Was in his early 30s. Moore defiantly denies those allegations. And President Trump seems eager to believe him, after a war in the primary, the president endorsed him late in the campaign, widening the split in the party over moores candidacy. In the senate, many republicans are distancing themselves from moore. Some are condemning him outright, even alabamas senior republican senator says he did not vote for moore. Doug jones is trying to capitalize on all of this in hopes of becoming the first democratic senator elected in alabama for 25 years. Tonights vote will help set the tone for 2018 and the crucial midterm battle for control of congress. So were getting a closer look at our exit polls, showing whats on voters minds as they cast their ballots in this Alabama Special Senate election. Lets go to cnns political director, david chalian. What are you seeing, david . You say the stakes couldnt be higher. If the democrats win tonight, theyll be only two seats away in 2018 from a democratic majority. So we asked voters in alabama, would you like to see a Democratic Party in control of the senate or a Republican Party in control . 51 , a spllim majority, say the would like to see the gop maintain control. 43 , more than four in ten alabama voters say they would like to see democrats in control of the party. And then, of course, we asked about mitch mcconnell, who has clearly been an issue in this race in the primary and in the general. He is not well thought of in alabama. Hes got a 14 favorable rating among alabama voters today in these early exit polls. 69 of alabama voters have an unfavorable view of mitch mcconnell, wolf. All right, thanks very much. John king is over here with me at the magic wall. Were going to be a lot about this state over the next several hours. Right, were going to learn about alabama, and a conversation will begin, how does this affect 2018. Big democratic wins in new jersey. Big democratic wins in pennsylvania. If the democrats can win alabama tonight, they will think, yes, theres a giant antitrump, antirepublican wave. Lets look at the math. Heres where we stand going into the vote, 5248. The narrow Republican Senate majority. Lets take a peek at next year. These ten blue states, alabamas highlighted here. That seats up tonight. These ten blue states highlighted, these are ten democratic incumbents up next year in States Donald trump won. The republican hopes of either expanding their majority or at least in an antitrump year, offsetting some losses is to take out some of these democrats. These democrats, though, none of them felt compelled to vote for the tax cut bill, for example. They feel increasingly confident that they can win reelection. That next year will be a democratic win. Lets say the five democrats where the president won only by Single Digits in their state. Lets put them back in there. Then the battlefield gets a little more favorable for democrats. Lets say, and this is speculative, but lets say there is an antitrump wave, there is a prodemocratic wave. Democrats have the intensity, and all ten of those democrats hold. This is where the math gets interesting. I know this is a hypothetical, but this is why alabama matters. Look at this race, 5148 in this scenario here. Lets bring into this some republican incumbents. Open seat here in tennessee, open seat here in arizona, an embattled republican incumbent in nevada. Democrats think if its a big democratic wave year, maybe, just maybe. And thats where alabama comes into play. Lets say for the sake of argument that doug jones wins this race tonight, puts the seat in democratic hands, gives democrats so much optimism heading into 2018. We would have to come up to minnesota. Amy klobuchar, lets say she holds reelection here, and al frankens seat, lets assume the democrat holds that seat in minnesota. Then this is the democratic dream scenario. They win alabama tonight and they get into a situation where open seat in tennessee with a strong democratic candidate, open seat in arizona with a strong democratic candidate, and the candidate in nevada, its possible, possible. This is early. I dont want to get the car too far out in front of the horse here, but this is why democrats look at alabama tonight and say, if we can win there, change one seat, it makes the math better for them in 2018, because theyll have one more seat. But number two, the intensity, the optimism, the confidence will help with candidate recruitment, help with fundraising. So tonight, its like a twohead, but scott brown one the Teddy Kennedy seat in massachusetts. Democrats are hoping to flip the table. The democrats need 51. The republicans need 50, because mike pence is the president of the senate. He can break a tie in favor of the republicans. And we may be having that conversation next october and november. Sounds like thats very, very possible. Anderson, over to you. Wolf, thanks very much. Back now with the panel. Mark preston, do we know how good or limited the democratic turnout effort is on the ground in alabama . Its been very clandestine about what theyve been doing. What we do know, in the last couple of days, and certainly in the last couple of hours today, is that weve learned that super pacs have gone in very quiet, you know, as to what they were doing, but they have spent millions and millions of dollars to work alongside the Jones Campaign. Not directly with the Jones Campaign. I think what wehll see in alabama tonight although, it will be interesting to see