congressman, now senator-elect, joe donnelly, won richard lugar's seat in indiana last night, defeatingte treasurer, richard mourdock. he joins me now. well, mr. donnelly, congressman, i am so impressed, you gave up a safe seat in the house, you risked it all, you put it all on -- i guess you put it on blue, the democratic ticket. and you bet -- were you better off running against mourdock, who ended up being a bit loosy goosy, or better off going against dick lugar? >> chris, thank you very much. what i bet on were the people of indiana, that we're a common sense -- we have a common sense attitude, we're conservative, but we believe in the basics, getting things done. and we're not extreme. and what happened was this campaign came down to someone with very extreme positions and what i tried to do was just focus on the middle. the same place where senator lugar has been for the longest time, is just trying to do common sense things. moving our country forward. and, you know, i thought that that made a lot of sense, that that's where hoosiers were, and we were very fortunate last night.

pointed out earlier in the show, you have a number of candidates, including men, that won like joe donnelly in indiana against candidates that had more rigid ideology. while the balance of power may have stayed the same in washington, when you listen to speaker boehner's words on election night, you listen to harry reid, listen to the president, clearly there was a message sent from the american public. you better get your act together, extend the olive branch, and start negotiating because our economy depends on it. >> for anyone out there who

pointed out earlier in the show, you have a number of candidates, including men, that won like joe donnelly in indiana against candidates that had more rigid ideology. while the balance of power may have stayed the same in washington, when you listen to speaker boehner's words on election night, you listen to harry reid, listen to the

well, i think a lot of good things came together and the most important thi iseople saidd from joe donnelly in indiana to tim kaine in virginia to all the great women you mentioned including heidi heiden camp who's going t what their common base was that t to we move forward in a positive direction and thatreat message out of the wins across the board, is thepg democratic party hasaid this country needs to work every step of the way. they do that and we can all move forward. to some of the women's issues, issues of concern to people with ceain values, women and men, when weack to being able to testifyo t what foster friess said to me about putting an aspirin between your legs, there re a series of34 moments, do you think that had anything to do with your recruitment of these candidates and some of these senate races or was this a largerither the economy or access to health care? what do you think was driving the races? >> i think it's a combination of women who are paying attention to whether or not government is going to make critical decisions about their ownealth care and the economic im

candidates like joe donnelly in indiana and hei heidi hide cam p and she pulls ahead and they were ablee republican counterparts running in -- excuse me running in blue states like scott brown in massachusetts, like linda edgele in hawaii, they were not able to win and i put that as brand damage. you had a great panel on earlier that talked about how the republican brand is so badly damaged right now, that even their moderates can't win if they're in enemy districts while democratic moderates can win when they're in enemy districts. that goes back to this retooling that republicans just have to do if they're going to be competitive in the future in terms of demographics and in terms of social and cultural issues. >> of course, democrats are still challenged. they picked up seats but they're challenged in the house. there's a lot of talk about what's going to happen with the house democratic leadership. what are you hearing about nancy pelosi and whether she's going to hang in or turn the leadership over to someone else? >> i'm not hearing anything, but to me the two most likely options

richard murdock first joe donnelly. the incumbent senator republican should've won this race easy but there incumbent senator richard lugar lost his primary to a radical tea partier named richard murdock who like todd akin said unfortunate comments about rape murdoch is now in a tossup race against joe donnelly and if republicans lose this seat it's really their own damn fault all right three more to go and these will go either way first up there's massachusetts this is been a really high profile race the incumbent scott brown versus elizabeth warren the democrat this is a race progressives really care about elizabeth warren she's a hero on the left and she just might pull it off her lead in the polls has been. growing but is still within the margin of error if democrats win this seat on their home turf you can kiss republican chances of winning the senate goodbye now in a virgin yet another battleground state a race between two former governors tim de kane birch george allen and cain has got a narrow lead so far in the

we're back with senator-elect joe donnelly of indiana. congressman, when did you learn out there you didn't know when you started

we'll be right back with more from senator-elect, joe donnelly.watching "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. with investment information, risks, fees and expenses meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. when you're carrying a lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. that was me... the day i learned i had to start insulin for my type 2 dia

