hello and welcome to a special election day issue of "the reid report." decision day has arrived on the longest, most expensive midterm election psych until our country's history. i'm chris matthews, obviously, in for joy reid, who's on the road today in battleground georgia where michelle nunn is in a hot one with david perdue

and swafford. joy reid caught up with michelle nunn and asked her about the one person not on the ballot today. that's president obama. >> reporter: your opponent said you would be a rubber stamp for the opponent. what do you say about that? >> i said, let me tell you how i'm different. i wish he would move forward with keystone, reverse cuts to our military which are damaging our military readiness, but i will work together when it comes to minimum wage or pay he can wety. i'm going to focus on what's best for georgia and i'll be respectful of my colleagues and congress and respectful of the president as well. >> joy reid joins us live from atlanta. thank you. >> thank you so much, chris. so, yeah, we spent this morning traveling with michelle nunn, she was greeting voters and

headed down to deindicatcatur. a lot of enthusiasm for michelle nunn. she's walking that fine line because people coming up to her saying, i voted for you, i support you, is african-ameri n african-america african-americans. her strategy is about turning out a higher percentage of black voters than came out in 2010 and changing the configuration of the electorate. that's a huge deal for democrats. there's a lot of election protection teams paying attention to what's happening in plateses like i am now, the fulton county. the department of justice who has dispatched teams, including here to fulton county. you also had groups like higher heights who we saw at the polling place we were and groups like lawyers group for rights under civil law which sent out an e-mail saying they were getting people calming in with reports of difficulties of the computer system that verifies voters in georgia. i wanted to bring in barbara from the lawyers committee now and tell us a little more about what they were hearing in those calls this morning. do we have you? >> yes, thank you.

thanks so much, joy. >> barbara, what were you hearing this morning from voters in georgia? >> we have received over 1,000 calls from voters in georgia complaining that they tried to call their board of elections to get information from their counties about where they should vote, where they could go. and what was the correct, you know, polling site and were they registered. and they were not able to get through because the lines were jammed. the lines were jammed because also people were going to the statewide website which has one purpose, to give people information about where to vote and about their roej strags status. that website has failed the people of georgia all day long. it's been down for hours. it's been back up, then it crashes again. people have been calling us desperate. over 1,000 voters just today calling desperate saying, where

do i vote? am i registered? what do i do? so, the 1-866-are-vote hot line, we've been talking to people and trying to help them to work through what is a disaster. and it's inexcusable. >> chris, i will say that i did just get off the phone a few minutes ago with the secretary of state's office who said what they call the mvp site, the my voter site was down this morning, where barbara was saying they logon to find out their precincts. we saw some of that play out at the polling station where this was this incredibly long line, which was long because voters in half the wrong place. this is an early voting site and people showed up thinking it was their precinct and it's not. the website got it up and running, implg.t. team got it f. they said the voter registration problems in fulton county have also got it fixed.

>> as a citizen, i hope people keep trying. as i tell my kids, the first answer in life is always no. keep trying. don't expect help. keep trying. voters should vote. >> chris, the difficulty in that, of course, is when we got here, there were people who had already been in line for more than a half hour. the question is, once they realized they were in the wrong place, are they going to stick it out and stand in another line. >> they have to try. i understand screw-ups. something about amateur hour and election day coincides. thank you, joy. we'll check back with you throughout the hour. the biggest question everyone is asking for tonight, who will win control of the united states senate? that's the hot-button question. republicans need to win a net six seats to capture control. red states like west virginia, south dakota and montana are essentially a lock for them. that's the way people -- although voters don't have to vote. we don't know what's going to happen but that's the predict. that means the gop will only have to flip three more for their favor. i do believe democrats have to win in new hampshire where

jeanne shaheen is facing former massachusetts senator scott brown. msnbc's alex wagner county up with both of those candidates today in new hampshire. >> reporter: are democrats going to hold the senate? >> we're focused on new hampshire. we're trying to get every vote out today. we want every supporter who said they're going to support me, gets out to the polls. >> reporter: what's going on with your zip code if you don't win on wednesday night? are you going back to massachusetts? >> that's a silly question. >> reporter: silly? >> silly question. it's a tough question. is he going to maine to try to take on someone there. in north carolina where democratic incumbent kay hagan is facing republican state house speaker thom tillis. msnbc treymain lee is there live now. >> reporter: sorry about that, chris. already day today at this