how this works out, but i do think that the key to victory, and we saw this in the exit polls, is the africanamerican vote. And when we see the numbers as high as 30 , the early numbers coming in right now, i think that is a very good sign for doug jones. Ive got to tell you, coming in, though, i didnt think their turnout operation would be that strong with the Africanamerican Community. Perhaps it was and we just missed it. I dont know where exactly those exit polls were done. That may also determine, you know, how its yeah, of course. It could be done in urban areas or in the bigger cities. And one pollster was actually cautioning me that exit polls tend to underrate the rural areas. Its harder to pull exit polls, so you might have underrepresented rural vote in these areas that show the africanamerican vote at 30 . But even if you have the africanamerican at 25, 26, 27 , that was a pebestcase scenario for the democrats going into tonight. But if were talking about turnout, one of the big challenges for democrats coming into today was more of a systemic thing. They hadnt been in alabama for many, many years. They didnt have that on the Ground Organization that republicans had, the Republican Party had in alabama. So did they have updated voter contacts . Did they have people to actually do the work on the ground . Thats a big question . Jackie kucinich with the daily beast. Mark preston said it was maybe smart of National Political groups not to come into alabama early, because that might have alienated a lot of people. But you did see some National Democrats toeing in at the end. You saw cory booker, former massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick there. You saw well, Charles Barkley is a native, so he has a little bit more claim down there. But you did see some of them creeping in at the end. But youre right, overall, they kept their distance, because they knew if they were able to make him into doug jones, nancy pelosi, Chuck Schumer into this national candidate, that would scare away maybe some of these educated white voters from the suburbs, who couldnt stomach voting for moore and they were looking at doug jones. Perhaps it would alienate some of them. J. D. Vance, author of hillbilly elegy. You know, you have bannon whos not from alabama coming in several times, campaigning hard, even one of the spokespeople, i think her name was janet turner for roy moore, is from ohio. Skb sure. Yeah, so i think it shows the us versus them is more about cultural identification and not necessarily about where youre from. Obviously, the most obvious example of this is the president himself, whos a new york billionaire, but really did find a lot of cultural affinity with a lot of these working class white voters, who saw him as their instrument to go and attack the elites. And i think if roy moore is able to pull out this election tonight, the story well be telling ourselves that roy moore in the same way that donald trump was, was the instrument for a lot of people, even though they didnt necessarily like him, even though they werent exactly enthusiastic about his candidacy, he sent a message to people they didnt like. Paul, what are you seeing in this exit polling . If the composition of the electorate today is 35 africanamerican and im not going to believe it until i see it. Its just too high. The Jones Campaign has been modeling at 25 africanamerican. The monmouth poll had it at 28 in a dead heat. But there is more of an effort here in the Africanamerican Community than weve had in alabama in a very, very long time. There is in fact, i checked, theres an alabama democratic conference getting jack reed in montgomery runs the new south coalition that state senator hank sanders runs. They have been fully supported, for once, by the Democratic Party, pause doug jones has been able to raise a whole bunch of money. And that has made an enormous difference. And i think people who are betting on low turnout in the Africanamerican Community, because democrats havent run a campaign there in so long, i think theyre going to be surprised. I think we should bet on high turnout. The africanamerican voter is an historic significance to this, especially in birmg haingham, alabama, in particular. But i do agree that the democrats running, ignoring alabama for so long. I mean, i was just there with mayor woodfin, before he was mayor woodfin, door knocking side by side with him. It is very important, even if mr. Jones wins for the democrats not to celebrate so much, because this will be more about antimoore than it is prodemocrats. And to knock and drag, the Africanamerican Community now has the burden. And i want the frafricanameric community to come out and vote for mr. Jones. But going forward, i want the Democratic Party to understand this. That it is not always enough to always knock and drag the Africanamerican Community and lay the burden on our community to deliver for democrats, tomb and time again. At the last minute. And we dont get any love. But anita, you were actually on the ground door knocking, what was the reaction yeah, as a progressive now. A berniecrat. Because even though mayor woodfin worked for but did you sense enthusiasm from people whose doors you knocked on . Yeah, but Randall Woodfin is that, he is a son of birmingham, alabama, yes, people were excited. And he grew his base. He didnt grow them at the last minute. He had relationship. And that is really what the Democratic Party does doug jones have that . Im not sure. And i want to be clear, im not blaming the democratic the fact that the democrats have not invested in alabama. I mean, you look at a red state and you ignore the people who are democrats, who are progressives. I hear it all the time. But what im saying is that the party itself has to start to build relationships and not ignore a red state just because its red. Its ruby red because democrats have neglected it all this time. Has the most impeccable procivil rights record that you can imagine. He does. Even gone after the klan. I cant talk about that enough. But still along with that, hes progun control. Hes prochoice hes antiklan. And all the stuff that culture but i want to Say Something youre actually going to approve of. Since 2015, 800,000 new people have been registered to vote in alabama. 