the 65-year-old joni and the 25-year-old joni. who does the joni then think of the joni now?have no idea -- i had miles blue and i knew how to sing songs. so in the 20s and everything. i never guess i would be collaborating with these people who are my friends. i hadn't revisited it in a long time. that's what struck me the most rather than trying to get it together. it's not all in one key. they flow. they always say joni's weird cords. i guess i did some things innova innovative. >> what they call weird is innovative. >> i guess when they got mad. i thought that was weird. >> go in and play like a champ. wayne would say what is it? he would go in and play it on the fly. it was amazinamazing. >> i'm always honored. it isn't everyday that joni mitchell shows up for a conversation. it is always my great delight to see you on my program. >> i asked to see me. >> her new project is called love has many faces a quartet, a ballet, walling to be b danced. a four disk set 53 songs and beautiful art all the way through it. there's a wonderful handwritten letter in the back of it, if

not a lot of people knew her, she was a state senator. >> on march 25th, joni ernst ad. >> i'm joni ernst, i grew up cast rating hogs on a farm. so when i get to washington, i'll know how to cut pork. >> washington is full of big squeal. >> it went viral. got half a million you fub views, all over the daily show. >> it was mooed and panned all over the state. the audience it was intended for was e.u. conservators. they responded to it wholesale. >> i want to squeal. >> thank you. >> senator joni ernst, you have cut the cam pain add in which you brag about being a farm girl. i'm wondering why in the farm bill it's okay to give farmers crop insurance, but it's not okay for the government to bring individuals subsidies. and you came from the same areas that i do. have you cast rated hogs? >> no comment. >> it will get a little rough out here. that's politics. that's what it's all about. >> most of the negative i'veing you have seen is between joni ernst and jacobs. competition. >> it is a valid point. she's missing 40% of the votes if the iowa senate. that is something that she'll have to an

>> joni ernst came out as a star in the republican party. she was a long shot. she ran this early ad about cast straighting hogs. -- castrating hogs. >> yes. gwen: and immediately then went on her national guard deployment. >> and back to 2016, markoff rubio, the florida senator we think may run, he was in early for joni ernst. speaking of collecting chits as maybe hillary clinton did, and chris christy, i think marco rubio did. gwen: tom cotton in arkansas knocked off a household name. >> he did.

. >>> republican joni ernst and bruce braley are duking it out. harkin interjected issues over the weekend. we have pamela brown with more. >> reporter: john and christine, stakes are high for the senate race in iowa. whoever wins today could tip the balance of power in the senate. it has been a very tight race. extremely competitive. neck and neck. it remains a toss up. in fact, a record number of iowans have voted early this year. the democrats have had a steady advantage, but not as much as they would like. at last check, they were up around 7,000, but to put it in perspective, in 2010, they tripled that lead over the republicans. it is important for the early voting numbers, because republicans have more votes on election day. when talking to both camps, it is very clear that they're conditi confident each side is going to win. the polls have them pretty close, except one this saturday. the republican candidate joni ernst up seven points over her contender bruce braley. the democrat in this race. democrats looked at that poll as an lie and tha

joni ernst is going to win in iowa. >> since we are talking about joni ernst, can we just go there fortle bit? i just need to play a little bit of sound for you. we hear tom harken going after that hopeful joni ernst. ernst fired back. i want you to take a listen and then discuss it with both of you. >> i don't care if she's as good looking as taylor swift or as nice as mr. rogers. but if she votes like michele bachmann she's wrong for the state of iowa. >> i was very offended that senator harkin would say that. i think it's ununfortunate that he and many of their party believe you can't be a real woman if you're conservative and female. i believe if my name had been john ernst attached to my resume, senator harkin would not have said those things. >> look, i had to look at my calendar quickly to make sure we were in 2014 because this felt like a comment from yesteryear, donna. really. >> i know when male candidates and, of course, i've cautioned male candidates, don't talk about a female's look and i even tell females don't talk about your looks. because we're all beautiful. the truth

