these instead? yummy! thanks! experience the meta effect, with our new multi health wellness line. and see how one small change can lead to good things. this week, democrats take a drubing in the midterm elections but is president obama set to double down on policy or work with the new republican majority. gop governors have a very good night while their blue state counterparts suffer big setbacks. we'll look at the secret to their success. breaking through the blue wall, tuesday's vote exposes some cracks in the democratic coalition. we'll tell you what it could mean for 2016. >> every election is a moment for reflection. and i think that everybody in

this white house is going to look and say, all right, what do we need to do differently? but the principles that we're fighting for, those things aren't going to change. >> welcome to "the journal editorial report", i'm paul gigot. that was president obama after republicans captured control of the senate for first time in eight years and winning the largest majority in the house in generations, john boehner and senate leader mitch mcconnell signaled they are open to working with president obama in the next congress. but should they? is the president willing and able to work with them? let's go to jason riley, assistant editorial page editor james freeman and washington columnist kim strassele.

dan, big republican sweep obviously, what's the meaning of this election? broad brush. this is more a repud yags of president obama but potential republican governance. >> i don't -- the republican have been given a big opportunity here but i think on the other side, it's important to make an important distinction. we should not however much of a presence barack obama has had in the life of the country the last six years, this is not simply a repud yags of barack obama. this is repud yags of the modern democratic party and democratic idea of governance. which is indeed large government and spending, not only in washington but the state races were so important. states like wisconsin, michigan, maryland, these are democratic states and those voters there repudiated the idea that spending public programs would make their life better. it has failed and it has been kind of a test case over the last five years.

now the -- i think that's really important. now the republicans have their own chance. >> jason, how do you read the president's body language there and genuine rhetoric that he offered? do you think -- it absorbed and internalized the point dan made or not? >> his body language doesn't suggest he has but here's what's different. during his second term, george w. bush's approval rating averaged 37%. >> not good. >> obama does not want to leave office that unpopular. that's the new insen tif he has to compromise and get something done. everyone has a dog in the fight. he knows the unpopularity could rub off on the next democratic nominee and republicans need to show results and what they can do with their majority. everyone has a dog. there are incentives in here to get things done. >> should republicans, james, should they be willing to work

with the president? remember 2011 didn't work out so well. >> this time, now that they have the senate should republicans feel okay, we really should attempt to get something done with the president or wait, he's going to sand bag us no matter what? >> in the wednesday remarks, incoming majority leader mitch mcconnell in the senate said the approach with the president is going to be trust but verify. you would think maybe the -- after the drubing the thumping, democrats would be telling him to move to the center. you look at the democrats left in the senate, it's a more liberal group in terms of those up in 2016, michael bennett in colorado kind of a moore of a moderate but most of them on the left. >> what does that tell you? >> there's not going to be take whole lot of pressure from that caucus to move to the center -- >> you agree with jason though the president himself only got two years left, his caucus -- >> nothing i saw wednesday says

he's not ready to move to the center. he said a moment of reflection, i think it might only have been a moment. for republicans what they have to expect, they are going to get more of the same because that's basically what he said on wednesday. there may be opportunities, i think free trade agreements are a big one. democrats in the house and senate were the stumbling blocks there. now there are fewer of them. that should be easier. other than that, i'm not sure they should be that optimistic. >> what's the mentality among republicans, particularly the leadership? they feel more confident and have more votes. but do they feel an imperative to actually accomplish something they can go back to voters and delivered corporate tax reform and pro-growth legislation. we helped to fix obama care in certain areas. >> no, they absolutely do, because here's the thing, here's what the leaders in washington are interested in. they don't know how barack obama

is going to react. they've got to choose bipartisan popular issues. they can get some democrats to go along with them in the senate and house and send it to the president. the important thing is when they do that, they force him to then be the reason that something doesn't get done. if he decides to veet to it, it's on him. in a way they win that debate and also therefore show the country what things might look like and might be possible. if there were republican president and republican congress going forward. there is an imperative to simply move legislation and do it on their terms and priority they think will resonate with the public. >> here is the rub. they can't govern from capitol hill by themselves. there's that 60 vote barrier in the senate, filibuster and democrats as i think james pointded out. the democrats in the senate are not going to be enthusiastic about passing too much and giving republicans credit for that. so how -- and so they are going to have to temper their

expectations i guess and the republican electorate will have to do that too because they can't get everything they want. >> i think they have to treat the president with respect but have to be firm. when they bait issues with him, they'll have to be clear about the principles behind their ideas, reviving the economy and recreating economic opportunity for people and explain to people why the president's policy -- >> briefly, jason. >> first big test of this will be immigration, whether he will compromise with the republicans on this, share credit and accept he won't get everything he wants. >> he's going to do the executive order, i'm afraid, jason, that's going to blow that all up. when we come back, reform governors with several incumbents beating back strong d damages. we'll have the secret to gubernatorial success next.

