Voters send message, was President Obama listening?
Voters send message, was President Obama listening?
Fallout from the GOP wave in midterm elections
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," November 5, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino, along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Bob Beckel, Eric Bolling and Brian Kilmeade. It's 5 o'clock in New York City and this is "The Five."
After last night's Senate sweep and historic wins by Republicans, this afternoon, finally, the moment we have all been waiting for, the president's reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Obviously, Republicans had a good night. And they deserve credit for running good campaigns, every election is a moment for reflection and I think that everybody in this White House is going to look and say, "All right, what do we need to do differently?" But the principles that we're fighting for, the things that motivate me, every single day and motivate my staff every day, those things aren't going to change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: The president's press conference, Kimberly clocked in at an hour and 13 minutes.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: And it was exhilarating.
PERINO: And you were riveted into television. Before we get, into more about him, let's just hear from all of us because, we want to hear our reactions and I think, I will save Bob for last. OK, Kimberly you're the first.
GUILFOYLE: OK. All right, well I thought he hit the right tone begrudgingly, meaning he tries to set up and so I'm going to be work with them, they can count on my cooperation. Now, he's going to have to back what he said. But it seems force that he wasn't feeling so enthusiastic about it. But you can't blame him because, whether he wants to admit it or not, the party and the presidency took a beating last night.
BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: You know what the question was.
GUILFOYLE: What?
BECKEL: What did you think about last night's elections?
GUILFOYLE: I'm talking about the --
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: He didn't talk about anything he wants.
BECKEL: I'm anxious to say that.
PERINO: You don't have to correct him, Kimberly, I like that reaction.
BECKEL: I'm trying to be helpful.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: I want to talk about the president's comments right now as a reflection on what happened last night. Is that OK with you?
BECKEL: Should -- I was just trying to be helpful.
GUILFOYLE: Perfect. Thanks Bob.
PERINO: But you think it is your overall impression.
GUILFOYLE: I appreciate your cooperation. The best part was that he wanted to drink some Kentucky bourbon with McConnell, so let's see if he does that. My overall impression last night is that they, with a big, big win for the Republicans. I don't think anyone can deny it. I thought it was an incredible movement in the right direction, but they cannot squander the game, they better show that they deserve it. They earned it, and now pay it forward.
PERINO: Eric, when New Hampshire was called early and Scott Brown, the Republican did not win, because you (inaudible) the mask, were you starting to get nervous for the Republicans?
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: It wasn't New Hampshire that was concerning. Look, McConnell was called real early, so everyone's like, OK, I see how this is going to go. And then Georgia was call fairly early, remember that was last time (ph) we going to go to a runoff about, no, no, that's going to be Republican win, everyone's like, wow, this is going to be a landslide. It's in then for the governor's race, it's kind of happen, everyone's like, wait a minute, if this is going to be a big wave, how is Chris going to give Scott a run for his money in Florida. That's started to turn and it is just one after the other, they turned, they turned. Governor's races in blue states falling left and right, were really, really come. Massachusetts to Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and Florida, these are all, those are all indicators, and you can see the ground swell happening. Can I just touch on President Obama today?
PERINO: Sure.
BOLLING: He still will not admit that his policies, he said it before, "I'm not on the ballot, but my policies are" and he will not admit that the American people stood up last night and said, "We don't want your policies, we want to go in a different direction."
PERINO: Correct.
BOLLING: He continued to say, he talked about things like authorizing forces ISIS, immigration, minimum wage, he's going to push through his policies, even though the American people said, "Hold on, slow down, we're not necessarily on board with all of them."
PERINO: Yeah, Brian, when you look across at the races last night, so there was the Senate, obviously that was really important. But historic gains in the House, now the Republican have more, Republican in the House and they've had since 1929. Also state legislatures, all across the country, you saw huge gains, and a lot of improvements on the ground game for Republicans, but they didn't, they weren't sure, this is like the first test of whether they had improved in that area, that need a lot of help.
BRIAN KILMEADE, GUEST CO-HOST: All right, all those things are facts, it's not projection, it's not imagining what if that happens, it happened. That's why I look so forward to the press conference, which got started almost on time, which is the first time in a long time. That's why.
PERINO: This is the change we were hoping for.
KILMEADE: Yeah. And so here's GOP wins, early wins for GOP. Everything, everyone most people who are clear think they say what, this is a thumping, if I quote your ex-boss.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
KILMEADE: So I'm under, I think I'm the last optimist left to think that the president's going to see this and it's going to change, he's going to say, "I want to have a library that's going to be half full." I'm not filling it up with any accomplishments, except challenges in falling short. So I'm hoping that he's going to say, "Here's what we're going to change, called Mitch and this is what we're going to do, you know, if we have problems in the past, I've got to put it behind me." All I got was -- oh, executive action is coming down the pipe, all my policies are going to stay the same. If you don't give me what I wanted to give, then it's just going to die on my desk rather than sitting on Harry Reid's desk. I am not optimistic at all, I like the questions so. The questions were great, Jonathan Karl, Ed Henry and others.
(CROSSTALK)
KILMEADE: The questions were great. And then I'm wondering, it's been a minute, has he answered anything? I dose off in the middle of the advances (ph).
PERINO: And how do you feel after an hour?
KILMEADE: After an hour, I thankfully had to go, I had an interview. But I was looking so forward to, but the president is not counting the message to refuse to get the message and sadly there's no one strong enough like a David Gergen to go. Listen, I've been down this road before, you can't take that tone.
