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CNN Live Event/Special

Voting Underway Across America in Historic Election; Biden Visits His Hometown Scranton to Vote; Americans Head to the Polls Today to Choose Between Trump and Biden. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 03, 2020 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:25]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Welcome. I'm Anderson Cooper, I want to welcome viewers here in the United States and around the world. This is CNN's special live coverage of election day in America.

Voters get the last word today on who they want to lead this country during multiple crises and the race is historic.

There you see vice president -- former Vice President Biden arriving near Scranton, Pennsylvania. Let's listen.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- my grandchildren never been to Scranton so we're going home.

COOPER: He visited a church, his church in Delaware. Also visited the grave of his son Beau, that is how he started off the day, and now he's just flown into an area near Scranton where apparently he has brought I think he said two of his grandchildren.

A hundred million people have already cast their ballots before the polls opened today. That is a record. Right now polls are opening in six more states, you can see them there, long lines. Voters are standing in lines at polling locations across the nation. This is the scene at one polling site in Philadelphia.

There's certainly anxiety, there's excitement, there's uncertainty with the nation divided and the coronavirus pandemic surging, making this one of the most politically consequential moments in our country's history.

We could see President Trump head to the RNC annex offices in Arlington, Virginia, this morning. Joe Biden is spending part of his day in Pennsylvania. He's, as I just said, just arrived there now to make a final pitch to voters.

We have correspondents in position at polling places nationwide to bring you the latest. Polls in Florida opened a short time ago, the Sunshine State, obviously a critical battleground during almost any election but especially important for President Trump this time around.

CNN's Randi Kaye is at a polling place in Broward County this morning.

So how are things going, Randi?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson. We are in Lighthouse Point, Florida, which is a pocket of Broward County that is highly Republican. Back in 2016 Trump won this area of the county with about 65 percent of the vote compared to Hillary Clinton who got about 31 percent.

There was a line here for people coming out and voting earlier this morning, about 7:00 a.m. when it opened, now that line has gone down, but I did get a chance to speak with some voters. I spoke with one couple, they're in their 60s, and they said they both voted for Donald Trump. They think he's done a great job on the economy and with the pandemic.

Then I spoke to another woman who said she doesn't really like Donald Trump, but she voted for Donald Trump here because she thinks that the issues that he cares about are important to her such as pro-life. I asked her -- she also said that she thinks he's been honest with the American people about the pandemic. And I asked her about his comments earlier to Bob Woodward for his book and she said she didn't know anything about that.

But then finally I talked to this other gentleman, a younger guy, probably in his 30s or so. He voted today but he didn't know who he was going to vote for, Anderson, until he actually walked into this voting precinct. He said he's been struggling with it, agonizing over it, his issues are racial equality and he's also pro-life, and he just wasn't sure which candidate to go with. He refused to tell me which candidate he actually voted for. When I asked him if he was OK with this decision, he said, no, he wasn't happy about it at all.

Meanwhile, though, of course, we have about 8.9 million people who have voted here already in the state of Florida, Anderson. That's about 93 percent of all of those that voted in 2016. This is a must- win really for Donald Trump. 29 electoral votes up for grabs. He'll probably get a lot of support from the panhandle, from a lot of the Cuban Americans in Miami. Joe Biden certainly trying to offset that with African-American support in the Miami area. He's getting a lot of that here in Broward County as well.

So we will see as the day goes on who is voting because even the supervisor of elections here in Broward County said that so many people have voted here, more than they have had in all of 2016 have voted early here in the county that he expects maybe 100,000, 125,000 people to vote here. And who will they be? That's the question.

COOPER: Yes.

KAYE: Will they be independents who have had a lower turnout or will they be Republicans who want to vote in person on election day?

COOPER: Well, it's going to be interesting, Randi, whether or not there actually are long lines at a location like that given in Florida how many people have actually already voted. You know, everyone was anticipating long lines and we're certainly seeing that in many places, but in some places there may not be as long a wait as there might normally be.