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many face tough re-election fights but a group of republican reform governors swept back into office on tuesday, wisconsin scott walker and rick scott and sam bron brownback and rick snyder beating back strong challenges but some blue state democrats did not fare as well, pat quinn losing in illinois and democratic candidates in massachusetts and maryland also going down to defeat. kim, the evidence of a republican wave is probably best seen in the states. the republicans could hold as many as 31 governorships when this is all said and done. that's an extraordinary number. what's the political lesson here? >> well, a favorite media talking point got blown out of the water on tuesday and that was -- this was an anti-incumbent election that every incumbent was going to go down. that's not what happened, what we found on tuesday, this was in fact in the governor's races a referendum on red state and blue

state governance. the red state governance model won. the blue state governance model lost. the guys out there doing tax reform, collective bargaining reform and education reform and in particular those republican governors like scott walker in wisconsin, rick snyder in michigan, rick scott in florida, sam brownback in kansas, those who took big risks, they were rewarded for it at the polls. >> so what's the corbett of pent in a rout. why was he the exception? >> you didn't see with him the kind of achievements like in the other governors. walker a huge change in the size and power of government unions in that state. brownback big tax reform. >> that had results in wisconsin, collective bargaining reform delivered results in the sense it freed up local education budgets and reduced

local property taxes or stopped the increase in property tax, which are a problem in wisconsin. it reduced teacher layoffs. >> i think this win, second win in a swing state with big reforms on the resume puts scott walker into that victory -- >> into that top tier of presidential candidates, real contenders jeb bush and rand paul in there and walker as well. >> even though corbett went down in pennsylvania, republicans gained seats in the state legislature in pennsylvania. >> that's amazing. even in blue states like maryland, where democrats still control the state legislature, republicans picked up a sizable amount of seats. if there was a wave, a true wave, it was in the state, thes. with ken the red state model prevails here. rick scott in florida took on teacher's unions and won. in illinois, quinn was punished for raising taxes. >> let's talk about the blue state model that lost.

>> all hail henninger, maryland, calling maryland here -- >> fascinated by maryland. a textbook example of what we were talking about. martin o'malley, democratic governor, raised 40 taxes or fees in that state, cut aid to police and fire departments at the local level. the democratic model has been to spend on public programs but they need revenue. in maryland in illinois and in massachusetts, a lot of what they did was raise fees. these fees are regressive and hit lower middle class pocketbooks right across the top. that became a big issue in all of the states. middle class and lower middle class people felt they were now being asked to pay for these programs. >> and the symbol of that in maryland, the rain tax. it accepts -- to pay for sewer runoff, so they tax the heavens. >> massachusetts has a fee on tips in restaurants.

>> kim, why the exceptions and democratic model for california, new york and connecticut, which has had some of the worst growth figures across the country? why can malloy eek out a victory, because jerry brown raised taxes p big in california but won comfortably. >> in california it always helps to have silicon valley and the money surrounding you. where you saw in some places, democrats still managed to use effectively some tactics against republicans complaining that the other side were people who were going to make severe cuts and do terrible things to education. the connecticut race was very close in the end. but that might have been part of the margin of difference. >> jason? what do you got here for the blue state -- >> i would say even though brown was victorious in california and

cuomo, they took hits in their state legislatures where republicans picked up seats. republicans picked up senate in new york and jerry brown lost super majority in california. they were not immune to this wave. >> when we come back, breaking through the blue wall. republicans made midterm gains in states and with voting groups, the democrats believed were solidly in their camp. so were tuesday's results a one time thing or gop blue frint for victory in 2016?

the mill enials and minorities and single female voters who helped swing president obama into office in

2008 and then in 2012. so do tuesday's results reveal cracks in the co-addition? what does it mean for 2016? >> jason, how many cracks do you see now in this democratic coalition? >> there are some cracks, i wouldn't call it a breakthrough but progress made through republicans among blacks and hispanics and young people even. >> earning less than $50,000 made some gains. >> still only 10% -- >> not a huge amount. >> 35% of the hispanic vote. >> rick scott got 12% in florida, up from 4% four years ago. it's a big swing state. >> how do you explain that? >> i can't explain it. w i would make at least a theory, the economy. he created a lot more jobs and saw results over the four years. >> but it's -- these baby steps or mini steps are still impressive given the race-baiting that the left