joe donnelly still ahead with almost 50% reporting.is a seat that if republicans lose, it is an early tell-tale sign they are not going to be able to retake control of the senate. let's look at the balance of power at this hour. >> right now, 38 republican seats, 37 democratic seats. you see these two purple seats right here, for the two independents. one is for bernie sanders of vermont who won re-election tonight. the other is more towards the middle. that's because that's angus king, the newly elected independent senator of maine. all of these white seats in the middle are still those that are outstanding, those that are up for re-election right now. of course, still, neither has even close to the 51 needed to have the full-out majority of the senate. >> a lot of races to find out about. thanks very much. we will check in with our analysts. van jones, you've been looking at the wait times a lot of folks are having. we see them in virginia, see them a lot in florida. lot of people still on line. >> the numbers are important but there

in indiana joe donnelly has defeated richard murdock, the republican. that is a democratic pick up. and in illinois this is interesting, tammy do you do you recollect -- duck worth has defeated joe walsh. so that's another big one. by the way you want to keep in mind the electoral college race. the first person to 270 wins the ability to bomb iran. and right now obama is at 243 and mitt romney is at 203. so keep your eye on that. [crowd cheering] donations trickling in for the presidential race. it's magical, thank a lot guys thanks for joining us. tonight's results, guys, what do you think. >> jon tonight's results have caused a seismic shift? what we're forecasting for the 2016 election. the real winner tonight looks to be hillary clinton who is now projecting pat 68% chance of victory -- >> [crowd cheering] >> that's up from 54% just a few hours ago. obviously premature to call the 2016 election but i think through demands we have at least examined some vice presidential options. tonight mitt romney received very little minority support. we're talking jimmy buffet concert level. s

in indiana joe donnelly has defeated richard murdock, the republican. that is a democratic pick up. nd in illinois this is interesting, tammy do you do you recollect -- duck worth has defeated joe walsh. so that's another big one. by the way you want to keep in mind the electoral college race. the first person to 270 wins the ability to bomb iran. and right now obama is at 243 and mitt romney is at 203. so keep your eye on that. [crowd cheering] donations trickling in for the presidential race. it's magical, thank a lot guys thanks for joining us. tonight's results, guys, what do you think. >> jon tonight's results have caused a seismic shift? what we're forecasting for the 2016 election. the real winner tonight looks to be hillary clinton who is now projecting pat 68% chance of victory -- >> [crowd cheering] >> that's up from 54% just a few hours ago. obviously premature to call the 2016 election but i think through demands we have at least examined some vice presidential options. tonight mitt romney received very little minority support. we're talking jimmy buffet concert level. so

but you see this everywhere, you see all of these candidates, joe donnelly you just mentioned is out there saying i'm going to extend all of the bush tax cuts. heidi hydecamp talking to opposition of obama on keytone pipeline, on cap and trade and one of the problems for the republican as candidates, not only some of whom are a little inexperienced, and tied a little to the tea party and grass roots in some ways been a drag on them in some places, but the fact that it's hard again, to make a big contrast with some of the democrats running, even though their record suggests they wouldn't actually vote that way. >> can i add something to that, paul. >> yeah, i think that kim is right. i find is interesting that some of the states like montana and north dakota are running against the obama energy policy. people that are running for the pipeline, they're running for, now, for more drilling and by the way, heidi hydecamp says she would urge, urge president obama to fire for lisa jackson. if she could do that, i'd vote for her. >> she's the head of the epa and once they're in office reliab

now, in indiana joe donnelly has beaten richard mooreduck after mourdock made controversy comment of being god's intention disproving the old political adage there's no such thing as bad rape publicity. now we're also following the senate race in wisconsin where tammy baldwin has become... she has become the first lesbian senator. well, first openly lesbian senator because you're not fooling anybody, lindsey graham. ( laughter ) now of course in addition to the senate, we're also tracking all the nation's referenda. california alone has 11 ballot measures this year, and florida has many that most voters simply scroll to the bottom and click "i agree." there's one in los angeles that could affect the entire country. los angeles county voters will decide on election day if adult film actors should film condoms while shooting porn films as the sex initiative measure b would not only mandate the use of condoms but also require the los angeles department of public health to lead inspection and enforcement efforts. that's right, folks, more burdensome regulations for america's job creators

