Tough night for Republicans in the Senate

>> certainly a tough night for that little boy , i guess. but also for republicans who are hoping to pick up some seats in the u.s. senate . i'm here in the nation's capital where the face of congress is altered. let's start in the senate. democrats in control and gained seats. kind of amazing since at the start of the cycle everyone assumed they were going to lose control . in montana, in north dakota , both traditionally republican states, surprised wins for democrats . nbc declared montana for jon tester today and in north dakota democrat heidi heitkamp is the apparent winner. other big senate races, ted kennedy 's old seat, flips back to blue with senator-elect elizabeth warren and wisconsin sends the first openly gay person to the senate, tammy baldwin and indiana a seat the gop flushed away with a far right candidate, mourdock. shifting gears to other side of the capitol, republicans hold the house and will see a small net loss when the results are in. why didn't the democrats come closer? think iowa's 3rd district tells the story. what was a fair fight. democrats needed to win races like this last night but they fell short here and elsewhere. they did gain back some real ground in blue state america. flipped two gop seats in new hampshire , knocked off two incumbents and four more in illinois and offset by north carolina , kentucky and arkansas where they drew maps friendly to their party. guys, i guess throw it to the table here. i guess the comment i would make about this, the upshot of this, obviously, a very good night for democrats . supposed to lose the senate, gained seats. obama was the embattled incumbent. re-elected, obviously. they made gains in the house and the story today is there a reckoning in the republican party with how they lost and got to this point for them? i'm a big believer in the two- party system . i believe we need two healthy and vibrant political parties and i think there was -- that sort of vision of american government was under attack a little bit last couple of years because that two- party system in this country to work it's critical that the opposition party be a functioning team player in government and not just be, you know, an opposition party that obstructs and opposes and criticizes. that works in a parliamentary democracy like britain. that is basically how the republican party chose to behave for four years. i don't think it was a good model and if it's rewarded last night by the electorate it would have created and normalized behavior that democrats in the minority and when they didn't have the white house they would then have sort of mimicked and would have created a very unfortunate cycle. so encouraging results on that front just for a healthy two- party system , i think.

>> i think, you know, don't want to rain on your parade, steve, but as dan friedman said, if you didn't like the 112th congress, you will hate the 113th. doesn't look like anything's going to get better. i would just say that if you look across the electoral wins, if you look across the house and senate, pick-ups, it is really hard to make a lot of sense of it. there were tea party candidates pushed out. many were kept. there were plenty of blue dog democrats who lost their seats. they were voted out. they retired. they knew they couldn't win. that caucus down to 12 or 15. and for as much talk as there's been about the gop moving too far to the right, to appeal in a national election to the middle, i think democrats might be in danger of that, as well, if they continue sort of losing that middle and going too far to the left. i think that will be something to watch over the next four years. they can get in it a midterm year but a national year as republicans pointed out it's hard.

>> i was watching to see what would be the future of obstruction when we put the composition together. i think we have seen the tea leaves of it, look at what john boehner had to say last night. no mandate for raising tax rates. senator mcconnell also, to the extent that he, barack obama , wants to move to the center we'll be there to meet him halfway so clearly obstruction is going to continue. he has to do something for us. he has to come tard us. steve told us obama governed from the middle and mcconnell wants him to move to the right to meet him? clearly, the disrespect and opposition will continue.

>> i want to make a quick note in terms of historic gains for women last night in new hampshire . the democrats put forward an all-women slate. they all won and for the first time ever we have women at the gubernatorial and the congressional level. no men in the new hampshire congressional delegation. first time ever. in the senate we have whole binders full of women. previous record high number of women with 17. now we have 20 with heidi heitkamp 's win. incredible stuff there.

>> former governor rendell is next in the guest spot but first jon stewart .

>> trickling in about the presidential race , for more out to our guests. thank you for joining us.

>> thank you.

>> tonight's results, guys?

>> yeah.

>> what do you think?

>> jon, tonight's results they have caused a seismic shift in what we're forecasting for the 2016 election.

>> uh-huh?

>> the real winner tonight looks to be hillary clinton who made silver is now projecting