engaged in this this midterm election, given what they threw in terms of tactics ats playing the race card and bringing up ferguson and trayvon martin and the idea that republicans are still able to make gains in that environment, i think is pretty impressive. >> quick follow-up point. the one thing the democrats lost big with was with white men. >> by 30 points or more. >> it was a huge margin. it's kind of a flip reverse example of what the republicans have a problem with hispanics and people say don't worry about it, they are not our people. at some point you have a big'jqu problem if you have lost the white male vote or lost the hispanic vote. i don't see how the democrats at this point going to get the vote back. >> kim, what about the exit polling that showed that republicans really scored very, very well among older voters, 44 and older won comfortably but lost voters under 44 in the exit

polling and one of the big reasons they won was because so many fewer younger voters turned out this time than in the previous -- than in 2012. college kids like to sleep in, whereas the people my age and older, we get it, pop up at 4:00 a.m. and run to the polls. >> you may, paul. >> so but what about that for the future of the republican party and chances to become a majority? younger people are going to be alive a lot longer than i am. >> you are right. this is traditional. you do tend to see in midterms a dropoff among certain categories of voters, in particular minorities also younger people. what was notable about the exit polls though is that while republicans still lost that vote, they made some real gains, especially among millennials. the theory out there, these are the people that are hurting the

most from the economic pain out there. and they feel most glum about their prospects and future. so to the extent some of them didn't even turn out, that probably was a factor in that. but to the extent that some did turn out voted for republicans suggested that their economic message, the gop economic message was holding out a little more hope for some of this voting. >> on that point the white working class -- people -- white voters who don't have a college degree went for republicans almost 2-1. that's a huge hole in what used to be a pretdy good voting group for democrats. >> you forget because when people talk about projections on demographics, it's a fairly large group of people. i think the larger problem for democrats, they should be concerned that parts of the coalition may be asending over to the gop. look at asian-americans who for example went big for obama now kind of coming back to 50/50. i think what democrats are going to be tempted to tell

themselves, our constituency doesn't show up for midterms, forget about it. 2016 they'll be back. but i don't think they realize that they almost certainly will not have mitt romney to kick around anymore. you will not have a republican candidate, i don't think, so effective at driving minorities and working class whites away from the republican party. >> that's the key question. is that obama coalition from 2012, transferrable to a different kind of democratic candidate like hillary clinton or somebody else? >> i think it will be very hard. because that candidacy was based on mood music and sentiment. the question is what policies will the democrats propose to the american people, the minimum wage, climate change? i doubt it. >> and given obama's approval rating the next democratic candidate might have to run away from obama, which will put them in the dilemma that a lot of red state democrats had this election, trying to attract obama supporters while distancing themselves from the

president. >> thank you all, we should take one more break. our panel's biggest winners and losers from the midterm elections. i have the worst cold with this runny nose. i better take something. dayquill cold and flu doesn't treat your runny nose. seriously? alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms plus your runny nose. oh, what a relief it is.

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with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay . with two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided. time for hits and misses and this time the panel picks their biggest winner or loser from the midterm elections. >> i'm giving the win to ed gillespie who lost the virginia senate race by 16,000 votes out of 2 million cast. this was a state barack obama has carried. now one gave him a chance of being coming close. but by competing so well, ed gillespie put virginia back in play for his party and party's 2016 brd shal nominee. >> biggest loser is hillary clinton because president obama has driven his party into a ditch. she'll have to get them out of the hole without losing her liberal base. >> very tough to do. >> okay. james? >> biggest loser is harry reid.

not just for the obvious of losing control of the senate, but his despicable campaign failed and that is to use his official office and floor of the u.s. senate to attack private citizens simply for participating in the political process and disagreeing with him. >> he's going to stay there in the senate though, james. all right, kim? >> my big loser is billionaire environmentalist tom stier who effectively lit a match to 75 million of his own fortunes, which he plowed into democrat candidates who were supporting the extreme environmental agenda, nearly all of whom lost. that's a lot of green up in smoke. >> my winner rand paul, the kentucky senator who was everywhere this campaign, this election, running for -- helping republicans as the go-to surrogate. he help the himself a lot and got a lot of favors and he'll be more of a gad fly president for president. if you have your own winner or loser for the midterm campaign,

tweet it to us. that's it for this week's show. thanks to my panel and for all of you for watching, i'm paul gigot, hope to see you here next week. terrifying ordeal, two americans held prisoner in north korea are free and on their way home. president obama calling it a quote, wonderful day for those two men and their family. hello and welcome. >> this is great news. the two u.s. citizens, kenneth bay and matthew miller both serving prison sentences for quote, anti-government activities and espionage. the state department says national intelligence director james clap per helped secure their release and with them