PERINO: Last night Bob, we were together, a little bit on television, watching some of these returns, some of the things were not surprising, like you, I think thought that New Hampshire would go the way that it did. But the other ones were a little bit more surprising, especially because of the margins.
BECKEL: Yeah. I -- couple things, first of all, the Democrats ran into, this is not -- if you look around this nation is biggest elect-- it is a historically what happens, but here -- you had an unpopular president, and you had people in red states running for the most part in a low turnout, that means disaster for the Democrats and it was. Now, the question is, on the margins, did you notice that every one of those close races ended up being five, six, seven points for the Republicans? Which means, it's nearly every undecided voter broke at the end against the incumbent.
GUILFOYLE: Them.
BECKEL: And so, that's having been.
PERINO: For it's the Democrats, because some of those are open seas.
BECKEL: Yeah, that's right. But they broke against their -- all right, fine. Now the question is, what happens -- what else did we learn from this thing? We learned that in my view that the map is found to be colored permanently. We now have red, we now have blue and we have four states that the government decides.
PERINO: What about Colorado?
BECKEL: That's what I'm not through in.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: I was about to say, there was four of them, there's North Carolina, there's Virginia, I mean, there's Virginia, North Carolina, Florida to spot. Ohio and Colorado, that's it. Now the rest of these states are now locked in. If Jeanne Shaheen can survive that last night, New Hampshire will be a blue state. Now the question now is, who's going to win over those states? And now the legislature is there and the governor's there, it's a mixed bag, Colorado, yeah, the governor's survived barely. But I think.
PERINO: You didn't mention Virginia. Virginia, which had been a red state then a blue state and back and forth, and Ed Gillespie, who -- of course we told you here on The Five to watch that race, it's still not called yet, about .3 percent difference. Would you put Virginia in that category as well?
BECKEL: Oh yes, I did. I said Virginia and North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Colorado, those are the states that I think that will determine who's the next President of the United States is. And fairly gratefully (ph) saw them, and they've pretty good reflection to the country.
PERINO: OK. Let's get back to that press conference. We have a sound bite for you from Major Garrett of CBS News, he asked President Obama this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAJOR GARRETT, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Mitch McConnell said and I quote, "That if you in fact use your executive authority to legalize a certain number of millions of undocumented workers, it would poison the well. You also not believe what they have said in the after math of last night's results that the verdict rendered by voters, should stop you or should prevent you from taking this action. Keystone XL Pipeline, they will send you legislation on that. They will ask you to repeal the Medical Devices Act as the part of the funding mechanism in the Affordable Care Act.
OBAMA: My executive actions not only do not prevent them from passing a law that supersedes those actions, but should be a spur for them to actually try to get something done. On Keystone, there's an independent process, it's moving forward. And the -- I'm going to let that process play out. Medical device tax -- let me take a look comprehensively at the ideas that they present, let's give them time, to tell me, I'd rather hear it from them than from you.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PERINO: Good boy. Eric, but that's not exactly how the founders envisioned America, right? If congress was to pass the law, the president is supposed to sign it or veto it.
BOLLING: Right. So it base on what he says, I'm going to sign, I'm going to use any executive power, us the pen and the cell phone like he promised. And it's -- caught if, the Senate now, the House and the Senate don't like it, they can go ahead and pass a law that will end up on his desk anyway, and he'll still be able to say, I'll be to choose the executive order that I signed, or I'm going to -- or sign out if I don't like that one, I'm going to veto that one, it will revert back to the executive order. And then force the Senate then (ph) to say, "Well then you're overstepping your boundaries, we're going to sue you, or try impeach you.
KILMEADE: Right.
BOLLING: Which either one of those are bad idea. I will tell you, he did open the door for Keystone Pipeline. Now if you listen to it.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
BOLLING: He said, you know, if it does create jobs and if it in fact does allow gas prices to come down.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: No, right.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
BOLLING: But he opened that.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: I'll give him that. Some of the other things I think they're going to have a hard time with. Immigration had a hard time, he's still going to try and push through minimum wage. Keystone Pipeline, just my gut reaction, he may want to.
(CROSSTALK)
KILMEADE: He has start small ball though, with a medical device tax, which he's got Democratic support for.
GUILFOYLE: That's a need, that's a layoff. That's a layoff.
KILMEADE: You would think if it gets there, the press going to always subjective because, my plan has to get financing somehow, some way.
BECKEL: There's two several one is (inaudible) to exit polls. One the American people overwhelm and they want immigration reform and they want people who are here to get in the back of the line, but get away towards citizenship, they made that very clear. On minimum wage, five -- red states, five states all voted for minimum wage.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
BOLLING: And how did the governor --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Well, you just a made a comment about.
BECKEL: Well, can I just raise on that thing?
BOLLING: Sure.
BECKEL: OK. Thank you.
BOLLING: Please.
BECKEL: I was magnanimous last time. I didn't jump in there. Here's the other thing, I think the pipeline is going to be -- as soon as I think he will approve the pipeline, but you're going to get minimum wage, and you're going to get -- listen, there'll going to be immigration program.
BOLING: I think your federal minimum wage, Bob. You're getting a statement.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: This is completely a different story.
KILMEADE: But this is going to cost how many jobs?
BECKEL: None. Zero.
KILMEADE: The nonpartisan, nonpartisan people, I forgot the names of the group came out and said, "It's going to cost 500,000 jobs to raise."
