Yeah. What he did back in 2011 they still remember in 2014. At least we think they do. Well see. Results coming in later tonight. James and jennifer, thanks so much. My assignment on our coverage tonight is here in florida. Ill be over at the Charlie Crist camp reporting here on msnbc. Thats the ed show. Msnbcs election coverage starts right now. Election night, get your popcorn popped plan your hydration needs accordingly, because this is going to be a long night with lots of suspense suspense. 36 u. S. Senate seats are up tonight. About a dozen of them are in who knows territory right now. Control of the United States senate is a coin flip at this point. About two dozen house seats are anybodys guess, even though
republicans will hold control of that body. And the governors races, more incumbents might lose their seats tonight than at any time in decades. There are more than a dozen governors races where nobody knows whats going to happen. Its going tieo be a fun night to watch. I think theres a yearning in the country for some control over things. The world is drifting with terrorists and disease threatening from africa to some extent, with politicians unwilling to do what their occupation requires them to do to get things under control. Fix the immigration system invest in building the economy, and hope for the young kids coming out of school. Tonight ill be listening for the candidates losers as well as winners, who talk about this stuff. Tonight, the difference between what the country thinks about this congress how low the esteem the congress is in the eyes of the country. Versus how many billions of dollars have been spent to address our options and our choices tonight in terms of how people are going to vote. That difference between what the public thinks and what has been spent to influence the publics opinion tonight, i think makes for a chaotic vista. Im not sure whats going to happen. The good thing about chaos is drama. And the good thing about drama, theres personality in it. I think youll see unusual people with audacity come to the national stage. Some of them are going to be interesting to watch for years to come. I like the guy or the woman who beats the spread, who beats the National Wave who survives upon wave. Youll see jerry brown, probably, in his fourth term as governor tonight. Youre going to see people that have been around, people that you never thought would be big success. On the other side john casey, its going to be an interesting night. Watch the person who beats the wave, who stands up against all the wind and wins that
nonetheless. Thats the person i think youre going to see who is worth listening to in the years ahead. I think thats right. And oimpt posed to the 2010 mid terms when so many surprise races were surprised because one of the two in the contest collapsed. Very view of those tonight. People who are going to be winning are mostly going to be winning on their own terms. But in terms of what to watch for, our own Steve Kornacki is at the magic election board, giving us guidance as to what to watch for particularly early on. Whats up steve . First of all, we should say, going to be potentially a very long night when a competitive night in alaska could be hours it really gets settled. I want to give you three states early on to watch, that will set the tone for whats to come throughout the night. So by the time we get to alaska we have a better sense of where things are going. 7 30 tonight, the polls will close in North Carolina. This is the first of two early mustwin states for democrats. For democrats to retain their
senate majority kay hagan, the incumbent in North Carolina has to be thom tillis the republican challenger. The good news for democrats kay hagan has enjoyed a slight lead in the polls throughout this campaign. What republicans are banking on here is the idea that theres this National Wave today thats going to lift all republican candidates like thom tillis with a few critical points to put him over the top. Heres a test. One thing to keep in mind when the polls close, the democratic early vote you can expect that to be counted earlier. The expectation is hagan will do well in the early returns. See if that sustains itself. The second mustwin state, Jeanne Shaheen trying to hold off scott brown. Again, if the democrats fail to hold this seat, that sets a dire tone for them the rest of the night. If she can hold on thats an encouraging sign for democrats. On the flip side early closing in kentucky kentucky a two
timezone state there. Polls close at 6 00, and at 7 00 well get the numbers. Mitch mcconnell trying to hold off grimes. Bad signs in terms of the polls for grimes. Is she exceeding expectations . Is she making it closer than the polls look . Or are the republicans getting what they were expecting, a big win out of kentucky . So a test for republicans early on as well. Steve kornacki thank you. Well have reporters on scene in a lot of these key races tonight, including some that you were just talking about. Well start tonight with Lawrence Odonnell at greg orman headquarters in Overland Park kansas. Can you give us the stage a little bit about what has been happening at this unexpected race in kansas and what youre expecting tonight . Well rachel this is the race that a screen writer would have to dream up. He would not expect to see it in real life. Its an extraordinary situation
where there are several different states, where it just might come down to that state for control of the United States senate. If it comes down to kansas the suspense may not be over tonight. Because the independent has refused to declare which side he would vote for, republicans or democrats. There is a scenario in which the control of the senate could come down to ormans choice. Hes refused to say how he would vote in that situation. Its created an incredible drama here. Kansas senate races are not suspenseful events. Republicans have won every one of them for the last 80 years. We have the local media here marveling at having National Media here for a Kansas Senate race, but its all about the mysterious independent and the one question he refused to answer, how would he vote for