KAYE: Right. I mean, 845,000 people have voted in Broward County. So that's more than all of 2016. So they're not expecting the long lines. And, you know, it depends on who really believes, you know, or has concerns about the vote by mail or who didn't get a chance to get there in the early voting process which ended on Sunday.

[09:05:05]

That was the last day of in-person early voting. So we'll see who shows up. They are expecting a high Republican turnout here in this area at least, Anderson.

COOPER: Yes. Randi Kaye, appreciate it. We'll keep checking in with you throughout the day.

Another key state to watch tonight obviously Pennsylvania, critical. It's been a big focus for both President Trump and Joe Biden. Our Alexandra field is at a polling place in Pittsburgh.

So, Alexandra, more than two million votes have been cast already in the state. It's just remarkable. What are you seeing this morning?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is remarkable. There's still a long way to go, Anderson, because that is actually just under 40 percent of the entire electorate from 2016. So we are going to see a lot of voting today, which is what we are seeing already. We've been at a couple of sites in the Franklin Park neighborhood. This is a suburban area of Pittsburgh. We've seen pretty steady and constant lines.

We're also hearing a lot of conviction from people. We are not hearing from people that they are undecided, instead we're hearing from people that they are passionate about who they are going to vote for. This is a neighborhood where neighbors say there are deep divides. They say it's evidenced by the difference in long lines that they see driving down their streets. It's evidenced by the dinner table conversations or the lack thereof.

They are also aware that if they are in this line here ready to vote that a lot of the country and perhaps a lot of the world is waiting to see what happens. That's because Pennsylvania is a critical swing state as we've been saying. It's a state that Trump won by just 44,000 votes in 2016.

We are in Allegheny County, home of course to Pittsburgh. It was the one spot of blue in a sea of red in western Pennsylvania back in 2016, but in this neighborhood the votes actually skewed toward Trump back then. So we are hearing from people that their political beliefs may not be at all in line with the people who live just across the street from them. It will be very interesting to see what plays out in neighborhoods like this. This is what has certainly inspired both President Trump and former

vice president Joe Biden to believe that there are voters that they can go after in the state of Pennsylvania. It's what motivated both of their campaigns to hit this state hard, so much so that you saw Joe Biden not only start his campaign in Pennsylvania, but also wrap it up with this trip to Scranton and to Philadelphia today.

As far as voting, what we are seeing has been a fairly smooth process so far. Allegheny County has reported that there were three sites that did not open on time because they were missing voting materials. The county has responded to that.

They said the materials were being delivered. We will keep an eye on those sites and any other irregularities or difficulties that could crop up, but for now what we're understanding and seeing is that a lot of these sites are preparing for really what could be a historic turnout in this all-important election -- Anderson.

COOPER: And Alexandra, also, I mean, Pennsylvania obviously there continue to be a number of challenges in courts about early voting, about which ballots should be -- should be counted in terms of when they arrive. There was a new filing today even in Pennsylvania about a pre-canvassing of ballots. So a lot of watch for in the hours and the days ahead.

Alexandra Field, appreciate it.

Polls are also now open in Ohio. There's no Republican candidate has ever lost there and gone on to win the White House. CNN's Gary Tuchman is checking on the voting situation in suburban Cleveland.

So Ohio has already shattered early voting records as have other states. What does it look like there today, Gary?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Anderson. Today a strong turnout in Strongsville. Strongsville, Ohio, that is. This is a leafy suburb, 20 miles south of Cleveland, population 45,000.

This precinct opened at 6:30 this morning and so did all the others from the state of Ohio. And frankly, you were just alluding to it, we didn't know how crowded it would be because 3.4 million people voted early here in the state of Ohio. That's 60 percent of the total vote from the year 2016, but as soon as this precinct opened people started streaming in, about 35 people initially. And now you can see this line. Right now there's 10, 20, there's about 35 people inside the building but another 50 people outside the building.

