imagine Jen. She said she's going to dye her hair and paste on a mustache. Are you willing to make a wager here? A mohawk, a mullet? What do you think?
(LAUGHTER)
CUTTER: No mustaches for me. You know, I'm willing to -- willing to let my hair go back to its natural color. How is that?
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: There you go. I like your spirit. Stephanie Cutter, we'll be watching very closely. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.
Early votes are in. Now to candidates. They're in their final push, but this year's election cycle. Wasn't all smooth sailing. There was some unexpected moments along the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: What do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that.
(LAUGHTER)
Can't do that to himself.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The presidential race captured in two minutes, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The Republican field for president started off wide open. The voters narrowed it down to one man, Mitt Romney, of course. Now he and President Obama are in a dead heat in the final hours before Election Day. They are running on adrenaline. You can imagine, crisscrossing the country just so they can shake a few more hands before folks heading to the polls.
So as the 2012 presidential race comes to a close, let's take a look back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(APPLAUSE)
RICK SANTORUM, (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rick Santorum.
REP. MICHELLE BACHMAN, (R), MINNESOTA & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Michele Bachmann.
NEWT GINGRICH, (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Newt Gingrich.
ROMNEY: Mitt Romney.
REP. RON PAUL, (R), TEXAS & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Ron Paul.
TIM PAWLENTY, (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tim Pawlenty.
HERMAN CAIN, (R), FORMER GODFATHER'S PIZZA CEO & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Herman Cain.
BACHMANN: -- to seek the office of the presidency of the United States today.
CAIN: To lower taxes.
PAWLENTY: Cut taxes.
ROMNEY: Create jobs.
GIGOT: Jobs.
GINGRICH: Creating jobs.
BACHMANN: Repeal of Obama-care.
PAWLENTY: Obamney-care
BACHMANN: Obama-care.
PAWLENTY: Obamney-care. Obamney-care was a reflection of the president's comments that he designed Obama-care on the Massachusetts health care plan.
CAIN: 9-9-9.
RICK PERRY, (R), GOVERNOR TEXAS & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Three agencies of government when I get there that are gone -- commerce, education and the -- what's the third one there? Let's see.
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: I am suspending --
BACHMANN: I have decided to stand aside.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Rick Perry getting ready to tell all his supporters --
SANTORUM: Thank you for that support and for the prayers.
ROMNEY: Thank you, tonight, for this great victory.
(CHEERING)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now is not the time.
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON: Oh, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Romney now has more than enough delegates.
GINGRICH: Today, I'm suspending the campaign.
OBAMA: I was born in Hawaii.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMNEY: It's still about the economy.
OBAMA: You didn't build that.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unchain Wall Street.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: The president has 52 percent.
ROMNEY: The next president of the united states, Paul Ryan!
EASTWOOD: What do you mean shut up?
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: Mr. Chairman --
(CROSSTALK)
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: All right, there are 47 percent who are with him.
I like PBS. I love Big Bird.
Middle income families are being crushed -- buried, being crushed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For first time, lead for Mitt Romney.
BIDEN: That's a bunch of malarkey.
(CROSSTALK)
REP. PAUL RYAN, (R), WISCONSIN & VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know you're under a lot of duress.
CANDY CROWLEY: DEBATE MODERATOR & HOST, CNN'S STATE OF THE UNION: We're here for the second presidential debate.
ROMNEY: You cut permits and licenses.
OBAMA: Not true, Governor Romney.
ROMNEY: -- binders full of women.
OBAMA: I feel very well rested after the nice long nap I had in the first debate.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: -- don't concur.
OBAMA: Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets.
ROMNEY: Again, attacking me is not talking about an agenda.
(APPLAUSE)
MALVEAUX: President Obama, he's canceling campaign events.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If nothing else changed in the map --
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The magic number 270.
OBAMA: When you elect a president --
ROMNEY: Tell the supporters --
OBAMA: You want to know --
ROMNEY: Vote for love of country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Be sure to watch CNN on Election Day. We're going to be with you all day tomorrow. We'll be joining you at 9:00 a.m. eastern, and our special coverage beginning tomorrow night at 6:00.
We're less than 24 hours from Election Day. We have teamed up with Facebook to ask you are the candidates driving you to the polls? Check out my page to vote, facebook.com/Suzannemalveau. We'll show you the results up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Earlier, we asked you if you could tell us if the candidates and the messages are driving to the polls. CNN now partnered with Facebook to create a new app called "I'm Voting." It asks you to commit to vote this election and then shows you how your friends, neighbors feel about a variety of issues.
What is the response to today's question, are the candidates driving you to the polls? Majority of you, 87 percent, said yes. 13 percent said, no. Not meant to be a reflection of the entire country's feelings on the issue, just a way to see how you stack up against CNN and Facebook users.
Here's some comments you left.
David Carroll writes, "I vote in every election. And this election both candidates are poor choices. But one of them will probably get to appoint a supreme court, which will affect this country much more than the policies of either candidate for four years."
Darryl Smith says, "My belief of what is best for the country and the future drove me to vote early."
So vote. We want you to vote.
CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.
Hey, Brooke, BALDWIN: Hey, Suzanne. Thank you so much.
Good to see all of you on a very exciting week this Monday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Here we go. This is the real-life political thriller gripping the nation. Folks we are now hours away from the final chapter. Tomorrow is the day.