now, in indiana joe donnelly has beaten richard mooreduck after mourdock made controversy comment ofing god's intention disproving the old political adage there's no such thing as bad rape publicity. now we're also following the senate race in wisconsin where tammy baldwin has become... she has become the first lesbian senator. well, first openly lesbian senator because you're not fooling anybody, lindsey graham. ( laughter ) now of course in addition to the senate, we're also tracking all the nation's referenda. california alone has 11 ballot measures this year, and florida has many that most voters simply scroll to the bottom and click "i agree." there's one in los angeles that could affect the entire country. los angeles county voters will decide on election day if adult film actors should film condoms while shooting porn films as the sex initiative measure b would not only mandate the use of condoms but also require the los angeles department of public health to lead inspection and enforcement efforts. that's right, folks, more burdensome regulations for america's job creators in

in indiana, a seat that republicans were not expecting to lose, democrat joe donnelly easily beat richard mourdock. the female vote also turned out for donnelly. and while republicans play the blame game, americans should thank todd akin and richard mourdock for telling the truth for how they exposed the gop and exposed them for what they're all about. predictably, rush limbaugh lashed out at the gender gap. >> women voted obama 55-43 for romney. massive gender gap. unchanged from 2008. unmarried women backed obama 68% to 30%. they thought romney was going to take away their birth control pills. obama treats them like vaginas and they say, he's my man. go figure. >> ah, the voice of the republican party. let's bring in terry o'neill, president of the national organization for women. terry, congratulations is in order. i know your organization put a lot into this election, because a lot was at stake. now, did the war on women cost mitt romney this election? >> there's no question that it cost him this election. and mitt romney deserved to lose, because he was right in the thick of waging t

in indiana, democratic representative joe donnelly defeated republican state treasurer richard mourdock, who became famous for suggesting pregnancies resulting from rape were god's will. in virginia, democratic former governor tim kaine beat republican george allen, also a former governor, for thee seat. and know how, democratic senator sherrod brown held on to a senate seat in a campaign that saw outside groups spend tens of millions of dollars to defeat him. in connecticut, democrat chris murphy defeated republican nominee and wrestling magnate linda mcmahon. the senate races saw a series of major victories for democratic women. in one of the most closely watched races nationwide, consumer advocate elizabeth senator scott brown inican@ massachusetts. >> this victory belongs to you. you did this. you did this. you did this. for every f that has been chipped and squeezed and hammered, we're going to fight for a level playing field, and we're going to put people back to work. [applause] that is what we're goido. >> in missouri, democratic incumbent senator claire mccaskill held on to rec

joe donnelly won richard lugar's seat. mr. donnelly, congressman, i am so impressed.seat in the house, you risked it all, put it all -- i guess you put it on blue, the democratic ticket, and you bet -- were you better off running against mourdock who ended up being little loosey goosy or would you have been better up against lugar? >> well, what i bet on was the people of undindiana. we have commonsense and we're conservative but believe in getting things done and we are not extreme. what happened was this campaign came down to someone with very extreme positions and what i do the middle, the same place where senator lugar has been for the longest time, just trying to do commonsense things,d, you know, that made a lot of sense, that's that's where hoosiers were and we were very fortunate last night. >> you've been on the frontlines and there's nothing smarter than a candidate coming back from winning or losing an election. now, what do you know about the appeal of the other side? what is the main republican appeal to middle of the road voters? why would a person of so

joe donnelly, you can't get more mainstream. he's more like richard lugar. these republicans are so off the wall, that, you know, they don't believe there ought to be a government at all. except maybe for the military maybe. let me just give a little point of view here for -- as a chairman of a committee that is responsible for rebuilding our infrastructure, the environment and public works committee. we have these two responsibilities environment, it's been very difficult to find a compromise there with the republicans. they've changed. when i went into politics originally, the environment was something everybody embraced. now it's become political. on the infrastructure side, senator imhoff and i who do not see eye to eye came together and passed an important bill that saved 2 million construction jobs and created another million. we can do it, but i want to pick up on something that harry reid said. you know, he -- harry reid is not very fancy speaker but he speaks the truth. when mitch mcconnell came to the senate floor and said his highest priority was

