Return to Transcripts main page
Inside Politics
The State of the Race Two Days Out; Battlegrounds Getting Attention with Two Days to Go; Trump Criss-Crossing U.S. in Final Days; The Path to 270 Tougher for Trump. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired November 06, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[08:00:36] JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton focuses on temperament.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Imagine how easily it could be that Donald Trump would feel insulted and start a real war, not just a Twitter war.
KING: Donald Trump's closing argument? All about trust.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's guilty. She's guilty. If you took the e-mails -- and that's the least of what she did.
KING: It's the final weekend and early voting is critical.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I like finishing what I start and we need to finish what we started eight years ago.
KING: Clinton gets crunch time help from the president and from some big stars.
CLINTON: Let's make sure that we send a loud, unmistakable message that love Trumps hate.
TRUMP: I'm here all by myself. I am here, all by myself. Just me. No guitar, no piano. No nothing.
KING: INSIDE POLITICS, the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters, now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King. I don't have a piano either. Thanks for sharing your Sunday morning, our final Sunday conversation before America votes to pick our new president.
A packed hour ahead, let's begin with the state of the race. Let's move to the map right now.
We enter the final days with Hillary Clinton at 268 in our electoral vote count, Donald Trump at 204. It is a frenetic day on the trail today as Donald Trump is going to try to turn some blues, campaigning in Pennsylvania, in Michigan, in deep blue Minnesota.
Why is he doing that? Because he understands the final map.
Watch this -- even if Donald Trump wins most of our toss-up states, Democrats think they'll get Nevada. If Donald Trump ran the board and won the most, he's still short. So, he has to turn something blue red.
But that Trump map depends on winning North Carolina and Donald Trump knows it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In three days, we are going to win the great state of North Carolina and we are going to win back the White House. Real change begins with immediately, immediately repealing and replacing Obamacare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, in the Clinton campaign there is a bit of jitters about some of these blues. Donald Trump targeting them, they're closer in the end. But Hillary Clinton knows, as we just discussed, North Carolina is one of the checkmate states. If she can win there, she blocks Trump.
The one, Florida, 29 electoral votes, Hillary Clinton yesterday braving the rain yesterday. If she gets those, game over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: My friends, you are a hardy bunch standing out here in the rain. I don't think I need to tell you all of the wrong things about Donald Trump. But here is what I want you to remember: I want to be the president for everybody -- everybody who agrees with me, people who don't agree with me, people who vote for me, people who don't vote for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And we count the votes Tuesday night. But an estimated 40 percent of Americans are going to vote early. Democrats think that early voting has already gotten them battleground Nevada.
Helping the Clinton campaign today, the president of the United States. He will again be in Florida. He's been all over the country. His point? Get out early. Get Hillary Clinton across the finish line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: So the idea that you would give your vote away, that you would -- you would sit there and not even take the 15 minutes to walk across the street and vote.
I need you to vote. Don't choose fear. Choose hope. Don't choose fear. Choose hope. Don't choose fear. Choose hope. Go out there and vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: With us to share their reporting and their insights this final Sunday, CNN's Maeve Reston, Jonathan Martin of the "New York Times," CNN's Jeff Zeleny, and CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson.
Now, Donald Trump, as I just noted there, it was on a final weekend hunt for what you might call a big, blue prize. Campaigning today in Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, plus Iowa, Virginia. Yes, five states he's busy.
Hillary Clinton starts in Pennsylvania, then in to Ohio, and New Hampshire, call that a blocking maneuver. New Hampshire, Iowa, Pennsylvania, critical to Trump's path to 270 electoral votes.
A lot to discuss in the hour, including the candidate's closing themes, what states matter most, the impact of record early voting, and the Obama factor. First, though, we fill our table with reporters on Sunday morning, not pundits for a reason.
Let's head around the table and learn a little bit.
What do you know heading into the final weekend?
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: You were just talking about Nevada and how Democrats really got their ground game and gear out there. There's huge turnout among culinary workers, for example, in heavily Democratic Clark County. And that may be that hot Senate race, Joe Heck may be the first casualty of Hillary coattails in that sense. They had hoped to pick up Harry Reid's seat. And with those numbers coming in, my sources are telling me they just don't think that he's going to be able to pull it off.
KING: We'll watch that to the end. Disappointment there.
JONATHAN MARTIN, THE NEW YORK TIMES: In a polarized country, John, mobilization is now king over persuasion. People are in their trenches. It's a matter of getting your people out to the polls.
I was in Florida yesterday, and there was no state, as you mentioned, more important, John, just now than Florida. And for Democrats, the key to winning Florida is driving up your base in south Florida, Dade County, Broward County.
I did some walking in a sort of Haitian-Caribbean neighborhood in North Miami yesterday. Here is the lit they're passing out. "Stop Trump." "Donald Trump, reckless and dangerous for our community."
And here a little rain soaked but not subtle. Not subtle. Barack and Michelle Obama, "protect and continue our legacy."
This is aimed not at head but right at the heart. It's about getting folks out to early vote in the final couple of days.
KING: See the guy who walks through neighborhoods in the rain in Florida still gets to lead the newspaper with a big story. A good's work for Jonathan Martin, you want to read this.
Jeff?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's good reporting.
The Clinton team this morning is worried about the Midwest more than they have been before. State of Iowa is out of their reach, they realize. Sources say President Obama wanted to go back into Iowa. It is a state that launched his chances for the White House back in 2008.
It is out of reach. So, he cannot go back. He was told finally a couple of days ago, out of reach. You're not going back.
But they're also worried this morning about some of this bleeding into other states like Wisconsin, like Michigan. So, keep your eye on Wisconsin, perhaps on Monday. There's one hole in the Clinton schedule. I'm told that might include a Milwaukee spot.
Four years ago on the Saturday before the election, President Obama was in Milwaukee. She's not yet been there. Keep an eye on Wisconsin. They are jittery about those upper Midwestern states.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: Republicans and Democrats both looking at North Carolina. At this point, the Democrats are very nervous about that state. The Republicans feeling very bullish about their chances in at state.
