MSNBC - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC - Transcript

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Senator Charles Schumer, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

SEN. SCHUMER: Good morning.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Are you, are you interested in making a prediction about how many seats, you think, you'll pick up in both the House and the Senate?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, I don't want to, I don't want to choose a number. I think the wind is at our back. And we're going to pick up a good number of seats. Democrats are going to be happy Wednesday morning. But 60 is very, very hard, because if you look at the state you've mentioned, we're playing on very red terrain.

There are almost no deep blue states that we have contested elections in and many, many deep red states. Having said that, the wind is at our back. And I'll tell you something, Mika.

I voted this morning at my polling place in Brooklyn. And I have never seen -- it's a Democratic polling place. But I have never seen -- I waited online for an hour, because the turnout was much larger than it had ever been in any election.

I voted in that polling place for 25 years. And so if there's going to be this kind of turnout, around the country, and it's usually not that disjointed between one place and another, you could have a real sweep.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Well, that's the story we're hearing, from across the country, about these lines, Senator. And Dan Rather has a question for you.

I just quickly want to ask you to think outside the box here and talk to me, if you would, about caveats to full control, to a filibuster-proof majority; from the president on down, complete, unfettered control.

Aren't there some issues there that might be problematic?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, of course, but you know, that will be the challenge, will be on us to have thoughtful, moderate but definite change in America, bipartisan change.

My guess is, Barack Obama, if he's elected, and I think he will be, is going to reach out to Republicans. We Democrats in the Senate will reach out to Republicans.

The reason all these Republicans are in trouble is not because they wanted simple balance. They wanted obstruction. They blocked almost everything we did. And if they have 43 or 44 seats, in the Senate, and they continue to just obstruct as opposed to try to influence change, in their direction, it will be very, very bad for the country.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.

Dan Rather.

DAN RATHER: Senator Schumer, no one is assuming anything about the election being over.

SEN. SCHUMER: Right.

MR. RATHER: But you talk about the wind being at your back. And whether you get the filibuster-proof Senate or not, you're going to pick up seats. Are you or are you not concerned that with the House being in Democratic control, increased control, the Senate being increased control, and if Obama wins, with the presidency control, that inevitably the party will shift more to the left than to the center?

Senator Obama has run among other things as a centrist. He says basically I'm, you know, I'm a centrist; I'm a Democrat. Are you concerned about that? Because a lot of people, even people who have already voted and they voted for Obama, say, boy, oh, boy, the Democratic Party if they get all that control, in Washington, they're going to veer to the left and maybe pretty far to the left.

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, Dan, that will be our challenge. But I think Obama is just what he says. You read his book. You look at his career. He's thoughtful. He's moderate. He likes to bring people in.

Someone just told me a story. When he was on the Harvard Law Review and elected president, mainly by the more liberal people, immediately he brought a whole bunch of conservatives into the board.

Some of the liberals didn't like it. But he's going to have to. To change America in the significant way that we need change, you're going to have to do it in a bipartisan way. That's what Obama will do. And that's what we Democrats -- we hope we'll get as many seats as possible -- will do as well.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Okay. All right, Senator.

SEN. SCHUMER: Otherwise we'll lose. Otherwise we could, we could, we could be flops.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Senator Schumer, thanks very much.

SEN. SCHUMER: Thank you.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: We appreciate your coming on.

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