joe donnelly defeated tea party favorite, richard mourdock, in indiana.should have been impossible. joining us now is steve kornacki, co-host of "the cycle," 3:00 weekdays here on msnbc. happy aftermath, steve. >> i was just checking unskewedelectionreturns.com and they said republicans have 67 senate seats now, so i'm not sure what you're talking about here. >> also, mitt romney won with a anonymous vote. >> yes, in d.c., that's right. >> that's right. what happened yesterday in the senate specifically? obviously, the expectations were leaning much more toward the democrats by the time we actually voted, but the distance between patty murray having to be essentially arm twisted into taking that job and what happened last night, what happened? >> you could have put a headline from something i wrote in 2010 up there, because i was saying there was no chance for the democrats after the last election too. but what you can see now, it's a reflection of the conclusions the republicans drew from the 2008 election and the actions they took over the last four yea

. >> we have joe donnelly defeat republican tea party-backed richard mourdock. >> dave the screaming behind you is because claire mccaskill was nominated. allan west appears to have lost to his opponent patrick murphy. >> jennifer: last night was just not kind to tea party republicans. four of its most famous faces went down in defeat. michele bachmann eked out a third term but it cost her a pretty penny, actually more than $20 million. she outspent her opponent 12-1 and she only won 50.59% of the vote. in all at least 47 tea party house remembers retained their seethes with the help of obscene amounts of money. so where does the gop go from here? tonight we're putting that question to j.d. hayworth and duf sundheim. who is joining me here in studio. i want to thank you both for bringing both ends of the spectrum. j.d. just two years ago, there were 60-newly elected lawmakers who swept into congress and now some of the most prominent among them went down in defeat so did the tea party overreach? >> no not at all. the fact is there is still a substantial majority you mentioned in this

in indiana, joe donnelly completed his come back against richard murdoch winning that state's race. murdoch never recovering after suggesting a n. a debate last month that if a woman became pregnant by rape it was something god intended to happen. democrats also able to hold on to several seats considered up for grabs. todd akin's rape comment proved too much for him to overcome. in virginia, governor tim kane pulled out a victory against george allen. in ohio sherrod brown won over josh mendel. and in maine, independ angous king easily won the state's u.s. senate seat currently held by olympia snow. the one notable senate pickup for republicans in nebraska where deb fischer flibed ben nelson's seat defeating bob kerrey. democrats hold 51 seats and harry reid already called on republicans to end their "strategy of obstruction gridlock and delay." we're still waiting for the official results from the races in montana, nevada, and north dakota. mark halpern, if we go back to the top of that list, elizabeth warren versus scott brown, tight all the way. what did elizabeth warren do in t

joe donnelly in indiana and not against mourdock -- hanging on against mourdock, the tea party candidate. jon tester in an absolute dead heat -- >> heidekamp, the long shot parcourse in north dakota, a perfect candidate, basically even with the republic -- terrific candidate, basically even with the republican candidate. mccaskill is close, i think. >> to use t -- do you see much ticket splitting? a vote for obama or romney and then republican or democrat? >> i think we are in more plus n -- allies nation. >> ticket splitting would be helpful to romney, if the democrats held the senate, because romney could say to the crazies and his party that i have to make a deal with the democrats. >> back at bain? >> i am saying if elected, it might not be a tragedy -- >> republicans on not only going to keep tabs, probably going to keep most of their majority. the democrats would have to take over and seriously dent it. this is where it redistricting and late monday from super pacs has made a difference. >> rerun of 2000? >> i don't see that i see barack obama -- i talked to a republican charge who

joe donnelly in indiana and not against mourdock. -- hanging on against mourdock. jon tester in montana absolute dead heat. heidekamp in north dakota, r an a tour of the campaign, even with the republican -- think.ill is close, i >> do you see much ticket splitting? a vote for obama or romney and then vote for republican or democrat for the senate? >> i think we are a more polarized nation. >> ticket splitting would be good because there is an interesting theory that it would be helpful to romney if the democrats kept control of the senate by a vote or two because it would allow romney to tell the crazies in his own party that i have to make a deal with the democrats. >> well -- >> back at bain? >> i'm saying, if elected, it might not be a tragedy. >> the republicans are not only going to keep the house, and they all will keep most of their majority. this is one place where redistricting and a late money from super pacs has made a difference. >> crystal ball, colby. >> i see barack obama -- i talked to a former republican chairman, could judiciously looks at the nu