25 of that is africanamerican. Alabama today is in the top five states of automobile manufacturers. It is a lot more of an internet state than people give it credit for, because they often think, well, this is alabama. It hasnt changed much. Its changed tremendously in the last five years. Im not trying to give you some hope i think whats really interesting in this entire process is, on the republican side, you have had an allout civil war for the world to see. The democrats have been strategically quiet and handsoff from this race. I bet you that tomorrow, the democrats are going to be very loud and very proud, either if doug jones wins or if doug jones loses. Youre going to hear democrats say a lot about this race tomorrow. Lets take a quick break. Were getting breaking news on the north korea crisis. A new reversal by the Trump Administration on u. S. Policy towards north korea. Well explain, haud. From our family to yours. May all your wishes come true this holiday season. If you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,. Isnt it time to let the real you shine through . Maybe its time for Otezla Apremilast . Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,. With reduced redness,. Thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And the otezla prescribing information has. No requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased. Risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have. A history of depression. Or suicidal thoughts,. Or if these feelings develop. 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Whats the latest, jim . Reporter a bit of a policy update on north korea from the Trump Administration, wolf. Its pretty significant here. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson told folks earlier today at the Atlantic Council here in washington that the Trump Administration is ready to sit down for talks with north korea w , without preconditions. Thats a pretty important development. Because earlier, the secretary of state had said that the u. S. Was open to talks with north korea, if they were ready to talk about getting rid of their Nuclear Weapons program. That is no longer the case. Secretary tillerson said that they can talk about the weather, they can talk about the shape of the table for dpoernegotiations. Heres how he put it earlier today. Were ready to talk anytime theyd like to talk. But they have to come to the table, and they have to come to the table with a view that they do want to make a different choice. In the meantime, our military preparedness is strong, because of the situation the president has ordered our military planners to have a full range of contingencies available. And they are ready. As ive told people many times, i will continue our diplomatic efforts until the first bomb drops. Now, the question has to be raised, wolf, based on tillersons comments today, whether he is aligned with President Trump on this announcement. Keep in mind, back in october, the president said that secretary tillerson was, quote, wasting his time trying to negotiate with north korea. And just today, he described the north korean regime as a, quote, vile dictatorship. So the president is still using some pretty heated rhetoric when it comes to north korea. But make no mistake, that is a pretty significant development. If the secretary of state is saying that the u. S. Is ready to sit down for talks with north korea. As you know, theyve been making some significant advances in their Nuclear Weapons program in recent weeks, and that has gotten the attention of this administration. They want to sit down and talk now. A Big Development based on what we heard earlier from this administration, wolf. Very Big Development, especially if the white house backs off the secretary of state, which they havent necessarily done in the past. Well get reaction from the white house, im sure, fairly soon. Jim, thanks very much. Anderson, over to you. Back now with the panel. Mark preston, i think the point that wolf just made and that jim made is an important one, if the white house actually backs this up. Normally in an administration, if the secretary of state made an announcement like that, you would think, oh, well, thats u. S. Policy. Im not sure if that is u. S. Policy. Yeah, you know, that is the unpredictable of donald trump. And you know, coming into office, people said this unpredictable was a good thing, because it kind of kept people off their game a little bit. But i do think that assuming the that this is true and President Trump is willing to back it up, it is going to cool things down a little bit. Things are getting really, really red hot, in some ways, white hot at