majority leader of the senate. And Sam Brownback is in serious trouble in kansas created the biggest income tax cut in kansas history. Its hurt funding for schools and the democrat has a real shot now at the governorship. Thank you, lawrence. Perry bacon is in Mitch Mcconnell headquarters in louisville, kentucky. So perry, what does it smell like in that headquarters . Are they upbeat, down beat or worried . This race was close until about three weeks ago, but now a lot of confidence in mcconnell camp. A lot of his former staffers have come down to kentucky today. They think its going to be a big night, where not only is he going to win, but hell eventually be majority leader. So they want to be with him to celebrate. On the other hand we spent time talking to democrats today. I found them talking about not
if miss grimes would lose but would she lose by four or five or would it be worse than this . So a lot of confidence here. The democrats and republicans agree, hard to see mcconnell losing tonight. Just to mess up the story line a little bit, why did the guy drop two million of his own money into the race if he had this kind of lead developing . Hes nervous. And they spent a lot of money. Mcconnell is running like a nervous person still throughout this race, hes done so. The final totals will show hes spend two times as much as grimes did, and you can tell on the ground here. People when i talk to them are repeating things in mcconnells ads word for word. This is a small state of 4 million people. When you spend the amount of money he has here you get a great saturation. I think thats whats driving this race, the money. Thank you very much perry at mcconnell headquarters. Now to the hardfought race in the open senate seat in georgia. Joy reid is at the headquarters for Michelle Nunn the democratic candidate. Well be watching this race for a while. This will not be over tonight. Yeah absolutely. This is one of those races that by all rights democrats shouldnt have a shot at. Even with a massive minority turnout, president obama was not able to pull it off in 2012 or 2008. But heres the thing. Democrats hope they can change the makeup of this electorate to bring out more African American voters even without the president at the top of the ticket and theyre doing that by walking this fine line with what the republicans in the state want to talk about, which is Michelle Nunn and her ties to president obama and what they need to get the African American voters out, namely a decent respect for president obama. We went out with grimes on the campaign trail earlier today and this is what she said. Youd just be a rubber stamp for the president. How do you answer that . I would say, let me tell you
about where im different. [ inaudible ] but i will Work Together when it comes to the minimum wage or pay equity or Bipartisan Legislation around immigration reform. Again, im going to focus on whats best for georgia, and im going to be respectful of my colleagues in the congress and ill certainly be respectful to [ inaudible ] and notice that Michelle Nunn has walked that fine line probably better than most candidates that are running in the cycle. She has definitely pivoted back to the issue issues important to her constituency minimum wage being a big one. Definitely one to watch. Didnt make steves big board, but definitely one to watch, polls close in less than an hour. Thank you very much, joy. Seeing Michelle Nunn on camera there, trying to thread that democratic needle this year where democrats are not necessarily trying to insult the president unnecessarily, but
they are running if not against him, then away from him. I want to bring into the discussion now, msnbcs reverend al sharpton and Andrea Mitchell and chuck todd. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thinking about this tough race, al, ill start with you. In terms of what theyve been able to do in these individual tough races, whats been the difference in the state of georgia where the ground game is the story, the democratic effort is the story, and a state like kentucky, where all theyre talking about is national prevailing winds. It seems like theres nothing state specific thats making a difference in some states and some of them it is. And some of the states have individual concerns. Like, for example, georgia, i toured. Theyre concerned in Clayton County with a transit referendum. In kentucky, there are other concerns. In missouri its about teachers tenure. So there are different groups that are bringing out different constituencies, and i think all of those races will be determined by turnout. When you deal with the distancing of president obama, youve got to thread that needle, where not only you dont insult the president , but you dont turn off your African American voter turnout which will be critical in races like georgia. So its a real real hard needle to thread and i think were going to see tonight who threads it and who ends up with just the pin in the hand with an empty needle top. I think this is impossible. I dont know how you can appeal to obama supporters by snubbing him. And when a candidate with a lot of publicity around her, Alison Lundergan grimes she grew up with this, refused to say she voted for the leader of her party. I think its going to be that denial twice she probably continued to do it tonight. What is this about the democrats
