and tennessee were gop senator bob corker is retiring republican marsha blackburn has a 5 point leader with democrat and former tennessee governor phil brett is in, blackburn s leaders within the margin of error but is up from last month but we should note brett a synapse voters are but more loyal, 92% of democrats back him versus 82% of republicans backing blackburn. it will be fascinating to see where the chips fall once the vote is complete. we will come back to you in a little bit. let s begin digging deeper for analysis and bring in bipartisan pollsters to weigh in. chris anderson and the ceo of wpa intelligence, welcome to you both. i will give you first and last, let s start with north dakota. heidi heitkamp in the race trace
brett kavanaugh s fate hangs in the balance tonight. we will talk to senator lindsey graham, does the gop have the votes to get into the supreme court and sean hannity here, the fbi reported is done. republicans are trending up in pivotal senate races, new fox polls to show you tonight, fox team coverage as the brett kavanaugh nomination is nearing a vote. chad program from capitol hill where the action is tonight. majority leader mitch mcconnell took the first step, he went to the floor to move forward the confirmation vote. what could the timeline look like? mitch mcconnell initiated a 4-day process, he repeatedly said he wants to have a confirmation vote this week so he had to initiate this process tonight before midnight and what he did is filing cloture, and effort to limit the date, so he filed that tonight. the senate rule that means is a
they stand with vote on either side. it is about the math, the math, the mass. look at the trio, mitch mcconnell needs to keep the trio, jeff flake, lisa murkowski, susan collins. if he keeps them together he gets the 51. if he loses one of those 3 he is at 50 at mike pence would break the tie. what about democrats? it is generally not thought that any democrat would vote to confirm brett kavanaugh unless republicans can deliver the goods. i talked earlier with joe manchin from west virginia. he is in play. listen to what he had to say. 31 years of professional service. i m looking much farther than the community. i m looking to put the human side to it. i would look at heidi heitkamp, democrat in north dakota. those are the two main operatives of the democrats who might vote for brett kavanaugh.
to layover so tomorrow it lays dormant and then ripens like a fruit on friday. meaning it is available for a vote. that is the procedural vote to cut off debate. it needs 51 yeahs, last year, 2017 when they were dealing with neil gorsuch, mitch mcconnell lowered the bar eagle filibusters. it used to be 60, now it is down to 51 so if you have invoked cloture on day 3 to cut off debate than a 30 hour clock begins to run. that is all the time opponents of the nomination can consume until it culminates in a confirmation vote on saturday or 30 hours thereafter. the senate rule says you vote on cloture one hour after you come in so it is possible they could come in friday morning at 12:01 and have the procedural vote. you and i may be here doing this if that happens overnight but what do we know about where
excuse, any ridiculous rationale for delaying is something we will see thrown up there and this is what is happening. he doesn t need to be interviewed again. she s been how many hours being interviewed in front of the entire committee on national tv. we have all seen what she has to say, we have all seen what brett kavanaugh has to say. let s see if the fbi came up with anything new and let s vote and confirm this guy. they are moving that way. mcconnell talking about possible vote saturday or sunday. he fired cloture meaning the senators to limit debate shortly. when they vote to invoke cloture which they will be able to do because the filibuster is gone postmeal courses vote which democrats are regretting. that is 30 hours of debate and the senate goes to a vote and that is a, up or down. whatever happens is happening. if the report comes in tonight or tomorrow and senators have time to review it it covers the same ground, would you be okay with the vote moving forward or what