this point. Were talking about preemptive strikes on north korea, which would then lead to war, which would then lead to possibly the end of the dmz and north korean soldiers invading south korea, killing millions of people. Look, the unpredictability we think trump is unpredictable. Kim jongun is pretty damned unpredictable. This might actually be a good thing going into the end of the year to try to restart if it is, in fact, policy, it is a reversal of years of u. S. Policy yes, but it would be a recognition of reality. You know, general james clapper, longtime director of National Intelligence has been saying for almost a year now that we have to accept the reality and we have to talk to the north koreans. That was absolute apostasy in both administrations insisted on having multiple parties and the precondition was but you still remember one at a time. This question of whether the president will undermine i think is what is most frightening. I went back and watched an interview donald trump gave in 1999. He was talking about war with north korea then. This has been something on his mind for quite a long time. I really do hope that the secretary is in command mere. Congressman . Skb i just want to say, philosophically, paul, you remember very well, in the 2007 debate between Hillary Clinton and barack obama, barack obama said, we should meet with cuba and north korea without preconditions. And it was a firestorm. Right. In both parties. And then candidate trump said something similar to it this summer. And i remember looking this up and i thought, you know, i think obama was right about it. Because on foreign policy, if youre right and you believe youre right, what do you have to lose by sitting down . Folks, though, lets not forget that the guy making the statement is an embattled secretary of state, who got who had been reported as saying, calling his boss, the president of the United States a moron, and who a lot of people expect not to be there much longer, much past january. So how much stock does he have . Well, thats been one of the criticisms of him and the concerns is that the secretary of state does not necessarily have the ear and the confidence of the president , which is something any secretary of state absolutely needs, if theyre meeting with foreign leaders. That foreign leader has to know that they are speaking for the president. It would be very surprising to me, and other people want to jump in, it would be very surprising to me that if donald trump himself didnt green light this in some way, shape, or form that the chief of staff didnt do it. Weve got to take a quick break. Will there be an effort to expel roy moore from the senate if he wins tonight . Well take a look at that when our special election coverage continues. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette and her new mobile wedding business. At first, getting paid was tough. Until she got quickbooks. Now she sends invoices, sees when theyve been viewed andtadahpaid twice as fast for free. Visit quickbooksdotcom. Wifiso if you cant live without it. T it. Why arent you using this guy . It makes your wifi awesomely fast. No. Still nope. Now were talking it gets you wifi here, here, and here. It even lets you take a time out. No no yes yes, indeed. Amazing speed, coverage and control. All with an xfi gateway. Find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. Looking at live pictures coming in from montgomery, the alabama capital. The final push to get out the vote in the u. S. Senate special election now underway. Right now, were getting new information from our exit polls. David chalian is back with us. What else are you seeing, david . Reporter well, we asked voters today what they thought of these candidates, favorable opinion or unfavorable opinion . Take a look at this, roy moore, a majority of todays electorate, 55 of alabama voters say they have an unfavorable opinion of roy moore. Only 42 have a favorable opinion. One caveat here, remember, on the day donald trump was elected president , 60 of American Voters had an unfavorable opinion of him. Lets take a look at how people think of doug jones in the electorate today. Even split, 49 of voters today favorable, 49 have an unfavorable view of doug jones. We also asked if the candidates share their values. Heres what voters told us. For roy moore, 46 of alabama voters said, yes, roy moore shares my values. 49 said no. Thats a pretty even split, despite all the allegations against him. And we asked the same about doug jones and get a similar result, wolf. 49 said yes, doug jones shares their values. 48 say no. A pretty even split in the electorate there as well. Very interesting exit polls numbers, indeed. Thank you very much, david. Multiple sources are now telling cnn that the senate republican, their plan to meet they plan to meet tomorrow to discuss what they will do if, if roy moore wins the Alabama Senate race. Lets get some more from our congressional correspondent, phil mattingly. Phil, what are you learning . Theres certainly a level of trepidation tonight, wolf, as a lot of their top leaders and staffers are keeping a close eye on this race, with one thing theyre willing to acknowledge, day dont know whats going to happen next. You mentioned that meeting, tomorrow morning at 10 00 a. M. Twb entire senate conference, trying to figure out what happens should roy moore win. Now, many of the republicans in the conference have made very clear their strong positions against roy