I talked to some pollsters down there, been on the ground. They feel like Trump is up 2 points in that state. The early voting hasn't looked good for Democrats.
That was a state you think about Burr, you think about McCrory. Democrats very much thought they could do a clean sweep down there because of some of the issues going on down there with the cultural wars around the bathroom bills. But now, I'm told Trump, his allies and Republicans down there feel pretty good about that state. So, we'll see what happens.
KING: I think North Carolina is going to come down to the wire.
To your point about the Midwest, Trump is going to Minnesota today. Minnesota has not voted Republican for president since 1972. We talked about the potential of a historic Trump candidacy, that would be history, not since 1972. Michigan, since 1988. Pennsylvania not since 1988.
What's interesting about Wisconsin, because I was told by a top Trump campaign they ditched Wisconsin. They were going today for Minnesota instead because they think the Minnesota data is better than the Wisconsin data.
So, you see this fascinating electoral chess as we get to the very end. "The Washington Post" sums it up quite well here -- battlegrounds intensify. So, let's go through some of these important states in the closing themes. If you're Donald Trump, listen here, at every stop, number one, he's been more disciplined. He's largely stayed on teleprompter. Number two, he is hoping to get a lot of these white, blue collar workers in these big, blue states that are very hard to get to work Republican. His big issue is not only can she not be trusted but if she's elected, nothing will get done because of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's being reported that certain key Democratic polling locations in Clark county were kept open for hours and hours beyond closing time to bus and bring Democratic voters in. Folks, it's a rigged system. It's a rigged system. And we're going to beat it. We're going to beat it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That was not what I was looking for. They will get to what I wanted in a minute. But that's Donald Trump complaining about Nevada. You mentioned Nevada off the top.
Usually when you're whining you're not winning. I'm going to say this crystal clear, the Republican Party chairman in Nevada saying they kept the polls open so, quote, "certain people, certain people could vote."
Those certain people, sir, are Americans. They're your neighbors. They're eligible voters. They may be Latinos, but they're your neighbors, they're eligible voters, they're Americans.
What happened was -- and this is how it works, Mr. Party chairman and Mr. Trump. I'm sorry. If you show up by closing time and you're in line, they keep the polls open so you can vote.
I think we call that America.
HENDERSON: Yes.
KING: But when you're whining, usually, it's a sign to me that you're worried. Is Trump just worried about Nevada or is he more worried?
RESTON: Well, it's such a questionable stop for him last night.
[08:10:00] I mean, clearly, all the indications that we have is that that state is out of reach for him. But I think that he -- you know, he certainly had to make some kind of case there about why he potentially might lose on Tuesday.
But what's so interesting about Trump's schedule today is that he really is just all over the place. It's such a reflection of how the campaign has -- think they have all these different paths to 270.
But nobody is quite sure exactly what that path is. And, you know, you think about a state like Minnesota. It's remarkable that they would be spending their last hours. KING: They need lightning to strike. And we should just pause for a
minute as we go through all this. You know, it's advantage Clinton. When you look at the map, it is still advantage Clinton. It is nowhere near advantage Clinton if we were having this conversation even last Sunday or especially two or three Sundays ago.
There's no question it's intensified. But if you're asking states with a Democratic DNA like Minnesota, like Michigan, like Pennsylvania, Donald Trump may get one of those. The problem is he may need two or three of those to get to the map. That's asking a lot.
ZELENY: That's one of the things that Clinton campaign is smiling about this morning. It's this throw spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks.
But one top Clinton adviser last night in a moment of I think honesty at the end of the campaign here saying, we're happy he's going to Minnesota, and Sioux City, Iowa, and not spending the entire day in Michigan. They are worried about Michigan, and it might have been a smarter strategy for him to just barnstorm Michigan from the upper peninsula throughout the day because Michigan is one of those states that hasn't voted yet.
For all the early voting, Michigan is on Election Day. It is a game day thing. He is going back to Michigan on Monday night to Grand Rapids. But why --
MARTIN: It's midnight, though, right?
KING: Well, he wants to be -- I was talking about this yesterday. Monday night at 11:00. His final event was supposed to be a rally in New Hampshire with Trump secretary of state, Sean Hannity. They're having a big rally --
(LAUGHTER)
KING: They're having a big rally in New Hampshire.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: That was supposed to be -- I don't know if he could get through the Senate. That was supposed to be the big final event. But they've added Michigan in part they say because they know Secretary Clinton and the president are both going to be in Michigan. And so, they're trying to take over the local news.
That's the level of the chess we're having and again, it is throwing spaghetti at the wall to a degree. But they do have the Clinton campaign a little nervous.
ZELENY: No doubt about it. But stay in Michigan, why go to these other places?
MARTIN: When you're choosing everything, you're choosing nothing, and you're being -- why is he coming back to Virginia? Why was he in Reno, last night the day after early voting ended in Nevada? Why is he in Colorado, a state where the demographics just don't work for him? Because he just can't --
KING: Because he needs lightning to strike.
RESTON: Yes.
MARTIN: He can't admit that anything is closed off. He just has to sort of try to do everything.
But to me, the late-night Monday stops are so telling about where this campaign is. You've got Hillary, who is going to North Carolina. She doesn't have to leave Philadelphia. She has this great last rally with the Obamas, sort of continuity, passing of the torch. She's going down to Raleigh after that. Why? The Clinton campaign thinks North Carolina may be the closest race in the country. And they really, really want to win that state.
Not just to beat Trump and sort of run up, but because demographically and symbolically, winning that state sends a loud message. It's changing America.
ZELENY: The new America part of it.
MARTIN: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: The new America states, new America is increasingly diverse, higher educated, the day after the election if Clinton wins, we'll be looking at Colorado, Virginia, potentially North Carolina as --
MARTIN: Nevada.
