NBC Today - Transcript

NBC News Transcripts

SHOW: Today 6:00 AM EST NBC

HEADLINE: Senator Charles Schumer discusses his election victory and also the presidential election outcome

ANCHORS: MATT LAUER

BODY:
MATT LAUER, co-host:

Well, it may not have been a good election night for Democrats nationwide, one Democratic senator rolled over the competition. New York senator Charles Schumer won a second term with a record 71 percent of the vote.

Senator Schumer, good morning. Congratulations.

Senator CHARLES SCHUMER (Democrat, New York): Good morning. Thank you.

LAUER: You said bittersweet.

Sen. SCHUMER: It's bittersweet because, even though I won and won well, Washington was not great at all, to say the least, for Democrats. I think we all feel particularly badly about Tom Daschle, who, I think, I speak for my entire caucus, he's an all-American guy, he just has the best values and led us so well. And if he can lose, you feel really badly about not only his loss but the system.

LAUER: I'm going to talk more about that and how it impacts the Senate in just a second. What went wrong for John Kerry?

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, I think a couple of things. It's amazing-if you look at your map here, it's the same as 2000. I thought 2000 was a values election, this one is, too. If you looked at the voters, they didn't like what was going on in Iraq, they didn't like the economy, and yet they still voted for George Bush. And I think the issues, you know, gun control and gay marriage and all of that, that's what divides the blue states from the red states.

LAUER: Well, how can Democrats, then, hope to win in the future if Americans don't give them credit for those issues? The value issues, the moral-the moral issues.

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, I think we're going to have to do a lot of thinking. First, I think we need to sharpen up our message on the issues where we're strong, jobs, economy, health care. Those traditionally, the bread and butter, meat and potato issues, have been the Democratic issue strong point. That's what helped me in large Republican areas of New York state where I did well. So, A, you have to sharpen that up. But second, we're going to have to find a way to address the values issues without forsaking our own values. That's a hard thing to do, but we've got to think about it.

LAUER: Did John Kerry get lured into a little bit of a trap by-by the Bush team in-in getting him to speak about Iraq so much so long?

Sen. SCHUMER: I don't think so. Because, again, if you look at the exit polls, and I don't know if they're right or wrong, people were not happy with Iraq and what was happening. I think people wanted a strong foreign policy. I think people felt that going into Iraq was not wrong, but I think they felt the way it was executed was. And Kerry spoke well on those issues. I don't think that that was his undoing at all.

LAUER: If you look back at the map that you referred to a second ago, and if you look at the southern part of the country, it is all red.

Sen. SCHUMER: Yeah.

LAUER: And what does that tell you for 2008? Can a Democrat win if that stays the same?

Sen. SCHUMER: A Democrat is going to have to be able to reach into those states. I mean, a classic is West Virginia. If there ever was a state economically hurting, it's West Virginia, yet the last two elections they went to the other side. The only probable answer is the values issues. We're going to have to figure out both, how to strengthen ourselves on our strong suit, but we have to have a shield on these values issues.

LAUER: Let's talk about the Senate now. Looks like the Republicans are going to pick up a couple of seats. So what are the Democrats going to be able to get done, in particular with fewer seats and without the experienced leadership of Tom Daschle?

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, we're going to miss Tom Daschle, certainly. But, you know, the Senate, the way it's structured, even having 45 or 44 or 46, I don't know what the number is going to end up being, gives you clout, if you stick together and pick your fights. The founding fathers wanted the Senate to be more bipartisan. They called it the cooling saucer, where passions cooled off. And so it'll be-we'll have to pick a new leader and we'll have to stay united. But if we do, we're not going to just roll over and play dead, we're going to pick our fights. But I think we can actually get something done.

LAUER: And what about reaching out? I mean, I talked to John Edwards yesterday and I said, 'If you and John Kerry win, how are you going to help unite the country?' He said he'd pick up the phone and call someone like John McCain and Dennis Hastert. Now that it appears President Bush has won, who should he call on your side of the aisle to try and get that same ball rolling?

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, you know, I-I-I am not a partisan person. I try to avoid it when I can. And in New York state, that's, I think, part of the reason I did as well as I did. George Bush has been very partisan, particularly as his term went on. Ironically, he didn't rea-he reached out less towards the end of the term than at-at the beginning. I hope and pray he reaches out to the new Democratic leader, to Nancy Pelosi, and says, 'Where can we work together?' If the Republicans and President Bush regard this as a ringing referendum, endorsement of all their policies, I think they're going to have a really difficult four years. If, on the other hand, they use the victory that they achieved to reach out and build what the president had talked about in 2000, although not so much in 2004, building-ending the partisanship and ending that kind of tone, they can have a successful four years. And Democrats will work with them.

LAUER: The president needs to reach out, but obviously there's a-there's a rather large opportunity for John Kerry today if he chooses to make some sort of a concession speech today. What would you like to hear him say?

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, you know, I-I have great respect for the campaign John Kerry ran. He had everything thrown at him, everything but the kitchen sink. He weathered it. And, you know, most of us thought until...

LAUER: And he threw some things as well.

Sen. SCHUMER: And he-oh, yeah, well, that's part of it, you have to have a shield and a sword in the presidential race. But most of us as of yesterday thought he was going to win. Too bad. And for me, it's a terribly mixed emotional day, for all-with all these losses. But I think John Kerry sticking true to the issues he talked about, that we have to have, while we need a strong war on terror, it should be multilateral. And he wants to work with the president to bring some changes in that policy. On domestic issues, getting a better prescript-if he sticks to his issues formula, he can be an extremely important player in the Senate. And he should make it clear, and I think he will because it's his nature, that he will work with the president on these issues, not just combat him.

LAUER: You're the senior senator from New York, you work alongside the junior senator, who is Hillary Clinton. You're going to hate this question.

Sen. SCHUMER: That's OK, I don't mind.

LAUER: But this morning, are we set up for a battle in 2008 between Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Giuliani, the guy who was just here?

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, you know, the bottom line is, I'm proud that New York has so many national figures, it's great. Hillary has done a great job in the Senate. I can tell you this, having worked closely with her, she loves being senator. And I think it's too soon to say what she is going to do. I think-I'll bet you that she hasn't made up her own mind yet. She loves being senator. And I think all the pundits are leaping to the conclusion that she'll run in 2008. My guess is, if you could somehow explore the deep recesses in her mind, she would say she's going to certainly think about it, but she hasn't made up her mind yet.

LAUER: Senator Chuck Schumer, congratulations again on an overwhelming victory for you.

Sen. SCHUMER: Thanks, Matt.

LAUER: All right?

Sen. SCHUMER: Thank you.