moore. Part of the reason they did that, to get him out of the race. That claeearly didnt work. Now theyre at a moment of, now what . As one republican aide told me earlier today, theres no clearcut answer to what theyre supposed to do next. Part of the reason they will meet is to decide whether or not roy moore, if hes elected, will be a member of the republican conference. Theres no sure thing whether or not the republican senators will vote to either allow that to happen or to keep him out altogether. Wolf, you need to keep in mind, Senate Majority leader, mitch mcconnell, who has worked very hard to try to dissuade roy moore from staying in this position right now, he absolutely is willing to go through with his threat to refer this to a Senate Ethics committee. But there are real questions as to whether or not that will do anything at all, let alone lead to expulsion in the interim here. So the big question right now for republican senators if roy moore should win is will he be a member of the republican conference . And if so, how far are they willing to go to pursue the Ethics Committee process . And will that eventually lead to some type of expulsion or some type of reprimand . Wolf, right now one aide put it to me rather simply. Its not easy, its not clean. Theres simply no easy answer right now should roy moore win tonight, wolf. A very good point, indeed. Phil mattingly, thank you. So what are the chances that Senate Republicans would move to expel roy moore . And how difficult would that be . Cnns tom foreman is joining me once again with a closer look. Tom . The stakes are incredibly high here. Look at the plans of power in this chamber. 52 republican votes, 48 for the democrats and their allies. Republicans didnt think this was even going to be an issue. When Jeff Sessions left to become became the u. S. Attorney general, they put in Luther Strange as the interim. They thought that he would win in the special election. He got bumped out in the primary, and now they have roy moore. And all of these allegations which he denies. But look at what phil was talking about here. Look at all of the different people on the republican side who have either criticized or raised questions about these allegations against him. And some of the details here, alaskas dan sullivan says, if these sickening claims are true, mr. Moore should step aside. Nevadas dean heller says roy moore should do whats best for the conservatives of alabama and step aside. North carolinas richard burr, if any aspect of the story is true, he should withdraw. West virginias shelly moore capito, if the allegations are true, roy moore should immediately step aside. And colorados cory gardner, roy moore will never have the support of the senatorial committee. We wont support him, wolf. Thats what phils talking about. A lot of republicans have already created a very chilly atmosphere for this man. Certainly have. Could the senate actually, tom, refuse to seat him amid all of this controversy . Or is it actually possible for him to be ejected . Reporter now its down to the rules. Under the rules, they must seat him, if he is legally elected. They have to swear him in. They could immediately launch an effort to investigate him and vote to throw him out. Perfectly legal. It would take twothirds of this chairman voting to throw him out, wolf. And this is an exceedingly rare thing. This happened back in the civil war, when more than a dozen Democratic Senators were thrown out for supporting the confederacy. It has not successfully happened since then, even though theyve tried it many times, most recently with bob packwood and john ensign. They both stepped aside before the investigation was done and the process was complete. But heres the really important part to bear in mind. If he wins and if he is seated and if they throw him out, all that happens is the governor of alabama then appoints another interim senator, again, probably a republican. They call another special election, and theres not one law that says roy moore cant step in and run again. Wolf . Pretty amazing stuff. All right, thanks very much, tom foreman. Anderson, over to you. Wolf, thanks very much. You know, one of the things that because there was so much focus on roy moore on this sexual abuse and Sexual Assault allegations, a lot of his more controversial positions did not get a lot of attention. I want to put on the board some of the things that roy moore has previously said. He said, 9 11 may have happened because the u. S. Turned away from god, by promoting things like samesex marriage. He said Muslim Americans shouldnt serve in congress. He said that keith ellison, a muslim american, should not be allowed to use the koran to swear to the constitution. He said that obama wasnt born in the u. S. What he calls homosexual conduct, which is actually gay andle lesles lesles lesles lesl expressing love for each other, that should be illegal. And he compared homosexuality to bestiality. And expressed the idea of getting rid of the amendments after the 10th amendment, because it would eliminate many problems. In an interview i did with one of his spokeswomen, i tried to get her to admit if he still believed this. She was unwilling to. One of the things he was trying to pin ted crockett on, is does roy moore still believe that Muslim Americans should not be allowed to serve in congress. The explanation from ted crockett was, because it would mean not wearing on the bible, that person cannot get into