he is vacating the seat and joni ernst.s. >> in this senate race, i have been watching some of the ads and there is this sort of sense of joni ernst, she is really attractive. she sounds nice. well, i got to thinking about that. i don't care if she is as good-looking as taylor swift or as nice as mr. rogers. but if she votes like michele bachmann, she's wrong for the state of iowa. >> reporter: so in response to those comments from tom markin last week, joni ernst said she was offended. if she were a man, he would never have said that. just like taylor swift, she is going to shake it off. bottom line, you can feel the intensity heat up. it will be a nail biter. john and christine. >> the senate race in louisiana is tough for mary landrieu. she must get 50% of the vote to keep her seat. rob manus drawing enough votes from landrieu and bill cassidy which could put this in a runoff next month. landrieu is trying to keep the focus local. >> louisiana may determine which party controls the united states senate. >> this is about

but joni ernst does have a lot of momentum in that race.te that's trended blue for the last decade. and this is also the state that launched barack obama to national fame, his approval rating there is now dismal. there would be a big symbolic win for republicans as well. >> peter, we have about 35 seconds left. i know tonight you will own the internet on cnn.com. you're going to have a whole bunch of insiders giving a buzzy take on the election. what is sort of the inside word right now in 15 seconds or less? >> the inside word -- i just got off the phone with a couple of people about this -- is that we're going to run off season, both december and january in georgia and louisiana. no one is 100% confident that republicans are going to win the senate. we're not going to find that out until the votes are counted tonight. >> makes it all the more exciting for all of us. peter, thank you so much. if you have questions for peter, you can tweet him. he's going to be on cnn.com at 8:00 eastern on the real life hambycast, well worth watching. >> w

joni ernst made a big splash as she went on. she was little known in this campaign early on, but made a big slash with the ad, and that shifted a lot of balance. braley's relations with federal affairs. that pushed the momentum. coming into the election day, we saw a dead heat. and now she's taken the senate seat. >> let's turn to mike viqueira in washington. an rejection of democrats across the board, do you agree? >> yes, there's a tendency on the part of the base, the true believers, whether you are republican, liberal, to say look, if they only adhered to the core principles of the party, everything would have been better. you face up to it, own it. people come along and they see it your way. i'm not sure that that is the case. i think that this is a rejection of president barack obama. whether he showed up to campaign with you or didn't. i want to echo. dave was talking about pat quinn, president obama's home state. look no further than maryland. i have to come back to the race. it's stunning. anthony brown, the governor. 2

. >> i'm joni ernst. i'm scott brown. >> i'm determined to bring decency to washington. >> i want to serve as the people's governor again. >> i really didn't want to do this. >> and i approve this message. >> i approve this message. >> i approve this message. >> it's all tied up. and the results will come down to one thing -- turnout. >>> they call it election day tomorrow, but it is really vote counting day. in an election where some, in some states early voting started six weeks ago. we have a final round of polls of today. in colorado, a new quinnipiac poll shows the race there in a virtual tie with the republican at 45% and incumbent democratic senator udall at 43%. a new nbc poll shows mitch mcconnell polling ahead of allison grimes by nine points, despite multiple visits from bill and hillary clinton. in kansas, independent candidate greg orman is locked in a tight race with three-term incumbent senator greg roberts. orman was asked once again which party he was caucus with if he was elected to the

and joni ernst jumped on that about sexist or whatever. but he seemed to be frustrated.at harkin was trying to express, he's frustrated about the fact that joni ernst is a lot more likable than bruce braley and it's having a huge impact on that race. >> it is. and what's frustrating senator harkin is there's not a lot to actually like about joni ernst when you look at her record. and the case that congressman braley has been making since the beginning is, this might be a good message that she's sending. but look beneath the message. her policies are what matter and they are not consistent with iowa values. so i think that congressman braley has been frustrated by that. senator harkin has been frustrated by that. even if you look in "the des moines register" poll over the weekend that showed joni ernst very much ahead and the question about who is more substantive or policies could move the state forward, it was bruce braley. yet they're still voting for her -- >> no offense, but this sounds like walter mondale complaining about ronald reagan. >> i'm talking about whether

joni ernst has been outspoken. it came about in her gop primary win she wants to repeal the president's health care law. i saw at rally where terri branstad talked about iowa being the healthiest state in the nation. he put forward the president's health care law on a bipartisan way within the state. take a listen to what she told me about how she sees a full repeal of the law working for iowans. >> governor branstad wants iowa to be the healthiest state. can it happen with a full repeal of health care? >> you bet. we need patient center health care that addresses preexisting conditions. i think it's a great goal and i think we need to continue striving toward it. >> do you support mcconnell? >> i'm not there yet. i have to win an election. >> you heard it right there. does she support mcconnell? listen to her answer. it's a little bit vague. and that's what democrats have been trying to push in the last few hours. that joni ernst is against you on the issues. unfortunately where she's brale more about people like