polling place we've seen dribs and drabs. we saw about 200 college students come in to vote. this race has been running a dead heat for weeks. kay hagan has been edging out tillis by a percentage point. they need every single vote, particularly black voters. i talked to poll monitors and poll watchers across the stated and they report long lines in major cities like raleigh. they've been talking about some issues at the polling places. voter rolls not showing up on places, thumb drives not working properly. so far, a steady stream of voters. in this race, every vote will count. >> what's the vibe down there, can you tell? are people ready to vote because they think they're going to get screwed or what? what's the feeling of people you've talked, to african-americans especially? >> reporter: people are excited a lead-off from moral monday's rally. people feel thom tillis and his work pushed through a whole slew of new voting laws that were suppresses ive to black voters.

there's been an assault on women's rights in terms of legislation. people are taking this opportunity to vote for themselves, to make sure their voices are heard. gerngs a lot is a feeling of, we're being attacked and the only way to push back is at the voting booth. >> i think perception is reality. thank you. greensboro, north carolina. down to ken where the race between mitch mcconnell and democratic challenger alison lundergan grimes will be an early indicator of how the night will go. what does it look like? seems to be the same question everywhere? the democrats have to get democrats to vote. >> reporter: well, chris, for weeks this was looking like a very tight race but in the last week or so, polls really started to break in mitch mcconnell's favor. that said, if the electorate can turn out black voters, if alison lundergan grimes can get voters in jefferson county, things might look a little better for

her. right now it's been a brisk turnout. we haven't seen in kentucky any of the sort of i guess regularities that have been mentioned in other places. it's a brisk pace. not folks being turned away. the poll workers tell me they have never seen turnout like this for a midterm election. it's already beating expectations. >> that's always good for democrats. thank you. now to iowa where republican joni ernst's battle with democrat bruce braley is another place that will tell where the election is headed tonight. luke russert is live in west des moines. luke, you caught up with ernst last night. what is she saying about her chances tonight? >> reporter: well, the ernst campaign is confident, chris, and this is a state that democrats absolutely need to win to keep control of the senate. what's been fueling joni ernst is her personality. it's a personality-driven campaign. she's 44 years old. she would be the first woman to be a senator from iowa. she's a veteran. when you get to talking to her

about policy, she has some interesting positions. here's what i asked her about whether or not iowa could be the healthiest state in the nation, which is governor terry br branstad's goal if there's a full repeal of obamacare like she wants? >> i would say we will find a solution that will take care of those people that are now on these other policies. to others that have picked up policies and are now paying $400, $500, $600 more every month, i think they would be happy to have patient-centered health care that is actually affordable. >> reporter: so, chris, the health care law has been decently successful. governor terry branstad, the republican, worked the state legislature to forage a bipartisan compromise. over 80,000 have used medicaid expansion here. joni ernst wants to repeal that. you think that would be problematic for her on the campaign trail. it's not. through the powerful personal narrative shoes been bruce braley on the defensive. he cannot launch an attack that

sticks on medicare, health care law, on social security, anything, so his best chance of pulling out a victory tonight will be have to be the superior democratic ground game that showed up in 2012. but even if they have a spectacular ground game performance, the des moines, iowa register poll, gold standard of polling on saturday showed a seven-point lead. it would be tough to see how they can make up a seven-point lead. quinnipiac show a tie. democrats say they'll get the early numbers out there, but for right now, i think it's fair to say enthusiasm is tipping the scales to the ernst campaign. >> i'm not a policy wonk but i had a hard time following what joni ernst said. is she going to repeal obamacare or not? what did all those words she said add up to this is. >> reporter: her position is she wants to repeal the health care law. but where i'm standing in iowa, it it got 80,000 people on medicaid rolls, got 100,000 people to sign up for the law. terry branstad made that a reality. people here are not as opposed

to it as they are in more conservative states. remember, this state's been in presidential since '88 with the exception of '04. a full-on repeal may not be the most popular thing if that's what she continues to say but she's been effective in masking conservative positions in a conciliatory let's work on this together and hear everyone's voice. >> i think that's a pattern we're seeing. in gardner -- >> reporter: that's how the establishment has come back. that's what the establishment has done in 2014 that they didn't do in 2010 and they didn't do in 2012. that's how they did it. >> they're improving the packaging. anyway, thank you, luke russert, very observant there in west des moines. coming up, what the gop might do in republicans end up with control of the house and u.s. senate. we have some pros coming in here. david axelrod and eugene robinson. remember to stick with us for continuing coverage of this election with rachal maddow myself and our msnbc colleagues.