BECKEL: Well, that's the.
KILMEADE: The Congressional Budget Office.
BECKEL: The Congressional Budget Office.
KILMEADE: CBO, excuse me.
BECKEL: Look, it is, you're right, it is individual states, but the states are looking at this and they're going to pass minimum wage laws, whether you like it or not, they're going to happen.
BOLLING: I'm OK with it on a state, state by state level. That's the way it's supposed to happen.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: The states that passed it yesterday did not do a one-size-fits-all approach. They didn't, they passed laws that fit for their state. Now we're going to do it next year, and that's what the federal objection is. Kimberly, let me ask you this.
GUILFOYLE: Sure.
PERINO: President Obama has -- he suffered two defeats in the midterms, in this 2010 and now 2014.
GUILFOYLE: I think that's one hurt more.
PERINO: What could the president do to not be a drag on Democrats in 2016? Is there anything he can do in the next two years that could actually help Democrats.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
PERINO: Rather than hold them back from wins?
GUILFOYLE: There is attitude change, attitude change.
PERINO: You don't think her heard attitude change in the press conference today?
GUILFOYLE: I think that was a little bit of feigned attitude change and I would like to see is him work on something specific. Put his money where his mouth is, they say that his in cooperation in fact show us that he intends to do so. There are a few things that he can do that make sense for the country, that are going hurt him, but shows that he's being a little bit more conciliatory, if he's going to work with the other side, and they were like, diminish the kind of the air of arrogance send executive authority and say, "OK, I'm listening to the American people, Democrats can count on me too, I'm no longer going to be a burden to you, because this is want we got." I don't know how he's going to do it. I still think -- you know, (inaudible) like Ed Henry said today like I said yesterday, "Do something, like just move a little. Show a little flexibility."
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: You think the president will do anything in the White House, or at least, you know, in his senior management or some sort, something that will give him a different direction, a new way of looking at the world.
BECKEL: Yeah, I think there's going to be a lot of people that are going to jump ship, probably a very quickly, as some of the cabinet buy the way. You know, I think he's bind (ph) here for the Democrats. They've been very careful, the judiciary committee now is in the hands of the Senate and judges, and that's a big deals, a lot of backed up. But, you know, here's the good news the Democrats is that their base, Hispanics for 2 to 1 again for Democrats. Blacks voted a normal.
PERINO: However, I don't think it's -- Bob, I think you have to look at some like Greg Abbott, the governor, the new governor of Texas, one Hispanic, 44 percent.
BECKEL: I know. I understand that.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: I love it.
BECKEL: On a national vote, it was about the same as it was. And young people -- but they did -- if they had the turnout that they had two years ago, none of it comes with a loss.
PERINO: But that were never happen Bob, that doesn't happen in the midterms.
BECKEL: But I think what Obama needs to do is he needs to have these guys out on Friday and says three things we can work on.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
BECKEL: Tax reform, immigration and one other thing.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: TPA. Trade Promotion Authority.
KILMEADE: Very now.
PERINO: Are you going to stick around for the hour that we have coming up on trade promotion?
GUILFOYLE: It's official.
KILMEADE: That's the only reason why I'm here.
GUILFOYLE: It's commercial free, it's amazing.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: OK. We're going to move. Next on The Five on the GOP leadership meets with the President on Friday as Bob was saying, which did they tell him about the road ahead, we've got some ideas, and stay tuned for our reactions to the results of some of last night's biggest races. We are back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: America turn President Obama admit defeat earlier to Republicans and we also heard from the Senate's next, majority leader on his parties, big win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITCH MCCONNELL, SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I think what the voters were saying yesterday, was a couple attacks. Number one, they are obviously not satisfied with the direction of the administration. But at the same time, I heard a lot of discussion about dysfunction in Washington. We have to starts with the view that maybe there's some things we can agree on, to make progress of the country. The first thing, I need to do is to get the Senate back to normal, that means, working more -- let me back and clear though, there will be no government shutdowns and no default on the national debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Love it. And the one thing that the president said during this conference that he gave earlier, what he has found Mitch McConnell to be a man of his word, that if he says he can get something done, he does it and it's true. That I like. Dana, tell me about Mitch.
PERINO: I've always been a fan of Mitch McConnell. Remember when he was just majority leader before, and then when was, then when he became minority leader after 2006 from President Bush lost in the majorities in that midterm. One of the things the Democrats said at that point, was they were going to defund the war. And Reid and Pelosi held about 17 votes and the Karl and Boehner working together to make sure that they didn't -- President Bush didn't lose a single one of those votes. He's an excellent parliamentarian, he loves the Senate, he's the creature of the Senate. I feel like, daddy's home.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
PERINO: Like that. I think it's going to be really solid. On Friday, what should they do? I can't remember this is an old saying, "Your mother, or God gave you two ears and one mouth and you should use them accordingly." Right? You use them in proportion. I think on Friday when President Obama invites you down, they should do a lot of listening. They are to tell President Obama exactly everything that they think at the moment, they should just go and be respectful and listen, and if they can have a good exchange of ideas on perhaps, tax reform and I know it's point (ph) but Trade Promotion Authority, at least to establish some basis of trust and the place to work together, I think that would be good. And also this authorization to use military force, we have not talked about the problems in the Middle East in the past couple of weeks, but they are dire and getting worse and the president is going to need Republicans support in order to do the right thing there.