joni ernst talks a about it a ton. anyone who has watched her, she's a natural on the campaign trail. so she had a lot of appeal with the voters there. definitely down on the president and really looking for somebody different. she seems to be tapping into some kind of sentiment there. it looks like she's going to end up winning. >> can you imagine a female candidate saying that about a male? i can't, it just wouldn't happen. >> i was degraded because they would always say that about me. because he's so good looking and has such chiselled features. nobody has ever say that about me. it's actually stupid that somebody would say that after being in politics that long. >> e she hasn't put out a campaign that's anything that's serious, humorous and very much in the fight. >> can i ask carol a question? >> i will ask a question. >> isn't this how this game works. donnie was talking about millennials are a snapshot. this could change tomorrow. and we're going to have polling saying millennials are trending republican right n

put joni ernst on the national level.o is going to be offended, except some pig lovers. >> they talked about a pig and then showed a little one. >> that's an effective piece of point. >> that's the point, to get you talking about it. what about out in colorado, how mark udall has been focused on women issues that they call him senator uterus out there but he keeps hitting the women issues, including in this ad that we're showing here. >> well, i think that's it's been effective for udall for this reason, going after his oppone oppone oppone opponent cory gardener says i'm for over-the-counter birth control but i've changed my mind about this personhood amendment. so he actually moved the ball on this but udall appears to be pounding this above all else. >> in new hampshire, jeanne shaheen is in a battle with scott brown and he wasn't expected to do much in this race but now he's closed a ten-point gap. here's an ad that she has run attacking him on women's issues. let's watch. >> in massachusetts, scott brown pushed for a

take a look at this. >> joni ernst, she's really attractive, and she sounds nice.ce as mr. rogers. but if she votes like michelle obama, she belo's wrong for sta iowa. >> and earlier today ernst, a combat veteran and a mom, was on fox & friends responding. take a look at this. >> i was very offended that senator harkin would say that. i think it's unfortunate that he and many of their party believe you can't be a real woman if you're conservative and you're female. if my name had been john ernst attached to my resume, senator harkin would not have said those things. >> here with reaction are larry sabato from the university of virginia center for politics. co-host, andrea tanteros is with us. i can't believe that and you have this other guy using the word -- and laughing about it. about nicki haley. >> it is so stupid. you remember when kirsten gillibrand from new york is talking about how these older senators made comments about her weight and she got a ton of press. the media was all over this. the media's barely touching this one. it's like tom harkin would have

joni ernst has done an exceptional job.hese polls tended in the last month to show her not only with the lead but increasing and then in early vote, this is key test for me, the democrats traditionally run up a big advantage in early vote. if you look at results through friday they lead by some 6,000 votes. more democrat return ballots than republican returned ballots. but in 2010, at this same point they had 19,000 more democratic ballots than republican ballots. still went on to lose the gubernatorial election 53-43. good sign for ernst she is running that close. jon: "des moines register" poll puts her up seven points? >> i think it may be a little too rich. last poll had her at one. this shows movement towards her and this poll run by a firm named sellser has a pretty good reputation being able to call iowa correctly. i'm not sure i agree with the margin. momentum to ernst and in the lead. jon: what about georgia amount state republicans counted on winning, david perdue is down by a point last time i saw. >> "real clear

that's what iowa will be voting for if they vote for joni ernst. >> joni ernst is going to vote the wayhe wants to vote. she talks about castrating hogs. it was a big hit. it was a big risk to take. she is attractive to voters because of her conservative values. she made her campaign about president obama which is a smart thing do when he's unpopular. bill: is this offensive to women when they hear this? >> i would say why it' offensive but it's also petty and lazy. make a better argument. there are plenty of issues tom harkin could have taken joni ernst on but he's afraid to do that because she would could come back. they want to take cheap shots. but it's not going to work. bill: do women find that offensive? >> of course. if he could have used the michele bachmann voting regard and gone off joni ernst. when she goes to washington, d.c. if she wins tomorrow night she'll vote just like michele bachmann. bill: hillary said sit many not good enough to be a woman, dot, dot, dot. martha: wall street placing their bets on which party will prevail. stuart varney joins with more on that comin