KING: Nevada -- as states that are different demographically, the new map, the new map. Now, so, I noted at the top of the program, Trump campaigns, yes, he talks about other issues but is trying to convince people who are predisposed to be Democrats. You cannot vote for her because if you have a Clinton presidency, you only get drama, you get constant investigation and nothing gets done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We need a government that can work and work well from day one for the American people. That will be impossible with Hillary Clinton, the prime suspect in a massive, far-reaching criminal investigation. Her current scandals and controversies will continue throughout her presidency and will make it virtually impossible for her to govern or lead our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, one of the things you have to do when you play Trump's sound is you have to fact check on the fly. There is no evidence that she is the prime suspect in a massive far-reaching criminal investigation. The FBI reopened the review of the e-mails because they found something, Donald Trump says rightly so, on pervert Anthony Weiner's laptop and they're looking -- so, they're looking into those.
I'm sorry, that -- we say a lot of things he says is not true. That one happens to be true. That one happens to be true. But we don't know what this is about. But he's out there with this hyperbole trying to tell people, if you vote for Clinton, you're going to have a president --
HENDERSON: Yes. And the thing is, I mean, I think it's a good argument. He's probably not the best messenger for it because of the hyperbole. Here is someone talking about scandals and controversy and his run has been a cloud of sort of stand-alone controversy of things that he said.
So, yes, I mean, I don't think this is a message that really resonates with some of those Republicans who were thinking about voting for Hillary Clinton.
[08:15:01] It's sort of the come home message we've heard directly from Pence, but I don't really think it works on Democrats who already have so many concerns.
ZELENY: Independents, that's what people don't want to go through another drama of the Clinton administration. That's what he is trying to is height in the respect that it probably is going to much harder for her to govern. And Republicans have some responsibility for that, without question here. But in the last week there's no question -- again, in a moment of honesty, Clinton advisers will say this FBI thing hurt them so much.
It sounds obvious. On the record they say, no, that's not true. Among independents and those moderate Republicans it has crushed her. So, he is right in a sense, it will make it harder Wednesday morning if she wins than it would have been eight days ago.
(CROSSTALK)
RESTON: But I don't know who is going to really -- I understand that it's a good argument to make. But who is going to buy that argument from Donald Trump who has been picking fights with people in his own party all year throughout this campaign? I mean, that is one of the big hesitations that voters have about him, is the governance piece, and whether he will actually listen to others and be able to work in a collaborative manner.
So, like Nia said, maybe not the best messenger.
KING: Maybe not the best messenger. Our KFILE team just again finding in 2011 where Donald Trump says he's for amnesty, defending Newt Gingrich when he was amnesty. Now, it's different in his campaign.
He's been consistent because he has been many things over the course of his career.
Hillary Clinton, though, trying to focus on one most of all, one most of all, which is 53 percent of the electorate on Tuesday, when we add it all up, we look at the exit polls, at 53 percent in the last two cycles, maybe it will be higher in this cycle -- women. Donald Trump is down, anywhere from 12 to 15, sometimes you see it even bigger among women. You can do the math at home.
If Hillary Clinton runs it up among women, she wins the election. So, at the end of the campaign, while he is trying to make it about her. You can't trust her. She's under investigation.
Hillary Clinton trying to remind people this is the man who repeatedly demeans women, this is a man who at 59 years old who's on that "Access Hollywood" tape, talking about, bragging about sexually assaulting women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: He calls women ugly, disgusting, nasty all the time. He calls women pigs, rates bodies on a scale from one to ten. I mean, really, can we just stop for a minute and reflect on the absurdity of Donald Trump finding fault with Miss Universe?
But you've got to ask, why does he do these things? Who acts like this? And I'll tell you who -- a bully. That's who.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: They clearly think this is where she's come home.
RESTON: Closing argument.
HENDERSON: It's important that Alicia Machado is Latino, right? And she was down there at that rally. If they're to do well among Latinos, it's going to be because of Latinas, who are very much on the front lines of all these different states, particularly older Latinos who are connected in a way generationally.
RESTON: They're also hoping clearly just to do much better but perhaps a record turnout among single women, too, who they think a lot of ads they put out there using Donald Trump's greatest hits talking about women have really fired up the single women voters. And if they turn out in force, they really could help potentially push her over the line on Tuesday.
KING: I was in Florida with her at that rally and I was talking to an adviser who was there and they said we thought we left Donald Trump on the debate stage in this argument. But obviously, the FBI thing was a reminder that they have to re-up and disqualify him once again.
MARTIN: Yes.
ZELENY: But such a strong message there in Florida with Alicia Machado at her side. Boy, that got so much coverage. Not just in Florida, but in every Spanish language outlet.
KING: I was just going to say, one of the things that's different in this campaign, number one, the growth of Latino electorate. In some states, North Carolina, it's not a huge slice of the population, but it's the fastest growing segment. In a very close race, it makes a difference. It's been part of what has changed Virginia from red to now lean blue.
But the other part is not just a growth of this population, but the explosion of Spanish language media outlets, it completes polling as well. A lot of people question polling if you don't have bilingual people polling. So, that's a big part of the race.
You were about to jump in?
MARTIN: Yes, I was going to say, it was so striking she gave that speech in the last week of the campaign. Clearly not the kind of close she was hoping for, right? She wanted to do a much more uplifting, consensus oriented close, and she's left in the final five days doing scorched-earth, talking about Trump and Miss Piggy.
It tells you what's happened to this campaign and how much it's tightened in the final days. She had no choice. She had, as Jeff said, to disqualify Trump in a way that I think a few weeks ago she was hoping to have to avoid doing.
KING: And whoever wins, it's going to win ugly, which gets into the whole government conversation. We'll try that one Wednesday morning, because we've got a very competitive race.
Let's look at -- we know today -- today, Donald Trump will be in Sioux City, Iowa, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sterling Heights, Michigan, that's Macomb County, the home of Reagan Democrats back in the day, we'll see if there are Trump Democrats come Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Pittsburgh area, Moon Township, Pennsylvania, Leesburg, Virginia, the northern suburbs.
