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World Series Advertising; Early Voting Ballots; Interview with Rep. Chris Collins. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 02, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's noon in Des Moines, Iowa, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

It's now all hands on deck with less than six days to go in the U.S. presidential election. For the Clinton camp, there are a lot of those hands. Hillary Clinton is in Michigan and North Carolina. Donald Trump is focusing on Florida with three stops, including one in Miami right now that's just wrapped up. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The work of government would grind to a halt if she were ever elected. She'll be in court for her entire tenure. And she'll be convicted because, look, the first time, I mean, frankly -- forget about this time. The first time she gets a subpoena from the United States Congress and she deletes everything? There shouldn't have been a second time. But I have respect that the FBI has given it a second chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our Jason Carroll is in Miami. He's following the Trump campaign for us. Our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski is in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, ahead of President Obama's appearance there later this afternoon.

Jason, three stops in Florida for Donald Trump today. What's his message to Florida voters? We heard his attack on Hillary Clinton just now.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, just a quick observation, Wolf. At one point -- Donald Trump, as you know, he likes to refer to Hillary Clinton as crooked Hillary. At one point, he said, that's going to be a great term for a president. Of course, he meant it sarcastically. And I'm sure he didn't mean it as any sort of sense of foreshadowing.

But what you've got to see happening right now in the campaign is the Trump closing argument. Hitting the themes, why voters should choose Trump over Clinton. And we've heard many of these themes before.

He mentioned the e-mail controversy, meaning he's saying you cannot trust this candidate. Also talked about wanting to repeal and replace Obamacare. If he's not in office, he says, it's just going to be four more years of President Obama's policy.

And, finally, Wolf, hitting once again on this whole issue on this unfounded claim of a rigged system. A vote for Trump means you can get in there and try to clean up Washington.

These are the closing arguments you're hearing today and that we're going to continue to hear as we head to November eighth.

The Trump campaign knows in order to get to the 270, that magical number of electoral votes, they've got to flip a blue state and they've got to take the state of Florida. That's why they're here in Miami-Dade. This is a blue county. Make no mistake about that.

But Donald Trump came here to make his statement here today. Early voting seems to suggest that Hillary Clinton is doing well with early voters here in the state, but a poll also shows that, perhaps, Donald Trump will do better with those who intend to vote on November eight.

Once again, the bottom line, Donald Trump has to win the state of Florida. Making a stop here. He also has two more stops in Orlando and Pensacola -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jason, thanks very much.

Michelle, this is President Obama that's about to be his second campaign stop in two days. So, what's the strategy for the president? Does he have a specific target for his rally later today?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, definitely. I mean, you look at where he's stopping this week. Yesterday it was Ohio. Today it's North Carolina. A very similar situation here, where weeks ago, we saw polls showing Hillary Clinton with a pretty sizable lead over Donald Trump.

And then, you saw the tightening. I mean, in both of these states, it get down to the point where some polls are showing Trump in the lead. Others are showing Hillary Clinton with a smaller lead. So, obviously, the campaign feels this is where President Obama can be most effective at the end.

Also, with early voting. I mean in this state, there are -- there's a lead of Democrats over Republicans, about a 13-percentage point lead over who's early voting. But those numbers are not where they were four years ago.

Same thing with African-Americans. That's a reason for the campaign to worry about it, especially since larger numbers of Republicans usually turn up on the day of the election.

Of course, in this election, there's a lot of question marks out there. But you can see the urgency here. So, President Obama has been trying to make that appeal to the people that Hillary Clinton needs. Young people and African-Americans.

It was interesting to hear the president as he's been doing these multiple interviews with radio programs that are popular among black Americans.

[13:05:06] And just today, spelling it out in very plain language. Saying, look, I know the excitement was there for me, well you have to show that excitement for Hillary Clinton. And just today, being out here and talking to some of the black students, they're saying, yes, there is a gap in the excitement level for Hillary Clinton. Obviously, that's going to be there give than President Obama was the first black president.

But they're -- but they're feeling like, you know, some of their friends and colleagues, they need to be pulled out to the polls. That's why they're not showing up in enormous numbers for early voting. We'll see how that works out on Election Day.

Also, today, though, we heard the president weigh in on the e-mail in on the e-mail controversy in an interview. He's been avoiding that topic. But given that he was asked directly about it today, he pretty much echoed what we've heard from the administration. He reiterated what the FBI had said months ago, that there was nothing prosecutable there.

But he also wants to hit on Hillary Clinton's mistakes. In the sense that, you know, he kind of frames this, in terms of a lot of noise and distraction out there surrounding this issue. That's how he's been terming it.