>> joni ernst came out as a star in the republican party. she was a long shot. she ran this early ad about cast straighting hogs. -- castrating hogs. >> yes. gwen: and immediately then went on her national guard deployment. >> and back to 2016, markoff rubio, the florida senator we think may run, he was in early for joni ernst. speaking of collecting chits as maybe hillary clinton did, and chris christy, i think marco rubio did. gwen: tom cotton in arkansas knocked off a household name. >> he did. he's not as charismatic as joni ernst but he's impressive, highly intelligent, blue-chip resume. so i would expect he would be a force. it's going to be interesting whether this -- what is this new crop going to add up to? we had a tea party revolution in 2010. we had something different this time. gwen: on purpose. it's like these candidates recruited to be not tea party. >> right, but many of them are very conservative. but how do they evolve and define themselves? >> did the establishment beat the tea party, or did the tea party co-opt the establishment? that's the

in iowa even though there's a good democratic turnout in this joni ernst wins.ative. infá louisiana mary landrieu's pt'ot nearly enough to win the t runoff in andba" michelle nunn -- >> you have two republicans inx that race. and one nkt democrat. look at those two numbers combined. >> five points. she's down five points.b. and every week she seems to fall another point. and in georgia once again the advertising campaign.ñr michelle nunn had an advanta(ys for about a week when she was focusedhgt on david purdue's outsourcing. when it came back to her and how she would ym;mvote, watch numbe larry, i have here sabado's you have released justni;÷y ear predictions. >> yes. we actually justóe#u called the final nine races. we called the other 498 sometimes months in advance. but essentially we have -- we've said consistently that we thought theká! republicans wou get 51 to 53 seats in the senate. we've now settled one/+ iÑ=m&yxd louisiana and possiblest:zñ runf georgia. it does not include north carolina and new hampshire. we still have themi]çó leaning the i]nkts

>> joni ernst in iowa.onsultant types, were more fonder of mark jacobson who could self-finance. more money. she was the somewhat obscure state legislator. ran a good primary. and has run a terrific general election campaign. looks like she'll win in iowa. >> you and cokie agree on a candidate. >> michelle nunn. she's a first time candidate. normally, can't find their groove. she's been able to campaign throughout the state. very little mistakes. i think she's run a terrific campaign. >> you said john kay sish? >> thetest of a race, it's a swing state in mid western state that's key, i had to look it up this morning. >> but he's been a total disaster -- >> for john kasich to win in ohio by 25 points, amazing. >> i would say cory gardner in colorado. down double digits. run a new near-flawless campaign. aside from michelle nunn, gardner. >> the worst campaign? >> the one i did name was -- which candidate was the democrat in ohio, fitzgerald. but i think mark udall has run a terrible campaign. >> colorado. >>

joni ernst -- haitian american. joni ernst is an interesting one. broaden her appeal. she's the first woman to win the sena senate in iowa. i think what she was able to do was speak to the voters. they felt like she was one of them. she talked about spending and what the race came down to is people are so frustrated with washington that they're frustrated with government. they feel like government has failed them and they took it out on democrats. that was huge help for many republicans across the board. >> and crystal, so much is to be made of hillary clinton getting out the female vote over the next couple of years. what do you think she can learn from last night? >> i think you have to have a clear agenda and you have to be bold in what you stand for. all of these democrats across the south who try to temper their positions allison lundergan grimes, mark pryor, even michelle nunn. it doesn't do enough to get your folks out if you're saying you don't support the democratic president. if you won't take stance on issues democrats support. you have t

the polls suggest joni ernst as having the lead. it's been a long and bruising campaign, almost $80 million spent so far and four more days of attack ads filling the waves here in the hawkeye state. joni's campaign began with the ad, ad with the castration of hogs. that's how it's been dubbed. >> i grew up castrating hogs on an iowa farm, so when i get to washington, i'll know how to cut pork. >> her opponent is democratic congressman bruce braley. he got off to a rather rocky start when he was going to a fundraiser in texas and started talking about his history as a lawyer suggesting that it was really important that democrats win the majority and keep it otherwise chuck grassley, the republican senator from iowa would end up being the chairman of the judiciary committee. and braley made a bit of a slur. >>> this is a fox news alert. a mexican judgef jailed u.s. marine andrew tahmooressi. it's been more than six months. he maintained he got lost on a california freeway ramp that sent him across with no way of >>> is it the ad? the