[08:20:04] Again, can he turn this big blues? We'll see. Hillary Clinton wakes up in Philadelphia. She's going to spend a lot -- hello, Philly. Hillary Clinton will be paying taxes by the time we're done here.
She's on to Cleveland, Ohio, and then Manchester, New Hampshire. Only four electoral votes, but if Clinton campaign looks at it, one, historical reasons they want to win it. Number two, they think those four could actually be quite significant.
Let's put up on the screen, and then, Jeff, move in, where they've been. This is where they've been if we're looking at the battleground states since the convention. Number of times they've been to certain states. Mrs. Clinton, Florida, 13 times, Ohio, ten times, Pennsylvania, nine, this is so far, these numbers would change, North Carolina, 7, Nevada, 5.
Donald Trump, Ohio, 14. Pennsylvania, 13. Florida, 12. North Carolina, 11. Virginia, 8. New Hampshire, 8.
So, it's 50-state campaign but it's really a six or eight campaign we get to crunch.
ZELENY: And even inside these, it's just like a small part of the one state again and again and again. I was in Broward County, Florida, three times in last week that's right above Miami. So, that's where the Clinton campaign has been focusing on.
But interestingly, if you look at New Hampshire, just talk to Al Gore about the state of New Hampshire in 2000. Had he won it, the Florida recount would never have happened. So, that's why they're going back there.
But also, we don't talk about Bernie Sanders' voters much anymore. That's one of the things going on in New Hampshire, and other places as well, Iowa, Michigan, other places, places he won the primary most of them have come home, for sure, but not all of them. That is one of the issues.
MARTIN: Wisconsin.
ZELENY: Wisconsin as well. So, if you look at the states she's having issues with, they're strong Bernie Sanders states.
HENDERSON: If you think about New Hampshire -- I mean, Michelle Obama's big speech where she was in New Hampshire. I mean, they have had, I think, focused on that. People like Michelle Obama have that broad appeal among college-educated women.
MARTIN: This is a demographically-driven election. And the reason that it's closed now in the end from where it was two weeks go -- it's closed but she has the advantage here. To the degree it has closed it's closed because white voters, non-educated college white women have drifted away from Hillary toward Trumps, or the part that, you know, undecided.
And so in the final days of the election she's basically trying to have to fight two races. Maximizing her non-white base, places like (INAUDIBLE) of Broward County, fighting this rear guard action in the more heavily white places like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire.
KING: And so, when you watch this chess play, it has been a fascinating last week. One of the reasons Donald Trump is doing better is that he is staying on message and he sounds like a Republican. He sounds like, if you close your eyes, folks -- forgive me senator and governor. If you close your eyes, this could be Marco Rubio or this could Jeb Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Just think about what we can accomplish in the first 100 days of a Trump administration. We are going to have the biggest tax cut since Ronald Reagan. We will cancel every illegal Obama executive order. We're going to save our Second Amendment, which is totally under siege.
And appoint justices to the United States Supreme Court who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: When he has campaigned as a traditional Republican, it's just indisputable. Yes, the FBI factor. Part of it is sub traction for her but the addition for him has been Republicans coming home.
ZELENY: Boy, that says change right there. If you want an exterminator to sort of get rid of the situation in Washington, that is the guy you want. And, you know, when he's on message, it is good. Some of those Republicans coming are coming home to that guy.
(CROSSTALK)
ZELENY: Sort of a work in progress here.
RESTON: How this race could have gone differently if that guy had been out there on the stump the whole time. I mean, it has been amazing just in the last couple of days that he finally is listening to his advisers, finally is staying on message with a few diversions here and there.
KING: To your point, let's bring in one of the diversions. This was one of the more colorful moments of the week, when Donald Trump gives himself a little bit of credit for Donald Trump's discipline.
RESTON: Right, right.
HENDERSON: Yes, yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to be nice and cool. Nice and cool, right? Stay on point, Donald. Stay on point.
No sidetracks, Donald. Nice and easy. Nice.
Because I've been watching Hillary the last couple of days, she's totally unhinged. We don't want any of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RESTON: Talking about yourself in the third person is --
HENDERSON: Donald Trump in yoga or something.
MARTIN: We laugh because it's good shtick there, but this is the most important job in the world. I'm reminded of George W. Bush race of 2000, John. The soft bigotry of low expectations. I mean, how low is the bar that we're now trying to give him credit for the basic functions of being a major party nominee for president?
KING: Well, he's a former Democrat and a former independent who has figured out in the last week how to talk like a Republican.
[08:25:04] Every sit tight, a lot more discuss.
And a quiz question for you this morning. Which of these traditionally blue states do you think Donald Trump is more likely to win? Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin or none of them? You can vote at CNN.com/vote. I think I got that right.
Up next, the shifting battleground map and the Obama factor. And on this final Sunday of campaign 2016, here is a flash back of final days of campaigns past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL DUKAKIS (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: George Bush is coasting. We're fighting. He's reading the polls. We're taking our case directly to the American people.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: And you don't oppose every system for ten years and then ride around in a tank for ten minutes and think that's national security.
I've got this wonderful feeling that things are on the move and, yes, annoy the media and re-elect George Bush for president.
ROSS PEROT, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a love. There's a spirit. There's a sense of mission and determination in these rallies that you just don't find anywhere else. What you see here is live and it is real and it is not contrived.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: Tomorrow, the great mystery of American democracy will sweep across this country, wave after wave of you will go quietly into in the voting booth and the solitude between you and your vote, you will become as powerful as any other person in the United States of America.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: This country is faced with -- well, making the right and responsible choice because we can either go forward toward more prosperity that includes everyone or we can take a right wing u-turn and go back to the old ways of the old days.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: There's a big difference of philosophy in this campaign. I'm running against a man of Washington by Washington and for Washington. Ours is a campaign that stands squarely on the side of the people and the families and the workers of America.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Stand up. Stand up and fight. America is worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history, we make history.