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right now the direction of this country for the next two years being decided by you, the american people. think of it this year, every two years the entire house of representatives goes back to you. you can start from scratch. at stake tonight, the united states senate. in all, 36 senate seats up for re-election. currently, republicans control 15 of those, democrats 21, which gives democrats a disadvantage in this kind of year. in order to walk away with keys to upper chamber, republicans need to hold onto 15 of theirs and flip 6 democratic seats.

that's doable, doable tonight. that's all i'm saying, doable. the question is if republicans exploit their edge, all the preelection polls suggest, what can we expect from them over the next six years and what lesson will the democrats pick up tonight? david axelrod, msnbc political news analyst, and eugene robinson is a pulitzer prize winner. that's all have i to say. if i have a pulitzer prize, i would change my name to pulitzer prize. also an msnbc political analyst. history has shown that in the six-year elections, which is really tough for the incumbent president, sometimes the opposition party wins and does a good job for the next two years, like i guess has been done. other times they don't do it, like harry truman ended up beating republicans because they could do hearing after hearing after hearing. clinton got his act together after '94, came back in '96 did well. reagan de-d very well. he ended the cold war and got his vice president re-elected.

first question about your old boss, the president. is he likely to make a shake-up in the way he runs the government, in his structure of the white house? >> his inclination is not to be dramatic in response to these things. he's very loyal to his people. i'm not sure i predict a shake-up. this is a natural time to look at your operation and say, what's worked, what hasn't worked, what do i need? i think he should do that. i hope he does that. he's not a guy who throws bodies out because washington is demanding it and i don't think he'll do it here. >> do you think, knowing him, that he needs to change? >> i think he understands he's gone through a turbulent period. whether he believes that's because of internal issues or external bad luck, i don't know the answer. >> '94 is a good example. bill clinton is a good rebounder -- not rebounders, re-comebackers. comeback kid. he saw in '94, he was blindsided. i think he held that against george and james carville. he was blindsided. when that happens, that's when the goss gets mad at you. you didn't warn me.

he brought in morris, for good or better, but he did make changes. he did make changes. what do you think, is this president going to make changes? >> i don't know that he's going to make a bunch of changes to his team. i kind of think there are a few he should make, but i don't think -- i don't think that's the way he's going to look at it. and i don't think you're going to get him to change if you make him -- if you call it a big change. in other words, you know, i think -- >> that sounds right. >> -- more a sort of recalculation and redirections and looking at, okay, where can we make progress? where can we get some stuff done? you know, immigration, is it possible to do immigration? >> let's go with that. there's three or four things we all know that everybody sort of agrees on. immigration is a tough one because although they do agree, you you've got to solve the problem, the solution, the republicans will say, will stop illegal immigration in its tracks. democrats say let's show compassion for the people who are already here. there is a combination, you could say stop illegal hiring and show compassion.

that's in the senate bill f you sell it right. it's doable. >> you could take that senate bill and kind of chop it into pieces the way the house wants to do it. and you could -- you could get it through theoretically. i agree. it's a charged issue. >> going back to the president's personality, is he the kind of guy that says, well, it's your turn, guys and go to boehner and say, we haven't gotten along, but we need to goose this economy, have growth in the private sector and public sector. i want to get corporate tax rates down. plug some loopholes. and i want some infrastructure spending. i'm willing to go with you on free trade. i'll put all things -- because i want a growing economy. i want real wage growth in this country. that seems to be a basis of common interest. >> i think that that's very possible. look, the guy i know is a guy who made his bones in illinois in the legislature by being someone who reached across the aisle and worked with the other party. i think he would like to do that. the question isn't really will he reach out. i think he will reach out. the question is, how does the

republican party deal with its own issues? they've run ray whole campaign and spent $1 billion that basically said, we're against obama and everything he stands for. >> you changed hats and went with a more conservative side, i know you won't do it, but would you say to probe and probe, stick it to this guy, bring down his numbers so they're in the 20s and 30s and make hillary pay for it or would you say, we need to prove we can govern? >> they have to do the second. two reasons. they'll never win a national election if they don't. second, senate contour flips on its head in two years. they're not going to want to follow ted cruz over the cliff. they want to prove they can cooperate where cooperation's warranted. so, i think it's mcconnell's interest to try and find areas in which the republicans and the president can agree. >> do you think the president has a common interest in harry reid or do their interests divide? if all reid wanted to do what mcdonl wanted to do, was get it backing all he wants to do it get it back, people argue, then

