We do have an obligation to work on issues where we can agree him i think we have a duty to do that. Just because we have a two of party system doesnt mean we have to be in perpetual conflict. I think ive shown that to be true at critical times in the past. I hope the president gives me a chance to show it again. That is the Senate Majority leader of the United States senate Mitch Mcconnell, whoseRepublican Party has swept control of the party. They did it in battleground states thought to be tighter than they actually were. So far the gop gained seven seats. It wasnt even close in kentucky where Mitch Mcconnell beat his opponent allison lundgrengrimes. In iowa, joni ernst beat congressman bruce braley. Another big win was in North Carolina, thom tillis unseated kay hagan. In arkansas, not close, tom cotton, blasted mark prior. Democrat mark udall has fallen to congressman cory gardner in colorado. The stunner of the night was georgia. Which was expected by most to go to a january runoff. You knew it was going to be a bad night when the democrats made it look ease against sam nunn. In kansas, pat roberts survives being down in a hole to
independent greg orman. Shelly moore capito won the senate. Steve daines is being sent to the senate in montana. In south dakota, mike rounds. In New Hampshire, its a lone bright spot for democrats where Jeanne Shaheen survived. Scott brown challenged. Alaska still undecided, but republican dan sullivan is holding on to a narrow lead over democratic senator mark beckich who has ed to concede. An extraordinarily close night in virginia. You knew, you knew it was going to be a long night. They saw incumbent mark warner, the apparent winner facing
republican ed gillespie did not concede in his speech to supporters. Even the real clear polls have this at a ten point margin. Good morning, everybody. It is wednesday, november 5th. It was a long night. I cried all night. It was a great night in many ways. We have a Mark Halperin and former Senior Adviser to david obama, David Axelrod. Everyone has been up all fight. They are also with us, former chairman of the Republican National committee Michael Steel and Jeremy Peters, a great audience with us this morning. A fantastic audience. Good morning. So you, i got to say, well go around the table real quick before we get into the details. Are you good at this. You called it before. If we have a certain runoff, you might have nailed that time. 53. I predicted 53 the hill, the middle guessing game every
couple years. I guessed 53. I will tell you why. This was a really surprising election, a lot different than a couple years ago a. Lot different in terms of a couple years ago, because there was no late break. A lot of people to the romney was going to get the late break. He didnt do it. It seemed to be poll driven. There is no doubt the last couple of days, David Axelrod, there was a wave. And, you know, i made the predictions, but didnt really have the courage and my convictions only because the polls all showed so many of these races to be so tight even the polls were wrong or there was a late break for the republicans. In that sense, it is like two years ago. We had discussions about that then. Look, i think one thing that i also expected to be surprised on the high side rather than the low side. I thought it was 53, 54. A lot of people were talking
it would be 50 or there was going to be a wave and it was going to be 53, 54. You know, to me, when you have seven states or six states in which obama lost by an average of 19 points in 2012. Right. You have democratic incumbents in an off year election, both to me, i was ready to write those off. The top you are ready to write those off, though, but colorado, iowa. Then you look at the governors race the Republican Party basically won the big ten. I mean, they now control wisconsin, michigan. Illinois, ohio. Thats pretty remarkable. It was a big fight. Democrats won pennsylvania. That was the one consolation there. But it was a very very big night. Mark halperin, what happened . The republican wins were really big. Right. Most these races were not close. The undecided voters, the ones up for grabs. I think this is why you saw the pollsters in some instance, democrats have looked at it and
said a lot of the undecided voters had the Job Performance of the president. The ones they were fighting for at the end. What did you think was a surprise . Ed gillespie and virginia coming close. Illinois governor, home state, president s home state. What about maryland the bluest of blue states . In that race, maryland has elected a governor recently. The Democratic Campaign was one of the worst run. Martin omalley. Illinois, now having a republican governor makes a big difference for the party. Let hope for him that the illinois governor he doesnt go to jail like every other. That would be nice. He has a 50 chance of staying out of prison. Four of the last nine. 50 . It was funny last night, a lot of bun dits were having trouble being the wave. I was the one later on, i amended my view. We had like North Carolina, like that was going to go to kay hagan, i will tell you, it was obvious, it wasnt only a wave it was massive, you have republicans winning in massachusetts, illinois, in maryland. That is you have three groups the house the senate and the governor races in the house, which we havent talked about yet. It looks like the republicans have held the most seats. In the senate, we were talking about 13 contested races. Right now the republicans can talk about arkansas. And they probably will. The governors race, we talked