So we have had a very strong turnout in the small town. And by the way, this is an even Steven kind of place. About 70 percent of the people who live in this town are registered to no party, the remaining 30 percent are split between Democrats and Republicans.

I want to ask you a quick question, you had a chance to early vote, 24 days here in Ohio. That's the camera over there, by the way. How come you didn't early vote? How come you decided to wait until today? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was not decided who to vote for. Like I'm still

in a thinking process.

TUCHMAN: So you weren't decided. Well, can I ask you a personal question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, go ahead.

TUCHMAN: Have you decided?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: And who have you decided on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrat.

TUCHMAN: Democrat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Who is the Democrat?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden.

TUCHMAN: OK. I want to make sure you know who you're voting for. I'm just joking around with you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's fine.

TUCHMAN: I don't mean to give you a hard time. Let's go over here. This one right here. Can I ask you a quick question? So if you never want to talk, so I'm very polite when I come to ask you one question. What made you decide not to vote early and decide to come on voting day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt comfortable voting today. I thought it was safe. There's lines and hand sanitizer.

TUCHMAN: Have you decided who to vote for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Can you tell me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrat.

TUCHMAN: Democrat. Everyone says Democrat. Not the name. Do you know the guy's name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

[09:10:04]

TUCHMAN: Still kind of shy about it. Either way, you know, we try to be sensitive when we ask people who they're going to vote for because they have every right not to tell us. But we also like to give our viewers information about who people are voting for.

One thing I'm going to tell you, Anderson, that's very important here in the state of Ohio, well, it could be a quick night here and that's because I told you about the 3.4 million people who voted early, those votes will start being counted the second the polls close here at 7:30 tonight. So the initial results we'll see here in Ohio will be the early voting, the absentee voting, and then the people voting today.

One more thing I'm going to tell you, Anderson. It's so striking seeing everyone in masks. You know, we've been dealing with this a long time but there's never been a presidential election in American history where everyone wears masks to the polls. I mean, think about this. The pandemic in 1918, the presidential election was in 1916 before the pandemic. In 1920 after that pandemic. So we see here everyone with masks.

One thing I want to tell you here in Ohio, and I know it's the case in a lot of other states. If people insist upon not wearing a mask, voters, they will still let you vote. They don't want to disenfranchise anybody -- Anderson.

COOPER: And, Gary, you know, there have obviously been concerns a lot of people have had about being hassled if they go to vote by people on the line maybe. You haven't seen any of that there?

TUCHMAN: No. Here in Strongsville so far.

COOPER: That's great.

TUCHMAN: Strongsville has been very peaceful.

COOPER: Well, if anybody has any worries around the Ohio area, in Strongsville, you can see it right there, incredibly peaceful.

And Gary Tuchman, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

With record-breaking early voter turnout CNN's pre-electoral college outlook has declared states like Georgia and Arizona as true tossups. Our Phil Mattingly joins us now.

So which states will you be watching in particular in tonight?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, first off, finally, mercifully, this map will turn from gray to red and blue over the course of the next several hours. There's a couple of key states, and this isn't all the battlegrounds, this isn't all the tossups, but these are states that I'm watching tonight. and states that I think I'm going to go through in order of how they're going to report.

Start with the state of Florida. This is obviously a true tossup and it is always a true tossup, and we should get the results in a pretty timely manner because of how they process. Let's flip back to 2016. The story of Florida is not flipping a ton of counties that your opponent won in a previous election. It's running up your margins in strongholds and trying to keep your opponent's margins down in their strongholds. So for Democrats, obviously, southeastern part of the state always a

stronghold for them. For Donald Trump, you look into the panhandle and into the northern part of the state as well. The big questions, if you want to look at two counties perhaps to give you some signal of what's going on, pick up Miami-Dade. Obviously, Hillary Clinton won this by record margins back in 2016.

There's been some concern amongst Democrats based on early and also based on President Trump's strike in the Latino vote that perhaps this margin will shrink down. It doesn't mean that Joe Biden would lose but it would be a point of concern.

