and one of the finest governors in this country, ted strickland. and first lady frances strickland.ee and all the members of the congressional delegation. [unintelligible] marcia fudge, of course. is marcia here? we love marcia, i love marcia. that is my girl. [applause] we were acknowledging those folks that were in the crowd. marcia is going to do a great job. but joe biden and diei have been traveling all across the country. there are a lot of places where we're doing a lot of great work. but there are very few places where we are doing as much good work as we were doing right here in ohio. and cleveland, in just tw of days, you've got the chance -- >> yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! >> i cannot hear you.

ted strickland his numbers were suffering more early on in the race. he has fought back.almost a dead heat in the public polling going in. republicans that i've talked to and democrats but the republicans feel better about this race than the democrats do going in here. we do have the former congressman in kasich. they were hoping that his attachment tolyman brothers would be a big drag on him. the whole collapse of the economy. they tried to pin that on him. that did not have as much traction as the democrats hoped. ted strickland is suffering under an economically bruised midwest state like ohio. >> ifill: we should say it's to nobody's surprise they've declared a winner in the senate race and that's rob portman former trade commissioner under president bush and now apparently the senator-elect. let's go to virginia. a little district tom, the president tried to campaign on his behalf. his first time... first-term incumbent returning against two other people. >> well the republican and state ten tore robert hurt and jeffrey clark is the independent candidate in the case.

[applause] and one of the finest governor's in this country, ted strickland. st lady frances strickland. [applause] we are here for ted and lee and all the members of the congressional delegation. [crowd murmuring] marcia was not on the list. is she here? we love her. she is just not here, that is all. that is my girl. we were knowledge and those in the crowd, but we love her. she will do a great job. joe biden and dime -- i have been traveling all across the country. there are a lot of places where we are doing a lot of great things. there are very few places where we are doing as much good work as we are doing right here in ohio. cleveland, in just two days you have the chance. [crowd chanting "yes we can."] [cheers and applause] >> i cannot hear you. did you just say, "yes we can"? [crowd chanting] in two days, you have a chance toffect the state for years to come just a kid in 2008. you can confi conventional wisdom, the scale was dumb that says you cannot oveome the cynicism in our policy. you cannot overcome all the special interest and their money. you c

democrat ted strickland governor ted strickland under john kasich by 2% right there and then we're going to florida now. a couple of races we're starting to see a little bit of a pulp away. republican rick scott up by about 5% over democrat sink. to the illinois goff... goff inner's race there. pat quinn is leading now by almost 10%. over republican bill brady. gwen, back to you. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. r>> lehrer: i'm jim leer. we'll see you online for a special web cast starting in a few minutes at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. and again here later tonight for a pbs newshour election special at 11:00 p.m. eastern. and of course on the newshour tomorrow night. for now, thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. rer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

so does ted strickland, the outgoing governor understands that. >> before we let you go, i want to ask earmarks. >> you got $84 million in earmarks that you sponsored or co-sponsored. are you going to continue to do that, or is the pressure coming now from republicans and mitch mcconnell's decision to say no more? >> i don't know what they're going to do in reality. what i want to do is continue to work with rob portman as i did with george voinovich. >> they have udahl and the democratic caucus so far. i assume governor mansion will be with them, but if these new democrats coming in are with them, do you see any pressure, or do you think -- >> i also know what doing the right thing is about, and earmarks, so long they're transparent and dp through the process, they help hospitals, they help clinics, they help educational establishments. they can be a good thing for our country, and mitch mcconnell knows that. he did it for years. i think that debate will go on, but basically the republicans are using it because they don't realliment to deal with the suggest -- the real budget issues t

in the bellwether state of ohio, it's democrat ted strickland against republican john kasich. and in florida, republican rick scott is battling democrat alex sink. president obama is not on the ballot, but he's been campaigning as if he were. and many voters say this election is, as bob mentioned, is a referendum on his presidency. chip reid is at the white house tonight. >> reporter: even on election day, the president was still campaigning. >> if you vote, you get a say in that future. >> reporter: targeting young voters on web sites like youtube and aol.com. >> when you don't vote, you leave the decisions that affect your life up to someone else. >> reporter: and reaching out to minority voters with another series of interviews on urban radio stations, which included some harsh words for republicans: >> reporter: and the president was doing those interviews right into the evening hoping to convince people to vote on their way home from work. katie? >> couric: chip reid. thank you, chip. the highest profile senate race tonight is in nevada where, as we've mentioned, democrat