OBAMA: In these last 24 hours, we can't afford to slow down or sit back or let up. Not one hour, not one minute, not one second, not now, not when we've got so much at stake.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:58] KING: Welcome back. Before we map out where this race is going in these final days, let's remember the rocky road that brought us here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. I think Jeb is a nice person. He's very low energy. I'm not used to that kind of a person.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm sorry that it has, you know, raised all of these questions. I do take responsibility for having made what clearly is not the best decision.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The secretary is right and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.
CLINTON: Thank you. Me, too. Me, too.
TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
CLINTON: Do we want him making those calls? Someone thin skinned and quick to anger, who lashes out at the smallest criticism.
TRUMP: She's crooked Hillary. Don't you understand that? This is one of the most crooked politicians in history. Nobody knows the system better than me. Which is why I, alone, can fix it.
CLINTON: We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet. You can put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.
TRUMP: I'm automatically attracted to women. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything.
CLINTON: My Social Security payroll contribution will go up, as will Donald's, assuming he can't figure out how to get out of it. But what we want to do is --
TRUMP: Such a nasty woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So that is where we've been. This is where we are.
Sunday, Monday, you can campaign Tuesday if, you want, too. When we count the votes Tuesday night, we enter these final days advantage Clinton, 268 in our CNN electoral map. 204 for Donald Trump. Takes 270 to win.
Because of early voting, Democrats think they're going to get Nevada. We'll count the votes Tuesday night but they think that gets her across the finish line so can Donald Trump win? That's the big challenge. Watch this. Even if Clinton's -- Democrats will argue, even if Trump takes Arizona, takes Florida, takes North Carolina, takes New Hampshire, takes all of our tossups off the map he's still a little short. That's why we have so much focus by Donald Trump on trying to turn blues.
A lot of time in Michigan. A foray today out in Minnesota, that one is deep blue for a reason, it's been since 1972. But he has to -- look at this map. Study this map. And the final days, Donald Trump has to turn at least one of these blues, maybe two of these blues. If he can't win North Carolina, turn at least two of these blues. Michigan is a focus not just for Donald Trump but his running mate, Mike Pence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here in the heartland we've felt especially hard, haven't we? We've seen our jobs shipped overseas in recent years. We've seen an economy that just can't seem to grow either in small businesses or large businesses and we've seen the American dream shrinking in communities just like this one.
The truth is, they tell us this is the best that we can do. Hillary Clinton's got a plan to continue the same failed policies of this administration and then some.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Holland, Michigan, there. We'll see Donald Trump in Sterling Heights today.
This is, if we went back in history for those of us old enough to remember, Reagan Democrats. They're trying to create Trump Democrats. They're going into these blue collar communities, as you mentioned the Bernie Sanders voters beforehand. They're going into people who, yes, we'll get to the president in a minute, you can actually make the case it's 4.9 percent unemployment. Yes, you can make the case if you remember the Great Recession at the beginning of the Obama administration, the country is in a much better place.
But you can find a lot of pockets in there, mostly in these big blue swing states where people, even if the numbers are a little better, they don't feel it. Their legs are tired. They've been through so much. Can Trump and Pence turn this around in these big blues?
RESTON: I mean, I think that clearly you talk to voters in those states and they are not feeling the numbers that they're seeing on the economy. They're talking about friends and neighbors who are having to string together two jobs to make what they were making before. They feel like that, you know, the country has never really quite recovered since the recession.
[08:35:03] And he clearly does have a real gift in terms of reaching out and connecting with those voters and that's why, as Jeff was saying, the Clinton campaign is so worried.
KING: And the trade, a lot of the feedback from Democrats in Michigan is on the trade issue. I'll rip off NAFTA. You know, we're getting -- we have, you know, dopes, essentially Donald Trump says the people running our government is stupid. They cut bad deals. I'll rip up NAFTA. I won't do TPP. She's against TPP now, the Transpacific Partnership. But she really isn't. He's questioning her authenticity. You mentioned the Sanders voters. They're trying to make a populist appeal to people who think this town and New York essentially screw the little guy of every opportunity.
ZELENY: No doubt one group in Michigan that the Democrats there are working hard. The Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan. This is a group of electorate that's grown since the Reagan Democrats and they are offended and turned off by Donald Trump. So if she wins in Michigan, which most people still believes she has an advantage in Michigan.
KING: Right.
ZELENY: I mean, he is more competitive. It is because of the diversity of Michigan so I think that that is a huge problem for Trump there. Given all the things he's been saying.
HENDERSON: Yes. It goes to the fact that in many ways he has been more of a cultural populist than an economic populist. But you imagine, if they would have picked up -- I mean, as far back as 2012, that race between Romney and Santorum, I mean, Santorum was the one to started to pick up on this idea of populism, and he talked about his dad working in the coal mines. And you imagine that if they had stayed on this economic populism, picked up on some of these Sanders --
ZELENY: It's a winner.
HENDERSON: Yes. Some of these Sanders folks. Sanders cut fantastic ads in Michigan where he, you know, was photographing some of those houses -- of those, you know, abandoned houses in Detroit. But they didn't do it early enough so you wonder. I mean, they've got two days now if they settle down there. And I think Sarah Palin is going to be down there, too. Again economic populism.
MARTIN: You can't separate the cultural and racial resentment element out of his brand of populism because that's part of a package. That's part of what folks like, to be totally, brutally honest about it. If he had, you're right. There's been a pure economic populist, then he might not have had the fodder of what the Arab Americans, with upscale suburban women in places like Auckland County in Michigan. But because he had that element for every vote that he adds he loses probably two or three.
KING: It's connecting dots that perhaps should not be connected, in some cases absolutely should not be connected. A lot of these people think well, back when I had a job, back when these auto plants were open, back when things were thriving, there weren't so many Latinos here. And so they're --
(CROSSTALK)
ZELENY: The demographics are not 1984. That is the problem.
KING: So people connect dots and -- look, a lot of this -- some of it is because of trade. Some of this is because of trade deals. A lot of it is because of technology and automation.
