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A Look at Today's Campaign Activities; Potential Voter Turnout Examined; Potential Result from Utah Explored; Supreme Court Halts "Ballot Collection" In Arizona; Paul Ryan Campaigns For Down-Ballot Candidates; Christie Cancels Four New Hampshire Stops For Trump. Aired Noon-1p ET

Aired November 05, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

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[12:00:23] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a gorgeous view of a sunny nation's capital. Hello, again, and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield live from Washington, D.C., with just now, three days left before either one of the candidates will end up in that place here, over my shoulder, the White House.

Both presidential campaigns are making their last ditch effort to fire up voters and get them to the polls. Donald Trump starting his day in Tampa, rallying supporters and pledging that he would take the state and win the White House on Election Day. Florida, one of four stops he is making today as he and his surrogates crisscross across the country.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's team is out in force across the battleground states including a big rally with pop star, Katy Perry, in Philadelphia. This as the electoral map shows Clinton just below that magic number of 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Our team of political reporters and commentators are fanned out across the country covering every aspect of this campaign. We'll hear from them throughout the hour.

All right, meantime, Donald Trump is now on his way to North Carolina where he is scheduled to speak soon. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is in Wilmington, North Carolina where Trump will be holding the campaign rally there shortly.

So Sunlen, it looks like a huge crowd there awaiting that Trump plane. Polls show a very close race in that state. Is the Trump campaign confident that they might be able to pull that off there?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONENT: Well, Fred, I just talked to Trump's communication director here in North Carolina. He says as of this morning, they are feeling cautiously optimistic about their chances in this state.

He pointed to some early vote numbers here in the state that leads them to believe that they are on the right track. But, certainly events like this, the last day of early, in-person voting here in North Carolina are so essential for the Trump campaign.

Making sure all these people at this campaign event, these supporters actually go and cast their ballots for Donald Trump. They hope, certainly, this final last weekend of campaigning, so essential.

That's why we are seeing Donald Trump having a flurry of campaign activity, not only here in North Carolina. Earlier today he was in Florida. After this, he'll be onward to Nevada and Colorado.

Earlier today, at his campaign event in Tampa, he took issue with Hillary Clinton's star studded event last night with Jay-Z and Beyonce taking issue with some of the language in some of the lyrics. Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He used every word in the book last night. By the way, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, last night, we had an arena. We had 27,000 people show up. Maybe they couldn't in, far more than Jay-Z had, with their free tickets. Free tickets. Far more and Beyonce.

I like them both, but he used language last night that was so bad and then Hillary said, I did not like Donald Trump's lewd language. My lewd language. I tell you what, I've never said what he said in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: You excuse me, I was being quiet because they are going the Pledge of Allegiance right now. When Donald Trump arrives, the plane will land and he'll rally supporters on the tarmac. In a sign, Fred, just how important North Carolina is for the Trump campaign, they are not going to leave the state unattended.

Tomorrow, Mike Pence will be here. Donald Trump will be returning to the state on Monday. He'll hold a big rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. This state is so critical. Their schedule the last few hours, few days, really reflecting it -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Sunlen Serfaty there in Wilmington, North Carolina. We'll check back with you. As Donald Trump leaves Florida to head to Wilmington, North Carolina, Hillary Clinton is flying into Florida. We are waiting for her to take to the stage at a rally in North Miami. We'll bring it to you live.

Let me show you exactly where she will end up there. Take a look at this electoral map. It's based on the most recent polling. Right now, Clinton is sitting just below the 270 electoral votes needed to win.

This means she needs to win one of these yellow states to pass the threshold. You see where Florida is in that whole equation. CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, is at Clinton's upcoming rally there in the Miami area. [12:05:06]So Jeff, earlier we saw Hillary Clinton taking pictures with people at an early voting site. She has had these star-studded events, a concert last night in Cleveland, Beyonce performing, Jay-Z, events like that, is there a way of telling from the electorate there, voters whether that makes a difference?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, it's certainly a way to turn out the vote. That's what Hillary Clinton was doing in Cleveland, Ohio. Now we are in Pembroke Pines, Florida, north of Miami. It is starting to rain here a little bit. It happens a lot in Florida, of course, but early voting is the key, Fredricka, without a doubt.