joni ernst and bruce braley. he is in the lead as we look at the percentage reporting. still very slow when it comes to candy votes out there. this is one of the most fascinating races you will find. roberts versus orman. been on the who has health since 19 96 -- on the -- in the senate since 1996. is the independent. he has yet to say who he will caucus with if he is elected. the democrats or republicans? that is where the shift of power could occur as you get down to the drama of d.c. politics. we will take a look at some other races up for grabs and when we come back in a little bit. for now, nailbiter. >> we are running out of nails. thank you for that. >lots of races across the area and we are watching all of them. you can get up to the moment results on wjla.com. and facebook and twitter. >> let's go back to maryland. new numbers in the race for a negovernor. let's take a look. anthony brown, 46%. larry hogan, republican, 52%. brad bell is live. what is going on there? >> nailbiter here. a lot of field lingers -- fingernails littering the carpets. refreshre hittin

but joining us now is joni ernst, the republican nominee in the u.s. senate race in iowa. tonight. this morning you said you were offended by his comments. now he says he#j]o always regre when someone is offended by something he said. do you think that's an apology? and if so, do you accept it? >> i do think it's as good of an apology as we will get from senator harkin. and i do, i do accept that.b1mp it is regrettable that he said those things in the first place. but you know what? just like taylor swift says we're going to shake this off. we're going to drive on and share my message withcátqñ iowa. that's what's important right now in the final hours of this election cycle. >> what do you think -- i've heard some people say that you weren't really offended, you were feigning your outreach to try to take advantage of something that, you know, he probably shouldn't have said but he said. >> no, i am offended. and i'm offended for every woma÷ that runs for office regardless of party. when they just talk about what's on the outside,njk0attractivene niceness, i am a nice pers

we talk about joni ernst, that will be a big win. working in congress for a long time. we've been a big fan much cory gardner. what he has done to reach voters, especially hispanic voters - one of my passions - we'll see a great night for those two and the republican party. >> david, the numbers as you look at the balance of power in the state what is happening now. >> first the governors, i'm interested in what betina has. the information i have suggest that the republicans may lose a couple of governor races. the senate, yes, it's territory. >> if you average all the states up, president obama won about 66% of the vote compared to mitt romney's 53, 54 in 2012. it's a republican part of the country. >> we have known that for a while. >> michael, the last word? >> i understand why betina is excited about iowa. if the republicans won iowa, it would be the biggest story tomorrow. a lot of the other races are tough sledding for the democrats. but iowa, in and of itself would be a surprise. >> betina, good to see you, get on the plane and get up here. we want to see you tom

. >> in iowa joni ernst with 52%. >> and in mark shapiro, tom cotton easily defeating incumbent mark prior 57-39. >> and to georgia republican david perdue over michelle nunn. 53-45. >> corey gardener taking down mark udall. and steve daines beating amanda curtis 58 to 40%. south dakota easily going to the gop. 51 to 29. >> and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell leading with 56%. grimes with 41%. >> so west virginia republican shelly moore capito winning 62-34. >> and in alaska ballots are still being counted at this hour but republican dan sullivan holding on to a five point lead over mark begich with 73% of the votes being reported. >> virginia is still too close to call. incumbent democrat mark warner holding on to a small lead. separated by just over 12,000 votes. 95% of ballots have been counted. >> and louisiana heading to a run off. a lot of folks expected this. neither candidate getting the necessary 50%. incumbent democrat getting 42% with bill cassie getting 41. >> and a tight race there. winning 52-48 over scott brown. well as we have said it was a landslide victory fo