this one was about keeping a governor in office, ohio governor ted strickland. why is that so important? because two years from now when president obama is up for reelection, it would be a huge advantage to have a democrat in the governor's mansion in this vital battleground state. >> mitchell: i understand later in the week the president is going to get out of town in a big way, is that true? >> he sure is. he is going to asia for ten days. so if there are any recounts going on, he will be following the news from overseas. >> mitchell: okay, chip reid with the president in cleveland. thanks a lot. and taking a look at one of the critical contest we're following, republicans are eyeing the open senate seat in the battleground state of pennsylvania. this one is a close one. a new poll shows republican pat toomey is now two points ahead of the democrat, joe sestak. down from a five point lead less than a week ago. elaine quijano has more on this neck-and-neck battle. >> pennsylvania republican pat toomey is relentless on his attacks on president obama and the demo

suggests his efforts may fall short and that a republican wave may defeat democratic governor ted strickland and a host of other democratic hopefuls and if that happens here and elsewhere, the man attending this rally tonight-- representative john boehner of ohio-- will be the next speaker of the house. katie? >> couric: dean reynolds, thank you. one of the stranger senate race this is year is in the state of alaska. it's two republicans against a democrat. and john blackstone in anchorage reports this battle could go well past election day. >> reporter: the battle for alaska's senate seat began in earnest when tea party backed republican joe miller defeated incumbent lisa murkowski in the primary. she launched an ambitious write- in campaign. now democrats see some chance their candidate, scott mcadams, could benefit from the republican split. >> this state isn't as hard and fast republican as you might think. >> reporter: ads by supporters of both republicans are now targeting mcadams. >> he's not electable. >> alaska can't afford scott mcadams. >> reporter: suggesting they've started seei

host: declaring victory at his campaign headquarters in ohio, the republican defeating democrat ted stricklande-term democrat losing tonight. let's look at some of the other results. first of all, gov. quinn had 46%. this is a slim margin over brady. in florida, where rick scott, the republican candidate is ahead slightly over democrat alex sink. harry reid is at his campaign headquarters in las vegas. he has been declared the winner over his opponent. we're keeping an eye on his campaign headquarters. when he comes out, we will take it to you live. in the meantime, some of your phone calls. caller: thank you for taking my call. i appreciate it. i am a longtime democrat but i voted republican today because i wanted to send a message. i wanted to send a message to the incumbent politicians that washington is wrong. denise to be a change. i also have a warning for the republicans. i heard a republican politicians say that his mission is to make sure that the president does not get elected again. basically, he is trying to say that his mission is to -- we elected the president to work for us, it

chet culver of iowa, ted strickland of ohio. jon casey, former congressman, beat ted strickland. kasichvernors -- john t. sic beat ted strickland. new governors are sam brownback, rick snyder, mary fallin. do any of those names jump out at you as national figures come 2012, 2016? guest: i think that none really jump out immediately. i think the 2012 group of candidates are kind of set. you never know how any of these folks will distinguish themselves. chris christie in new jersey has been in office for a year and has jumped out in a way that people are talking about him for president. off the top of my head, i do not see any of that now. a lot of them have been around. they have been in politics. sam brownback was in the senate and tried to run for president a couple of years ago. it did not work out too well for him, so we will have to see. host: "washington times" this morning -- "2012 republican dark horses at the starting gate." jindall ofed a louisiana. jim demint, just reelected. alvin green has about 30% of the vote. the candidate who mysteriously appeared. chris christie,

[cheers and applause] >> in the ohio governor race, democratic incumbent ted strickland was defeatedlect kasich. ♪ [cheers and applause] >> guess what? i'm going to be governor of ohio. we want to thank you, ohio, for the confidence you have shown in me tonight. i want to thank my wife. how about this wifi have, huh? and my daughters, anna and -- emma and reece. they joined me on the trail and they were exceptional. they are great, great part of the family. so i went to think of the many supporters, volunteers, and staff who have worked so hard over the past many months. this is all about the team. this team is not going away. you are staying with us all the way through. i needed to have your commitment. we have to do this together and rebuild this state together. [applause] i would think people on both sides of the aisle including my opponent for participating vigorously in ohio's political process. the governor called me. we had a good conversation. he pledged to help in any way that he could. democracy only works when people engage in it. ohio lines have engaged robustly this year

john kasich the republican is up by 2% over ted strickland. we'll check back in on that race later tonight. in the senate wisconsin's russ feingold handed a defeat tonight. ron johnson will become the next senator of wisconsin. then in illinois, al ly giannoulias is in a very tight race. the democrat is trailing republican mark kirk by just about 1%. finally in colorado, we see a little bit of a gap emerging here with i think 22% of the precincts reporting if i read that correctly. michael bennett at 50% over republican and tea party supported canned dade ken buck. those are some of the latest results that we have. we'll try to keep you up to date later in the hour. >> lehrer: here with me now are shields and brooks. syndicated columnist mark shields, "new york times" columnist david brooks. mark, is it just my imagination or are there more close races this time? if so, why are they so? is that a reflection of just how divided the country is? is that going too far? >> i don't know if it's an indication of just how divided it is but.... >> lehr

