NBC Continues to Have Doubts About a Possible GOP Senate Takeover

Published: 11/4/2014 3:01 AM ET

News Analyst

On Monday night, NBC continued to doubt the real possibility of the Republicans taking over control of the U.S. Senate following the midterm elections on Tuesday. Both NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and NBC News political director and Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd expressed reservations during the program’s opening five minutes, as Williams led off by describing the election as a “cliffhanger” with “several big races” that “have perhaps tightened.”

Todd then followed with a segment reporting that “voters are conflicted” on who to vote for and, when added to their disgust with Washington, has created a situation where “eight of the most competitive Senate races are within four points and a whopping half of the nation's 36 governors races are also too close to call.”

Claiming that both parties are not addressing how they will grow the economy and address gridlock, Todd did move to document the President’s unpopularity among voters, but emphasized that:

Republicans are using the President as a political pinata in just about every competitive state and yet, despite President Obama's woes, Republicans haven't put this election away just yet. A late surge of Democratic enthusiasm has turned this election into a surprisingly close contest.

Following Todd’s analysis, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent and MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell dove into what she thought would happen under a Republican Senate and, not surprisingly, the liberal Mitchell painted a bleak picture for the GOP as they would be left to spare with the President on everything from ObamaCare to approval of judges:

Then there are the Republican Senators who've said we're going to repeal Obamacare. If they try, he will veto it. He's only vetoed twice – only used veto twice since he was first elected. That's going to be another cause of gridlock and gridlock is what the voters tell us they don't like. There are other big changes to come. Judges, Supreme Court Justices, how does he get them confirmed? So, you can see also Republican Senators, we already know Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, others want to run for President. Are they going to try to prove they're obstructionists, or are the Republicans going to try to prove that they are different from the Democrats so far and can get things done [and] can govern?

Meanwhile, ABC’s evening newscast, World News Tonight with David Muir, followed its morning news show and brought up the increasing likelihood that, based on the FiveThirtyEight election model, Republicans will win the Senate.

ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl mentioned how Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight had updated the chances of the GOP taking the Senate from 63 percent to 75.1 percent and expressed to Muir that “clearly, the momentum is on the Republicans side.” As of 1:45 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, it had risen again to a 76.2 percent chance that Republicans will win control of the Senate.

In addition, Karl reported earlier that it has been “no secret” why the GOP have run campaigns “against Obama and why Democrats want to run away from Obama.”

On the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer took a similar position that NBC’s Todd did and refused to make a judgement on how he thought the election results would turn out due to voters being “in the nastiest mood I’ve ever seen” and “mad” with both the President and Congress.

However, anchor Scott Pelley mentioned at the beginning of a roundtable discussion (that included Schieffer) that Republicans currently have over a 50 percent change of taking the Senate, according to the CBS News battleground tracker. Also, CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reported that, based on her conversations with operatives on both sides, the Republicans “sounded markedly more confident than Democrats” about their Election Day prospects and “especially in some of these real toss-up races in Iowa and Colorado.”

The complete transcript of the 2014 midterms coverage on November 3's NBC Nightly News can be found below.

NBC Nightly News
November 3, 2014
7:00 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Cliffhanger]
BRIAN WILLIAMS: On our broadcast tonight, cliffhanger. We're just hours from elections across the country. With so many battleground races too close to call and big power up for grabs.
(....)
7:01 p.m. Eastern
WILLIAMS: And good evening from our election night headquarters here in New York, where a little over 24 hours from now, we will begin getting the very first results. We'll start to see the very first trends emerging from across the country. The Republicans believe they are on the verge of taking over power in the U.S. Senate and as is often the case with a sitting President, the Democrats are preparing to see evidence of the President's unpopularity at the polls and today we started hearing that several big races have perhaps tightened. We begin all of it tonight with our political director, moderator of Meet the Press, Chuck Todd.
DAVID PURDUE: That's what we want to change.
CHUCK TODD: As candidates around the country rush to make their final push, control of the Senate hangs in the balance and voters are conflicted. [TO GROUP OF VOTERS] If I say Washington, what do you say right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER #1: Fighting and – poor performance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER #2: Just a plain mess. Absolute mess.
TODD: That feeling is why eight of the most competitive Senate races are within four points and a whopping half of the nation's 36 governors races are also too close to call and voters tell us they aren't happy with the campaign. Both parties catering to their base rather than focusing on the two issues they say matter most. In our latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Washington gridlock and the economy among the most important issues to voters. [TO UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER #3] Do you have a message to Washington?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER #3: I’d like some crossing over the aisle. I’d like to see both sides working together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER #4: There's a lot of division, you know, between the two. You've got to step across the aisle and work together on things.
TODD: It's the President that is taking the brunt of voter anger. His approval rating in our latest poll, only 42 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER #5: This is what happens when you do not lead. If you're not going to be a genuine leader, whether you're right or whether you're wrong –
TODD: Republicans are using the President as a political pinata in just about every competitive state and yet, despite President Obama's woes, Republicans haven't put this election away just yet. A late surge of Democratic enthusiasm has turned this election into a surprisingly close contest.
DAVID AXELROD: Gridlock is something that both parties own, the Republican Party in particular, and that's hurt the Republican brand and it's made these races closer.
TODD: Still, Republicans are poised to have a good night tomorrow. The question is if it's enough to take the Senate. So, Brian, here's our battleground map. These are the ten Senate races we're going to be focused on. Let me give you a quick sort of time tour here. Early in the night, New Hampshire and North Carolina, they're going to be early closes. These are Democratic held seats, Democratic incumbents. If Republicans win either one of these early in the night, the question isn't going to be whether the Republicans get the Senate but how big their margin is, but if Democrats hold serve, then you and I and Andrea are going to be spending our time talking a lot about these four states a lot: Iowa, Colorado, Kansas and Alaska. This is where one party wins three of four, that's their road to the majority, but guess what? All of that could still leave things up in the air and then, we're going to get to know Georgia and Louisiana. They're going to have potential runoffs that will make it will look like presidential-style campaigning for two more months. This may not end tomorrow night.
WILLIAMS: I'm just worried about your control over your art skills and your tablet. Luckily, we have 24 hours.
TODD: We do and I've got ten fingers. I'll figure this out.
WILLIAMS: Alright. The night is still young. Andrea Mitchell, as Chuck mentioned, joins us tonight as she will tomorrow night. So, given how smoothly and efficiently our government runs now, what are we to expect if there's a shift in power and the Republicans take over for at least the foreseeable next two years?
ANDREA MITCHELL: Well, the first big change would be John McCain. John McCain, the President's toughest critic on war policy taking over the Senate Armed Services Committee, that's going to be a big change. Then there are the Republican Senators who've said we're going to repeal Obamacare. If they try, he will veto it. He's only vetoed twice – only used veto twice since he was first elected. That's going to be another cause of gridlock and gridlock is what the voters tell us they don't like. There are other big changes to come. Judges, Supreme Court Justices, how does he get them confirmed? So, you can see also Republican Senators, we already know Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, others want to run for President. Are they going to try to prove they're obstructionists, or are the Republicans going to try to prove that they are different from the Democrats so far and can get things done? Can govern? That's going to be the big question for their party and for the government and the people.
WILLIAMS: Alright, Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd, members of the big team that’ll be here with us in the studio tomorrow night as the results come in. We'll be doing hourly updates all evening long. Then, we're on the air for a full hour, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, again, 10:00 p.m. Pacific time and results any time all evening long on the web of course at nbcnews.com.