>> reporter: i think the big takeaway was is that over the course of seven months, the question really was always going to be, could all the organizing, all the anger and protests amount to some sort of political power? and in some ways, it did in this election, and some ways it didn't, in terms of the candidates of choice for many protesters. but as we mentioned in that package, to go from 12% turnout last election to 30%, that's an extreme -- that's an explosion. i was told by a state senator that in one polling place near canfield green apartments, where michael brown was killed, last election, four people showed up to vote. that's four. this year, when she was leaving, there were 80 people in that polling place. that's big difference. and clearly, many focuses are motivated by all of the emotions and all of the context of the last seven months. >> in north charleston where you are now, when you and i were there, we were talking to a bunch of different people who were sort of laying out what the picture of that place is like. and a lot of people, their first line was, this isn't ferguson, this isn't ferguson, which seems