joe donnelly same thing.what is is happening to the working class today and wants to come to washington, d.c. to solve the problem. across the board, our candidates really said yes at a tough time to run because they want to come together and work. you hear joe donnelly say time and again, i'm not coming to represent a party. i'm coming to work to solve the problems of this country. i think that characterization goes across board and gives us the ability to really come together to find some solutions today. >> bret: speaker boehner talked about forging a bipartisan agreement. he was specific. take a listen to this. >> for the purposes of forging a bipartisan agreement that begins to sol t problem, we're willing to accept new revenue under the right conditions. shoring up entitlement and reforming the tax code and closing special interest loophole and deductions. will bring jobs home and result in stronger economy. >> bret: when you hear that what do you hear? >> i appreciate that the speaker understands that

instead of expecting that to go republican, it was, in fact, a republican mistake, if you will where joe donnelly, now the democrat is taking that seat after richard mourdock had made comments about rape and pregnancy that got a lot of attention. similar scenario happened in missouri, another red state that republicans had hoped to take back, but todd akin made comments that angered voters through the year. claire mccaskill, a democrat goes back for her second term. there will be more women than we've ever seen serving with 19. republicans did have one place at least where they did pick up a seat. that is in nebraska with a retirement among democrats there and now deb fisher will be the new senator from nebraska. there's a big change. but what doesn't change is that republicans will control the house. democrats in charge of the senate and the white house and a lot of work to do. lynn? >> so that begins. kelly o'donnell for us this morning. >>> nbc meteorologist bill karins is live for us in democracy plaza where all the excitement happened last night. good morning to you. >> good morning to you,

and an open seat given up by joe donnelly.n burner of a race in kentucky. not yet settled but one of the two remaining democrats in the house up for grabs. >> how do you explain the fact in the presidential level this is a 50/50 country but when it comes to the house and your local representative that it seems to be by a fairly decisive margin a republican? >> it tends to -- the house r to to stay a lot close what it was after reapportionment year. the party in power gets to write those -- draw those lines and the republicans did a great job. it's redistricting. it's a census year they were able to redraedtoratorict and tends to be an incumbent protection policy. >> you know, if this were at the end of the ten year period the districts get more competitive. the other thing i think is what's interesting first of all i think the democrats will pick up some seats tonight but in the senate it's way too early to call those seats. but it's definitely a lot of democrats think we'll hold the senate. you're right. we could get all the

because joe donnelly, the moderate democrat who is now in the house, he will move over to the senate. cnn is projecting he has won that seat. he beat the republican candidate, richard mourdock. you remember richard mourdock beat the incumbent republican, richard lugar, who has been in the senate for three decades. there was no way he was going to lose the seat but when he lost the primary, richard mourdock was in the general election and made a big blunder a few weeks ago when he said pregnancy resulting from rape was a gift from god and he plummeted in the polls. huge wins for democrats. very bad news for republicans. it is not impossible but virtually impossible at this point for republicans to take back the senate. >> are we looking now at no-calls? >> really one no-call. this is a very important race. this is a potential piece of good news although we have to be very cautious because close to 60% reporting. at this point, george allen, the republican candidate, is a little more than 35,000 votes ahead of tim kaine. this is a democratic seat right now. this could potentially be one

joe donnelly is as prolife, promarriage as you can be and be a democrat and be in the party. look at tim cain who was chairman of the d.n.c. two years ago. he's basically running ads criticizing barack obama on raising tax on small business in virginia. so i don't think it's going to wash to say this is an across the board repudiation on where conservatives have been on policy matters. i think if you look at the exit polling, a pleura alty of the electorate is for repealing all or most of obama care. and i was distributing voter guides in every one of these targeted races. we went to every one of their web sites and reserged every one of their debates. they said i don't like it the way it is. i do think we need to allow children under the age of 25 to stay on their parent's policies which was one of the key elements of obama care and we ought to keep the previous condition provision. but beyond that we got to fix it. i'm against the individual mandate, i'm against the $2500 fines on businesses. they were critical of the program. they would say i stand the one area. whether th