i think everyone outside new york city thought michael grimm is the easiest target.e re-election. but if you know staten island, you know that the borough tends to vote republican in congress. you also know that the borough or that that district tends to vote for someone who is from staten island. >> one more question before i go and it gets back to the question you originally asked him about a year ago, the one that caused this threat. you were bringing up his scandals. it was an important question to ask. would you do it again? i mean, this is basically our job as journalists, right, to make these people uncomfortable without hopefully any threats as a result. >> of course. i definitely would ask that question again. the reason i ask the question and i know there are people who thought why would he ask a question like that after the state of union address, and the reason i asked it was because just a week or two earlier someone associated with him had been indicted. so we weren't able to get him on the record prior to that. since he was right in front of me, i real

that was how the year began for congressman michael grimm. staten island republican threatened to throw him off the balcony after questioning him on a federal investigation. a few months later, grimm was indieted on 20 federal charges. facing a possible prison sentence, you think grksz rimm would be facing a tough bid for re-election. but, today, he found himself among this list, eight candidates we can't believe might actually win. not only is it looking like greg will be re-elected, it is looking like he might be elected with a wide margin. if he comes in at 20, he can go with solid points for every indictment tomorrow. he found hymn else in the daily performance which included bribing fourn policy credentials. i've been to israel, i've been to italy, i've been to many, many countries across the world. responses like that may have prompted to openly route for michael to win re-election and then go to prison. should he be convicted, he's paving for a design against two candidates, all the better. >>> there's also don young. we'll call him as

. >> michael grimm made the choice to go from upholding the law to breaking it. and in so doing, he turned his back on every oath he had ever taken. >> reporter: joe johns, cnn, washington. >>> a man who knows a thing or two about being the attorney general is alberto gonzalez. he was george w. bush's a.g. and is now teaching law at belmont university, where he serves at the dean of the law school. mr. gonzalez, thank you so much for coming on the show to talk to us. i think a lot of people are curious to learn more about what the process is like. what is loretta lynch about to go through? >> something that she hasn't experienced before. let me first begin by congratulating ms. lynch on the nomination. obviously, it's a great day for her and her family and a day of great pride for the african-american community. she's been confirmed twice. i think most people fail to understand that for many u.s. attorneys, u.s. marshals, if the home state center supports you, often times you get through an easy confirmation, with maybe one or two questions. and you may get confi

. >> congressman michael grimm who represents staten island and part of brooklyn was also indicted on 20 counts of fraud later this year related to his previous career as a health food restaurateur. but then democrats nominated a guy named dominic recchia to oppose grimm. and he didn't actually distinguish himself on the campaign trail. last night michael grimm broke dominic recchia in half like a little boy by a comfortable 13 points. he took a victory lap, basking in the adoration of his fellow staten islanders before he goes back to face barack obama and a criminal trial set to begin december 1st. >> you stand by me against all the odds. you stood by me when i needed you most. know this. i will never, ever forget, and i never stop working hard. >> "new york post" reported the congressman's body man feeling the celebratory mood told the crowd all members of team grimm, meet me at the bar for f-ing shots. a republican congressman who nobody expected to lose and in fact did. a guy you probably didn't hear about. congressman steve southerland, two-term representative for a district in

responses like that may have prompted the new york daily news to openly root for michael grimm to wine democrats fielded a candidate to ill informed that voting for a thuggish republican starts to make rational sense. should he be convicted grimm will resign. grim isn't the only republican or candidate to recently threaten physical violence that's don young, alaska's 21-term at, large congressman. his race, even though young reportedly threatened his democratic opponent before a debate as dunbar recalled he snarled at me and said, don't ever touch me me. last guy who touched me ended up on the ground dead. we have not gotten any firm denials from his office whether that's true or not. despite that, and other recent comments young as has made, like telling a group in the senior center their government handouts have led to high suicide rates, looks like don young is going back to congress. and also governor paula page o maine. seen threatening nurse kaci hickox, who tested negative for ebola, noting, we're trying to protect her but she is not acting as smart as she probably could or sho

