O’Donnell: GOP didn’t support me due to ‘bruised egos’

Video: O’Donnell: GOP didn’t support me due to ‘egos’

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2. Transcript of: O’Donnell: GOP didn’t support me due to ‘egos’

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   MEREDITH VIEIRA, co-host: We are back at 8:10. Christine O'Donnell emerged as one of the big names to watch in the midterm election, but she was defeated in a Senate bid in Delaware , leaving many to wonder what is next for her. Christine O'Donnell , good morning to you.

   Ms. CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (Former Tea Party Candidate for Senate): Good morning, Meredith .

   VIEIRA: Let's go back to September when you defeated Mike Castle in the Republican primary . From that point on, your state party seemed to turn on you. You were rejected by them as being unelectable in a general election . You were even ridiculed by the state party chairman , who said you couldn't be elected dog catcher. They predicted that you were going to cost them the Senate seat, and in fact you did lose on Tuesday. So were you the spoiler that they said you were going to be?

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Absolutely not. These are excuses. Rather than saying we were wrong, rather than admitting that we should have united. What's interesting is, before the primary, Karl Rove came to Delaware , met with the 9-12 Patriots and the Family Policy Council and told all of them no matter what the outcome we've got to unite around the winner of the primary. But when it came time for him to do what he was encouraging others to do, they couldn't do it. The deal they tried to package was soundly rejected by the Delaware voters and they just couldn't stomach it to say, 'I was wrong.'

   VIEIRA: You said all along that you lost, but so did the entire ticket. And yet you were the top of the ticket...

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Yes.

   VIEIRA: ...and one Delaware GOP strategist put it this way. He said, 'She didn't just crash her own plane, there's collateral damage to the underticket because of what happened at the top.' In other words, they're blaming you for the entire loss.

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Again, that sounds like bruised egos. Because in the six weeks that we had after the primary, when the party did not come out to lend their support, we had to rebuild the establishment, rebuild the network.

   VIEIRA: Why do you think they didn't come out for you?

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Again, it's bruised egos. You know, it's about what we did was bust up the back room deals, put the political process back into the hands of the people. The voters of Delaware chose me as opposed to who the party anointed. And, you know, for so many decades it's all been about who's been groomed and anointed by the party.

   VIEIRA: And yet you did have support. You had twice as much money -- you raised twice as much as your opponent, Chris Coons ...

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Mm-hmm.

   VIEIRA: ...and you had the backing of the tea party and the big guns there, Sarah Palin ...

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Right.

   VIEIRA: ...and Senator Jim DeMint . Why wasn't that enough?

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Well, because, like I said, in just the six weeks that we had, if we didn't have that network, that machine -- mechanism to plug into like other candidates did, we had to spend the time rebuilding that, establishing the grassroots network to get out the vote , and also defending the accusations that even my own party was putting out. So it was too heavy of a lift for one entity. If you think about, you know, it was the White House , the Democrat senatorial committee, the Democratic National Committee and my opponent, you know, the whole Democratic establishment came out, and if we had...

   VIEIRA: Why didn't Sarah Palin come out for you then? I mean, she endorsed you...

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Well, she did...

   VIEIRA: ...but she never came to the state. Why wouldn't she do that, she did it for so many other candidates?

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Well a lot of that was -- a lot -- she did what a lot of other Republican leaderships should have. She did what Cornyn and even Karl Rove should have in that when the accusations, silly mischaracterizations started to fling, she helped to deflect some of that in the media, say this isn't right, you know.

   VIEIRA: But she never came to the state to campaign for you.

   Ms. O'DONNELL: It was simply scheduling.

   VIEIRA: Do you regret that she didn't?

   Ms. O'DONNELL: No, not at all, because it was simply a scheduling issue. And those who needed to know that I had her support, they did know.

   VIEIRA: Christine , can I -- I mean, you can say it's a scheduling issue, but she -- boy, she went all over this country for candidates.

   Ms. O'DONNELL: And she spoke a lot on my behalf on media. She defended those accusations when it should have been the big boys in the party.

   VIEIRA: So you don't feel she was avoiding standing next to you, anything...

   Ms. O'DONNELL: No! No.

   VIEIRA: ...I mean, that close an association with you.

   Ms. O'DONNELL: No, not at all. Otherwise she wouldn't have come to my defense so often. But again, what could have happened -- you know, this election should have been about the issues important to the Delaware voters. Instead, they tried to make it personal, and the leadership could have helped. That's one of the loads that they could have lifted, and Governor Palin certainly helped to do that.

   VIEIRA: A lot of the attention was on things you said many years ago.

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Right.

   VIEIRA: Obviously with Bill Maher and " Politically Incorrect " when you talked about dabbling in witchcraft and evolution...

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Right, right.

   VIEIRA: ...being a myth. In some ways, were your own -- were you your own worst enemy? You're blaming a lot of other people, but does any of this fall on you?

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Well, this was a tactic that they tried to do. The Democrats can't stand on their record because nobody can afford these tax hikes. But a lot of stuff -- a lot of good did come out of my candidacy. For example, you know, the Democrats are pushing for these tax hikes, saying that it's only on the top 2 percent, but we helped to raise awareness that it's the small business owners who fall under that top 2 percent category, and many of them in Delaware have told me that if their taxes are raised, they'll be forced to close their doors.

   VIEIRA: You -- I know you regret that "I am not a witch" ad. How did that get through? You said you didn't want it to get through in the first place .

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Well, you know, you rely on the experts, and this is where the advice of the leadership comes into play. We didn't have that, you know, and there were a lot of things that we could have...

   VIEIRA: It was a mistake.

   Ms. O'DONNELL: There were a lot of things that we could have done, but I'm very proud of what we did do.

   VIEIRA: And what's coming next for you? Everybody's wondering. Are you running again? You almost hinted at it in your concession speech.

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Well, I don't know if I'm going to run again. But I'll say that in the short term there is a lot of destructive policy coming up in the lame duck session, from cap and trade to the tax increases.

   VIEIRA: What's your role going to be in stopping that, in dealing with that?

   Ms. O'DONNELL: Well we've created a platform and we've been able to get a lot of issues out there, and I'd like to continue to do that, at least for the short term. The families that were profiled in our 30-minute documentary, they're real people with real stories who are genuinely concerned about what's going to happen in January.

   VIEIRA: So in two years when that seat, the other seat comes up, is it likely we'll see you out there?

   Ms. O'DONNELL: I honestly have no clue. I'm looking at the short term. We have -- we have a lot of opportunities from book deals, you know, that I'm exploring. But, like I said, for now I would like to continue to be an advocate for those in Delaware , the farmers who've never had a voice in Washington . Like to see what I can do to help bring their issues to the spotlight.

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