Those pictures you saw there, Floridians have until tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. to cast their early ballots. But last night in Cleveland, Hillary Clinton stood with Beyonce and Jay-Z and she did a quote from Jay-Z from what he said back in 2008 about why elections matter. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And remember Jay memorably said something we should all recall. Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walked and Martin Luther walked so Barack Obama could run and Barack Obama ran so all the children could fly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So you saw that in Cleveland last night, Fredricka. Now it actually is raining here. We are getting a little bit wet here. The point of this early voting weekend is really to get people to the polls. The 5.3 million people have already voted in the state of Florida.

That is about 60 percent of the electorate. That is why she is campaigning aggressively here today and going to Philadelphia tonight where she'll have more star power, Katy Perry.

Donald Trump is questioning all these celebrities. There is no doubt it is getting people out and more enthused than they otherwise would be. We'll see if it matters in the end -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And I guess, in large part, trying to appeal to that electorate, the millennials who have expressed in many ways that they are feeling a little apathetic. All right, thank you so much, Jeff Zeleny. We'll check in with you in a rainy South Florida.

All right, so the presidential race isn't the only game in town. We have other things straight ahead. We'll be talking about this push down the ballot with our panel right after this.

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[12:10:36]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington, D.C. So this, just into CNN, the Supreme Court clearing the way for a law halting third party ballot collection in Arizona. Democrats had argued that the law could disenfranchise voters.

We are going to talk more about this with my panel, CNN political analyst, Rebecca Berg, CNN presidential historian, Tim Naftali, and CNN national political reporter, Maeve Reston. Good to see all of you.

Rebecca, let me have you tackle that first. What does it mean for the overall race particularly in an all-important state of Arizona?

REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The early vote is critical. Democrats tend to do better and Republicans tend to do better on Election Day. That's kind of the dynamic that we are seeing so far playing out as well.

WHITFIELD: Tim, this is a remarkable race for so many reasons, is it not? I mean, my goodness. What is happening here where there are all these developments leading up to Election Day, three days away? What are voters to make of all these chess pieces being moved?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: First of all, it's not unusual for there to be surges near the end of the campaign. In fact, there are six or seven modern elections where there was a surge at the end. But, only in the cases of Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan did it make a difference.

Usually it made the election closer, but the person leading before the surge was leading after the surge. So, historically speaking, if this follows any rules at all, chances are, the person who had the lead two weeks ago will win.

But, everything has been so different this time around. I would point out how interesting the voting challenges have been. In Ohio, for example, a judge just decided largely on the basis of a Democratic petition that the steal the vote people might be intimidating voters and they have been told to stay away from polling places.

There's a lot of concern about voter intimidation this time around because of the importance of turnout. Since we don't have the charismatic Barack Obama running again, and certain groups in American society that came out in a big way for him, millennials and African- Americans.

So turnout is so important to both camps. These voter intimidation rulings are extraordinarily important and will shape Election Day.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: What we saw today in Arizona is so interesting. The news that just came in is a blow to Democrats. If the Supreme Court in Arizona had physically reversed federal appeals court decision. It revolves around ballot collection.

Democrats have argued in Arizona that there are some communities along the border and Native American reservations where the activists and neighbors needed to go pick up the ballots and deliver them. So this law was put in place to stop that. This is one of these last minute maneuverings that we are seeing around the country. You have a different ruling in North Carolina, for example, yesterday, that was a boon for Democrats.

So you are seeing all around the country, these different efforts that are being made to either suppress or increase the turnout.

WHITFIELD: Now let's talk about another challenge in large part for some Republicans, particularly Republican leadership, Paul Ryan not being for Donald Trump, then being for Donald Trump, an then changing his tune a little bit more. Today, out campaigning, rallying.

You know, Tim, this puts not only the GOP as a whole in a tough situation, but him in particular. Then you have chance of whether his tenure as house speaker is in the rear-view mirror. How does Paul Ryan play a role in influencing this election?