congress, which is not correct. Heres that exchange. He alleges that a muslim cannot do that, ethically, swearing on the bible. You dont actually have to swear on a christian bible. You can swear on anything, really. I dont know if you knew that. You can swear on a jewish bible. Oh, no, ive swore on the bible. Im sure you have, im sure you picked the bible, but the law is not that you have to swear on a christian bible. That is not the law. You dont know that . All right. Ted crockett i dont know i know that donald trump did it when he when we made him president. Because hes christian and he picked it. Tats what he wanted to swear in on. Good lord. Thats what you call tv gold. He looked like a slot machine at one of trumps casinos that hit bar apple. Not connected, man. But it is interesting, the extent to which roy moores spokespeople, just in this last week, cannot answer basic questions about what his positions on these really extreme they probably feel the same. But on the other hand, just speaking politically, i saw the interview with you and the woman, and i think she actually stayed on message. Because you tried to pin her down, and she kept saying, i dont know, i dont know, i dont know. And that is an answer and that is a tactic in politics. Charitable. And its another version of roy moore being gone the last couple of weeks. Just kind of stay out, say as little as possible. Because the fact that she said, i dont know, you cant use a sound bite against her. But where you could have used a sound bite, and when i say you, i mean the opposition, is that mr. Jones should have been using these statements all along and thats why im saying hes a secondtier candidate with a secondtier campaign, because if not, he would have developed this and when the Sexual Misconduct came along, it would have been icing on the cake. I will point out, you are the only person i have heard from who thought she did well in that interview. Im telling you, if you think about it all right i wasn listening to it on my car radio. I didnt know who you were interviewing. I did know she sounded insane. Just absolutely crazy. But you cant use the sound bite. Thats all im saying. I thought she was terrific, but i have a different i think we should just run when you listen to the things that he has said, and youve missed their things like saying that some of his favorite days in america were back when slavery was still legal. And we can go on and on, you wonder why they dont let him out in public . Right. But a judge, think about this, who says, he said he gave the interview to a 12yearold girl. She said, what would make a good senator, he said, fidelity to the constitution. But this is a constitution that he once truncated down to the first well, we can ask the 12yearolds mom if he can date her. No amendments after ten, obviously, wed still have slavery. Africanamericans could not vote. Women could not vote. Young people could not vote. We would have no equal rights under the law. Its appalling, if thats his view of what the constitution ought to be. He should have never gotten this far, you know, bottom line, the Republican Party should have stopped him way before he got to this level to their credit, they tried. Remember that but hes been allowed ed te fester. And now that he is running for a u. S. Senate seat, oh, my god i actually i dont look, this is a guy whos been impeached by, you know, by but well, wihe served hes the dpigift that keeps on you cant control people who run or dont run. But the Republican Party has the leadership in washington, many republicans have taken a very courageous and morally, you know moral direction when it comes to and ill give you that, but then they resversed it not everybody. Let me go over here. I think youve got mitch mcconnell, i think youve got to give cory gardner a lot of credit for sticking to their guns, even when the rnc and trump j. D. Vance, its easy to point out the controversial statement hes made, but when you look at some of those exit polls in terms of sharing people in alabama say that they share the same values as roy moore, its 49 , i think it was. Yeah, a lot of people dont know that he sai those things, right . So when the question is, does he share my values, the question that they hear in their mind is, is he a raepublican and the answer, of course, is yes. I dont think a lot of alabama voters think, we should repeal the 11th, 13th, and 14th amendments. I think they just look at roy moore as a republican. Which in some ways suggests that the republican strategy to keep him off the campaign trail, to keep some of those controversial statements outside of the public air waves was actually pretty wise, because hes not an especially popular candidate by himself. Their entire strategy has basically been, let the Republican Partys brand carry him to victory in a very republican state. But think of the issue that he kind of came into the political foray on. It was the Ten Commandments. He wanted to hang the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. And they had him take it down. That is something that really sprung him into the National Consciousness and he has wrapped himself into that. So if you just know, roy moore, Ten Commandments judge, that is something that could appeal to people. Sorry, weve got to take a quick break. Tonight, the president in a new feud as he sits on pins and needles over the alabama election results. Maybe hes not. Perhaps hes sitting somewhere else. Much more on our special