GUILFOYLE: All righty. Mr. Bolling, so how should be a presumptive majority leader of the Senate use this, use this new found power.
BOLLING: And I agree with Dana, I think he's, he's everyone works for this way. Many people on the right respect Mitch McConnell, they respect what is done in the past, assume he'll bring the same, you know, leadership to the Senate this time around. I'd like what he said about number one, repatriating funds -- offshore companies, American companies doing business offshore, leaving their money there, because if they bring it back they get taxed at 35 percent. He said he did interested in talking about the way of bringing it back. President Obama said, "I would also like to entertain that that will be one way that he get, get it together and have a bipartisan agreement to make the economy better to create jobs.
GUILFOYLE: Great point, yeah.
BOLLING: Great idea. Mitch McConnell, he's got to wait, he's got to wait and see what happens. You know, already there are people on the right taking shots, and like maybe he's not, you know he is the presumptive, but he's definitely not the vote in the yet. He's not.
GUILFOYLE: Presumptive.
BOLLING: It is presumptive.
GUILFOYLE: I think it is pretty much presumptive.
BOLLING: But yeah, it is pretty much a done deal. I like.
GUILFOYLE: You're making count on -- yes, so far there's a lot of positive feedback and Brian, he is a man of experience, he is a veteran as Dana said, he is a topnotch parliamentarian. What would you expect?
KILMEADE: Number one, he -- I think he made a mistake when he made one public early on when he said, "My goal was to make sure President Obama is a one term president" of course everybody who got in the party wants to get rid of the other president and get to their guy in there. But he was, that was use against in the whole time. The first thing you should do, I'll go with you, Dana and do some listening. But one thing about the president, when you talk the lawmakers and have one on one with them, all he does is talked. But I would like to do is say, "Hey, listen, you want tax reform, here's our plan, it came from the House, and I'm pretty much like it. Tell me what do you like and don't like about it. Here's what I would like to do with the defense budget, here's what I would like to do with the military budget."
GUILFOYLE: Right. Sure.
KILMEADE: Go specifically after them. And I think, I think it's also important to knock them off and don't diminish the presidency. Don't give in to people to say, look at the back biting and look at how petty they're being. Show respect for the office, but also show we got a mandate, Mr. President, it's a new law and order scheme and we have to pay attention to it, because you can't go on. That press conference today made me feel as though it's going to be another two years of nonstop filibuster and I -- I'd to sorry my congress' won't work with.
GUILFOYLE: Like sticky taffy, stretched out. You just want to eat it, enough. Bob?
BECKEL: I'm a parliamentarian, and the only person I can think of that makes Harry Reid look exciting. This is not a guy who's going to get in front of the cameras and going to make people move and feel like they got, some have a daddy in charge.
GUILFOYLE: He's not an aerobics instructor, Bob.
BECKEL: But he is in Dem (ph) -- but he is in authority.
GUILFOYLE: What if he gets it done?
PERINO: What's wrong with boring? I like boring.
BECKEL: Of course you do.
PERINO: Yes. Because you know what? It's nice to have a senator who's not running for president, someone who actually wants to do the work.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: I love what he said last night in his acceptance speech, he said I understand that the President Obama's world view did not change tonight.
GUILFOYLE: Yup.
PERINO: And the President knows that mine did not either.
KILMEADE: Right.
PERINO: Many can work with somebody who can understand. You'll never see Mitch McConnell go to the Senate floor and complain about Tom Steyer, the billionaire, over and over again.
KILMEADE: Well Mitt Romney hasn't paid taxes.
PERINO: You would never see that from Mitch McConnell. I think boring is exactly what.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: I found that to be encouraging, I just don't frankly think it's the Republicans.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: You know what? I think she's right, he loves it.
PERINO: Harry Reid is repugnant.
GUILFOYLE: Right. He needs less filibuster and more efficiency.
BOLLING: There is something he said that is very interesting.
GUILFOYLE: What?
BOLLING: I think it's a good movie, says he's going to back and try to repeal that nuclear option. Which would mean it's a more debated laws and bills that passed.
(CROSSTALK)
KILMEADE: I just have one quick thing to add. I think he should talk to some Democrats in the House. Some of his colleagues in evidently called him, and say, "OK. Have you -- are you done after six years of doing everything the president said? Because a lot of people lost their job, because their voting record was locked step in with the president, you going to make them -- you're going to be here after these two years the president is.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
KILMEADE: Who will go along with what agenda? And see if there's other people besides Joe Manchin that can be reasonable on the other side.
GUILFOYLE: Just a good guy.
BECKEL: A lot of the stress to come around (ph) just to keep myself going.
KILMEADE: Have some vibrance. OK. Its' something that's over-the-counter.
GUILFOYLE: How refreshing, we actually have somebody who gets something done. This isn't like working about hours.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: You know I'm optimistic.
PERINO: This is led the way for the Republicans to earn back the majority in the Senate. That is a big deal.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: He did that?
PERINO: You can definitely say that he was the leader of that, he's -- absolutely.
GUILFOYLE: He's been working tirelessly on that. That's not going to around.
(CROSSTALK)
KILMEADE: And he's own delight. That wasn't easy.