you don't to want pass anything. don't let kelly ayotte get any -- >> of course he can do that. >> more and more nothingless for the american people. >> if harry reid is minority leader he can block everything like mitch mcconnell did. >> what can the president do to challenge that? we have to get something done, harry, sorry about losing the new hampshire seat? two years, but we need to get something done. >> he has to say it loud, often and he's got to -- >> who wins? is your guy tough enough to take on the senate leadership and house leadership and say, you know, because nancy pelosi has been a good team player. but you have to stop being a little hard left here and get some things done here. >> well, he's proven in the past that he can. he's thrown propositions out there on entitlement reform and some other issues that weren't pleasing to the base. but they're not going to -- look, you mentioned some issues, trade being one of them, that is deeply divisive within the democratic caucus. the question is, can you find enough democrats and republicans to get together on this.

if he k i think he'll move forward to these things. >> everybody has to give. i don't want to sound like -- >> i agree. >> -- mother teresa here. >> it's true. >> in a deeply polarized country the benefits are misaligned. you don't get ahead politically by cooperating. you get ahead politically with your base by not cooperating. >> the other thing is, time's a wasting. >> let's talk demographics. if you argue long term white population is going down relative to the rest. it's history. not good or bad, it's history. if you're a republican, don't you want to g let's try to get a latino middle class, black middle class, let's start working on this. we can find common ground but we aren't stop being seen as anti-latino. that's how we're seen. >> the guy has other issues that may prevent him from going very far but the guy talking about that is rand paul. he's right about that. the republican party cannot succeed as a national party when

they're losing among all the growing constituencies. >> who in the democratic party has the originality of rand paul? >> oh, how much time do you got? >> that's what -- a friend of mine who has been voting democrat for a thousand years called me and said, i like this guy, rand paul. he's got ideas. prison reform, he's actually reaching out. >> you know, elizabeth warren, it's the closest thing to a rand paul. it's not an entirely new message. >> she's a funeral unifier. >> but the exciting -- >> i'm sorry. it's more complicated than that. i know. david, thank you. but who is the more -- >> oh, i was hoping i could avoid that question. >> who's the most interesting democrat? >> i think there are some democrats in the senate, people like michael bennet who are willing to think in terms of

reform of our institutions which is what -- what we need to do. we need to be committed to the goals of the democratic party and recognize 20th century institutions aren't necessarily the way to answer these -- some of these problems. >> i would like to see a hillary/rand paul election. it would be fascinating. i don't think ted cruz is good for either party and the guy for jersey still has to wait for mr. fishman to decide his future. david axelrod, eugene robinson, i love these guys, i learn from them and love teasing. looking at live pictures from atlanta, georgia. polls close at 7 p.m. eastern. stay with msnbc and "the reid report" for more coverage of the election, which is happening right now. this is all up to you guys out there, and women. vote. as we head to break, here are a few responses from msnbc viewers and why they're voting today. this is great. you probably know xerox as the company that's all about printing. but did you know we also support hospitals using electronic health records

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welcome back to "the reid report." i'm chris matthews in for joy reid. msnbc wants to hear about issues important to you and why you're voting today, which is a pretty good question. be part of the conversation on social media on #msnbcvote. joy returns with a report on voter enthusiasm in the state of georgia, in spite of problems at the polls today.

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for certain whether republicans have held that seat until a run-off election to be held on january 6th of next year. on top of that, allegations that tens of thousands of voter registration forms have gone missing today. msnbc's joy reid, the host of this program, is back with us. joy, it's all yours. >> chris, one of the things we're doing today is talking to voters. one of the things that surprised me is how much enthusiasm there is for this race, particularly the senate race. there is some enthusiasm for the governor's race, too, but the idea that georgia is a player, a swing state, an important state, resonated with voters. one thing that did not resonate with them is negativity in the campaigning. let's listen to what one voter had to say. do you get a sense the ad campaign -- there's a lot of ads on tv. is there too much? too little? do you think they're informative? >> i think initially they were more informative than negative. >> do you think negative