coverage, ahead. I wanted him to eat healthy. So i feed jake purina cat chow naturals indoor, a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors. Made specifically for indoor cats. Purina cat chow. Nutrition to build better lives. Lets get the one with the candy canes. Well, you know, the wrapping paper doesnt make the holidays. Its whats inside that counts. Its a phone for mom. Okay, well, its also whats inside the phone that counts, too. Circuits . No, the network. So the network is inside the phone . Well, no, the networks around the phone. And verizon is the most awarded network ever. Thats why more people count on it. Here you go. announcer a gift is only as good as the network its on. So give any google pixel 2 and get 300 off with no tradein required. In alabama tonight, the roy moore and doug Jones Campaigns have been working urgently to get out the vote with turnout critical to tonights senate election. Were joined now by alabamas secretary of state, john merrill. Secretary, thanks for joining us. And lets quickly talk about turnout. Earlier you predicted, maybe 25 of the electorate would show up and vote. Based on what youve seen so far, is that accurate . Wolf, we still feel comfortable about that particular rate and we think that thats going to end up being the number. It could be a little bit higher. Weve seen some numbers that have been a little bit higher in certain aspects of voting throughout the state, than in other areas. But some areas have underperformed. Is turnout unusually high or low in any specific part of the state . Do you want to give us some details . Well, one of the things that were seeing in the jefferson county, birmingham area, were seeing larger numbers than usual. Were also seeing higher numbers in the Madison County area, in the huntsville area. And then in balling county and mobile, our numbers tend to be a little bit higher, as well. So thats been very, very interesting to observe those numbers. Tuscaloosa county, it was the same way. As you know, some republicans, including the senior senator from alabama, richard shelby, they are encouraging people to write in a candidate other than to actually vote for roy moore. Can you tell us yet how many writeins youre seeing, lets say, percentage wise . Well, wolf, its difficult to say right now, because we wont actually get those results until all of those are finalized and theyre turned in at the Central Location there at each county see throughout alabama later on tonight. What about the absentee ballots . Have you started counting those yet . And what are you seeing there . Yes, sir. Wolf, a lot of those absentee ballots have already been counted and theyve already been recorded, but they will not be posted until 7 00 p. M. And those will be the first returns that come in in each one of the 67 counties. So if people are viewing at home and checking out our website at alabamavotes. Gov, theyll able to see those results first as people enter those results. Is the absentee vote ihigher than usual based on what youve oh, yes sir. Yes, sir. Wolf, one of the things we is a uh saw in Tuscaloosa County alone, they had 200 plus votes in the runoff, they had more than 1,200 votes in the general election. So that was six times what we had seen in the two previous examples. And you see that occurring all around the state. However, some of the smaller rural counties, you might see a smaller number. I had one county introduced to me earlier this week, that there were 44 people that voted in the runoff, and they had already had more than 100 that voted in the general election. Very interesting. As you know, we saw roy moore, the republican candidate arrive to cast his vote. And were showing our viewers the video now, on horseback. Was the wildest thing that happened at voting booths across alabama today, or something wilder . Well, wolf, as you know, thats judge moores style. Is he always rides sassy in to cast his vote there in galant, where he and miss kayla live. And i know thats a tradition that they enjoy and i know the media has enjoyed capturing that as well. Sassy is the name of his horse. John merrill, the secretary of state of alabama, thanks for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Coming up, President Trump making insinuations about a high profile women in the u. S. Senate. That story as we get closer and closer to the first results in the Alabama Senate race. Welcome back to Election Night in alabama. As the allegations of sexual abuse and assault against roy moore have dominated the race, the accusations of past Sexual Misconduct against President Trump are back in the spotlight. Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand has joined several colleagues in calling for his resignation. That prompted a tweet from the president saying, quote, lightweight senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for Campaign Contributions not so long ago and would do anything for them is now in the ring fighting against trump. Very disloyal to bill and crooked, used. Gillibrand responded, you cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the oval office. Ana navarro, how do you interpret what the president said . Look, i think its one more sexist, misogynistic, outrageous, inappropriate statement by twitter. From donald trump. It is donald trump was, you know, a shameful misogynist when he was in the private sector, before being a candidate. He was a shameful misogynist while being a candidate. Hes a shameful