GUILFOYLE: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't move. Our reactions and results of some of the races we have been talking about for months here on The Five, is next. Plus Greta Van Susteren just got an exclusive interview with the U.S. marine finally released from the Mexican jail. You are going to see a sneak peek, in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Welcome back. In case you haven't heard, Republicans have seized control of the Senate. They gained seven seats last night and they may be gaining even more, races have not been called yet in Virginia and Alaska and Louisiana's going to have a runoff next month. In the House, Republicans have a gain of 14 seats, for the projected, to expand the majority to the biggest in a decade, beyond their post war world two record of 240 seats set in 1946. And the victories didn't stop there, in the governor's races, Republicans defended seats in the important electoral states of Wisconsin and Florida and scored huge upsets in deep blue states like Illinois and Maryland. So, we're going to go around the table very quickly. We're going to pick one race each, Dana, the one that you want to highlight, go ahead.
PERINO: Well, this is of one you might not heard about, it's Elise Stefanik, she is a young woman, she's 30 years old, so to be the youngest woman elected to the congress. She's a friend of mine, she used to work in the White House, just down the hall, she was the assistant to Chief of Staff Josh Bolton. She -- out ousted her opponent. She won in the primary, she won handily in the general, she out messaged him, she raised a ton of money and she was able to bring that home, so there was a lot of energy that she brings to the congress and I wish her very well.
BOLLING: OK, very good. Bob, you want...
BECKEL: You want to take this away from...
BOLLING: No, no, no. It's not your turn yet. I just want to comment on the youngest woman -- youngest female congressman being a Republican?
BECKEL: I think that's terrific.
BOLLING: Fantastic. All right. Brian, you're up.
KILMEADE: OK, have a little dialogue over Virginia, because Dana Perino is the only one that I knew of that said, "I think that Ed Gillespie has got a legitimate shot in Virginia." What a comeback. And she said it, and the that we were with -- I can't remember his name -- OK, never mind.
PERINO: I'm sure it was a he.
KILMEADE: He -- "Come on, please."
PERINO: Rolled their eyes, said I was stupid.
KILMEADE: No. Didn't say stupid. But said you're dreaming because you're friendly with him.
Well, it turns out -- it turns out he was down double digits about four weeks ago, then single digits, and then his internal poll showed he was up one. And everyone said, "Wait a second. That can't be right."
The Republicans didn't really support him, because they didn't think he had a shot in Virginia. He was winning almost the whole night. Only Joe Trippi came out and said, "Wait a second. He doesn't have a big enough lead, and northern Virginia hasn't come in yet."
So I wrote Ed Gillespie, and nobody's better friends with him than Dana, but I wrote him, and I asked him, what do you think the reason is?
He says, "I translated all my campaign ads in seven different languages. I went to places nobody else went to in Virginia, I united the Tea Party." He said he averaged -- he said in the end, he went 56,000 miles over ten months. He did it in a blue-collar way, and he loved it.
PERINO: That's true.
BOLLING: Can I throw something else in these also? Had the Republicans known it was -- could have been that close, that might have been another pickup, because they would have put some money.
GUILFOYLE: Big time.
BOLLING: I think there was no outside money coming into that.
KILMEADE: Well, Dr. Larry Sabato says he wants an investigation into the polls, because he believes in Virginia people stayed home because they didn't think it was a race.
BECKEL: Well, one more comment on that is that he was -- he was an organizer in politics, and he organized very, very well this time around. In Fairfax it was low. In Norfolk it was low. He did a good job.
GUILFOYLE: Yes. Too bad that they didn't put a little bit of cash in it. Because, you know -- but you're absolutely right; he could still win. It would have been nice if it was already the last box checked for last night. He's a great candidate. He's fresh; he's exciting. He will be amazing to serve this country. And I know that's not -- if he doesn't get in this time, it won't be the last we hear from him.
BOLLING: Go ahead, quickly. Your race was?
GUILFOYLE: Mine was kind of like a crowd pleaser, Joni Ernst, very exciting candidate. I think she's going to be for many years to come, one of the main female faces, representatives of the Republican Party. People found the way she campaigned and her candor refreshing.
BECKEL: Just think how good the hogs feel, too.
GUILFOYLE: The castration ad was also -- was also exciting. I mean, come on. She's a vet. She's commanded her own unit. There's a tremendous amount to like about her. She's got a great management leadership style. I wouldn't be surprised if she's not in a position of importance with and appointment...
KILMEADE: Kimberly, the Democrats and Republicans that once served, I think the better it is for the country.
GUILFOYLE: I'm with you.
BOLLING: All right, Bobby. Very quick.
BECKEL: Maryland, my home state, it has elected Republican governors in the past. This one was a big surprise, and if you looked at it, it wasn't necessarily a low turnout. It was places like Montgomery County, where margins usually are 43 percent for the Democrats, getting very small on that. It said something about the Democratic candidate. And people got tired of the assemblyman.
BOLLING: Is it the candidate or is the -- are the people of Maryland becoming a little bit more red?
BECKEL: No, no, they're not becoming more red. What they're tired of is the sort of corruption.
PERINO: And taxes. No, that was a huge thing.
BECKEL: And taxes.
PERINO: It was definitely a vote against O'Malley, who raised their taxes so high. But where did you hear that people should pay attention to the Maryland governor's race? It was in my "One More Thing."
KILMEADE: It was?
PERINO: Yes. You think I have a crystal ball? Forget Larry Sabato.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: Can you go to the racetrack with me?
GUILFOYLE: Why don't we do the "Dana's Predictions" now? We used to have the swami thing with Bob, "Bob's Picks." But -- yes.