campaigning turns voters off? >> i do, i do. because early on in the campaign process, people were hearing about what people stood for. and that helps people make decisions as opposed to being turned off. >> and, chris, that was sort of what we heard across the board was people were enthusiastic about the race but the negativity in the ads and just the volume of the ads were getting to them. although it did make kids on the m.a.r.t.a. train know who michelle nunn was. the minority leader of the state house here in georgia. thank you for being here, representative. and i'll ask you about that first. i mean, this is a very different kind of midterm for georgia. >> absolutely. this is the first truly competitive midterm we've seen in more than a decade. the caliber of our candidates, particularly michelle nunn, has lifted the awareness of this race and it's been helped along by the acts of voter suppression

that have really attenuated people's attention on this race. >> we got reports from the lawyers committee, which we discussed earlier, about difficulties with people logging on to the website to find their precinct. we saw at the polling place, people lined up at wrong precinct. what is going on with that? is that a state-level issue or a county level? >> it's a state-level issue that uses counties as dispersal mechanism for information. the precinct cards are printed by the secretary of state's office and sent to the counties. it's disingenuous to blame the counties simply for information that's not getting out. i think there is -- at the very least, there's a dual responsibility. but the secretary of state is the chief elections official for the state of georgia. it's his responsibility to make sure every voter and every vote counts. while we won't speculate on how widespread these issues are, we know thousands of phone calls have been made. people are complaining about not having presiblgt cards. having a precinct card but not being allowed to vote.

every time a voter is denied a right to vote it's un-american. >> we are here in fulton county at one of the polling places which has seen a drifk business today. we know there's another county, fayette county, as a result of an naacp legal defense fund lawsuit, black voters, 20% of fayette county, may for the first time be able to elect a countywide official. we've had a lot of talk about race in this election. how does it play in a state like georgia in 2014? >> i think the important thing to note in georgia 80% of the republican party is predominantly white and the democratic party, it's more mixed, but still dominated by people of color. the reality, though, as the state becomes more diverse, we have to move away from race-based politics to value-based politics. we get mired in racial construction because of how our voting system is structured. the fact that fayette county, despite having attempts after attempt in the legislature to make the county go with a district-based process, it took

a lawsuit to get it done. when we wanted information from the new georgia project about how processes -- how applications were being processed, it took a lawsuit for us to get more information. we still didn't get all the answers we needed but we got more information. we need to get to a place where it doesn't take a lawsuit to get information and the race doesn't become a marker for whether things working or not. >> there was question of 40,000 registrations done largely by the new georgia project and if those people got on the rolls. do you know if those people got registered? >> we don't know because a number had not received their voter registration cards. they were pending lists. the problem is we have to wait until we get information from the secretary have state, match is against our information and figure it out. what we've done is try to cede a lot of precincts with voter protections folks so they can get help. >> we've seen election protection teams all over this particular polling place. we do know that, as i said earlier, you have federal monitors as well as federal election teams because at the end of the day this could come

down to 10 sthou, ,000, 20,000,w thousand votes. >> i was impress with the person you talked to. they talked about the negative campaigning. what struck me over this cycle is that $4 billion have been spent. $4 billion. and hardly a dollar of it on behalf of the president. so, one party's trashed him, if you will, and the other party's been silent on him. as a matter of fact, only trashing is heard. that's a cycle that could really work to the republicans' advantage for no good reason. just if you go with an unanswered attack again and again, it works. i think it does. we'll see tonight. >> well, we'll see. chris, what's interesting is i watched a lot of tv ads over the last 24 hours, just watching georgia ads. the outside group ads and republican ads, they're all about the president. the president the way he's used is to target african-american voters. he'll be on the radio in florida, so it's a pencer use of

the president where he's most effective with black voters. you make a good point. candidates have to be careful because you can't push away the president so hard that your base, which is black voters in a lot of southern statses and angers. >> dant dance with the one that brought you to the dance. thank you very much, joy. we'll be back with you in a minute. after the break, it's battleground ohio. state senator nina turner makes a final pitch for her state's secretary of state position, which is very important out there. plus, a win for democrats could mean for 2016 a battle in the state of ohio. she gets the job, she gets the mechanics under her control. >> get out and vote. you don't have a voice if you don't vote. >> no sense sitting. need to come on out. >> yeah, make the vote coin. make your voice count.