Another area you want to look to, Sumpter County. This is home to the villages, the largest retirement community in the country, highest median age in the entire country. Donald Trump is going to win Sumpter County just like Joe Biden is going to win Miami-Dade. But take a look at the margins. The polling has shown that senior voters have started to move away from President Trump. Will that be true? Well, you might get a decent sign in the state of Florida when you look at Sumpter County.

I want to move up a little bit. You mentioned, Anderson, the state of Georgia. Now back in 2016 Donald Trump won this by about six points. Nobody had won -- no Democrat has won Georgia since 1996. And the pathway here for Democrats, why they believe Georgia is finally very in play, is actually not that different from what Hillary Clinton did back in 2016. It's Atlanta, it's pushing out into the suburbs. And Joe Biden's map if he wins would probably look a lot like this.

But again, the question is of margins. Obviously Joe Biden is going to do well in Fulton County, the home of Atlanta, going to do well in Dekalb, but can he push up the margins in counties like Gwinnett, in Cobb County, and push them up even higher than Stacey Abrams did back in 2018 when she narrowly lost the governor's race? So that's where you want to keep an eye there.

Let's move over to the state of North Carolina, another true tossup, another state that President Trump won back in 2016, has to win again in 2020, likely it's part of pretty much every pathway that he has. And this is a similar story.

You want to keep an eye on the research triangle. In Raleigh, Durham, you want to keep an eye on the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County, not just the urban vote but also pushing out into the suburbs and what kind of margins can Joe Biden run up in those areas.

But also when it comes to the state of North Carolina keep an eye on the African-American turnout. In 2018 when President Obama won that state that was as much of a story as anything else. It is a shifting state. There have been Northern transplants, as obviously with a high education rate over the course of the state. Can Joe Biden break through in the state of North Carolina?

Also want to move over to Arizona. You talked about Arizona becoming a true tossup right now. The Biden campaign feels like they have a very legitimate shot here. Look, back in 2016 the Clinton campaign gave Arizona a run towards the end of the campaign.

They fell short losing by 90,000 votes but in 2018 Democrats flipped the state in the Senate. Why? Maricopa County, 60 percent of the voting population lives here. Hillary Clinton lost it narrowly back in 2016. Kyrsten Sinema won back in 2018 for the Democrats.

If Joe Biden can win Maricopa County, can open up a little bit of a lead here, Democrats feel like they have a very real shot. So pay attention to Arizona. We should get their results in a fairly timely manner because of how they count early vote. They know how to do absentee.

Now let's move up to Pennsylvania and the Midwest. Obviously, Anderson, we've talked a ton about the industrial Midwest, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. We'll start with Pennsylvania. Obviously this was the stunner letting everybody know that President Trump was shattering the blue wall back in 2016.

[09:15:00]

This will take time to find final results. Obviously, we know, nine counties aren't likely to count their absentees until Wednesday.

We'll have to take our time here, but what will be most interesting to see, obviously, Hillary Clinton had great strength in the Philadelphia area and out into the suburbs. She had great strength in Allegheny County, and yet President Trump was still able to win. Why? Western Pennsylvania. The margins he was running up, county after county after county were margins that Republicans had never seen before even in Republican counties.

Also pay attention in here --

COOPER: Hey, Phil, I just want to let our -- sorry to interrupt for a second --

MATTINGLY: Yes --

COOPER: I just want to let our viewers know what they're watching. Joe Biden has arrived in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Two of his grandchildren he had said earlier are with him, said, they had never been to Scranton, so he was going to bring them along.

He attended church earlier this morning in Delaware, also visited the grave of his son, Beau. But as we look at these videos and on the right-hand side of your screen, you're seeing our ballot count in Strongsville, Ohio. Phil, continue with what you were saying. I just want to let our viewers know.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I know, I appreciate the Biden campaign really lining this up with us as I talk right into Scranton. Look, it's obviously, the -- Trump's strength is in western Pennsylvania, they need to run up huge margins here.