congratulations on your reelection, michael grimm.e back." [ applause ] we'd also like to welcome back maine's governor paul lepage. lepage got reelected despite telling the naacp they could kiss his butt and comparing the irs to the gestapo. he also defended the use of the controversial chemical bpa in plastic bottles, saying that in the worst case scenario, some women may develop, quote, little beards. [ laughter ] i don't think the worst case scenario is little beards, i think the worst case scenario is two-term maine governor paul lepage. are you a lobster, lepage? because you're on a roll. welcome back. new york city welcomes back congressman charlie rangel. rangel's been formally censured by his colleagues for a slew of ethics violations. do you know how hard it is so get censured in congress for ethics violations? that's like getting kicked out of burning man for not showering enough. rangel's the first congressman to be censured since 1983. you would think anyone could beat him. how did he win? no one ran against him. so congr

. >> michael grimm made the choice to go from upholding the law to breaking it., he turned his back on every oath he had ever taken. >> reporter: joe johns, cnn, washington. >>> good evening, everyone. you're in the "cnn newsroom," i'm poppy harlow. it is cnn breaking news this hour. two american citizens both sentenced to years of hard labor in north korea are now free. they are on their way home. this is a great news story. matthew todd miller, seven months detained. kenneth bae, two years detained. they were both released, surprisingly today. they are now in the air and expected to land on the west coast tonight. now that these two men are out, that leaves no more americans detained in north korea. this is the day that kenneth bae's family and my next guest have been waiting for for a very long time. david sugarman is founder of bring bae back campaign. he's a close family friend. he has been talking to them all day. thank you for being here. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> wow. this is so good. so unexpected. how is the family doing? what are they saying?

the one thing she has more recently is this prosecution of michael grimm who's the congressman, the republican congressman from staten island who, by the way, just won reelection despite the fact that he's under indictment. so talked to voters down there in brooklyn and staten island. she was prosecuting that case. she's leading that case and she was very -- she did a press conference in which she had some very strong words about the congressman. he is calling the prosecution politically motivate sod expect that line of attack to come from his people probably in the next few weeks. >> evan, a great reporting on this, breaking the news that president obama's choice to head up the justice department will be loretta lynch, 55 years old. i want to bring in dana bash. dana, this will be a confirmation process. we don't know yet the timing of it if the president -- i assume he will try to figure out a way to get this through in some kind of lame duck. any sense how the senate will deal with it? >> it's a good question. unclear if republicans in the senate will allow it to happen in the lame duck. it

congressman michael grimm. >> michael grimm made the choice from upholding the law to breaking it and every oath he had ever taken. >> reporter: joe johns, cnn, washington. >>> new information on air strikes in iraq coming into cnn right now. details after the break. so you can see like right here i can just... you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron! whoa. ah...yeah, pretty much walked into that one. geico anywhere anytime. just a tap away on the geico app. so ally bank really has no hidden fethat's right. accounts? it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates. doctors have been prescribingdecade, nexium to patients just like you. for many, prescription nexium helps heal acid-related erosions in the lining of the esophagus. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesi

. >> let's step over it and talk about michael grimm. >> he's on our hit parade also, almost literallyongressman who did not like the question that a reporter from new york one was asking, and so he threatened to throw him over the balcony of the russell rotunda. that's considered bad form. however, he did get reelected. >> he did get reelected. well, that sounds like some good five turkey talking points we have for 20 14. >> i will point out, as you just showed a moment ago, the president did pardon those turkeys. unfortunately, a lot of these turkeys probably shouldn't be pardoned. >> thank you so much, bob. we appreciate that. we'll have mac and cheese on our table, too. >>> well, a family in minnesota will be celebrating thanksgiving today with one chair empty. but a decision a young man made before he died assured another family wouldn't have to. nbc's kate snow reports. >> reporter: matthew heisler was a junior at the university of north dakota when his parents and sister got the 4:00 a.m. call last spring. his roommate had dragged him out of a burning house. >> he was very tende