where they cant stick together . What i would say is that Michelle Nunn showed in that interview with joy reid that she could thread the needle by saying, im with him on minimum wage and other Economic Issues and im not with him on others im for the people of georgia. Thats a much more politically artful way than what grimes did. I think what Alison Grimes did in refusing to say whether she had voted for barack obama really ended up if it does turn out that way in kentucky ended up being the turning point of that campaign. Heres what i dont understand, though. Are democrats just my yopic when it comes to managing the down side of things . Democrats are saying maybe if i dont talk about president obama being president , and being a democrat, he wont be president and he wont be a democrat. That will no longer be a factor in my race. But heres the thing. It didnt work in republicans in 2006. Running from bush. It didnt work for democrats in 94. Its one of those things you say, theres always one person it works for. So the consultants gravitate and say, it worked over here. It didnt work for 34 other people. I dont get it either because i think one side says president obamas the problem with the economy, the problem with the gridlock. The other side says president obama is a problem, youre right. What does everybody hear . President obamas a problem. Economy and gridlock the number one issues. Republicans handed the people that didnt like the gridlock, president obama, and democrats said well get this niche voting group, and this niche voting group, and where was the message, the cohesive andrea we talk all the time. Isis exists. Theres a part of the world right now thats growing and perhaps into a caliphate of people who are antiwestern. They grab our people and behead
them on television. How did that cease to be an election issue . Somehow, did we change the channel . Did ebola, with two victims seem more important to us . I mean how did that happen . I think it did stay an election issue. All these Closing Argument ads, the worlds a terrifying place, be afraid. But its not an argument. Its a scare tactic by the republican opponents of democratic incumbents who tried to focus on isis and ebola in the scariest most nonfactual ways to take at the eye off the real issues. Because democrats were dumb enough to not say, lets talk about the economy, lets not only that they didnt engage in the conversation. Republicans had a strategy here for 18 months. Theyre going to nationalize this election. They thought it was going to be health care. The issue kept changing but they had a strategy. Theyre going to nationalize this election, they see they
have a map thats their direction. This is about getting republicans out. So they found ways to do it. Oh, the issue is immigration this week fine. Well make that a national issue. If its isis fine. If its ebola, fine. And then the democrats got caught up in i think, where the sum is greater than the parts and they only focused on the parts. They tried to make every election a local election. And it worked in one place. Now, she may not win. It worked in one place, North Carolina. Because you had something that the opponent was a part of. Right. Represents the legislature. The raleigh republican versus washington democrats so she created a choice election environment. You cant say that in many other cases. But they could have. They could have taken some of the national argument. When you talk about the economy, rather than accept their premise, they could have come back with a different premise, saying yes, this president inherited 800,000 jobs lost
he added jobs every month, and if we had gotten more Public Sector jobs that you voted against, or your party voted against, it would have even been more enormous. But when you accept their premise, you lose your conclusion and that i think, is the biggest problem. Well ask a question. Why are the democrats good at getting to the end zone, but not putting on a show in the end zone . They get the touchdown, they dont do any hotdogging. If w. Had gotten to 17,000 in the stock market reduced the Unemployment Rate they would be bragging. The World Economy is not good. I know but the numbers are good. No the Rural Economy is not good. And these battles are being fought in these places. Thats the difference. [ all speak at once ] but i would have connected
the Rural Economy to some of the Public Sector things that were blocked by republicans. If you dont toot your own horn, the other guy wont toot it for you. Our first look tonight at the poll results, this is data you do not have yet, but youre about to get it right here. Live coverage continues right after this. Stay with us. For over 60,000 california foster children the holidays can be an especially difficult time. Everythings different now. Sometimes i feel all alone. Christmas used to be my favorite. I just dont expect anything. What if santa cant find me . To help, sleep train is holding a secret santa toy drive. Bring your gift to any sleep train and help keep the spirit of the holidays alive. Not everyone can be a foster parent, but anyone can help a foster child. Welcome back to msnbcs live coverage of the Midterm Elections tonight. Lets get on. Its an early look at what the voters are telling people tonight about how they voted and why they voted. Tamron hall will be tracking that for us in exit polls. We love to know what people are saying. This is their chance to speak. Tamron thank you for telling us what the world is saying through their votes tonight. Thats an interesting way to put it. Voters are clearly not pleased
with the job congress is doing. Nearly half of those we spoke with, 48 , disapprove of the job being done on capitol hill. Just this benumber, 20 agree and feel that congress is doing a good job. But lets break it down for the president. His numbers are slightly higher. When you take a look at the numbers here 44 approve of the job president obamas doing. 42 strongly disapprove. This is really interesting. Look at th