misogynist as president. The white house says theres nothing sexist in the tweet. And people have their minds in the gutter. Interesting that there were a number of Democratic Senators who joined her in this letter. Its interesting that the one person he went after is Kirsten Gillibrand. Its interesting that her, its been one of her high profile issues, sexual harassment, fighting these things for years. Look, donald trump has no credibility when it comes to this. We all remember the things he said to megyn kelly. We all remember the things he said to mika brzezinski. We remember his words on the tape that access hollywood tape. If anybody should be quiet on this, it should be donald trump, and the sheer dissonance, the sheer dissonance of this happening while this nation is gripped by this National Conversation about sexual harassment, youve got chefs stepping away. Youve got news people, youve got producers and donald trump gets into the middle of this . And goes after Kirsten Gillibrand, its outrageous. One more episode of him being unpresident ial. And him being him. Keep in mind, i dont think theres anything sexist about it at all. Oh, for the love of god. Absolutely not. How did you take it when he said she would do anything for campaign donations. Let me finish. That has nothing to do with sex. November 17th, New York Times has an article saying people, places, and things trump has offended by twitter. And none of those people are claiming oh, its sexist, and none of the businesses have closed down and none have felt they felt attacked, but thats what he does. Hes tough on twitter. Wait a minute. What about the megyn kelly comment, which many people did interpret in a sexist way . Well, im i think that was an unfortunate comment, but im saying on the gillibrand thing, its not sexist. Hes just puxing back. Remember, this is a woman who owes her whole political career to bill clinton, and she said he should have resigned. Does it matter if a guy thinks its not sexist if the person who is being attacked feels its sexist, isnt that something people should listen to . I think you hurt victims of real sexism when everybody claims its sexist because theyre offended. But the president thrives in this environment. I mean, when we get pulled into this, hes playing to his base, and theyre happy hes doing this, unfortunately. Most of them. And then for the senator, her fighting back, she has nothing to lose right there, so its good that shes fighting back, but the president feeds off this. I mean, he is at his best when we are totally distracted from the issues that we need to focus on in terms of saving this country. Hes the antithesis. Hes being him. We shouldnt be surprised, which is ridiculous. I think donald trump has been the engine for a lot of this, these changes, for this watershed moment in america. A lot of women who were sexually harassed, a lot of women who could identify with that saw donald trump get elected and got real mad. Instead of feeling defeated, they got together, they got mad. Somebody says, somebody will do anything, meaning anything, sex is one of those things. Pare. I would not interpret it that way. I want to say this how would you interpret it . The good senator is not crying about this. This is great publicity for her. Shes on internet right now, raising thousands and thousands of dollars on it. That does not make it less wrong. A political theater. It doesnt make it right. I think when we say that donald trump has tweeted this or tweeted that, were actually trivializing and saying were tweeting it. We should say donald trump has said. Donald trump has stated. Because by saying its in social media, we kind of act like its teenagers going back and forth. This is president of the United States. Leader of the free world, commander in chief of all of our troops, and he acts this way, and thats not acceptable. Also, again, the parentheses is like an aside, like shell do anything. Im told donald trump before he was president donated some 8,000 to congresswoman and then senator gillibrand. If its anything, what does he claim she did for him . Right . Maybe favored, maybe foets. Theres no allegation that she ever did anything. In his case, plainly, even mr. Trump would say she didnt do anything for me. I was just playing a game. But hes plainly why didnt he attack Bernie Sanders who said the same thing at Kirsten Gillibrand. Why didnt he attack jeff merkl merkley. By the way, why did he call senator warren a slur against native americans . He ran against a woman. Frederica wilson. She got 3 million more votes than him and it rankled him. He seems to have a problem with strong women. Ana, do you see that a lot of his targets are women or africanamericans or people he views as other . Absolutely. Listen, no hold on, youre not named ana. My daughter is. Okay, your daughter is not here. Look. I can tell you that my africanamerican friends feel that he goes after africanamericans. The hispanics see what he did with arpaio, feels he goes after hispanics and women absolutely feel he targets them. We saw it with frederica wilson, with the family of the soldier, with gillibrand. We see it over and over again. Stay with us. Erin burnett picks up our Election Night coverage next. And thank you, anderson. Youre looking at a live picture right now at the alabama capital, the states voters are choosing their next u. S. Senator. This is a race being watched around the world, and it could be a defining moment for President Trump and his