NAFTALI: Well, Paul Ryan is trying to play a role in saving the Republican Party. I think what -- I can't access his inner thoughts, but watching how he's maneuvered, one gets the sense that at a certain point, he focused on down ballot issues, wanted to make sure he didn't lose his speakership, wanted to make sure if he could that the Senate remain in Republican hands.

His tiptoeing around Trump has a lot to do with the pressure some people have put on him saying, you know, you are the highest ranking elected Republican official. You can't just walk away from the nominee of the party.

[12:15:00]So, he's been following this narrow line. What is key here, I believe, is the extent to which he will confirm the outcome of the election on Tuesday. Does he -- if it's really close and if Mr. Trump loses, does Paul Ryan come out and say it's over or does he participate in the vote rigging issue?

Similarly, if Trump wins, what kind of Republican Party does Paul Ryan want? Does he really want a Trump Republican Party? So, Paul Ryan is somebody to watch on Tuesday.

WHITFIELD: Rebecca, this is a real tight rope, for Paul Ryan, the GOP leadership, for all those reasons and more that Tim just laid out.

BERG: They might not even really have much of a choice, you know, whether they have a Trump Republican Party or not after this election. I mean, while the Republican Party is going to try to steer itself on a certain path, they still have to respect the base of their party.

It's not clear that their party is going to immediately move on from Donald Trump, that they are going to immediately renounce Trumpism. This is kind of here to stay and the Republican Party is going to need to grapple with that after this election.

WHITFIELD: Is that the challenge, what is the base of the Republican Party anymore? RESTON: I think to Rebecca's point, we'll have watch and see what happens on Tuesday night. How close the margin is, how well Donald Trump does. He, of course, could win or lose by a very small margin. If that were to happen, there will be a reckoning in the Republican Party where they do have to figure out how to fold in all of these varying interests. That's going to be the most fascinating story going forward.

WHITFIELD: Perhaps its cart before the horse, we haven't gotten there yet, but it is an incredible fascination. What happens within the GOP whether it's a Trump win or not. What about that cohesion, the identity crisis the GOP seems to be in the midst of.

NAFTALI: Well, let's not forget there was something called the Perot voter who disappeared. I mean, that joined some another collaboration. Nineteen percent of the population in 1992 voted for Ross Perot. They didn't ultimately form a party. A few of them voted for him, hey, next time around.

It's possible that some of the angry voters are going to melt away. They will still be Americans. They will still have demands, but they may not be a cohesive force.

We just don't know. For that reason, I think it depends on how close this election is. I think it depends on whether the Republicans hold the Senate or not. The worst Trump and the Republicans do, the greater the reckoning I assume will be.

WHITFIELD: And you know, Rebecca, if it is a Trump win, we don't hear Donald Trump talking too much about the party, the GOP. He's talking about you the voter, he's talking about him as a leader. So, if he were to win, where is that cohesion or from what point is the starting point?

BERG: Well, that's such an interesting point, Fred, because you would think that Donald Trump would be extending an olive branch to the Republican Party, trying to map out how he would govern in concert with Republican leaders and Congress.

But he hasn't been doing that. In fact, he's been doing, in some cases, the exact opposite of that, attacking Republican leaders, attacking Republican candidates who don't support him, not really building those relationships that you would need to govern.

While Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, according to some reports has already begun reaching out to some Republicans in Congress, on the Hill, talking about how they could possibly work together.

And so you see that perfectly illustrates the difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in terms of how they would operate here in Washington. Donald Trump would not, I think, operate in the way we have come to expect and would not necessarily work with Republicans in the way that we have come to expect.

RESTON: It's such an interesting contrast between Clinton getting out there for the down ballot candidates. A huge focus on the final part of her campaign. When Donald Trump gets out there and makes a plug for fellow Republicans, it becomes big news because it's such a rarity.

So that point, you know, if Donald Trump were to be elected, I think that there's so much healing that needs to go on in the Republican Party and the extent to which he does extend those olive branches will be really fascinating to watch.