The Biden campaign believes that in areas like Scranton, they won Lackawanna County back in 2016, but narrowly, keep that in Democratic cans and then narrow the margins in places like Luzerne. Donald Trump won this county that President Obama won back in 2012. Look at the margin, crushed this county. Democrats don't necessarily expect to flip it, but they want to narrow those margins. That's the story of Pennsylvania.

And I'll give you one more as we go through the day, go through the night. Another state that will be a little bit slow, we won't necessarily know the end game by the end of the night, but you can pay attention to a couple of key things.

Michigan, Donald Trump won this state by 10,000 votes very narrowly. Where do you want to look? Look, the pathway is the same for a lot of these states. Move them from urban turnout, push out into the suburbs. But there is no more important place for Joe Biden and Democrats than Wayne County.

You look at the margin, Anderson, back in 2016, we said, look, Hillary Clinton crushed Wayne County. What was the problem there? This, 519,000 votes, compare that to 2012, President Obama had 595,000 votes. The turnout drop off was massive, particularly amongst African-American voters. Right now, Vice President Biden and his team trying to ensure that doesn't happen, and also come up a little bit higher into the state as well.

You move in to Oakland County, you move in to -- sorry -- move in to Macomb County as well, that's the suburbs that's pushing out, that's where Democrats made gains back in 2018. That's what you're going to be looking for in the state. Again, different reporting times, different pathways to 270, but keep an eye on those counties, those key issues in the state throughout the course of the night. That will tell you where this race is going, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Phil, we'll check in with you shortly. Let's listen in to what is going on in Scranton.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that is the next president of the United States.

(CHEERS)

(APPLAUSE)

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2020: Can you hear me?

CROWD: Yes.

BIDEN: My name is Joe Biden. I was born in Mercy Hospital in Scranton. By the way, you know, you have no idea -- you know that old expression, when my dad lived up here, and we had to move when things kind of fell apart, he lost his job, but I had -- my great-grandfather ever thanks his Lord, was the first Irish Catholic elected to the state Senate in the state of Pennsylvania from Scranton in 1907.

(APPLAUSE) And you know, it's a long history, but it's good to be home, and one

of the things -- I know everybody says, why do you keep calling it home? Well, you know, I left here when I was going to the fourth grade, but I came home almost all Summer, every Summer.

When I got married to my deceased wife, my wedding party, seven people, five of my -- five of friends were from Scranton because I grew up with them. So, you know, Scranton is where I learned, like you did, all my basic values, I learned at my grandpa's table at 2446 North Washington Avenue that money did not determine your wealth.

I learned that there wasn't anything you couldn't do if you set your mind to it. I learned the basic responsibility that everybody had, was just to look out, just look out for the other guy, look at what's going on, be aware what's going on.

And so, you know, after all the -- my dad used to have an expression when we left Scranton, moved down to Delaware, he'd say, Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about your place in the community. It's about who you are.

[09:20:00]

It's about (INAUDIBLE) -- well, guess what? A lot of people can't say that now. A lot of people can't look at their kids now and say it's going to be OK. I ran for three reasons and I'm going to stop and not keep you out here. Number one, I said, when I announced, I wanted to restore the soul of the country.

But I wasn't been melodramatic, I was -- now want to restore basic decency and honor to the White House. When I saw those folks come out of those fields down in Charlottesville, carrying those torches and (INAUDIBLE) -- talking about how in fact, this country was so prejudice, that's when I decided I had to run.

That's when my granddaughters and the other three of them came to see me after that happened. They said, pop, you've got to run. We know it's going to be ugly because their whole life they neither had a father who was the attorney general of the state of Delaware or a grand pop who was the senator or vice president. That's why we ran. Second reason we ran is we've got to restore the backbone of the country. You all know it. You know, the middle class built this country. Wall Street didn't build it. The middle class built it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

BIDEN: And unions built the middle class --

(APPLAUSE)

And they're getting clobbered right now. They're getting clobbered. The third reason I'm running is what I want to talk upbeat about today, and that is uniting this country. Uniting this country.