HENDERSON: Yes. Automation.
KING: And so it's a lot more complicated than sometimes our politicians make it. But to that point, Hillary Clinton got stunned by Bernie Sanders. He ran a pretty good race. The PT vote against the aircraft carrier. He put a lot of dense in it because he talked economics. Donald Trump is making up some ground on these states because of economics. Hillary Clinton of late has tried. This is Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Western Pennsylvania. A lot of western Pennsylvania is going to be deep red on election night. Hillary Clinton needs to run up the numbers around Pittsburgh. She's starting to talk more middle class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I will do everything I can to get incomes rising for hard- working people. Whether you work in steel, whether you work in a factory, whether you're a machinist, a nurse, a teacher, a firefighter, police officer. Whatever you are, you deserve to be part of a growing, thriving, middle class economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: I -- they have spent so much time. I get it. But they have spent so much of their time trying to disqualify Trump, to just make he's unacceptable, temperamentally, what he says about women, he's just unacceptable, you can't see him as a president, that I don't think she has spent enough time trying to qualify herself, and let voters know more about her and her economic views to have to make these decisions.
RESTON: And you hear that all the time from voters out there that -- you know, that they don't know exactly what her message is. I mean, even into the late stages of the race. And you think if she had delivered more speeches like this one where she had a much clearer economic message that she could have potentially, you know, worked in a little -- you know, into Trump's lead on that issue a little bit.
But I do think it's important, also, to -- you know, to remember that she has had a very scattered message in many ways, that people have not been able to hold on to and seize, you know, the way that Donald Trump has had a clearer message.
HENDERSON: Yes. Her message has been she's the anti-Trump if he's going to make the cultural sort of populist argument with undertones, with sort of racialized language. She's going to say well, I'm going to continue Obama's legacy, which is about inclusion, this whole idea of stronger together. So in that way, she hasn't really focused on economics.
ZELENY: And she's on the verge of shifting it right before the FBI revelation. She was switching to, as Jonathan said, a much more optimistic forward-looking message. Boy, that was stopped in its track on the flight from Westchester to Cedar Rapids. Somewhere along there a week ago Friday that changed. [08:40:01] KING: But let's stop and pause on that for a minute
because you spent a lot of time on the road with them. And when you're on the plane you get a sense -- you sort of know. Everybody on the plane knows. The people up front, the staff, know the people in the back who are tired, who have a sick relative at home. I mean, the press, you just get to know each other. You're on -- same on the Trump -- same on the traveling Trump. That moment when you're on the campaign and suddenly you realize, bang, Jim Comey has dropped the bomb, I mean, how much did that change sort of their operating --
ZELENY: Boy. You could see a difference in 24 hours on the Thursday. She was with Michelle Obama in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I have never seen some of these senior staff members so confident, so happy, they thought this was finally -- somebody said something bad is going to happen. And sure enough, 24 hours later, by the time she landed in Iowa, she was rushing to do a press conference to talk about this FBI thing. I mean, so it is a -- you know, this is a very volatile thing. No doubt about it. But that is a shift. The campaign says oh, no, no, no. Without question.
You talk to the people who -- you know, who know this, and again speaking honestly at end of the campaign, that Comey decision, right or wrong, shifted this campaign.
KING: I love that you say somebody says something, there's always an Eeyore. Every campaign has an Eeyore. Oh, no. Here comes -- go ahead.
MARTIN: No, I was going to say, somebody very, very smart, what Comey did was he reverted this race to the Democratic versus Republican need in 2016, which is to say that in 2016 Democrats have a structural advantage on the map versus Republicans. And before this happened she may have had that plus a little bit -- you know, maybe going into Arizona, thinking about Georgia. This was going to be a convincing win for her before this. Now she still clearly has an advantage and is on track to win, but this is a more familiar D versus R dynamic. You know.
KING: I give her the advantage. I want to count them in these last two days. I think she has the advantage. The question is, remember, that in some of these states -- and let's get to it right here. In some of these states that are in play at the end, you have a Michigan, you have a New Hampshire, you have a Pennsylvania. How do they connect? Number one they're whiter, and they're older. Number two, they don't have early voting. And so the Clinton campaign hired the Obama team, the team that in 2008 and then again in 2012 proves it knows the new infrastructure, proves it knows the new technology, the new big data of politics.
They're now trying to get -- yes, sure, they'd love to get undecided voters at this point. That's not what they're going for. They have in a computer base in this county in downtown Philadelphia, we need this many votes. These are the people. Check with them. Make sure they vote. If that's the age we live in, if you get an undecided, great. But you have a list of people and you're trying to turn them out. Let's look at the early voting numbers so we can put them up here.
For the Democrats, I think for the most part they feel good about this. But in Florida, if you look, African-American turnout down a bit from 2008. That's the comparison here. Latino turnout up. That could be the big story come Wednesday morning. In North Carolina, African-American turnout down a little bit. Latino turnout up. I believe that should say 2012 not 2008. In Georgia, the African- American turnout down. Latino turnout up a tip. I think that is -- the big dynamic, look, some of these is not surprising. President Obama is not on the ballot. And some of that was personal loyalty. But he -- you know, will Latinos make up the difference? As long as they get good addition and subtraction.
HENDERSON: Yes. I think in states -- yes, I mean, I think in states like Nevada, in states like Colorado, I mean, they have a real strategy here. And a lot of times we can't necessarily see it because, you know, we're not listening or watching Latino broadcasts. But this is something, if you go back to 2008, Hillary Clinton very strong among Latinos. You think about Robby Mook, you think about Marlene Marshall, organizing in Nevada back in the day and winning not only in 2008 but also in 2012. And that strategy of connecting with Latinos in a real way, I think you can see some of that in Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia, too.
ZELENY: The Clinton campaign is so lucky there is early voting. That's the biggest thing.
HENDERSON: Yes. I think that's right. Yes.