BOLLING: Just very quickly, the race that I wanted to highlight was Mia Love in Utah. I love Utah. We love Mia Love. She's fantastic. She's now Congresswoman Mia Love. You may end up seeing her as Senator Mia Love at some point in the future. A great candidate; great people of Utah.
OK. Very quickly. Democrats aren't the only ones down and out today. The mainstream media are, as well. Leave out to them to spin the GOP's big night into a negative.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT LAUER, CO-HOST, NBC'S "THE TODAY SHOW": Opposing the president's policy is not a policy. Specifically, what can Republicans do with this power?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Republican brand is still very damaging. You look at the exit polls, and both political parties are looked at very negatively. I think the Republicans better not misread this. This wasn't a vote for them.
BOB SCHIEFFER, CBS NEWS: The mood is nasty. The mood is exactly what we've been talking about all week, is now being reflected in the exit polls. They don't like Republicans, and they don't like Democrats. This is not just a referendum on Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: Well, Schieffer's network, CBS, must feel the same way, because they chose that remark right there to tweet it out.
Now Dana, can you believe the negativity coming from mainstream media?
PERINO: Of course, I can believe it. But here's a couple things. Of course, we all know that Congress has one of the worst approval ratings, and so does the media.
But look at some of these races where we've been talking about the different types of candidates. Joni Ernst, we just talked about a breath of fresh air. Cory Gardner, a happy warrior. Ed Gillespie, runs an optimistic campaign. Mia Love, happy, happy.
So there are some changes. And I think that the conventional wisdom - - a lot of people get bogged down in conventional wisdom. They've got to cover a lot of different topics, not just politics. And I think that, if you are actually reading more outside of the mainstream, you get a better sense of what's going on, and you have a better handle on what could happen.
BOLLING: Why is it that you are such a nice guy in loss? You're sitting here. You're very even keeled. You watch the mainstream media, they're like crybabies.
BECKEL: Well, you know, this is -- this is. You got Schieffer, Lauer and Stephanopoulos. You've got three Democrats, right?
BOLLING: You're a Democrat.
BECKEL: But they're not political analysts. They're whatever they are. But I love Bob Schieffer, by the way. But I think that, listen, they're going to say that kind of thing, because it's -- there is some truth to it, by the way, about Congress. But you can't look at it any other way than we got our asses whupped. I mean, that's as simple as that. I mean, we're going to whup their ass the next time around.
PERINO: We can bleep that out.
KILMEADE: I would say -- I would say -- I'm sorry, guys.
BOLLING: OK. Go.
KILMEADE: I would say this. I just took about 25 calls in a three- hour radio show. And most of the people were angry, and they wanted revenge. They weren't like, "Hey, now that we're in power, let's reach across the aisle." They were like, "Finally, I'm in the majority."
BOLLING: Wrap it up, K.G.
GUILFOYLE: Don't put your ego ahead of the American people. Get some stuff done.
BOLLING: There you go.
GUILFOYLE: Be humble and get to work.
BOLLING: On that note -- on that note, next on "The Five" how did the 2016 contenders do in last night's election? We'll break it down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: I like...
KILMEADE: Hey, welcome back. I'm sorry to interrupt, guys. I've just got to start the segment. Hi, everybody. I'm back on "The Five." I'm Brian Kilmeade, playing the role of Greg Gutfeld. Author of the best- selling book, "George Washington's Secret Six," which is now out in paperback, which means it's bendable.
PERINO: You really are filling in for Gutfeld.
BECKEL: You are.
GUILFOYLE: You are Gutfeld.
BECKEL: Yes.
KILMEADE: I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) coordinator (ph).
BECKEL: It's shameless. Just shameless. You got a great book there, but it's shameless.
BOLLING: I don't know how that going the prompter.
GUILFOYLE: Bob, you're reading the paper.
BOLLING: Reading the paper? I'm reading about the elections, for God's sakes.
KILMEADE: Is there anything worse than a guy reading the paper while you're on live television?
GUILFOYLE: Oh, he plays Solitaire. And he calls...
BECKEL: I -- listen, I'm hanging on every word. Go ahead.
KILMEADE: A bunch of 2014 candidates got help on the campaign trail from politicians who may be candidates themselves in 2016. For example, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Jeb Bush. And there was Hillary Clinton. She turned out for 26 candidates in her party this election cycle. Half of them did not do well. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, also unable to work the magic for the Dems. Here's Rand Paul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton have been all over the place. They're trying to make it out as if they're somehow better for Democrats. Well, in Kentucky, they were soundly rejected. And in Arkansas. They campaigned in Kentucky very heavily and in Arkansas and in Iowa. So I think that the facts are the facts. Did the Clintons help their ticket? So far I don't think they have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILMEADE: She (UNINTELLIGIBLE) did 45 events in 54 days. You saw the number of candidates, Bob. Did Hillary Clinton hurt herself?
BECKEL: I mean, look, Moses couldn't have done much for those campaigns. Look, it's -- you can't sit back there. Rand Paul is running for president. He's obviously going to take a shot at her. That was a good place to take a shot.
KILMEADE: Well, what do you think?
BECKEL: I think she probably helped marginally. I mean, it didn't hurt. How has -- how has Bill Clinton hurt you?
KILMEADE: How could she feel better about her prospects, Eric?
BOLLING: I don't -- look, I think Rand Paul was right. He's spot on. He nailed it first. I mean, everyone's talking about the races, and Rand Paul puts two and two together. Hillary and Bill Clinton, they were all over the place. Bill Clinton was campaigning all over for candidates, as well. And it didn't work.