about florida, wisconsin came through for the republicans, maryland and illinois, it sounds like a wave to me. Its hard to do much better. Looking at the numbers, the pollsters were giving Democratic Candidates far too much credit. Nate silver broke down some of the races. He looked at the weighted polling averages before tuesdays vote and compared them to the end results. The polls gave tom cotton a sixpoint edge in arkansas when his actual margin of victory was 17 points. That means the polls had an 11point bias in favor of the democrats t. Same proved true in kansas, kentucky and georgia to name a few. Michael, still, the polls, some were terribly wrong two years ago. I didnt even mention gallops names for a couple years. In 2012, if i hold every other pollster to that standard, there are a lot of polls i cant look
at polling has become difficult. Most major pollsters got it wrotening. They did. There are a lot of reasons for that. A lot of it is due to technology. People are communicating differently. Cell phones. People talk about being able to access voters through the cell phone process. Its very difficult to do and i think a lot of it is voters just are keeping these kind of elections close to their vest. Theyre just not willing to put it all out there as they once were, talk about, oh, this is what i intend to do. Because theyre evaluating and being much more critical in their thinking. There is a reason these races are so tight. Looking at what happened in maryland and illinois and places like that, where the expectation was, you know, the status quo. A lot more was going on at the grass roots level in kitchen tables around those states that was not reflective in any polling that was being taken. I think that the real clear average has brown, lt. Gov. Brown up 9 points in any poll they would take. He loses by 9. Thats an 18point swing that it was not captured in the polling. David axelrod. Michael, let me just say about illinois. That wasnt as big as pat quinn is a great friend of mine. I love him. Im sorry he lost, his Approval Rating never got above the mid30 throughout this race. He was really defying gravity throughout race. All the polls had it rather close. He ended up losing by fourandahalf or 5 points. That was less shocking than the other results last night. We have Jeremy Peters. I could actually wall paper all of the castlings in ver sigh with newspaper clippings and blog posts of how extreme and rad cam the house Republican Party has been over the past two years and how its terrible for washington and terrible for america and lo custers will descend from the heavens. They will eat the flesh out of every republican member there, they are such hard, miserable
beasts. Thats on par. No, its not, actually, i literally could. And yet, huge gains for republicans and in the house of representatives, they have a historic advantage in the house, in the u. S. House this morning. Thats right. They look like theyve had the biggest advantage theyve had since world war ii. Now, its interesting, because, usually, what majority parties will do when they try to add to their numbers is jam it down the oppositions throat. What boehner was trying to do, to get a sizable majority that he could more effectively deal with his fractured tea party conference. Right now one of the Big Questions looming over john boehner and his legacy which as speaker right now has been defined by dysfunction is whether or not he will be able to bring the tea party in line and get the big ticket agenda items done that he needs to get
done like tax reform. You know, mica, one of the things that surprised me last night coming from the republicans. Yeah. Was how much they have learned actually from the mistakes of 2012 and even before that. A big scene is the party of obstruction. You look at Cory Gardners speech last night. Hold on. Come on. I know you want to say something. They have learned their lesson. Not if you listened to ted cruz last night. Stop using ted cruz. Seriously, stop using ted cruz as an example. He is the boogieman for liberals in the northeast. Cory gardner last night goes out. He doesnt talk about this great conservative wave. Instead, what does he do . He talks about how washington is broken, how people want washington working again. How they want deals done. Early in the evening, a lot of people surprised by Mitch Mcconnells graciousness. Very gracious. It was a really nice speech. An extremely gracious speech. Graciousness. You did not hear that in 2010. You didnt hear what you usually here in these election years from the main players, the big players that won. I completely agree with you and i to the they were very disciplined across the board with their remarks. Discipline, they have not been. The question is really now in the execution, what is the need in. Exactly. The issue is as much can republicans overcome republicans and whether the president and the republicans can get along. Tehran a whole campaign, spent an awful lot of money telling people theyre against obama. They have to opivot and in their faces arent all satisfied. They are happy with those results. I will get to the governors in just a second. Lets work this down. You are misunderstanding me. I hope you are right. I really do. Im not completely sure for exactly what David Axelrod just said. Thats all. Im old enough, unfortunately. So am i. I got elected 20 years ago yesterday and i remember when i drove into washington i thought, this is our time. We are a permanent conservative majority. We got bumped two years later. Karl rogue made the same mistake in 2004. Right. Democrats made the same mistake in 2006 the same mistake in 2008. Republicans made the same mistake in 2010, democrats in 2012. I am hoping in 2014 my party has learned the lessons. They dont own walk. Not even close. They are leasing washington for two years on capitol hill. And ive heard it from one republican after another. Yes, it will be great if we win. If we dont get anything done if 2015, we will lose again in