(APPLAUSE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!

BIDEN: We can do it. I think the country is ready. But I basically came to say thank you, thank you, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Your sacrifice is the greatest honor of my life, greatest honor of my life, and I'm sure the mayor probably feel the same way about serving. You know, it's a great honor. So I want to thank you all and I'm not -- I know you're out canvassing, knock on 3,000, 4,000 doors -- no, I'm only kidding. Thank you for what you've done. I really appreciate it.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you all, appreciate it.

COOPER: Scranton, Pennsylvania. The start of a long day. Jason Carroll is in Scranton for us, also CNN's Kirsten Powers and Ryan Lizza also are with me. Jason Carroll, what is the -- what's the plan for the vice president in Scranton?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, a couple of things. First of all, the vice president knew that he had to make a stop here in Scranton. You heard some familiar -- some of the familiar themes that we've heard throughout the campaign there when he was speaking at the Carpenters Union hall, he said it was good to be home, he also talked about restoring decency to the White House.

Also another familiar theme saying that, middle -- that the middle class built this country, not Wall Street. Look, the campaign knows that this is an important stop for the vice president at this point. They know that it's going to take every single vote in order to win this state. It's so very close.

And just as an example here, we're here in Lackawanna County. Back in 2016, Hillary Clinton just barely won this county, and neighboring Luzerne County, that's a county that went for Obama and then flipped and went for Trump. Trump still very popular in this section of the state. A lot of folks out there here are very well aware of that.

They know that -- they know that Trump is still very popular, that Biden has to make a lot of in-roads into the state. That is why he is here, spending time, spending energy here in the state, hoping that his hometown charm that he can turn that on and turn out some votes here in these final hours. Anderson?

COOPER: And, Jason, just -- the vice president was speaking to a group of his canvassers, so they're people who are going to be going out in Scranton essentially, knocking on doors, trying to get anybody who may have decided not to go to the polls to go to the polls today. CARROLL: Right, and that's true. And think about this as well. The

campaign is going to find out whether or not very soon their strategy paid off. And what I mean by that is the campaign basically just go around, they hired folks who had connections to all corners of the state in rural communities, those folks who had connection with white working class voters, urban sections as well.

And then in addition to that, the campaign ran what they called a Persuasion Program, basically this was a program where they had folks getting out there, motivating people here on the ground. They said that's something that the Clinton campaign didn't do back in 2016.

COOPER: Yes --

CARROLL: So, again --

COOPER: Although, one of the things --

CARROLL: It's interesting that you've got him here --

COOPER: Although, one --

CARROLL: Sorry, go ahead --

COOPER: Of the things that the Biden campaign decided to do and Democrats decided to do, which is to actually not go door-to-door in many places for quite a while during the pandemic because of concern about coronavirus, which is something --

CARROLL: Correct --

[09:25:00]

COOPER: The trump campaign was still continuing to go door-to-door. So it's going to be interesting to see if that has any impact on, you know, the numbers that we end up seeing.

CARROLL: Right. And just to add to that, Anderson, there are some folks here on the ground who feel as though the Biden folks have ground to make up here in this section of Pennsylvania. They feel as though once again, Trump is popular in this section of Pennsylvania.

He still has a lot of folks who support him out here. And so, I think that's one reason why you see Biden back here in his hometown during these final hours, trying to make that final pitch to a lot of those white working class voters to get out there and cast a vote for him.

COOPER: Yes, Pennsylvania critical for both. Jason Carroll, appreciate it, stay with CNN after a race like no other, it all ends here. Join us for a special live coverage that only CNN can bring it to you from the first votes, the critical count, understand what's happening in your state and across the country. "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA", our special coverage starts at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time today, but we have coverage of course all day long. Moments from now, the president will make a public appearance as Americans vote, plus hear what each candidate is doing tonight as the results come in. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)