former congressman john kasich is is running against democratic incumbent ted strickland, a popular governorse with a very tough economy. cbs news political analyst john dickerson in washington is following all these races and john, ohio is particularly important for the white house. >> that's absolutely right. winning a state like new york is great for democrats, but ohio is one of the nine presidential battleground states. strategists from both parties are already looking ahead to the next election because a candidate, if there is a governor of a party in their state it gives them a leg up in terms of organization. of the nine battleground states in play, barack obama won all in 2008 and pennsylvania as you mentioned looks like it will have a republican governor so that means the president has to hope that ohio and florida come through to help him with his next presidential race. >> couric: then let's talk about the fact that many of these winning governors will be redrawing congressional districts, john. >> every 10 years after the census they redraw the districts for the house. the gover

republicans except in the governor's race it was only a two-point margin between the incumbent democrat ted strickland and the challenger the republican challenger who won john kasick. like maine we have a dramatic shift in terms behalf the party has done. the house and the governor's office were both controlled by democrats going into this election. the senate has been long controlled by republicans in ohio. now everything is red. the entire state is red including the u.s. senator we sent to join our democratic u.s. senator who is already there, sherrod brown. >> ifill: who are the voters who drove this shift in wisconsin. >> a different electorate than two or four years ago, older and more conservative. but i think more than anything else it was independent voters which obviously shifted hard to the republican party. and also wisconsin is one of those states where, for example, white blue-collar voters are a majority of the electorate. they have to be part of the coalition for democrats to win. they weren't part of the democratic coalition in this election. democrats lost those voters. as a result t

this may run counter to the point i made i thought one of the best campaigns in the country was ted strickland and ohio. i thought he did a lot of things right. he was in a very difficult situation, 400,000 jobs lost in the first four years as governor. the industrial co midwest, very difficult for democrats to win when as was proven here but i thought he did a lot of very good things i thought they prosecuted the case against john quite well in the long run came up short think he ran a pretty credible campaign himself. it wasn't a huge disparity like i would say with harry reid a great campaign. other people and trying to remind myself. i thought scott walker was good in wisconsin. he's the republican. he ran a smart outside campaign, good ads. this goes to show conventional wisdom isn't or smartness isn't all contained within the bounds of washington. he had a firm -- immediate firm didn't do political tv, something i don't forget the name of it but it's like red box or something it made me think of those places you get the disease, something like that. his ads were quite good. he ran a camp

. >> eugene robinson, i would low to have share with you something ohio governor ted strickland saidive to tax cuts. i would like to see the president say i will not borrow money from china in order to give a tax break to people who make over $1 million a year and there by explode the national debt and say it over and over and over. then he added, like they do on fox news. might we hear something similar to that from the president? >> well, i suppose we might. that is one of the kind of ways this issues has to be finessed. it has to be finessed one way, make it $1 million and not $250,000 or whatever. i'm not sure that is the road the president is going down. i think in the end there is a lot of sentiment on the left of the democratic party to hold tough on the line the president drew, $250,000. in the final analysis, the president -- a deal has to be made and if i had to put money down on it, it would be -- they are going to make a deal. maybe with some sort of finesse about $1 million as opposed to $250,000, maybe they can get that. >> richard, tomorrow is the gm offering and perha

he was challenging ted strickland.southern ohio. -- he won strongly in southern ohio. >> [applause] >> sorry to keep you waiting for so long. >> we love you. >> i love you, too. [applause] everyone knows i am very emotional. i love you all. let me begin by congratulating congressman mark kirk. let's have a round of applause. [applause] i just spoke to the congressmen and he'd made a promise to me that he would never forget who he is fighting for. i think he will make a good senator. i think he will make a strong senator. when she is our senator -- he is our senator and he will help a lot of people. congressman, congratulations to you. make us proud as a senator. you ran a great campaign. to all our elected officials, i want to congratulate the congresswoman for her victory tonight. senator durbin fought for me. senator durbin went to war for me. he worked very hard and he believed in me and i can never repay what he did for me and all the struggle that he put into it this campaign. my respect has only quadrupled and i