But he's also been saying, look, everybody makes mistakes. I'm not a perfect president. I've made mistakes. Hillary Clinton has made mistakes. But, often, she gets a bad rap or it's blown up to the point that it has before.

So, that's how he, kind of, frames the controversy as he makes his pitch for her being the better of the two candidates -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Michelle Kosinski reporting for us. Michelle, thank you very much.

And I want to play a little clip of what else the president had to say about the FBI's review of the Hillary Clinton e-mail issue. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do think that there is a norm that, you know, when there are investigations, we don't operate on innuendo. We don't operate on incomplete information. We don't operate on leaks.

We operate based on concrete decisions that are made. When this was investigated thoroughly the last time, the conclusion of the FBI, the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations was that, you know, she had made some mistakes. But that there wasn't anything there that was, you know, prosecutable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's bring in our panel to talk about this and a whole lot more. Joining us right now, our panel including Susan Paige, she's the Washington Bureau Chief for "USA Today;" CNN Political Analyst David Gregory; CNN Political Director David Chalian; and A.B. Stoddard, Associate Editor and Columnist for "Real Clear Politics."

Very quickly, David. The president talks about the e-mail issue, the FBI review of what's going on right now. When he does that, it generates more news coverage. This is a story that the Clinton campaign would like to see go away. But now it's going to be discussed as we're doing right now.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: As we're doing right now. It's not going to go away and I think they understand that. Certainly, the president understands it.

I think, from a narrative point of view, from a strategic point of view, they recognize that this is hurting and it's going to be on the minds of voters.

I think they believe that there is a chance to turn it around to her favor. If the president's out here talking about this, it's saying, look, her enemies are overreaching here. This is unfair. And that there are people who have to get out.

You've heard the president pointedly saying today to African-American voters, look, we have one more election. Even though I'm not on the ballot, you've got to turn out for her. You've got to vote for her.

So, I think there's a feeling that the Democratic faithful can be fired up, can get a little more enthusiastic out of a sense of unfairness with regard to what the FBI is doing. I think that's the best they can try to do, at this point.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to talk a little bit more about that. But, David, we have some new polls in key battleground states that have just been released. I want to put some numbers up on the screen. These are -- these are new CNN polls that have just came out.

In Arizona, right now, Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton by five points. Traditionally, in president's contests, a Republican state. It's a tight contest in Florida right now with Hillary Clinton ahead by just two points, 49 percent, 47 percent.

In Nevada, the race has shifted with Trump now ahead, an impressive lead 49 percent to 43 percent in Nevada. In Pennsylvania, Clinton hold a four-point edge but it was bigger edge just, what, a month or so ago.

So, what do these numbers, David, and you're studying them very carefully, say to you about where this race is with only a few days left? DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, I think that the Clinton

campaign, although you noted a narrow margin in Pennsylvania, can take solace from the fact that a four-point lead is a pretty healthy margin.

And another poll came out, Monmouth University in Pennsylvania, today, also showing a four-point lead for Clinton. So, you go immediately to look for, that's a blue-leaning state; is that holding? And if you're the Clinton campaign, you can breathe a sigh of relief there.

On the other side, there's some very good news here for Donald Trump. Obviously, still very competitive in states he must win, Florida, Nevada. Those Nevada numbers some of the best in Nevada I've seen for him in quite some time. We'll have to see if other polls agree with that as more Nevada polls come out.

[13:10:14] But look what's happening inside these numbers, Wolf. I think it's really interesting. Look at enthusiasm levels. I think this is really key to watch. Look across all four states, and you see that in every state, except Pennsylvania where there are about tide, Trump voters more enthusiastic than Clinton voters. When you're in the final home stretch here, that is really important.

The other thing that we learned here that I think you can see there, some of the enthusiasm numbers there right now. Florida, you see he has a 10-point advantage among his voters. In Arizona, he's got a three-point advantage. They're about tied in Pennsylvania. He also has a big advantage in Nevada.

Take a look at temperament and honest and trustworthy. These are character traits that have been at the very core of this election and you see the flaws on each side. On the temperament question, he is down in every single state, huge. Look at that, 56-34. These are 20- point gaps, 23-point gaps, 25-point gaps where she is seen as the one to have the temperament to serve as president.

And when you ask about honest and trustworthiness across all these states, you see that that is her Achilles' heel. To what David was just saying, she's down in every single category there. In Arizona, he beats her 51-36; Nevada 51-37; Florida 46-40; Pennsylvania, even, where she's ahead 46-38.

So, it is clear, if this issue -- if the race is about character, you're going to hear the Clinton campaign talk as much about Donald Trump's temperament as possible, and you're going to hear the Trump campaign talk about Hillary Clinton's honesty and trustworthy.

