CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript

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BLITZER: We just heard Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, boast about his party's election wins yesterday in Virginia and New Jersey. Let's get the other side right now.

Joining us is the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the outgoing governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine.

Governor, thanks very much for coming in.

GOV. TIM KAINE (D-VA), DNC CHAIRMAN: Wolf, glad to.

BLITZER: Gloria is joining us in the questioning.

Virginia has done well for the Democrats in recent years. You were elected, Mark Warner, Jim Webb.

Was it a case yesterday of just simply having the wrong candidate? Was that the problem in Virginia?

KAINE: Well, you know, Wolf, we have a tradition. You know it, the listeners may not, that for 32 years, the party that wins the White House then loses the governor's race in Virginia. I don't know exactly why, but I don't think it's a coincidence.

Certainly, we can had a challenging race here. Our nominee, Creigh Deeds, had run four years ago against Bob McDonnell and had lost in a race for attorney general. So, when Creigh got the nomination, I think everybody knew he was the underdog going up in that rematch race.

We've won some races with underdogs like Jim Webb and me, but every underdog doesn't win. And so, although Creigh is a wonderful public servant, you know, he just couldn't close the name recognition and fund-raising gap that Bob McDonnell had built up over four years as a state official.

BLITZER: He was crushed by, what, 18, almost 20 points?

KAINE: It was an uncharacteristically wide margin, especially, as you point out, five years ago, Republicans winning a statewide race in Virginia wouldn't have even been newsworthy. It was so expected like the sun coming up tomorrow. But in the last few years, '05, '06, '07, '08, Democrats have done very well. But, you know, we're winning our share of races, but we're not going to win every race.

BORGER: Governor, how much responsibility does the White House bear and do you bear as chairman of the DNC for this loss? KAINE: Well, you know, we're going to -- others will assess that, but, look, let me tell you about the White House and the president.

BORGER: No, no. I want you to assess it. I want you to tell us.

KAINE: OK. Then I'll answer it directly.

Virginia voters have high regard for the president. The big -- the best poll that I've seen was a poll that was done last week. "The Washington Post" poll had 2,000 sample size live interviews. President Obama's approval rating, his job approval rating in Virginia, is at 57 percent.

That's about three or four points higher than how he did on Election Day a year ago. Exit polls showed that he was viewed favorably both in Virginia and New Jersey. So, this was not voters in our state or New Jersey saying anything about the president.

BLITZER: Well, let me interrupt you, Governor, because we have some polls -- CNN/Opinion Research Corporation polls -- that show his job approval number at 54 percent, which is impressive, across the country, not just in Virginia. But when you hone in on specific issues, the most sensitive issues, for example, how is President Obama handling health care? Forty-two percent approve, 57 percent disapprove. How is President Obama handling Afghanistan? Forty-two percent approve, 56 percent disapprove.

Maybe that explains why the Democratic candidates had some problems. Not that they don't like President Obama, they don't like his policies.

KAINE: Well, but I think that is maybe a little bit too simplistic, Wolf, because the polls that I've seen show that it's not -- the president is popular in Virginia, not just they like him, but they think he's doing a good job. The poll that I'm referencing, "The Washington Post" poll, said that his job approval was at 57 percent among registered voters in Virginia just a few days ago. And this is in a very large sample size poll. And so, I don't think you can read these elections, particularly a rematch election like we had here in Virginia, where the stage was pretty much set between these two candidates four years ago, as an indication about the president.

Similarly, in New Jersey, as you know, Governor Corzine was dealing with a very tough hand. He was down double digits through much of the summer. They closed very furiously to get within an eyelash, and that was an indication of the president being there campaigning with him. We're obviously also very interested in that congressional race in upstate New York.

BORGER: Governor?

KAINE: Yes, Gloria?

BORGER: Let me ask you, because lots of folks are saying this is really about economic anxiety and it's about jobs.

Let me read you something that Maureen Dowd wrote in "The New York Times" today.

She said that, "Limbaugh is right. The Democrats tend to dither too much. President Obama will have to step it up on jobs and fixing the deficit if he wants to block conservatives from stoking the anger of Americans who only see a recovery on Wall Street, especially given the Republican sweep in top races on Tuesday night."

So, does the president have to kind of get the deficit under control and, most important, jobs, jobs, jobs?

KAINE: Well, let me talk about both.

The jobs issue is occupying a tremendous amount of time. And as you know, the job losses in this country, which were at over 750,000 a month in January, are now down to less than a third of that. And we just saw last week gross domestic product starting to grow in a robust way for the first time in nearly two years.

Obviously we've got to see more growth, and the president and his team are focused on that. But the job loss issues have been dramatically reduced, and we're starting to see the economy grow again. And we feel very, very good about that continuing. And as it does, that's how you get the jobs issue under control.

On the deficit, the president, beginning about two or three weeks ago, started to lay out a series of measures with respect to the deficit to follow from earlier actions -- cutting of programs earlier in the year to save about $17 billion, reductions or eliminations of some defense weapons systems that were viewed as obsolete that were costly, that aren't needed. So, the president is wrestling with those issues, but I think the American public understand that when you're in a hole this deep, the toughest recession since the 1930s, that you didn't get into overnight, you're not going to climb out of it overnight.

But the good news is the economy is growing again. And voters are giving, you know, the president high job approval for helping make that happen.

BLITZER: Governor Kaine, thanks very much for coming in. Congratulations on the wins in those two special congressional elections in New York State and in California.

KAINE: Thanks, Wolf.

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