BERG: And Donald Trump has talked about sort of this idea of a strong executive, which runs so counter to the way most Republicans envision the government working. They see the state should have a lot of power. Republicans in Congress have been deeply disturbed during the Obama administration with the president's executive orders, the way he has used the executive powers that he has, and it's so very interesting.

WHITFIELD: Except Donald Trump then says -- this is a tool that he can't wait to use.

NAFTALI: (Inaudible) tweeted the other day, what good is having a series of conservative members of the court if the person who put them there isn't authoritarian who is challenging the republic.

WHITFIELD: OK, we'll hold it right there. Thank you so much, Tim, Maeve, Rebecca. We have so much more to talk about and we have the time. We'll do it. We'll be back with much more.

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[12:23:46]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to the nation's capital. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right, one state that has turned into a battleground is New Hampshire. The most recent CNN poll of polls has Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump nearly in a dead heat among likely voters.

The Democratic candidate is edging out her rival by just two points. Two weeks ago, Hillary Clinton had an eight-point lead. Joining me right now from Manchester, New Hampshire, is CNN correspondent, Chris Frates. So does anyone have a good explanation for this turn around?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's all get out the vote, Fred, and that is what's happening here this week. The Hillary Clinton campaign telling me this will be the biggest mobilization of their volunteers of the election season.

That makes good sense, we are only days from November 8th, 12,000 volunteers fanning out across the state. More than 60 locations including their field offices. The Clinton campaign saying they have made more than 2 million phone calls. They got out and knocked on 600,000 doors.

Some of their top surrogates are out here this weekend as well. Elizabeth Warren, the senator from the neighboring state of Massachusetts out here getting people fired up, getting progressives fired up in New Hampshire to get to the polls. Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state is also out here.

Now on the GOP side, Donald Trump also has some big names out here and he is also trying to mobilize those voters, 1.4 million door knocks and 1.3 million phone calls.

[12:25:08]So he's reaching out to voters here in New Hampshire as well, along with those crucial independents. We saw Jeff Sessions in Alabama, a big Trump adviser getting out the vote activity this Saturday afternoon. That is something that will continue through the weekend. Mike Pence on Sunday coming to New Hampshire, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so Chris, you know, Chris Christie was supposed to campaign there for Donald Trump. But now in the throws of an investigation that doesn't look good for many people in his administration, what do you know about his whereabouts or how this is impacting the Trump campaign?

FRATES: Yes, Fred, well, you know, Jeff Sessions was supposed to be campaigning with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today, and Christie canceled those appearance after two of his top allies were found guilty in the Bridgegate scandal.

You remember that was a scandal where these two top aides have now been found guilty of orchestrating lane closures to the George Washington Bridge. Those lane closures caused huge traffic jams in New Jersey and they were doing that to get back at a Democratic mayor who did not endorse Chris Christie.

Now those allies said on the stand, in testimony, that Chris Christie knew about the lane closures as they happened. Christie maintained he did not know about those lane closures until the news broke.

I asked Jeff Sessions, I said, Senator, should Chris Christie be in charge of Donald Trump's transition team? Trump is running on draining the swamp in Washington. Can Chris Christie head the transition when it's shown that he has corruption in his own administration? Here is what Jeff Sessions told me -- Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: With Donald Trump saying we need to drain the swamp of Washington, is it appropriate to have Chris Christie heading the transition effort going forward if Donald Trump were to win?

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: I don't know anything about that or what his plans were today. Certainly, he's not been charged with anything. But, this campaign is focused on commitment to a higher ethical standard.

FRATES: So, he should stay then? You are fine with it? Yes or no, I mean, should he stay as transition chair or not?

SESSIONS: I don't know any reason why he shouldn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRATES: So, Jeff Sessions there saying I don't see a reason why Chris Christie shouldn't stay at the top of the transition team. We'll see if this news about his top allies being convicted in the Bridgegate scandal changes things, Fred.