BLITZER: It's interesting, A.B., in these four states, Donald Trump has a better image as being more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Clinton. How worried should she be right now?

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, "REAL CLEAR POLITICS": Well, these numbers are not terrible for her. I mean, I think that they can take heart that you didn't see a plunge.

But I'm with David. The, sort of, internal numbers in here are really interesting. His -- it's not that his honesty numbers have gained in a lot of these polls in the last 36 hours. It's that hers have dropped. And that's a result of the FBI revelation.

But, look, she's killing him on qualities for commander in chief, killing him on temperament. They're really split on immigration and trade which is interesting. Vision for the future, he has such a stronger message than her. He only ties her in Arizona but she beats him in the other states.

He has economy and terrorism which are, obviously, top issues. But she, also, has him on health care, interestingly enough, a week into the Obama news which is really tough, and on foreign policy.

So, it's such a mixed bag. I think it's really going to come down with both candidates now having, sort of, brought home their bases, particularly important for Donald Trump in the 11th hour here to turning out their voters.

BLITZER: If he's got to win, Susan, you know he's got to turn one of those traditionally blue states, Democratic states, like Pennsylvania or Michigan, for example, red, Republican. If he doesn't do that, he's probably not going to win. Can he do it?

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF "USA TODAY": Well, he looks pretty good in Nevada. That was a state that Obama won four years ago. In fact, Nevada is a state that has gone with the winner every election except one since 2012. So, that might be a state to look at.

But I think what you see, overall is a contest that's clearly gotten a lot closer, compare with Thursday, the day before the Comey announcement. That was when the Clinton people were looking at expanding the map. That's when they decided to go to Arizona. I think if there were making those travel decisions today, they would not be going to Arizona. They'd be going to one of the blue states they needed to shore up like -- as she is by going to Michigan.

They are no longer so confident that they're going to win the Senate. And they are no longer so confident they're able to expand the map. They are back to a 270 electoral vote strategy. But, after all, that is enough.

BLITZER: What's helping -- what's helping Trump right now, you correct me if I'm wrong if you think differently, David, is he's listening to his advisers. He's basically sticking to the script, to the teleprompter. He's not -- sort of adlibbing a little bit but not that much because they're afraid he could say something that could really turn things in the wrong direction, from their perspective.

GREGORY: Right. I think that's absolutely right. And you hear him, when he's talking about, you know, getting business done in Washington will be difficult. I think that's a salient point. It's a strong point that he makes. When he talks about her being convicted and put in prison, that's when he goes off the reservation. But he is sticking to that.

There's something else is going on, as I've talked to senior Republicans. They talk about the guilt factor, all of a sudden, going on among big time Republican donors. And other Republicans that we're seeing either in early voting or captured in these polls. People who thought that basically Trump was going to lose.

And now, all of a sudden, it's tight. And they think, oh, geez. If I'm blamed for -- you know, for sitting this one out or not being with him, that could be a story line. I don't want to be that. I want to kind of come home.

So, you see a lot of Republicans, I think, combined with his message coming home. And then, they're being reminded of what they don't like about her.

What I'm so interested in is what is the question that voters have at the end? In 2004, if the question was terrorism, as Karl Rove used to say, the answer was George W. Bush. He won the election.

Is the question character? Is it temperament? Do people on the eve of voting say, gosh, who can I imagine in the Oval Office? Do you think that benefits her? I'm not sure what is the decisive question.

[13:15:08] CHALIAN: And how many voters are still asking that question?

GREGORY: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We don't know how many late deciders we have here, but there's usually not that many. And so, yes, what is the question going in, but how many people are still asking a question?

GREGORY: Yes.

BLITZER: Already 25 million people or so have already voted in the election. So there's a big chunk that's already deciding who they're going to go with.

Guys, stay with us. Don't go too far away.

You can catch all-day coverage of the election this coming Tuesday, right here on CNN.

Coming up, more than 24 million people have already cast their ballot. We're going to take a closer look at who's voting, who are they supporting. That's going to giving us an indication of where this election is moving.

Also, why House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi now says the FBI director, James Comey, quote, "can't handle the heat," and questions the judgment of Hillary Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin.

That and a lot more. A busy day. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Millions of eyes will be on the World Series tonight. It's the final game. Game seven between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. While it will certainly be a battle on the field, it's also shaping up right now to be a battle during the commercial breaks.

[13:20:08] Our senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, is in New York.

Brian, I understand the campaign now trying to capitalize on tonight's historic world series game. What are you learning?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That is right. The biggest television audience between now and Tuesday night will be the World Series in just a few hours. So today the Donald Trump campaign bought one commercial for tonight's game and the Clinton campaign, just moments ago, bought four commercial spots. That means there will be several campaign ads during the game seven.