ZELENY: More votes in Florida over the weekend. Boy, since the 2000 campaign. That's why there is early voting because of what happened in Florida. But without early voting, they wouldn't have a sense that maybe there were some of these problem spots here. So -- but as your story so smartly indicates this morning, if she wins because of these Hispanic voters.
MARTIN: No, this is an historic moment.
HENDERSON: Yes.
MARTIN: If he does win, it'll be because for the first time in American history that Hispanics flexed their political muscle and prove to it that when together, when united there can be a potent political bloc, a real --
KING: When energized. They have not --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: In past elections, one of the issues have been, even those who are registered have not voted in the same proportion --
HENDERSON: Right.
ZELENY: You can thank Donald Trump for that.
KING: In many ways, you can.
MARTIN: But speaking of the early vote, in Florida yesterday walking a neighborhood with SEIU, they were targeting irregular voters. Folks who don't vote every election.
John, every house where somebody came to the door they said already voted, already voted. Leave me alone. People are aware of this election, they are engaged by this election. Donald Trump has been the best motivator Democrats ever had.
RESTON: Well, that's going to be so interesting to watch on Tuesday night, too. Even states like Arizona. I mean, this is -- this election, in many ways, is about the future in terms of the Democrats, you know, grabbing a larger and larger share of the Latino vote out there. And I think it will be so interesting to look at some of those races. You know, even McCain, Rubio, to see whether there is sort of a distinction between the Trump brand and the Republican brand and whether they can recover.
KING: It's an important -- we're focusing on the here and now because we have a great competitive presidential race. But we're also going to learn some very important lessons about the future.
HENDERSON: Yes.
[08:45:03] KING: Assuming even if Democrats don't get Arizona or if they fall just short in Georgia, or if they keep the margins a little closer in Texas, the changing demographics of America are changing our politics and some of that will be cast Tuesday, some of it is going to carry with us as we go through the elections.
Let's move on to the current president of the United States who will be leaving office soon. They've already packed up a lot of his stuff and sent it off to where the library will be in Chicago. Some of it in storage when he moves here in D.C. But look at how active this president has been. This is unprecedented for a two-term president in his final days to be out on the trail. 13 stops today. Four more coming, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. 21 interviews by the president of the United States so far.
We've got a couple of days left. I'm guessing he's going to be on the radio all day Tuesday. African-American media outlets. The president, he understands. They see this drop-off in African-American turnout. They understand that voters there were so loyal to President Obama are not as loyal to Hillary Clinton.
Here he is on the "Tom Joyner Show," President Obama saying, even if you're not thrilled about her, make this about me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want everybody to understand we've got one more race here. It's what we -- even though my name's not on the ballot, our legacy's all at stake. And we can't take it for granted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And let's watch it -- before we talk, I just want it out on the trail because it's interesting. You're trying to bring -- to motivate people. This is about motivation now. So you want to have energy, you want to have fun. The president is having fun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The choice could not be clearer because Donald Trump -- don't boo. Don't boo. Don't boo. Come on. You guys know that. You already knew that. You can't boo. He can't hear you boo. But he can hear you vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Whether you're supportive or not, I mean, just as a student of the game, he knows how to play.
HENDERSON: He's good.
KING: He knows how to play. And he's --
ZELENY: Had a sitting president do this because he finally is able to. He's never been able to pull Democrats over the line in his midterms. This is different because it is his legacy. And everyone is paying attention to this election. But he said don't boo, vote, so many times in 2008. You and I both remember that.
HENDERSON: Yes. That's right.
ZELENY: We'll see if it works.
HENDERSON: And Michelle Obama saying, you know, when they go low, we go high. The version of going high is voting. I mean, you do see a difference talking to folks, African-Americans who voted in 2008, voted in 2012. It was an expression of pride, it was an expression of real sort of optimism about what the country -- where the country was going and sort of paying your respects to people who have fought and died for that progress. And now you get to some of these polling stations, not as many people, and more of a sense of duty, not necessarily of the same kind of enthusiasm.
KING: Democrats do think they made up -- long lines in North Carolina. The last day of early voting yesterday.
HENDERSON: Yes. They're trying to extend it.
KING: Democrats do think they made up some of it. We'll do the final counting as we get into the final days.
RESTON: But I mean, it's just amazing how the president and Michelle Obama have been such a powerful team for Clinton in that sense during the last week because, you know, I mean, she is his former rival. There are -- people still remember some of that bad blood. And he's just been out there, so energetic. Really galvanizing voters at those younger rallies. Particularly the younger voters that she's had trouble really exciting throughout this campaign.
KING: And the deeper, badder blood, though, is with, remember, Donald Trump starting the birther movement. So the president has got a personal stake in this. And it's interesting, because he's clearly under Donald Trump's skin. The other day, Donald Trump was in Jacksonville. The president came in right behind him. Duval County, one of the little battlegrounds within the battleground in a state like Florida.
Donald Trump went on to North Carolina. The president has been in North Carolina I think three times the last week. So listen to Donald Trump here. Yes, his opponent on ballot is Hillary Clinton. But Donald Trump is a little annoyed with President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They don't respect Obama. He's like a cheerleader, jumping up and down all over the place for Hillary. Shouldn't be doing that. He shouldn't be with her. He's got to be working.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That's one of the nicer things he said about the president in the last week. But clearly it's under his skin a little bit.
MARTIN: No. He's obviously bothered. And Obama knows this. I mean, Obama knows that Trump can't help but hit back. So Obama wants him to hit back. Obama wants Trump to be distracted in a back and forth with him.
Two fast points on Obama. I saw him last week in Chapel Hill. The e degree of shaming that he does with the black community. Hillary, of course, cannot do. It's extraordinary. He's saying if you don't vote you are basically enabling those who would deny you a vote. You are enabling the suppressors and they don't have to lift a finger.
That is extraordinary. You know, lots of, you know, Democrats complain about voter suppression Obama is saying this is on you. Not on them. You better vote. It's striking. And second of all, continuity. She's going for a third term. When have we seen this? Even in 1988, John, George H.W. Bush said a kinder, gentler America. That was obviously a shot at Reagan. We have not seen somebody so embrace the outgoing president like this.
