The Electras: Former Kerry Bandmates Plan Reunion
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now. It's the day before the election and voters in West Palm Beach, Florida. You're looking live at these pictures, lining up to pick the next president of the United States. Which candidate goes into election day with an edge? Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.</s>SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All of the hopes and dreams of our country are on the line today.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ...the energy and the optimism and the enthusiasm to cross the line.</s>BLITZER: Problems at the poll. Is the battle just beginning in key battleground states? Turnout or washout? Will the weather weigh on the election results? Balance of power. A game of musical chairs, with the Senate at stake. And he now hangs out with Springsteen and Bon Jovi but once he had his own band. We'll look back with the Electras.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, November 1, 2004.</s>BLITZER: Thanks for joining us from New York City. With election day just hours away, the candidates are racing from battleground to battleground. President Bush is making seven stops on his final campaign swing. But the candidates have done just about all they can. This extraordinarily close race is now in the hands of the voters. We begin on the trail with our White House correspondent Dana Bash.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States and Mrs. Laura Bush!</s>DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dramatic arrival in the familiar trappings of the presidency staged to set the incumbent apart from his challenger, staged to show confidence.</s>CURT SCHILLING, BOSTON RED SOX PITCHER: It sounds like we've got a few Red Sox fans out here. It sounds like we have a few George Bush fans out here.</s>BASH: Then an introduction by Boston Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, hero of John Kerry's hometown.</s>BUSH: There's nothing like an early morning rally in the great state of Ohio.</s>BASH: Ohio is the first in a seven-stop Bush sprint. He won here in 2000 but it's in jeopardy because of job loss, which he acknowledges.</s>BUSH: I know the economy of this state has been through a lot, but we're moving in the right direction.</s>BASH: The president's top aide boasts they'll win Ohio, and then some.</s>KARL ROVE, SR. WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: We're ahead. We're going to win, we're going to win. We will win Florida and Ohio. We will take at least two or three or four states that were won by Gore in the last election.</s>BASH: After Ohio, four of those Gore blue states are on the itinerary: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, and New Mexico before going home to Texas. Along the way the president uncharacteristically seeks out reporters.</s>BUSH: I just want to assure you I have got the energy and the optimism and the enthusiasm to cross the line.</s>BASH: Public bravado but some nervousness behind the scenes. Bush aides concede historically undecideds usually don't break for the incumbent. Mr. Bush doesn't hold a majority in many states he needs to win, but the president is running on antiterrorism credentials he thinks can help defy trends.</s>BUSH: I want to continue telling the people what I intend to protect them.</s>BASH: That, aides hope, will make undecideds think twice before switching horses. But the reality is, at this point, the president has already made his policy arguments, already torn into his opponent. All that's left for him is the final sales pitch.</s>BUSH: I ask you to come stand with me. (on camera): Now it's about the ground game where Democrats traditionally have the upper hand, but Bush aides say they have 1.4 million volunteers, that's three times what they had four years ago, but they also concede the Democrats turnout operation is well-funded and therefore could be hard to match. Dana Bash, CNN, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.</s>BLITZER: In his final push, the Democrat John Kerry is pushing voters to turn out at the polls. Kerry began today in Florida, but is now focusing in on the Midwest, right up through a late-night rally in Ohio. Our national correspondent Frank Buckley on the trail, joining us live from Milwaukee -- Frank.</s>FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, for a while today Milwaukee was the center of the political universe, both candidates, both President Bush and Senator Kerry, were both here in Milwaukee, about an hour apart from each other. In fact, at one point, Senator Kerry, as his motorcade was coming into the city, President Bush was going wheels up in Air Force One right overhead. But both of their appearances were very brief. Senator Kerry's appearance here in Milwaukee, part of his attempt to do several touchdown events in several media markets across four battleground states.</s>KERRY: So are you ready to take this thing and win and finish it off and get the job done?</s>BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry fired up his supporters in Florida for one last time, the state where the 2000 election ended, where Kerry began his last full day of campaigning. Next stop, Wisconsin where Kerry donned a Boston Red Sox cap and rallied the base in the rain in Milwaukee, Kerry asking the faithful to bring their friends to the polls, too.</s>KERRY: I need you in these hours to go out and do the hard work, knock on those doors, make those phone calls, talk to friends, take people to the polls, help us change the direction of this great nation for the better.</s>BUCKLEY: Kerry's message on election eve, he is the man for the middle class.