BECKEL: In a terrible Democratic year.
BOLLING: It didn't matter, Bob. It didn't help. It was worse. This is one -- President Obama called it a shellacking last time. This is another coat of shellac.
BECKEL: You think Bill Clinton hurt people?
BOLLING: I don't think -- let's put it this way: It didn't help. And Hillary Clinton needs to show that she can help people -- very quickly -- who help themselves.
Chris Christie helped himself as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. And Scott Walker won three elections in four years. Wow, that puts him on the map.
BOLLING: All right.
BECKEL; And Dana Perino helped herself, in case she decides to run.
GUILFOYLE: Yes, he's a killer.
KILMEADE: Dana Perino, out of those people that we think more likely are going to be on the stage next year at this time...
PERINO: I don't know. At this point in the cycle in 2006, on the day after the 2006 midterms, everyone -- the conventional wisdom was that the two candidates for president were going to be Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.
BOLLING: True.
PERINO: We don't know what's going to happen. I do think a couple of things did hurt the Clintons. They probably don't really care too much about those red state where they lost Senate states.
However, governors of Florida, Ohio, Colorado and New Mexico. It's important to have good -- your party in the governorship, and it can help you.
But just one person I want to put on the radar screen. I think Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee...
KILMEADE: Really?
PERINO: ... is someone to watch.
KILMEADE: OK. Someone make sure we mark this, because you always turn out to be correct.
GUILFOYLE: Save the tape.
KILMEADE: Before we go to you, Kimberly, you could tell Governor Christie was in a little bit of a campaign mode this morning when he came to the "FOX & Friends" couch. He kind of -- I asked him about Rand Paul calling him out with abrupt, direct style.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I am who I am. I'm not going to change. If someone does that kind of thing publicly, they're going to get what they give. And that's what people in my state and, of course, this country have gotten to learn about me. That's who I am. And I'm going to be direct and honest and blunt about how I feel about things. And I think, you know, people will judge me up or down based on that. But I don't worry about that kind of punditry analysis. It doesn't matter to me.
KILMEADE: Sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILMEADE: Against Rand Paul, Kimberly.
GUILFOYLE: Well, you know, it is what it is. They're both vying for the title. Right? Let's be honest. It's all about 2016.
KILMEADE: And he comes out looking good, doesn't he? He put those numbers back, but...
GUILFOYLE: He is.
PERINO: Rand Paul has campaigned all over the country. He was tireless. It didn't matter who was running, the Republican; he supported them. And he really came -- got behind Mitch McConnell, which definitely helped in Kentucky.
BECKEL: This is all about numbers. Can I make one point about numbers?
GUILFOYLE: I just wanted to finish -- yes, wanted to finish really quick. And to say that the three of them, I think they did very well, obviously. Rand Paul did very well, Christie.
But you know what? It never hurts when Bill Clinton shows up at an event. And all that was about, the scattershot of the Clintons was about collecting chits for 2016 in case she runs.
BECKEL: Both parties have their own base. Ninety-four percent of Democrats, 92 percent of the Republicans and the independents, were 10 percent to the Republicans, same thing they did in 2006 for the Democrats. Those are numbers, and those are real. That's what's going to happen...
GUILFOYLE: We're going to play it back slow during the commercial break.
KILMEADE: Although I didn't exactly reign you in, I think I did a heck of a job in that segment.
PERINO: And we do love your book. It's a very good book.
BOLLING: You had to promote your book. You now cut into my segment by about three minutes.
KILMEADE: Ahead -- Kimberly did. She went on and on and on. Did Democrats do themselves in this year with their gender- and race-baiting? Did identity politics fail? Did identity this year? All that and more on "The Five" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIA LOVE, REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT, UTAH: Utahans have made a statement that they're not interested in dividing Americans based on race or gender. That's really what made history here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKEL: That was Mia Love, the first ever female black Republican -- we should make that point -- ever elected to Congress. She won big that night, along with other women in her party.
There were some Democratic accusations of the GOP war on women this election. Charles Krauthammer thinks they were -- they backfired. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) disagrees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEWS POLITICAL COMMENTATOR; I think this is the end of the war on women, and the Democrats have lost it. They tried it, as we saw famously, in Colorado. It probably helped to defeat Senator Udall, because he became an object of ridicule, and once you get to that stage, it's over.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: A lot of people think the Democrats overplayed this war on women?
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, I don't think they overplayed it. Maybe that was the only focus that people thought that Mark Udall had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKEL: All right. There's been a lot of accusations about that. If I get it added together, I think it was Mary Landrieu on race. It was what's her name in Texas and Udall in Colorado. I'll tell you, Democrats didn't play the race card, or did they play the woman card.
PERINO: Really, like with the flyers about Trayvon Martin and Ferguson, floating around in North Carolina and Georgia?
BECKEL: That was the way we turn out votes.
GUILFOYLE: You just -- just defeated yourself. You said they didn't do it.
BECKEL: And the fact that's the way they always do it. That's not the point.
GUILFOYLE: You're admitting it.
BECKEL: It's a general rule. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. It's the party that does that.
In general, do you -- can you name me somebody like Landrieu who made this kind of mistakes? But you can't.
GUILFOYLE: I'm just telling you, you said she didn't do it and then you say, "That's the way we do it."
BECKEL: Can you please? We collectively added those things, so that we have that and say, there's the Democratic Party.
BOLLING: Yes, there was the...