KING: One more thing I want to sneak in here, the final week sudden appearance by Melania Trump. She was in suburban Philadelphia, and then yesterday in Wilmington, North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:50:06] MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough. We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other. Donald is a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. He is also compassionate, thoughtful, giving and loving. Donald cares --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: Yes, I mean, touching moment right there, but bad staffing with the whole anti-bullying crusade.
RESTON: I mean, the irony of it.
HENDERSON: Given that -- the irony, yes.
KING: Maybe -- and while her mission starts at home, look at it that way. Look at it that way. Very important missions start at home.
All right. We asked you. Let's get to our quiz. Which traditionally blue state Donald Trump is most likely to win, Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin? Most of you, I guess we've got some Democrats voting this morning, saying none of them. We'll see how that one plays out on Tuesday.
A lot of things about this campaign we won't miss. But this is high on the list of things we will.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's get to what's obviously the big story of the week.
KATE MCKINNON, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Please be his taxes. Please be his taxes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secretary Clinton's e-mails.
MCKINNON: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FBI director Jim Comey announced that they're looking into more e-mails that were discovered on Anthony Weiner's laptop.
ALEC BALDWIN, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": That's right, I called it. And these e-mails are very bad for you, Hillary. That's why I never, ever use e-mail. It's too risky. Instead I use a very private, very secure site where one can write whatever they want to and no one will read it. It's called Twitter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: All right. Let's head one more time around the INSIDE POLITICS table, ask our great reporters to give a sneak peek into their notebooks. Maeve Reston?
RESTON: And so we've been talking a lot about what we may expect to see in terms of record Latino turnout on Tuesday night. And it's not just Democrats that are watching that. There are still a group of Republicans in Congress that are deeply committed to getting an immigration reform bill through Congress. And they are hoping that if there are, in fact, huge kind of anti-Trump Latino turnout on Tuesday night that that will provide some momentum to actually finally get a bill through Congress. KING: If they can talk to their conservative friends. Good luck with
that. Jonathan?
MARTIN: A few weeks ago it seemed like Hillary might pull in some Democrats with her into Congress. Well, now if that does happen it probably won't be because of her but it may be because of the current president. After dragging down the party in 2010 and 2014 President Obama has almost made it his mission in the last weeks of this campaign not just help Hillary but to help down-ballot Democrats. He is finally an asset after being a liability for much of the last eight years for his own party.
I was with him in Chapel Hill last week. He was as impassioned going after Richard Burr, the senator there, as he was Donald Trump, almost ridiculing Burr for supporting -- for supporting Trump. And in Miami this weekend I was riding around in an Uber and twice I heard Obama in Espanol, he was speaking in Spanish, plugging Patrick Murphy who is challenging Marco Rubio. Lots of Democrats, wondering where has Obama been for the last eight years, helping our party? Well, he is finally doing it now. And given his popularity, he could pull some -- these Dems over the line.
KING: We'll see if that one happens. Jeff?
ZELENY: The big sea of Cleveland. There's perhaps no other big city in America that speaks more to the final strategy of the Clinton campaign than Cleveland. For the third time in less than a week Hillary Clinton will be there again tonight. Obviously a huge share of the vote in Ohio, Cleveland, and around the surrounding area. But by this point the Clinton campaign had hoped to be expanding in sort of more Republican areas. The old adage of Ohio is when Democrats are going to Cleveland at the end that is to get out their base. And they're not doing the independents in a persuasion.
But she's appearing with LeBron James this evening here. He rarely does political things at all, so he's a newcomer to this process. So Tuesday night watch the margins in Cleveland, it's her only shot at winning Ohio if they get more excitement there in Cuyahoga County.
KING: Not a bad guy to have on your side when the game's on the line. Not so bad. Nia?
HENDERSON: Right. We're talking a little bit about ads. Two more debuting tonight during Sunday Night Football. I guess it's the Broncos and Raiders game. These are Hillary Clinton ads, 30-second ads featuring Republican white men who served in the military talking about Donald Trump, talking about why they don't want to vote for Donald Trump. Talking about his words about women.
Again, we've seen this kind of approach from Hillary Clinton. Interesting to look at it within the context of the military vote. But 20 million veterans in this country, particularly in states like North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Colorado. And we've seen both campaigns really go after this voting bloc, particularly in North Carolina with Donald Trump near Ft. Bragg, that huge military base down there. Mike Pence talking about his son in the military. Tim Kaine also doing the same thing.
In 2012, in a state like Virginia, Obama did something that most Democrats haven't been able to do, which is tie among military folks, it was basically 49 percent to 49 percent.
[08:55:06] And you have seen some inroads in terms of Democrats doing better with younger folks who have military ties. So it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
KING: And so now I can tell them I can't come to work because I have to watch Sunday Night Football because it's part of my job, right?
RESTON: That's right.
KING: That's part of my job now. Good. Thank you for that.
I'll close with this. Republican hopes of sending Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid into retirement with an embarrassment at home are fading. A big early vote by Nevada Latino has even most Republicans now resigned to losing the race for Reid's Senate seat. And that last shift adds drama to the overall fight to control the Senate. The GOP had hoped Nevada would be a pickup. Instead the Republican math now assumes no pickups and three likely losses, Illinois, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. That would leave Republicans with 51 seats.
So let's finish the races. Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, now the four big remaining question marks. Bullish Republicans think they can narrowly win all four of those. And Trump's improved standing is factor in that. But is it down to the wire fight? Democrats say they'll get a couple of those races. It adds a lot more drama. Not just the presidential race. We'll be up late Tuesday night.
That's it for INSIDE POLITICS. Again thanks for sharing your Sunday morning. Hope to see you noon Eastern tomorrow for our special weekday IP. And then all day Tuesday, Election Day, CNN brings you all-day coverage of America's choice. Make sure you vote, folks.
Up next "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