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welcome back. the outcome of one race in ohio today could have a major impact on the 2016 presidential election. the races for ohio secretary of state, pits republican incumbent john huestaud against nina turner. joining me is ohio state senator nina turner. how do you look at it -- senator, how do you look at this role? there was a lot of dispute about the count out there in 2004. there was a whole movie made about it. "swing vote," i was in that movie. >> you were. >> it was a big role. i played myself. it seems to me that the question does revolve around the honesty of past elections. had they been honest in your state before this time? >> not at all, chris.

we are really seeing what happens when republicans control it. in 2004, as you laid out, at the hands of kent blackwell, long lines, about 170,000 people walked away from the polling place without voting. the legislature corrected that. we fast forward to 2014 at the hands of another republican secretary of state and a republican-dominated legislature that is rolling back the time by shaving off a golden week, the time where people could both register and vote at same time. the secretary of state is using the power of directive to take away hours and days that working men and women need. the naacp filed a lawsuit that the aclu led that shows it has a disproportionate impact on african-american voters, homeless voters, and they're still doing the same thing. it matters who the chief elections officer is and should be committed to expanding and protecting access to the ballot

box. that i'm committed to for all voters. >> how do you make sure the african-american individual living in a crowded, urban areas, and these lines seem to be incredibly longer than lines in the suburbs. how do you equalize the line length? >> making sure that you have those days and those hours before election day to relieve the pressure and that is why what has happened in ohio is so bad, because when they take away hours and weekends, for example, we had one -- we did have souls to the poll this past sunday, but the reason we got that back is because of the federal judge, chris. elected officials should not be choosing the voters who choose elected officials. that is going on in ohio and across the country. it is un-american, as i heard the leader abram speak about in george gormg. it's happening in north carolina and wisconsin. we have to have a coming to jesus meeting in this nation about whether we're going to continue to be a country of progress or one of regression. when you have republicans -- if

it was democrats, i would say the same thing, but it is republicans all across this country, trying to stop poor people from voting, trying to stop black and brown people from voting. young people from voting. you name it. if they can't beat them, they cheat them. that is not the way that a representative democracy should perform. we got to expand because our democracy is stronger the more people who participate. we are getting that word out, chris, everywhere that we go. we're getting that word out across the state of ohio. we've been doing it for a long time. hopefully people -- it will be reflected in the voting tonight. >> well, senator, you're talking on the right network because i think we try to do what you do very well right there. let me ask you the toughest question, was there cheating in the machine? the machinery used in 2004 did that rig it against kerry running for president in favor of w.? >> some people do believe that happened. >> what do you think? >> i'm not sure. i don't have absolute proof but i will tell you almost 170,000 people walked away. what i will tell you, that in knox county, last voter voted at

4:00 in the morning. what i will tell you is that folks in the state of ohio in 2004 were deprived of their most fundamental right. we cannot go back to that. whether it's at the hands of the machine. right now it's at the hands of republicans. i'm hoping that folks will stand up in this great country and say, not on our watch will we go backwards. that is why electing a chief elections officer that believes in expanding and protecting access to the ballot box is so important, chris. whether it's machine or man, regressing access to the ballot box is wrong. >> do you have an idea to make sure there's no more questions about how the count is done? i don't think it's good for our democracy, nor do you, about if there's questions about if the count was accurate. not the people waiting in line, but when they did vote, did that african-american vote count? did that person of any age, count? is there any way to make sure the machines are good and honest? >> the machines are tested. we have to make sure we have more independent folks, you

know, analyzing that. we've got to open up the process more so people will know that it is fair, because it has -- voting needs to be simple. it needs to be accessible. and it needs to be secure. and in order for that democracy to be strong, people have to believe in that, chris. so, we have more work to do across the country. >> simple, accessible and secure. i love the way you put it. thanks so much. good luck in the race tonight, senator nina turner in ohio running for secretary of state, a statewide job. after the break we'll take a look at issues playing in various places in the country, including the minimum wage issue the democrats are working right now. we'll see how well they're working it. jooishgsz well, did you know genies can be really literal? no. what is your wish? no...ok...a million bucks!