there was a poll out this week, put michael grimm ahead by 19 points and that caught a lot of peopley surprise. he may survive this election and then faces a trial starting in early december. those are some races to keep an eye on in the house, again. the key is republicans are trying to get that majority as high as they can this year because anticipating a tough year in 2016. they want what they call a waveproof majority. democrats are looking to keep their losses to as small as they can because they think with hillary clinton on the top of the ticket in 2016 and maybe a better climate then if they can get close enough, be within striking distance this year and maybe they could have a wave in 2016 that could put them in good time. that is what to look for in the house on tuesday. >>> checking with reporters on the ground in some of the tightest battle ground races. chris matthews, an exciting morning. stay with us. ron, zach, and cle. we have a serious hairball issue. we clean it up, turn around, and there it is again. it's scary. little bit in my eye. [ michelle ] underneath the ki

attorney, is a 21-count felony indictment against a conservative a congressman named michael grimm.e really does have 20 felony charges pending against him, and staten island just re-elected him. he's indicted. they re-elected him and he is going back to washington, and that becomes a whole new awkward. hold that thought. the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it. now jump off the bridge. what? in 3...2...1... are you kidding me? go. right on time. right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. we call that predictable. thrillingly predictable. lbut once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it.ress. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. tide and downy together. really... it's not worth it. no worries. i got this. ♪ a 2.7 gigahertz turbo processor. kevlar fiber durability. turbo charge for up to 8 hours of battery in just 15 minutes. introducing droid turbo by motorola. ["mony mony" by billy idole she cokicks in on car stereo]y". ♪don't stop

gop congressman michael grimm won his third term in district 11. grimm prevailed despite an indictment for alleged corruption against him. and former "american idol" contestant clay aiken finishes in second place again his hopes were dashed by incumbent marinee ellmers in north carolina. >> remember, we told you we're going to go all day with you and we may wind up here tomorrow morning not knowing everything. we're right. starting with cnn drew griffin in alaska. we know it's hard to poll there but also to count the votes going on all through the night. drew, how's is going this morning? a lot of people behind you. >> reporter: yeah, tearing down the party behind me, buddy. listen, it's getting cold because they're opening up the doors. 90% of voters counted. dan sullivan, the republican challenger to the democrat incumbent mark begich. looks like he's going to win. smells like a victory here but nobody is calling anything in this race. why? we've asked both campaigns. the sullivan campaign said look there's no mathematical possibly begich could w

a terrorist a few years ago in new york and more recently she indicted republican congressman michael grimm who is from staten island. that case is still pending. i don't expect that will be a big part of the discussion. >> evan perez, thank you very much with that update on a possible new attorney general choice. >>> also in political news, a full three days after the vote, we finally have a winner in the virginia senate race. ed gillespie conceded that race and called mark warner to congratulation him. it is one in the win column, a rarity in this election, for democrats. there is a senate race still undecided in louisiana. a recount expected there. >>> the u.s. reaches out to iran in the battle against the terror group. president obama reached out to the leader and said it's about cooperation. sus sus susan rice spoke out. >> i'm not going to comment on any private communications between the president and any world leader. but i will say this. first of all, as i've said repeatedly in public, we are in no way engaged in any military coordination with iran on countering isil. the fact of t

she also charged michael grimm with wire fraud and perjury earlier this year. president obama was able to tell some clear accomplishments. >> the good news is today we saw another good set of jobs numbers. we now have 56 consecutive months of job growth. more than 10.6 million jobs have been created and the unemployment rate is now down to 5.8%. even as we enter into a new congress, the previous congress has promised to make progress on a bunch of fronts. >> much need to be done this year during the current lame duck congress, according to the white house. like emergency funding to combat ebola. and the request for an additional $5.6 billion in the fight against isis. it will deemployee 1500 additional personnel to iraq in the coming months in what it calls a non-combat role. that deployment will double the u.s. troop presence in iraq. today's two-hour lunch meeting also dwoet edwoeted a healthy af time to what has emerged as the biggest brewing bulge in the white house. soon after speaker john boehner departed the white house, his office issued a statement rea