But I can tell you he's not out here on the ground today. Chris Christie is popular here in New Hampshire. He knows how to do those town halls. He campaigned against Donald Trump in New Hampshire. He is not on the stump today. We'll see if he makes it out a little bit later in the next couple of days, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Frates, thank you so much in Manchester, New Hampshire. We'll have much more in the NEWSROOM from the nation's capital right after this.

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[12:31:13] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. We're less than three days away from the presidential election. The two leading candidates wanting to end up there at the White House. And the latest in the CNN poll of polls, let's take a look. Hillary Clinton holds a five-point edge nationally over Donald Trump. In the next hour, the candidates will hold dueling campaign events in key battleground states. Trump will hold a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina and Hillary Clinton will take the stage in Pembroke Pines, Florida, South Florida, and we'll bring you both of those events as they happen.

All right, voter turnout could be critical on Tuesday, it will be. It proved to be a huge part of President Obama's victories. And Republicans who have a smaller ground operation back in 2012 say they are now stepping up their efforts to drive voters to the polls. CNN Chief Political correspondent Dana Bash has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: On the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going mark you down for 12:00 on Saturday for phone banking.

BASH: on the stump

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: IF we vote we win.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Get out and vote.

BASH: It's now all about getting out the vote. For Republicans, that means learning from their mistakes. After the lagging 2012 operation failed, the Republican National Committee began working three years ago to step up their game. How is what you are doing in 2016 different what you did in 2012?

MATT DAILER, RNC IOWA STATE DIRECTOR: We are 100 miles away from where we were in 2012.

BASH: The biggest difference, activist now use this phone app to get out the vote.

DAILER: It will show you their party affiliation, how reliable they are as a voter, their age stuff like that. And just click that voter. Do take survey. Boom, right there.

BASH: And it gives volunteers what's called dynamic scripting, something different pictures to voters, depending on their answers. Information all instantly sent back to RNC headquarters.

DAILER: We need to talk a little proponency (ph) to Republicans and make sure they know when the election is and figure out who they're going to support, so we can drive them out.

BASH: Now in the final push, thousands of staffers and volunteers are using that app in battleground states across the country. The RNC leading Trump's ground operation says they will complete 17 million door knocks by Election Day, up from 11.5 million in 2012. It's all very ambitious but it's been done before by the Democrats.

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm doing great, what is your name?

BASH: Republican strategist admit, they're trying to emulate the Obama ground machine that crushed the GOP for two cycles.

MARY PERKINS WILLIAMS: My name is Mary Perkins Williams. I am a volunteer for ...

BASH: Armies of Democratic activists are spread out over the same key states as Republicans. Clinton campaign aides say they've signed up some 1 million volunteer shifts for the last 96 hours alone. In some ways, team Clinton is old school using paper and clip boards and put in a tally at the end of each day. Still, the Clinton system is very high-tech using social and digital media to build on that banquet Obama operation

JESSALYN REID, V.A. DIRECTOR, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Text plan 247246. It's now going to walk me through making my entire voting plan.

BASH: A personalized plan for where to vote, when to vote and even how to get there. Forcing people to get specific and to give a commitment.

REID: Exactly, I'm taking public transit, I'm voting in the morning and I know my polling location. So, I can get a reminder straight to my phone, straight to my pocket on Election Day to tell me to go vote.

BASH: Clinton officials say volunteers are pretty much done to persuade voters to support Clinton

No soft Trump voters, you're done with those?

REID: We're just focused on the turnout right now.

BASH: Translation, team Clinton knows exactly who her voters are. Now it's all about making sure those voters actually cast their ballots. Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:34:58] WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in our panel now to discuss more of this. CNN Political Analyst, Rebecca Berg, CNN Presidential Historian Tim Naftali and CNN Senior Media Correspondent, host of "Reliable Sources" Brian Stelter. All right good to see all of you. So Rebecca, I'll begin with you first. We're talking about door knocks for Donald Trump, star studded events for Hillary Clinton. How will we know before Election Day which is the more effective strategy?

REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we already know that Hillary Clinton and Democrats just more broadly devoted a lot more energy and focus to the ground game overall. Donald Trump left that entirely. It's the Republican National Committee. He decided that his campaign was going to focus on other things that he thought, during the primary, he didn't need a ground game and so it was a kind of a climb for him to even admit.

OK, now that it's the general election, the Republican National Committee is going to need to handle this for me so Democrats have been focused on this from the very beginning. Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager prides himself as an organizer on the ground. And critically he was her in Nevada sea director during the 2008 primary. That's going to be a key state when it comes to turn out.

So I think we have a pretty good sense that Democrats are going to be really competitive when it comes to getting the voters out. But it's also a tougher climb for them, because Republicans tend to rely on older voters, higher propensity voters. Democrats rely on voters like African-Americans who are tough to turn out at the polls. And we're already seeing early voting that one of the challenges for Hillary Clinton is going to be getting African-Americans to turn out at the levels like they did or close to level they did even in 2012 and 2008 for Barack Obama.

WHITFIELD: So essentially Tim, we're seeing a lot of the -- more of the same, perhaps, just in higher gear for Clinton in terms of the strategy and we're seeing in this last week, a complete strategy change, you know, for Donald Trump. I mean a different demeanor. A different approach in which how to talk to people, talking to himself out loud, you know, I mean, is that with some hope that voters will forget everything that preceded the last days?

TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, you know, we've been talking about this as a nation for months. And you'd think that people would remember whatever it is that bothered them about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, they'd remember it now.

Here is the really interesting about Trump. Trump seemed to acts on the assumption that any, any publicity was good publicity. He now is running his campaign by disappearing for the most part I mean he's going in this, of course he's trying to get the base to vote. He's doing what candidates do. But he's not tweeting anything terribly interesting. He's not calling in to television shows to say anything unusual. Somebody has gotten to him. Listen, again, we've seen this man in three different debates. It would be silly to say he's had a complete personality change in a few hours. But somebody has convinced him that he should just disappear on the national stage and focus on the fact that our national election is actually 50 state elections and he should be going to the states where he has a chance to win the state election. That's a complete shift in his strategy.

WHITFIELD: OK, we're going to take a short break from here. As a continuation of the strategy change, Brian, you're going to reveal to us as soon as we come back, something a little bit different perhaps than what we've seen on the campaign trail as it pertains to Donald Trump. That's coming up. Talk about a nail biter. We'll have much more straight ahead, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:42:15] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A San Francisco startup is creating kayaks in a bulk.

ROBERTO GUTIERREZ, ORU KAYAK CO FOUNDER: We're changing the way people connect with the out doors. Other the fact we design, manufacture and sell kayaks that fold up into a small case.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They go from box to boat in about five minutes.

GUTIERREZ: The kayaks are made out of corrugated polypropylene. It's one continuos piece of plastic. The case itself unfolds like a piece of paper and then it closes up across the top.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Co-founder Anton Willis came up with the design.

GUTIERREZ: He read an article about origami and its applications and decided, I'm going to try and make a kayak that folds up like origami.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Kayaks are light weight and durable.

GUTIERREZ: We've tested them on Cluster Rivers, surf six foot waves. We threw them up the rift of a three story building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The three founders launched the company on kickstarter in 2012 and it has took off.

GUTIERREZ: We hit our goal on the first within a few hours. There is almost $0.5 million on kickstarter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In four years the company has sold close to 9,000 kayaks around the world.

GUTIERREZ: The feature for our kayak is really to get more and more people on boats. You can be 15 feet from the shore and feel like you're miles away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back to the nation's capital. We're live. Both presidential candidates will be speaking next hour. Donald Trump will be holding a rally in Wilmington North Carolina, you the folks all getting ready for that. The left of your screen also awaiting the Trump plane to arrive and Hillary Clinton will be taking to the stage in Pembroke Pines, Florida, a large crowd turning out. Moments ago, it was sprinkling. It looks like the umbrellas have been put away.

