Borger on Yesterday's Elections: This Was Not A Great Night For President Bush

On tonight’s “CBS Evening News,” Gloria Borger said yesterday’s election “Was not a great night for President Bush.” Moreover, in the aftermath, Republicans are now “worried about losing the House, and maybe the Senate.”

In addition, she claimed Republicans want the president to establish an agenda. Failing that, “just get out of our way for the 2006 election.”

Similar to other mainstream media reports today, there was no mention of Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s re-election victory in New York City.

What follows is a full transcript of this report and a video link.

Bob Schieffer: Well, Gloria, you know what they always say at these off-year elections: The losers always say these were local races about local issues, the winners always say this shows there's a national trend developing. What do you read into what we learned last night?

Borger: Well, no doubt about it, Bob. This was not a great night for President Bush, particularly in the state of Virginia. He went in and he campaigned for the Republican candidate for governor who lost, and, Bob, this was a state that the president himself won by 8 points in the last election.

Schieffer: Well, what do you think Republicans now want from President Bush?

Borger: Well, they'd like his popularity to go up a little bit in the polls. But if that can't happen, they are saying they need an agenda. I spoke with one top House Republican today who said to me if the president can't give us an agenda, just get out of our way for the 2006 elections.

Schieffer: And are Republicans really worried now, do you think, about perhaps losing the House next year?

Borger: They are worried about losing the House, and maybe the Senate, Bob.

Schieffer: All right. Thank you.

Video Link