one reason we'd like to knock out joni ernst. i mean, just think about what she could do when she gets to washington with those credentials on the presidential level. it'll be a fascinating thing to watch if it happens, alex. >> you bring up a good point, as always. thank you so much. >>> well from iowa we head south to georgia where two close races are grabbing a lot of attention. let's go to atlanta and casey hunt for us. first up to the governor's race. is there any sense of clear momentum? >> hey, alex. i think at this point, it's pretty clear that nathan deal is in pretty good shape heading into his re-election. he's facing of course jason carter, who is the grandson of jimmy carter. and jason carter has performed better than anyone really expected a democrat to be able to perform, especially in this environment, and especially against incumbent. nathan deal did have some ethics issues, but they don't seem to be sticking to him in a major way at the end. and jason carter is getting some support from his grandfather, jimmy ca

georgia, kentucky and iowa has joni ernst leading bruce braley.ther poll has the race dead even. can the candidates take control of both houses of congress? our political analyst ron brownstein is joining us. ron, what should we make of the latest polls? like in iowa, for example, they seem to be all over the place. >> yeah. partially what you're seeing is variation in polling but there's an underlying question here. given that the map has been troublesome for the democrats, that's made it tough and president obama's weakness has put into place three senate states in colorado, iowa, and new hampshire. and democrats have a few opportunities in red states, primarily georgia and kansas. but those look tough. essentially, the big question in the final hours, really the only remaining question is who turns out to vote? does the actual electorate look different than what the pollsters are modeling? particularly where democrats have invested a lot of money to turnout their presidential year coalition. if they can do that, places in colorado, iowa, and no

so you just talked about iowa, perhaps joni ernst wins out in iowa. perhaps tim cotton wins in iowa. that gets them to 50/50. and you need to go one more state to get to 51. maybe colorado depinnending on polling that's coming out of there. if you take iowa off the map, you're back to 50/50. so, again, republicans have a lot of ways to get to 51, democrats are a couple of ways to take it away. even if the republicans were to win in iowa, let's say, they would have to defend a couple of states. like kansas, where pat roberts is in a big race, georgia which may go to a runoff two months from now or even chokentucky. two things i think you can key on for tuesday night, the closing at 7:30 in the evening, north carolina, if republicans are in for a way, tom tillis will beat kay hagan. if she beats out tom tillis, that's one way that democrats can stop republicans from taking back the senate. that new hampshire poll has jeanne shaheen up for an average of 2 1/2 points right now. we might be able to call it at 8:00 on tuesday night. but if shaheen hangs on,

joni ernst. i don't think it's farfetched to say she will now be the crowned jewel of this senate republican class. why? she's 44 years old, she's a woman, she is a veteran, and she represents iowa, which, as you know very well, andrea, having been out here a bunch is the place where republican presidential hopefuls want to come and get on their way on the to the presidency. if she plays it smart and wants the king maker mold, eventually, just watch out, i really do think you could have her being the most coveted endorsement for the 2016 iowa caucuses. >> luke russert, where it all begins when we get to the caucuses. thank you very much. luke russert in west des moines. >>> and now to take a deeper dive into the results. steve kornacki host of "up" weekend mornings on msnbc and the star of our election map coverage last night. incredible stuff. >> thanks. >> we want to go through some of these results. let's start first with kansas. we expect it to be this really tough fight. we now learned some

hours later, a des moines register poll shows joni ernst up over bruce braley. bill clinton was there, but that did not dim joni ernst's confidence. >> america is coming back. the question is how. we are going to come back. we have got to grow together and to grow together, we have got to work together and to get that result, iowa needs to send bruce braley to the senate. >> we are reaching out to every iowan that we possibly can. not just the republicans, independents and a lot of democrats, too, that see the need to change direction. >> another big gun deployed in another trouble spot for the democrats. hillary clinton was stumping for alison lundergan grimes. democrats hoped to pick off mitch mcconnell, but a poll has mcconnell with a nine--point lead over lundergan grimes. grimes and clinton were seeking to define mcconnell as a creature washington. >> he doesn't have a plan for the future. he doesn't have a vision that's for me or for you because our senator bought and paid for by the millionaires and billionaires, that's all he's been looking out for. >> m

and there's the sense that, joni ernst, she's really attractive, and she sounds nice. well, i got to thinking about that. i don't care if she's as good looking as taylor swift or the nice mr. rogers, but if she votes like michele bachmann, she's wrong for the state of iowa. >> this is a tough counterpunch. >> i was very offended that senator harkin would say that. i think it's unfortunate that he and many of their party believe that you can't be a real woman if you're conservative and you're female. again, i'm greatly offended about that. if my name had been john ernst, attached to my resume, senator harkin would not have said those things. >> that's called an attack from a defensive position. the most powerful thing in politics when you're defending yourself and your honor, people root for you. >> and, chris, one thing that really comes up with this mess with harkin, what an unforced error. today was the day that bruce braley wanted to be on message, talking about medicare, social security, talking about the health care law, which is somewhat popular here in iowa. not