We'll take you to both live events as they happen. All right, let's talk more now about the landscape now just three days away from Election Day. Let's bring back the panel here. CNN political analyst Rebecca Berg, CNN Presidential Historian Tim Naftali and CNN Senior Media Correspondent, host of "Reliable Sources" Brian Stelter. And this just in everyone -- information now from a Mike Pence aide that Pence is scheduled to go to Minnesota now on Monday for a campaign stop and that according to this aide says "The map is expanding". So, Rebecca, what do you make of this constant change in strategy that we're seeing unfold here as it pertains to Donald Trump's ticket?

BERG: well, we've seen this movie before in 2012 with Mitt Romney. In the final days of the campaign, he too was traveling to states like Minnesota that weren't necessarily leaning in his favor. They were leaning in Barack Obama's favor even at that time. But he looked at the map and his team recognized that they needed to expand the map or there just wasn't any viable way for him to reach 270 electoral votes. And that's what we are seeing now.

WHITFIELD: Is it a too little too late or is this, you know, addressing the matter at hand with three days away?

BERG: Yeah.

[12:45:00] NAFTALI: There's no reason. There's nothing in the polls about Minnesota that would give you the impression that it's going to become up a battleground state. So, you know, I think Rebecca is right. It's just -- this is a Hail Mary -- look at the number of roads to 270 for Trump. There aren't many of them. And one -- he's going to need some of the upper Midwest.

WHITFIELD: You had another point, Rebecca, you want to make on that?

BERG: Absolutely, I mean I would even argue that Michigan and Pennsylvania are still more likely targets for Trump than Minnesota when we're looking realistically at the polling in those places. But the fact of the matter is that even if Donald Trump runs the table on the real toss up states, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio and Nevada, he still would need to win one of these really difficult states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and so it's just very -- it's very much an outside chance. But they need to find somewhere. They need to put more points on the board.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: And in the map may be real or may be rhetorical, but either way the message to his supporters is we're in this to win it. Get to the polls. We have momentums ...

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: Yeah, that's right.

NAFTALI: But interesting that this -- that they're not sending people to help the down ballot people. I mean there isn't ...

BERG: And what does that mean?

NAFTALI: There's no senate race.

WHITFIELD: Is that a mistake in your view, especially if you have a Donald Trump who wins? He has to mend fences, right? Because he has splintered lots of relationship with the GOP and if you're going to be in the White House, if you're going to be in that place right there you got to be able to coordinate and collaborate with those on the hill.

NAFTALI: Well, I'd say that their campaign would probably say to us, well, we have to win the election, first. But I would say I would ask everybody what is the opposite of coat tails? Because the thing about it is there aren't going to be very few ...

WHITFIELD: Being alone?

NAFTALI: Very few elected Republicans who will say thank you Donald Trump for helping us, hold on to the Senate.

BERG: And in fact and many of them, right now, are campaigning as independent voices incase he is elected president.

WHITFIELD: So you got Mike Pence in Minnesota tomorrow, there have been a few other surprises along the way in terms of how Donald Trump is dotting the map today, four places and then today at the 1:00 rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, you're not going to just see Donald Trump but Brian you're going to see who else?

STELTER: Melania Trump. Trump campaign taking advantage of the element of surprise here by announcing just a few minutes ago, that Trump's wife will be with him, introducing him at his next campaign stop. I think, you know, this shouldn't be news normally it wouldn't be news, but because it's so rare to see her on the campaign trail, it will be noteworthy, you know, she gave a speech at the convention, then she didn't speak for months, then she had a one speech earlier in the week in Pennsylvania. Now, she'll be speaking -- introducing her husband which, you know, visually, it could be interesting. It also comes only a few hours after the associated press reported that she received payment for work here in the U.S. as a model before she was legally able to. Now, the Trump campaign ...

WHITFIELD: So underling the "A message" that she has made in terms of working here legally, getting her immigration status taken care of legally.

STELTER: That's right. WHITFIELD: Or those contracting ...

STELTER: They got a lot of Trump critics saying this is all hypercritical. And this about $20,000 it was two decades ago. But it makes me think back to August when Donald Trump promised that Melania would hold a press conference to address questions about her immigration status. That press conference never happened and I think we can pretty confidently say she won't be talking about this on stage ...