BECKEL: What?
GUILFOYLE: I know. Don't make false allegations.
BOLLING: Cory Gardner was going to ban contraceptives in Colorado.
KILMEADE: Mark Udall.
BOLLING: They're playing the war on women there.
BECKEL: That was Udall. That's what I said.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God.
BOLLING: You said name one -- somebody besides Landrieu.
BECKEL: I did. I just want to say -- I just want to say that we have a tendency to take one cut.
BOLLING: How about Landrieu was in Louisiana. Georgia. Colorado.
BECKEL: Do you have...
BOLLING: How many more do you need?
BECKEL: I need a lot more than that.
BOLLING: How about Texas? How about...
BECKEL: If I could edit this thing like these guys edit it, I'd do...
GUILFOYLE: What about -- what about sexist comments about Joni Ernst? How about that?
BECKEL: I did a sexist comment about you.
KILMEADE: You always take. You can't keep changing the subject. You got everything.
BECKEL: Go ahead. You tell me. Name me -- name me some examples.
BOLLING: OK. Four.
BECKEL: There's four out of -- let me see, there were 500 people running.
PERINO: Don't fall for his Alinsky tactics.
KILMEADE: I was going to answer, but Dana, my counselor, has said I shouldn't answer.
BECKEL: OK, Dana. You go ahead and name me some others besides the ones...
PERINO: I'm not falling for the Alinsky tactic. This is what I will say. You just -- you couldn't remember the name of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
BECKEL: Wendy Davis.
PERINO: Which is a problem -- Wendy Davis, there you go. Very good.
BOLLING: Thank you, Porter.
BECKEL: No, I did that myself.
PERINO: OK. I do think that the war on women, as it was defined this time around, did not work for them. However, I think coming up in 2016, in a presidential election, where more single women would vote, remember "The Life of Julia"? And it was a bigger picture, saying it wasn't just about abortion and contraception. It was a bigger piece about the government will be your backstop, because there's not enough men in the world that are -- women, you can stand on your own. Actually, I think it sums (ph) it up very well.
BECKEL: OK, wrap. They're telling me to warp. I'll say this: single women again voted big for Democrats. Men voted big for Republicans. Nothing changed. There is a gender gap.
"One More Thing" is up next.
GUILFOYLE: Gender gap?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: It's time now for "One More Thing." Bob promised me he was going to tell us what his October surprise was.
BECKEL: It is. I'm going to. And by the way, I want to congratulate the Republicans. You had a great night. Now, you have a chance to make history. You have decided now you're in the majority. You've got to pick a new majority leader. Don't go with the old guy. Here's your chance. This guy has got Mt. Rushmore written all or him. This guy, who should be majority leader -- can we please put him up? My man, Teddy Cruz.
Now, Teddy Cruz ought to be the majority leader. He's very interesting; he's exciting. This is a time of destiny for you, Republicans. Take it. History will record if you don't do it.
PERINO: Is that your October surprise?
BECKEL: Yes, I figured that the Republicans were going to win...
GUILFOYLE: By the way, another winner who -- he campaigned a lot, as well, for people.
PERINO: Let that be a lesson to people who believe that.
Eric Bolling.
BOLLING: OK. So more proof there's no Republican war on women. Here's a 17-year-old Sarah Blair who was in -- who was on "FOX and Friends" in May, watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH BLAIR, STATE LAWMAKER: Texas is the best-ranked state for business. And I really want to see West Virginia do that, because I've watched too many kids my age have to leave the state, because they can't find a good paying job. And I want to bring business back to the state of West Virginia.
BOLLING: Very refreshing. There's no war on women in the Republican Party, is there?
BLAIR: No, not at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: And now that is 18-year-old West Virginia state lawmaker Sarah Blair. Keep your eye on her. She's up and coming.
PERINO: No kidding. Wow.
All right, K.G.
GUILFOYLE: All right. Well, I've got a good one for you, because nobody has worked harder to release our Marine, Sergeant Tahmooressi, than Greta van Susteren covering it, dedicated on her show. She's got an exclusive interview tomorrow night. You don't want to miss it at 7 p.m. She traveled today to western Florida to do this, sit down with Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi. It is fantastic. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. ANDREW TAHMOORESSI, RELEASED FROM MEXICAN PRISON: I was thinking, hopefully, these guys are going to be considerate and caring, and understanding. But, you know, I started feeling the things -- just something shift there. You know, they were very helpful, and then it shifted. And then it -- I knew, you know, this is -- this could be bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: All right. Brian.
KILMEADE: My thing is in this very studio, one hour ago Condoleezza Rice came...
BECKEL: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
KILMEADE: Condoleezza Rice came into studio, and we had a chance to, incidentally Dana, talk about a bunch of things, including this election and including the race card being played. Here's a preview of what you'll see tomorrow on "FOX and Friends."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States of America has made enormous progress in race relations, and it is the best place on earth to be a minority. The idea that you would play such a card and try fear mongering among minorities, just because you disagree with Republicans, that they're somehow all racist, I find it appalling, I find it insulting. And as a Republican black woman from the south, I would say to them, really? Is that really the argument that you're going to make?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: All right. My "One More Thing" got cut because of all of them. It was for Dierks Bentley. See him tonight on the CMAs. Tune (ph) in that election.
Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of "The Five." That's it for "Special Report." Oh, I'm on Megyn tonight, too. Next.
BOLLING: We still have 10 more seconds. Go ahead.
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