joni ernst 51% and bruce braley at 44%. there is joni ernst yesterday. what is interesting is the incumbent, tom harkin, the democrat, long time there, says she's really a nice person, but then he kind of goes off the rails with this sound bite. listen to this. >> [inaudible] joni ernst, she is really attractive and she [inaudible] i got to thinking about that. i don't care if she's good-looking as taylor swift or as nice as [inaudible] but if she votes like michele bachmann, she is wrong. >> hold it. mr. rogers is not on the ballot. >> why do we focus so much, especially on women that are running for office, why do we focus on their looks? why don't we focus on their policies? he talks about she is attractive and she seems like she is nice. that doesn't have anything to do with it. there is a double standard. >> isn't there a book about how people in the senate were judging michele bachmann for how attractive she is. >> you can't be a pretty woman and run for office? >> she is going to be with us at 7:45 eastern time right here on "fox & friends." meanw

i think we're going to talk about joni ernst later.took a nobody and propelled her to the general election. >> let's play her ad next. she's running the republican campaign for the senate in iowa and this big ad got a lot of attention as you pointed out. >> i'm joni ernest. i grew up castrating hawinogs o iowa form so when i get to washington, ooii'll now how to pork. i approve this message because washington is full of big spenders. let's make them squeal. >> fred, you were not involved with this ad but i have seen you talk in the past about how important it is to stand out and surprise people. clearly this ad stood out from all the pack. >> when i saw that ad, joni was not expected to be a major player in that race, and when i saw the ad, i thought it was brilliant and i said, she is going to be. she's going to be in the general and she'll probably win. i think joni will win. >> what do you say to the criticism about this is pretty cynic cynical. you're not telling them the positives but you're playing to their emotions? >> i don't t

gardner is charming and joni ernst is charming.teresting about the two of them is that they're incredibly relentless in their belief structure. even though they dialed back, the things that republicans value, family, joni ernst is a veteran, people -- republicans don't prioritize that issue the way democrats look at and do. and i think that they came out to vote in the miniscule amount that democrats came out to vote, they said no on personhood but they did say yes on gardner because gardner seemed authentic to the base. >> jonathan, i want to go to you because you're on capitol hill. i'm wondering also about the temptation to senate stardom. there is this factor called ted cruz who's going to try to lead the new senators into the right, his camp. and he'll be competing in a way with a cory gardner and with a joni ernst for the limelight. does that then change the nature of the 016 conversation? because they're both potentially in it, too. >> right, it does. but i'm going to challenge your assumption here. yes, ted cruz is in the s

you're talking about joni ernst. he's talking about her skills on the farm and what she thinks will help her in wug. take a listen. >> i grew up castrating hogs on aiowa farm. so when i get to washington, i'll know how to cut pork. >> joni ernst, mother, soldier, conservative. >> reporter: and you take a listen to what she said there, said she wants to make them squeal when he gets to washington. but her campaign has had a lot of momentum and because of that some think she may pull out the win for the gop today, brooke. >> we know the seat is open because the democrat is retiring and he had some comments about joni ernst and taylor swift the other day. tell me about that. >> reporter: ernest, he managed to put her, michele bachmann and mr. rogers all in the same comment. take a listen. >> joni ernst, he's really attractive. and she sounds nice. well i got to thinking about that. i don't care if she's as good looking as taylor swift or as nice as mr. rogers, but if she votes like michele bachmann, she's wrong for the

what have they got joni ernst to do in the last few weeks?abolishing the department of education, abolishing the epa, getting rid of the federal minimum wage. so we're starting to see sort of a repackaging, if you will, of joni ernst in the final weeks, making the race about personality and charisma, something that's beneficial to her over bruce braley who is not able to match her on those traits. >> maybe less talk about impeaching the president. luke russert, thanks as always. good luck to you out there. >>> the fight here in new hampshire is getting downright nasty. here is the chair of the new hampshire gop. >> this is our time. we need to crush it. we need to grab it, run with it, push their heads under, over and over again until they cannot breathe anymore. >> more on the granite state, including what the candidates told me today, just ahead. wethey were a littlehorizons to mbit skeptical.ss, what they do actually is rocket science. but at ge capital we also bring expertise from across ge, like lean process engineers we asked who does w