>> i think the biggest surprise is that congressman michael grimm, republican from new york under a 20 count criminal indictment, even he won his race. >> that's how bad a night it is, they couldn't beat the guy who was indicted. this is a complete wipeout for the republicans. in danger of it losing 15 or 16 seats. never mind the governor's mance and control of the senate. this will be the largest republican house majority in 60 years. >> that's how big this night is for the g.o.p. >> mike viqueira, democrats reading the polls, was there any sense they were concerned about a blowout like this tonight? >> i think we saw some statements in the closing hours of this campaign from the president and top leaders here in washington on the democratic side that definitely had a sense of foreboding. i don't think anybody anticipated some of the raises that we have seen, including the governors' races where democrats in blue states are on the virg of losing. in neighboring maryland chris van holland is still locked in a tight race. it doesn't get any blueern maryland in beth he is did a and potom

what she's best known for recently is the indictment of new york congressman michael grimm. >> he madeding the law to breaking it. in so doing, he turned his back on every oath he had ever taken. >> joe johns, cnn, washington. >>> keep it here on cnn. we'll bring you the president's announcement a little later this morning. >> as soon as it happens. >>> meanwhile, busy day and we want to get you your morning read. >> in weather the story is amazing. alaska bracing for what may be or end up being the biggest storm, i don't like to play it up, but it's supposedly the biggest storm to hit the region. >> jennifer gray, please walk us through this. this is a monster thing. >> it's going down in the record books as the biggest storm ever. so, of course, we're going to be updating you on that all morning. it's going to have indirect impacts on the u.s. it's going to cause a large dip in the jet stream, bring temperatures way down into next week. highs in the 20s in minneapolis, highs in chicago only in the 30s. east coast, not as chilly. the fronts lose a lot as they travel. keep highs in the

. >> reporter: michael grimm to face charges of criminal justice and tax evasion is pulling slightlyent despite a serious lack of interpersonal skills. despite that, he won rudy giuliani's endorsement. political experts say increased partisanship means that candidates' baggage often matters less than whether they have a d or an r after their name. >> as long as you're wearing the right-colored jersey in your district, it doesn't matter if you will be wearing a jumpsuit in a couple months, you still have a shot at winning. >> that's just the congressional candidates. in rhode island a two-time exconvict is running for mayor of providence. actually, he's running to become mayor again. he left office twice. first time after pleading no contest to assault charges. the second on a federal racketeering conviction. to talk about the appeal of colorful political figures is paul begala and alex castellanos. >> why us? >> two altar boys here. >> clearly being a thief or a sexual harasser is a step up from being a congressman so -- >> is it unusual crop or -- >> it seems like it. we should take

the question was, would michael grimm's margin exceed the counts of his indictment? [laughter] and the answer is he fell short. he won by 13, 20 counts in the indictment, so... so much for the anti-incumbent wave that we have out there. for the stunned democrats coming back to washington, the one bright spot, now they can get legal marijuana in the district. [laughter] a couple of just bullet points. we talked the last time about the democratic turnout machine. we reflected on it last time. i think it's just worth repeating here. turnout machines can be very sophisticated and very great. but you still have to get voters who want to turn out. and i mentioned the old joke about the company that did the most dazzling advertising campaign ever for a dog food. and it flopped completely. when they analyzed it, it was because the dogs didn't like it. [laughter] if your voters do not see a reason to vote, you can call them. you can offer them transportation to the polls. you can tell them you'll take the mail-in ballot and stick it in the mailbox, and it will not matter very

the question was, would michael grimm's margin exceed the counts of his indictment? [laughter] and the answer is he fell short. he won by 13, 20 counts in the indictment, so, so much for the anti-incumbent wave that we have out there. for the stunned democrats coming back to washington, the one bright spot, now they can get legal marijuana in the district. [laughter] a couple of just bullet points. we talked the last time about the democratic turnout machine. we reflected on it last time. i think it's just worth repeating here. turnout machines can be very sophisticated and very great. but you still have to get voters who want to turn out. and i mentioned the old joke about the company that did the most dazzling advertising campaign ever for a dog food. and it flopped completely. when they analyzed it, it was because the dogs didn't like it. [laughter] if your voters do not see a reason to vote, you can call them. you can offer them transportation to the polls. you can tell them you'll take the mail-in ballot and stick it in the mailbox, and it will not matter very m

the question was, would michael grimms' numbers exceed the counts of his indictment. he fell short. he won by 13, 20 counts in the indictment. so much for the anti-incumbent wave out there. for the stunned and disillusioned democrats coming back to washington, the one bright spot, now they can get legal marijuana. a couple of just bullet points. we talked the last time about the democratic turnout machine. we reflected on it last time. i think it's worth repeating here. turnout machines can be very sophisticated and very great, but you still have to get voters who want to turn out. i mention the old joke about the company that did the most dazzling advertising campaign ever for a dog food and it flopped. when they annized it, it was because of dogs didn't like it. if your voters do not see a reason to vote, you can call them, you can offer them transportation to the polls, you can tell them you will take the mail-in ballot and stuick it in the mailbox and it will not matter very much. that's what happened this time. the turnout for democrats was in almost every category lower than i