</s>KERRY: George Bush keeps choosing the wealthy, the powerful, the drug companies, the oil companies. I think the White House ought to be occupied by a champion for the middle class and those struggling to get in it.</s>BUCKLEY (on camera): Advisers expressing a great deal of confidence in victory tomorrow. They believe, Wolf, that undecided voters and the newly registered voters will break their way at the end of the day. From here Senator Kerry is off to Michigan for an appearance in Detroit with Stevie Wonder. He'll be in Ohio, two different media markets there, Toledo and Cleveland, Bruce Springsteen performing at one of those events, and then finally he's going to return to Wisconsin overnighting in La Crosse, Wisconsin -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Frank Buckley in Milwaukee for us. Thank you, Frank, very much. As the presidential candidates wind down their campaign. And I said, as the presidential candidates wind down their campaigns, the polls right now remaining just about as close as they can be. Look at this. Our final CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup shows George Bush leading John Kerry 49 percent to 47 percent among likely voters. That's well within the sampling error. And when the undecided vote is removed, the poll shows Bush and Kerry in a dead heat among likely voters, 49 percent for Bush, 49 percent for Kerry. Our poll of polls, combining the results of eight separate national surveys is almost as close. It shows Bush with a two-point lead, 48 percent to Kerry's 46 percent. What does this all mean? CNN political analyst Carlos Watson with the inside edge. Carlos, I want to show our viewers what's happening in your home state of Florida right now. There were some headlines in some of the major newspapers in Florida, the "Orlando Sentinel" had a headline "It's Numbers Game At End," the "Palm Beach Post," "Polls Hint At Key Role For State Again," the "Sun-Sentinel" had this little modest headline, "Final Frenzy in Florida." Our latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, the last one we'll do for Florida has Kerry at 49 percent, Bush at 46 percent. A three-point margin of error. What's your take on what's happening in Florida?</s>CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The incredible thing about Florida is it's the ultimate microcosm of this election. There are probably a dozen different factors floating around this election nationally and Florida has almost all of them. Lots of money, important surrogates, including the governor, Jeb Bush, needy issues, issues like Social Security, electoral issues, voting problems from last time and from this time, and by the way, powerful initiatives on the ballot, including a minimum wage initiative which is on the ballot by the Democrats. When all's said and done, though, I'm going to look at one county. And a lot of people would think I'd be referring to Miami- Dade County, but I'm not. I'm referring to Duval County where Jacksonville is located in the northern part of the state. That's a county that President Bush won by some 45,000 votes four years ago, but there are 27,000 ballots that were thrown out. Most of them African-American, most of them Democrats, or at least so people think, and consequently, if you see the president doing extremely well there again, up by some 40,000 or 50,000, good sign for the president. If it's a 10,000 or 12,000 margin, or even if John Kerry is ahead, bad news.</s>BLITZER: Let's take a look at Pennsylvania, right now, our final CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll had these numbers. Likely voters once again. Bush 50 percent, Kerry 46 percent. Several other polls in Pennsylvania show the opposite. But all these polls well within the three-point margin of error.</s>WATSON: The president's single boldest gamble of this campaign was to visit Pennsylvania more than 40 times, when all is said in done, probably north of 45 times. If he wins it, people will herald him as a hero. If he loses, they'll say why didn't you spend the time in other states?</s>BLITZER: What about Ohio? We have a poll in Ohio shows Kerry ahead 50 percent for Kerry, 46 percent for Bush. Other polls show Bush ahead in Ohio.</s>WATSON: Again a lot of confusion and a lot of interest here. You're seeing this is a place where the lawyers are playing maybe a bigger role and the courts than any as they talk about challengers and other such things. I think in Ohio, again, you want to look at what happens in Coyote (ph) County, once again, a northern part of the state, that's where Cleveland is. Four years ago you did not see a heavy African-American turnout. Consequently, where the heavy African-American turnout in Michigan, meaning Detroit, where it made the difference in Pennsylvania, meaning Philadelphia, it didn't in Cleveland. If you see a heavy African-American turnout, John Kerry could do something special and win it.</s>BLITZER: Carlos Watson with the inside edge. We'll be spending a lot of time together -- quality time over the next day or so. Thank you very much, Carlos. To our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on the story. Our web question is this, will you vote tomorrow? Simple question. You can vote right now. In fact, go to CNN.com/wolf. And more importantly, go out and vote. We'll have the results of our web question of the day later this hour. On election day tomorrow I'll anchor CNN's coverage from the Nasdaq Market site right in the heart of Times Square here in New York. We'll utilize the large screen television monitors at the Nasdaq to display vote</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wish our bassist could be with us but he's busy running for president.</s>BLITZER: Band reunited minus a key member. We'll catch up with The Electras for some good old fashioned rock and roll.