. >> fox news can protect that republican joni ernst will win there by giving republicans control of the united states senate. and dealing a major blow to president obama's agenda. >> nbc news has been able to make a call in one of the most important senate races in the country. this is the enchilada for the republican party. >> the republicans will take control of the united states senate. they will be in the majority in the next united states senate. >> the mainstream media giving gop are some minimalizing because of the losses. and did the prognosticators miss the magnitude of this by leaning too heavily on polls? many turned to be out wrong. president obama being portrayed as some, set up, resigned and resentful. is the press wright him off as a failure? the tv reporter who says they wouldn't run her pieces, the

joni ernst is on deck. many republicans tying their oh own don't president obama. now the white house seems to be downplaying the president's role in the outcome. will the mid-terms be a referendum on him? martha: a truck load jet fuel collides with a jet. billjet.. bill: joni ernst voting in her own town. >> just like taylor swift says, we are going to shake this off. we'll drive on and share my message with iowans. that's what's important in the final hours of this election cycle. martha: police in los angeles trying to figure out what cause the a fuel truck to collide with an american airlines plane. nobody was on that plane, thankfully and no fuel spilled. there was no fire, thank goodness. bill: 9:13 in new york. the polls are open in iowa and des moines and southwest of des moines in red oak, iowa, joni ernst just cast her balance. she joined me to explain the status for the race for the senate in that tight, tight state. senate candidate joni ernst is with me. welcome back to america's newsroom. >> good morning, bill. bill: where do you believe this race is

senators, the largest number to date when shelly moore capito of west virginia and joni ernst of ioware sworn in. there will be the same number of female senators, 20, and possibly a 21 after a december runoff decides the fate of louisiana. one democrat kay hagan was unseated. in the u.s. house a record 81 women will be serving three women remain in races still too close to call n new york republican elise stefanik became the youngest woman elected to congress and north carolina's representative alma adams became the 100th woman elected to congress. with one-third of voters going to the poll it is appears the gender gap helped republicans not democrats this year. women made up 51% of the electorate down from 53% in 2012. voters under 30 made of 13% of all voters down from 19% in 2012. congressman norton, it was -- congresswoman norton it was older and whiter than two years ago, where were the young voters and single women? >> you will see the real america out next time. that should give the democrats time to finally figure out how to get to the polls during midterms. the democratic ma

using joni ernst's looks.he interesting part of the whole thing, harken wasn't talking about bruce braley talking about being a good candidate, they have nothing to go on. >> she's going to win and iowans like her because of her candidacy, because of what she stands for, and she doesn't have tired talking points, they're choosing her in the because she's a woman, because she's the best candidate. >> don't elect somebody because he's charismatic, or don't elect someone because of his race. is that what harken was trying to say or was he sexist? >> i don't know where his taste in women are a little different than mine. but i think she's run a very good campaign, a substantive campaign, the real problem here is, you keep talking about my man bill clinton, the fact of the matter is, among blacks in this country, if the republicans would spend just some time, just some time trying to engage with the black community, it would not be as much of a wall between them. >> what happens when they -- >> rand paul did it in

ads and there's sort of this sense that well, you know, i hear so much about joni ernst. she's really attractive and she sounds nice. well, i got to thinking about that. i don't care if she's as good-looking as taylor swift or as nice and mr. rogers, but if she votes like michelle bauchmann she's wrong for the state of iowa. >> i shouldn't have said those things. i know that. i regret any time someone feels offended by what i have said. but i am only human and i can make mistakes sometimes. i have complimented her on running a good campaign. >> egyptian officials tell the ap that egypt is holding talks with saudi arabia and united arab imrants and kuait. meanwhile, the u.s. is considering new strikes on another militant group in syria. they're connected to al qaeda and considered a rival to the islamic state and this comes as the u.s. is down playing gains made by the group in syria. they defeated u.s. backed rebels many of whom defected yet officials say it's a temporary set back and france is warning the u.s. coalition must help rebels have second largest city from mili