WHITFIELD: And when Donald Trump said there might be three appearances before Election Day ...

(CROSSALK)

WHITFIELD: This is considered the second?

STELTER: This would be the second, that's right.

WHITFIELD: I think that people had interpreted that meant she was going to be speaking, you know, more fluently about herself, but we don't know what's going to happen (inaudible).

STELTER: So sometimes you would have that the first lady -- the possible first lady out in different states then than the candidate. You would have them working in different states spread out as much as possible, but not in this case.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to see. Thank you very much everybody. Appreciate that Rebecca Berg, Tim Naftali, Brian Stelter and we're going to have more from the nation's capital after this.

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[12:52:43] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I want to introduce you to one of the top 10 CNN heroes of 2016. Craig Dodson, he's using his bicycle to help at-risk children living in Richmond, Virginia's public housing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG DODSON, FOUNDER, RICHMOND CYCLING CROPS: Sit, sit, sit. Richmon Cycling Corps does is essentially to get them out of public housing which is a knuckles down, whatever it takes. Every day is literally a battle, it's all about reach. For some kids, the bike is the outlet. They got all those pent up angst. I mean these kids went through trauma, classic three like times. So, the bike literally becomes the relief valve to get that out.

Get off the bike and run.

Cycling is the hardest sport in the world. Mentally, it's being able to put yourself in a state of discomfort and stay there. Anytime most moves are faced with discomfort, they go into a negative pocket in the brain. That's the most prevalent thing especially with our kids. To be able to control those thoughts and divert that and push that aside and constantly think positively and persevere. Those are things that eventually become the fabric of who you are as a person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Vote for Craig or any of your favorite top 10 heroes now at CNNheroes.com.

All right, both presidential candidates will be speaking next hour. We'll take you there live. Donald Trump, holding a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina. Hillary Clinton, taking to the stage in Pembroke Pines, Florida. We'll bring both live events as they happen.

All right, so in the 2012 Election, Mitt Romney was an easy winner in Utah. This time around, it's turned into a three-way battle state in the presidential race. Stephanie Elam is in Salt Lake City. Where does the race stand right now? Stephanie?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fred. Well, it's a different picture here in Utah this time around. People were excited. They were galvanized to get out and vote for Mitt Romney in 2012. Quite a different picture in 2016. Where when you talk to people on the ground what you get more often and not what I've heard was I'm voting, but I'm less excited this election about either one this people being president. However, in Utah, there is one difference and difference is Evan McMullin. He's running as an independent, but he is -- traditionally, he's been a Republican, he's voted Republican his whole life and he has said.

[12:55:04] and he is also Mormon which here in Utah, were 85 percent of the Republican voters are Mormon, that is a big deal. So we went out to talk to people to see what they were saying and it was interesting the conversations that we heard, I spoke to one woman who said that, listen, in this country we are basically a two-party system. And so I'm casting my vote for Donald Trump because he has the likelihood of winning and I can't stomach a Hillary Clinton presidency.

I also spoke to one man, who is a Democrat also a Mormon. Everyone I spoke to is part of the church, and saying that he was voting for Hillary Clinton, he's a Democrat so as his wife and he is saying that he's excited to vote for her because for once his vote here in Utah is actually going to make a difference, so saying he could see that this time around, a vote for a Democratic candidate may actually mean something and just to put it into perspective, a new poll came out yesterday from here in Utah from Y2 Analytics which is based here in Salt Lake City.

And they came out with a poll saying Donald Trump right now is standing at 33 percent and then Evan McMullin at 28 percent and Hillary Clinton at 24 percent. And that is interesting because if they are able to take away these six electoral votes from the Republican candidate, that is what Evan McMullin wants to do. If that happens, that could assure in a Hillary Clinton win. And that is what some people here are concerned about, but people are really trying to vote their conscience here, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right Stephanie Elam, thanks so much in Salt Lake City. Appreciate that. All right the next hour of in the CNN NEWSROOM begins after a short break.

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