[applause] you could not have a better governor than ted strickland. and we have made progress, but i know that sometimes we're dragging out this change, and there are all these negative ads and pundits on tv, and they're still lot of unemployment added. sometimes people feel discouraged. and the excitement of election night and inauguration day a starting to fade. bono was up there and people thought that that was a fun time. and he'd see me on tv, and he is getting gray. [laughter] is starting to look old. [laughter] but look. but, look. [applause] i want you to remember -- do not let anyone tell you that this fight is not worth it. do not let anyone tell you you are not making a difference. because of view, there is a woman somewhere in ohio who no longer has to choose between losing her home and treating her cancer. because of you, somewhere in ohio there is a parent can let their child in the eye and say, yes, you are going to college. we can afford it. because of you, somewhere in ohio, there is a small business owner that kept their doors open.

this may run counter to the point i made i thought one of the best campaigns in the country was ted strickland and ohio. i thought he did a lot of things right. he was in a very difficult situation, 400,000 jobs lost in the first four years as governor. the industrial co midwest, very difficult for democrats to win when as was proven here but i thought he did a lot of very good things i thought they prosecuted the case against john quite well in the long run came up short think he ran a pretty credible campaign himself. it wasn't a huge disparity like i would say with harry reid a great campaign. other people and trying to remind myself. i thought scott walker was good in wisconsin. he's the republican. he ran a smart outside campaign, good ads. this goes to show conventional wisdom isn't or smartness isn't all contained within the bounds of washington. he had a firm -- immediate firm didn't do political tv, something i don't forget the name of it but it's like red box or something it made me think of those places you get the disease, something like that. his ads were quite good. he ran a camp

this may run counter to the point i made i thought one of the best campaigns in the country was ted stricklandnd ohio. i thought he did a lot of things right. he was in a very difficult situation, 400,000 jobs lost in the first four years as governor. the industrial co midwest, very difficult for democrats to win when as was proven here but i thought he did a lot of very good things i thought they prosecuted the case against john quite well in the long run came up short think he ran a pretty credible campaign himself. it wasn't a huge disparity like i would say with harry reid a great campaign. other people and trying to remind myself. i thought scott walker was good in wisconsin. he's the republican. he ran a smart outside campaign, good ads. this goes to show conventional wisdom isn't or smartness isn't all contained within the bounds of washington. he had a firm -- immediate firm didn't do political tv, something i don't forget the name of it but it's like red box or something it made me think of those places you get the disease, something like that. his ads were quite good. he ran a campai

this may run counter to the point i made i thought one of the best campaigns in the country was ted stricklandhought he did a lot of things right. he was in a very difficult situation, 400,000 jobs lost in the first four years as governor. the industrial co midwest, very difficult for democrats to win when as was proven here but i thought he did a lot of very good things i thought they prosecuted the case against john quite well in the long run came up short think he ran a pretty credible campaign himself. it wasn't a huge disparity like i would say with harry reid a great campaign. other people and trying to remind myself. i thought scott walker was good in wisconsin. he's the republican. he ran a smart outside campaign, good ads. this goes to show conventional wisdom isn't or smartness isn't all contained within the bounds of washington. he had a firm -- immediate firm didn't do political tv, something i don't forget the name of it but it's like red box or something it made me think of those places you get the disease, something like that. his ads were quite good. he ran a campaign the brown

where the "washington post" reports incumbent democrat ted strickland has pulled into a tie.it shows congressman kasich at 49%. the numbers fall well within the polls margin of error. and join us live for election coverage tomorrow starting at 7 p.m. eastern. it'll be on our companion network c-span along with your calls, e-mails, and tweets. >> on the eve of the elections, what might a republican-controlled house mean for technology. tonight on "the communicators" tonight on c-span2. in addition to the all of the season campaign coverage and archive debates, there's lots more at the c-span library, including nonfiction authors from booktv. the american story from american history tv and everything that we've aired since 1987, all free and indexed online at the c-span video library. >> senior pentagon officials and national journalist recently discussed the relationship between the military and the media at a panel discussion host ed by northwestern university medill school of journalist. the new york liaison, and pentagon correspondent both participated. this is just under t

and i wonder when you call your friends, like governor ted strickland, and you see 19 state legislatures go to the other side, governorships in swing states, the democratic party said back, what does it feel like? >> it feels bad. [laughter] you know, the toughest thing over the last couple of days is seeing really terrific public servants not have the opportunity to serve anymore. at least in the short term. and you mentioned some terrific members of congress who took really tough moves because the data was the right thing. even though they knew this could cause political problems. and even though a lot of them came from really tough swing districts or majority republican districts. and the amount of courage that showed and conviction that the cut -- that they showed is something that i admire so much. i cannot overstate it. so there's not only sadness about seen them go. but there is also a lot of questioning on my part in terms of could i have done something differently or done something more so they would still be here? it is heartening. and i take responsibility for it in a lot of w