Also, by the way, one NRA ad. If you were watching last night, you might have seen two Clinton ads and one NRA ad. But now the Trump campaign also getting in on this baseball action. And the Clinton campaign, with four ads potentially, could be all over this game.

But here's the thing, Wolf, games are unpredictable. We don't know for sure that all four Clinton ads will be able to run during all these innings. But that's what they've booked for now. We also don't know what exactly the ads will include. Will these be positive ads? Will these be negative ads? But we know one thing for sure, millions and millions of people are tuning in for the World Series. Probably about 30 million viewers tonight. It's the biggest opportunity these campaigns have left to reach a lot of eyeballs all at once.

BLITZER: I'm sure buying those ads, not cheap at all for the campaigns.

STELTER: Oh, yes.

BLITZER: But they clearly feel it's money well spent with all the people who will be watching this World Series final game seven. It's going to be a huge audience, I am sure. Thanks very much, Brian, for that report.

STELTER: Thanks.

BLITZER: Now, once again, less than six days to go until Election Day here in the United States. More than 24 million Americans have already cast their ballots. Here's a snapshot of a few of the key states in Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina and Nevada, more Democrats than Republicans have already voted. In Arizona, Florida, Ohio and Utah, more Republicans than Democrats so far have voted.

Joining us now from Buffalo, New York, Republican Congressman Chris Collins. He's the co-chairman of the Trump House Leadership Committee. He was an early -- was the first member of the House to endorse Donald Trump.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

REP. CHRIS COLLINS (R), NEW YORK: Good to be with you, Wolf. Good to be with you.

BLITZER: So the early voting total so far add up to about 20 percent of the total voters based on maybe the 2012 turnout. How much is the Trump camp reading into these early numbers? Because I know they're looking at them closely.

COLLINS: Well, actually, Wolf, the Trump campaign is very happy. Typically, Democrats turn out for the -- or cast the early votes in much greater numbers than Republicans. Republicans tend to show up more on Election Day. So right now at least our data shows that the early voting by Republicans is greater and bigger numbers than normal. So, actually, we're quite pleased where things stand right now on early voting.

BLITZER: The Trump campaign also, we've now been told, planning to spend, what, about $25 million on advertising these final few days before the election. What's the strategy here? I know the money is being spent on TV stations in those key battleground state

COLLINS: You know, I really think, Wolf, right now this is turn out the vote kind of messaging. I don't know how many undecideds there are. But as the message comes out, certainly the Trump campaign is trying to energize Republicans to understand the binary choice of Hillary Clinton, Supreme Court, Obamacare, and at the same time trying to message to the undecideds. And if nothing else, they're trying to convince those undecideds that may not vote for Donald Trump to simply skip the presidential vote and vote down ballot. So I think it's not so much converting Democrats supporters of Hillary to vote for Donald, but getting the Donald supporters out, getting back to the -- what would you call the historical Republican turnout model. Some of those people that have been on the fence for so long now understanding the binary choice and maybe messaging to the Bernie Sanders voters, vote for one of the independents or just skip the presidential line altogether.

BLITZER: We're hearing, by the way, congressman, that some of your conservative colleagues are holding some sort of private, closed door meeting today to look ahead down the future. Some speculation they're talking about the House speaker, Paul Ryan. They seem to be upset, at least some of them, with him because he hasn't been very effusive, if at all, in his support for Donald Trump. He voted for him, but he's not really campaigning for him, not speaking for him. Where do you stand on this?

COLLINS: Well, I'm a strong supporter of Paul Ryan. But the Freedom Caucus, which is meeting today, it's not about Paul Ryan supporting or not supporting with enough energy Donald Trump. It's more the Freedom Caucus has been frustrated. Some bills that they want to put on the floor, some very controversial, very far right bills, have not seen the light of day. They want to change what we would call a rule in our conference that if they can gather x number of members that automatically those bills go to the House floor. That would be a big change. Not relying on the majority leader to decide what goes to the House floor.

[13:25:08] So there's -- it's more about procedures that they want Paul Ryan to agree to in order to get their support. It has really nothing to do with Donald Trump. This is kind of inside baseball on how bills get to the House floor, and the frustration of the Freedom Caucus that some of their more controversial bills have not been voted on.

BLITZER: Some of us love inside baseball, especially on day seven of the final game.

COLLINS: Yes.

BLITZER: Game seven of the World Series.

All right, congressman, thanks very much. Chris Collins of -- joining us from Buffalo, New York. Coming up --

COLLINS: OK. It's good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you.

The House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, calling out the FBI director, James Comey, for his, quote, "double standard," were dealing with the presidential candidates. Her conversation with CNN. That's coming up next.

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