2016. I swear we are saying the same thing. Go ahead. Except im not rolling my eyes. And im not wearing a black dress. That was last night. Okay. Im going to say the question is what is the thing to get done . And that is something that has to get worked out. Do you lead with Immigration Reform, xl pipeline or repeal of obamacare . Right. I think or do you have. By the way. Ramp up conversations by impeachment. Thats the balance between the senate and the house. Ted cruz wants to say Mitch Mcconnell will not have the first, sec, third, fourth or fifth bill in the senate, meaning the impeachment, being obamacare or even talking about investigations. Ted cruz can have his press conferences. I dont say this in a demeaning way. I am running for president of the United States from the senate floor. Mark halperin, real quick. The signals the white house is sending so far i think are exact opposite of what mcconnell and gardner knows. Officials tells split core you got to worry about your liberal base. You see the wall street journal reporting definitively. The president is not going to change staffing or his policy orientation. Its true republicans will have some problems coming toke. But if the president s prosture is no changes in personnel or policy or outlook or relationships, i dont think it can get done. Its very early. I mean, this is a big shock. Its a big win. Lets give it to them. Lets be gracious. Lets wait a week or two. Arent we . Before judging what the president will do. I squarely hope for the same thing you do. As we mentioned, republicans are also celebrating big wins in governors races across the country. The victories include pickups in several democratic states, president obamas home state of illinois has elected a new governor, bruce rauner. Massachusetts also went red with Charlie Baker defeating martha cokely. In maryland, republican larry whogan upset antony brown a. Republican is once again leading arkansas after republican Asa Hutchinson defeated pike ross by double digits. Also, republicans maintained the governors mansions in several closely watched races in the most expensive Gubernatorial Race in the nation. Incumbent rick scott defeated the fan guy Charlie Crist by a little more than 1 . Im sprieded by thsurprised by actually. People in florida say rick scott ran an extraordinary campaign. Dear lord. Since he was elected, it was an extraordinary campaign. But you know, willie, looking at these governors races, what i have been saying all along, if republicans won, they would be holding serve. This year its not in red states. Two years from now they will be not in blue states. But you look at the governors races, you look at florida, which brought morale. You look at illinois. You look at wisconsin. There you go, defeated scott walker in wisconsin defeated democrat mary burke. Its the third victory in four years for the possible 2016 candidate who beat back a recall challenge back in 2012. Were excited about the next four years, were excited that they tried to do with the groups out of washington who wanted it to be against something, we were for something. We were for a better wisconsin, for a better schools, for a Better University system. For a Better Technology system, for a better economy, for a Better Future for our children and our grandchildren. Since scott walker weathers another storm the recall, this is a close race, a tight race,
some saying it could be the end of his political career. Now all that changes on a dime. He wins another section. People will continue to talk about him as a president ial candidate. And neighboring michigan governor rick spieder was reelected to a second term. Jason carter, former president jimmy carters grandson. The ebola guy, he won on ebola. He did. He won a close race in maine. Wendy davis lost to greg abbott. Not being gracious this morning on twitter to wendy davis. Wendy davis was set up to lose that race. No democrat was going to win that race. A big sock, Sam Brownback actually reports of his death greatly exaggerated. Sam brownback wins. Still no clear winner in vermillion. Lets go back to wisconsin. Is anybody going to find another
conservative in america thats as conservative as scott walker who can win wisconsin three times in four years . Please, give me their names. Because Chris Christie would get about 3 there. I think this is an incredible feat. I am interested to hear what you think about his future. Obviously, his name gets tossed out a lot. For a higher office. To do it in a pretty blue state three times, its a remarkable thing to achieve. Do you think hes got his eyes on bigger things . I think certainly he will take a look at it now. Not to diminish his wins. This is still a state where he did not face in these elections a tough opponent the woman he is running against turned out not to be a very good candidate. He did win. No, no, no, you cant understate that. I dont know why you would even say that this morning. Its not a major league okay. And the unions went after him. I mean, listen, im a guy it was
a saying that his future was in great jeopardy t. Guy has won there three out of four times. There is no buts to this. In the context of the president ial campaign, he will face much tougher opponents than he faced in this race. I think we will find out now. Still ahead on morning joe the chairman of the Democratic Campaign, steve israeli, senator j jerry moran and u. S. Snof elect will join us. You are watching morning joe. We will be right back. Its not about how many miles you can get out of the cmax hybrid. Its about how much life you can fit into it. The ford cmax hybrid. With an epaestimated range of 540 miles on a tank of gas. And all the room you need to enjoy the trip. Go stretch out. Go further. Youve been part of this family for as long as i can remember. And you just mean so much to all of us. The holidays wouldnt be the same without your crescent rolls. We got you a little something. We got you jeans. Its about