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. we talked a lot about which party will win the senate. that's the big question. which politician will win their seats. let's go to joy, joy reid, for her final thoughts on issues at

play, that could give american people a win tonight. what do you think of the things as a progressive, and i think it's fair to say you're a progressive, and i am perhaps to that extent on many issues, what do you think is the good news that might come tonight for people that want to have good news tonight? how's that for a question? >> that's a good question, chris. yeah, i know, right? good news. i don't know what the good news would be. i think that if for democrats, the best news that could come out of it if democrats were to lose business, if you're a democrat and looking toward the future, if the senate is more like the house, maybe the overreach would make it easier to rebound two years later. i see nothing but gridlock ahead either way because it's going to be such a closely held senate either way. it's going to be very close. but i think for voters in some of these states that see an opportunity for change, one of the things they want to see, obviously, is the economy get better. there was a fair amount of people who wanted to see the two parties start to try to work together. i don't know how realistic that is. but that's something people

want. that's something michelle nunn talked a lot about. one of the other issues she talked about was the minimum wage. that came up. i talked to a voter after michelle nunn talked to her, and she said, my boss told me if michelle nunn gets ee lebed i'm going to lose my job because she wants to raise the minimum wage and she doesn't want to pay more. i asked michelle nunn about that voter. take a listen to what she said. >> if you see the states that have raised minimum wage, they actually have higher growth in terms of employment than, for instance, georgia. we have the highest unemployment rate in the nation. i believe it can be good for jobs, good for families in sermz of self-sufficiency and good for economic growth for families to be self-sufficient. >> chris, you know, one of the interesting things is if michelle nunn manages to pull off the win here in the red state of georgia, one thing she'll prove is you can run a kind of campaign that's about bringing the country back together. it's remarkable how much she sticks to the line about bipartisanship, about having

work with bush father and son as well as the president, about respecting the president, respecting the office of president. if she wins on that kind of a nice line, i think that could say something potentially good about our politics. a lot of voters down here remember her dad, that nunn style of politics and they want it back. >> i guess in asking the question a minute ago, i answered my own question. you go, who wants the country to be better off economically? who wants the country to have more real wages, real good salaried jobs? in other words, a real industrial comeback, strong infrastructure spending which creates really good jobs, lower tax rate through plugging those loopholes. who really wants all that done for the good of the country in the next year or two? i'm afraid i think a lot of republicans probably don't want it to improve because then they'll have a really bad atmosphere in which to run for president in 2016. but that's nasty thinking on my part. but i think that may be a problem for the president. he has to go to people on the other side and say, i know you

won the election f you do win, but we have to win something for the country. i'd compromise on things like tax but we need real growth, real jobs, not just jobs. i'm hopeful. that's where i think there's hope, there could be hope, which is we all agree on a growth policy. we want the economy to grow stronger. deficit reductions they'll never agree on. that's just talk. they can agree on a growth strategy, which means higher private sector, government sector, spend some money, get the government rolling. i like to think the answer's positive. i don't know. >> i hope so, but i think sloeting has become so trivial. i'm not sure voting is turned on the issue. it's tribal, you're in the democratic tribe or republican tribe. i think there's a temptation for candidates to just run to the base. i don't know. maybe i'm less hopeful than you today, chris, but we'll definitely find out in georgia. >> well, somebody has to grow up. thank you. it's great working with you. as always, glad to be on your

show. joy reid, that wraps things up for her, "the reid report." she'll be back tomorrow at 2 p.m. i'll be back at 6 p.m. with rachel for complete coverage with all of our msnbc colleagues from 6:00 to something like 2:00 in the morning, we're going for eight hours, to see who actually wins the fight for the senate and we may know by the end of that. get some popcorn and soft drinks and join us. anyway, now "the cycle" is coming up next. for retirement. but when we start worrying about tomorrow, we miss out on what matters today. ♪ at axa, we offer advice and help you break down your retirement goals into small, manageable steps. because when you plan for tomorrow, it helps you live for today. can we help you take a small step? for advice, retirement, and life insurance, connect with axa.

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it's the day we've all been waiting for. when those campaign ads finally stop. we can play the music all day long. it's election day 2014. big races with huge consequences at the state level. we've got 36 states voting for their next governor. 82% of state legislative seats will be decided today. along with thousands of local government and school board positions.

our national front today could cement 2015 as the first time the gop controls both the house and the senate since the 109th congress. if that's a triumph or defeat, that depends on where you stand. one fact not up for debate, this is a record-breaking midterm when it comes to crash. a projected $4 billion. but voters, they're tuning out. interested in today's races is down compared to four years ago. can you prove them all wrong by simply going out and voting. midterm turnout is historically lower than in the presidential election years, so mathematically your vote counts even more. polls close at various times across the nation, so keep watch at the bottom of your screen for when your state stops. ari and i will be here long after polls close with the worldwide web of coverage throughout the night. now, that is a win for everyone.