. >> and michael grimm. >> my point is where you have the competitive races, the house races are verympetitive states, that's where republicans will win some seats, that they'll lose, by the way, in two years, but they'll pad their majority to have a firewall in case hillary clinton wins big. >> i think a clean sweep for reps would be bad for 2016, but -- for them. >> never bad to get the majority for your party. >> what do you think is the bellwether tonight? what race are you looking at tonight? what early returns are you looking at to see if it's a big night for republicans or if democrats will hold serve? >> i think you have to keep an eye on new hampshire. if scott brown wins early, i think we'll see a wave, republicans winning in blue states they weren't always expected to win. he's run on a hawkish message on foreign policy, taking advantage of the rise of the islamic state, has run hard against ebola. if brown can eke out a win -- >> we've been talking about how things favor republicans. here's a state where you have a guy from another stake that has gone to new hampshire, he'

here was an interesting race, gop congressman michael grimm won his third term, defeating his opponentyork's district 11. grimm prevailed despite an indictment against him for alleged corruption. >>> and former "american idol" contestant clay aiken will not get to sit in the house, his hopes for a set in congress were dashed by incumbent rene ellmers in north carolina. >> we can say it was a grand night for the grand old party. republicans now have control of both houses of congress and there are promises to replace stalemate with cooperate it reasons, but is it real? let's bring in cnn's dana bash in washington. >> the metaphor behind you of the capital under reconstruction, let's see how they rebuild it. >> boy, wouldn't that be nice. i'm the eternal optimist and i think that when mitch mcconnell and john boehner and other top republicans who i've spoke within, texted with last night say that they really do want to try to govern in a way they couldn't before, they mean it not just because you know they want the country to be better. i think that you know, everybody had agreed, not be

the problem, michael recchia from staten island, grimm beat him by 13 points, indictment and all. >>> democratic candidate bill enyart, melt down mike after proudly shooting a neighbor's dog a few years ago and then repeatedly blowing a gasket as a state lawmaker. >> released from egypt let my people go! >> despite the accusation that boss could make washington worse he still won by 11 points. >>> in michigan's district, foreclosure mill, trout was hit in the campaign with this. >> dave trout has made millions foreclosing on michigan's families. people like 101-year-old mrs. hollis thrown out of her house of 50 years and onto the street. he's asked to represent us in congress. >> most everyone agreed that was the most brutal ad of the campaign and yet trout still won by 16 points. amazing. in minnesota's 8th congressional district, stewart mills against rick nolan. they took off on his hair. >> lucky for stewart mills iii he inherited millions and a job with six figures. he is running for congress to give millionaires like himself another big tax break. >> nolan beat the republican mi

. >> in new york's 11th congressional district michael grimm winning against domenic recchia. sixth congressional district with mowlton at 52% and tisei 42%. this is one of the races where democrats hoping for a pickup. we carried a rather contentious debate but literry 52%. in terms of raw numbers that's under 28,000 votes compared to brad ashford who has about 43% of the vote or about 23,000 of the votes. another race we were watching bill schuster winning re-election in his race with about 40% of the vote now reporting. we're keeping an eye on that virginia senate race looking a map of the state. we're looking for a lot of the results to come from northern virginia which will be key to whether or not ed gilepsie is able to hold on to his seat. and i know reid wilson and others will be writing a lot tomorrow morning. >> as you were talking we saw the results on the ticker on the bottom and it is neck-and-neck 48 with pat roberts race for re-election. what you do think? >> na is a race that's real tough. pat roberts ran the worst campaign of any incumbent seeking re-election