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Clinton, Trump in Final Push for 270 Electoral Votes; Early Vote Turnout Spikes in North Carolina; Clinton and Her Celebrity Campaign Surrogates; New Video: Inside Battle for Mosul; Clinton Has Fresh Concerns about Long-Time Blue State Michigan; Family Feud over Presidential Candidates. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 05, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:10] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Five o'clock Eastern. You're live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. This is our special election coverage. Because we are three days until the votes are counted. Three days away, folks and a brand new CNN poll of polls shows Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump just three points apart nationally.

Take a look. Clinton 46, Trump 43. This race is narrowing. Buckle up because just this morning, our CNN poll of polls showed Clinton ahead by five points.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm asking you to dream big because with your vote, we are just three days away from the change you've been waiting for for your entire life.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I don't think I need to tell you, all of the wrong things about Donald Trump, but here's what I want you to remember, I want to be the president for everybody. Everybody agrees with me, people who don't agree with me, people who vote for me, people who don't vote for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: For the candidates, it is state by state combat as the battleground map shifts beneath their feet. Our new CNN electoral map based on CNN poll analysis shows Hillary Clinton for the first time just a bit shy of the 270 Electoral Votes it takes to win the White House. As more states lean Republican or become tossups. And today on the trail, you can feel the urgency of this race, Donald Trump sprinting across four states. Many more planned for tomorrow and Monday.

Clinton also in Florida and Pennsylvania today before heading to Ohio and New Hampshire tomorrow. And in case you're keeping score at home with more than 30 million votes already casts this weekend is critical to an early voting push. Democrats are convinced will deliver them the battleground states they need. We have reporters across the battlegrounds from coast to coast. From North Carolina to Florida to Michigan. But first I want to get straight to the Decision Desk. CNN executive

editor, CNN Politics Mark Preston has some new early voting numbers in from two key western states. Arizona and Nevada. What are we learning?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, Poppy, as you said, as we look at the national number right now, nearly 37 million people in 39 states have already cast their ballot before Election Day. And as you say two key states out west, Arizona where we saw Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine this week campaigning about 1.5 million people have already cast their votes. But despite being out there and campaigning, if we look at where the numbers are at this point, not so good for Democrats at this point. We have a Republican edge by about 90,000 ballots returned.

Now Poppy, this is on par to what Republicans were doing back in 2012 when Mitt Romney won the state by nine points and picked up the 11 electoral votes that are needed in the state of Arizona. Let's go down to Nevada. A key state that Democrats and Republicans have been fighting for about 767,000 people, little more than that have cast their early ballots now. The state of Nevada has no more early voting. It is over at this point.

But let's see where the party break down is at this point. And Democrats have a significant lead right now in the state of Nevada. Now that it's closed by about 46,000 votes over the GOP. This mirrors what Barack Obama saw when he ran in 2012. And, of course, Barack Obama won that state by seven points when we compare 2016 to 2012. Now couple of other interesting numbers here is that in Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas, they saw their highest most historical turnout in early voting on Friday, 57,000 ballots had been returned at that point.

And Democrats lead Republicans overall in that county by 72,000 ballots. Which even more troubling now is that if you go up to Washoe County which is Reno, tends to be more Republican up there, Democrats cast more ballots than Republicans in that state as well. So couple more days until Election Day, but we still have early balloting going in across the nation. Here in Arizona as well down into Florida and North Carolina -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Mark, are you already planning your post-election vacation, I hope.

PRESTON: Well, you know, given the fact that there's going to be a whole new administration in town, I don't think there's any vacation on the horizontal.

HARLOW: Oh, man! You don't get a break. You work around the clock. Thank you for those numbers. It's important inside into what's going ton.

Let's take a look and a closer look at the new battleground map. Because it shifts two states to lean Republican. Utah and of course the giant price of Ohio. And we've moved New Hampshire from lean Democratic back to battleground or tossup. That's what's going on here, folks. A new map means new math. Hillary Clinton just short of the 270 electoral votes she would need to win the White House. She would now need to flip or take just one battleground state to get back at 270 or above.

[17:05:14] Trump has a much steeper climb. Even though this map looks better for him than it has, his path is still much more narrow. He would essentially have to have an inside history. He needs to run the board. He needs to flip some reliably blue states into his column. Let's debate it.

With me now, our political commentators, the New Yorkers Ryan Lizza and Republican strategist Tara Setmayer. Thank you guys for being here.

Thanks, Poppy. Ryan, Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway has said, she likes being the underdog. She liked it when her candidate is the underdog. Carl Bernstein who wrote, you know, one of the definitive books on Hillary Clinton says she is best when she is in what he calls warrior mode. Who does this changing map favor more?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that both of them here at the ends have a, you know, fire underneath of them because for the first time in a very long time, it is conceivable that Donald Trump could win this race. As you pointed out, Poppy, this has to have sort of inside strength there, but it's possible. He could win Arizona. I mean Arizona hasn't been won by the Democrats in a very long time. Florida has been extremely tight all year as Florida always is in presidential elections. And, you know, probably the biggest news over the last few weeks is that North Carolina has slipped away a little bit for Clinton and New Hampshire has slipped away a little bit for Clinton.

Those are, those are, you know, those are two very important firewall states for her. And so, I think the headline of this weekend is that yes, Donald Trump could win this election. Now, there are all sorts of other factors that, you know, the polls might not be picking up on, right? Unprecedented turnout perhaps amongst Hispanics in Florida that could save Florida for Hillary Clinton. A big shift in the college educated whites who voted for Romney and may be voting for Clinton. And so, a lot of variables I think just by the polling alone. We don't know. And this thing is going to go down to the wire.

HARLOW: Yes. He's also betting on what you know, what they are calling the secret Trump vote. I spoke to some of them in these battleground states that aren't, you know, saying to the polls exactly what they believe. Tara, the Trump campaign says and we know they're putting a lot of folks in North Carolina. You had his wife Melania introducing him today there. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, WIFE OF DONALD TRUMP: I have known this man, Donald Trump, for 18 years. Donald is a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. He's strong. He's determined, bold, and decisive. He's also compassionate, thoughtful, giving, and loving. Donald cares -- (APPLAUSE)

So there they are. The latest poll there shows him trailing her just a little bit by four points. You just Tara got back from a few days in North Carolina. And you say you've got the feeling it is too close to call.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I did. I spent three days in North Carolina and talking to different people from college students, Millennials, and black voters, it was very interesting. It was very split. And it was interesting also to see that the lack of enthusiasm with the African-American vote in North Carolina for Hillary Clinton compared to Barack Obama in 2012 was in fact palpable. Which is why you see heavy weights going to North Carolina, including the President himself and celebrities and, you know, going there for Hillary Clinton to campaign in her behalf.

We saw Mark Preston brought it up at the early voting in North Carolina showed that there was about a six percent blog in black votes early voting in North Carolina compared to 2012. So that could close obviously in the last 72 hours. This is the big push. This is where everybody is knocking on doors and canvassing and going out there to convince people to vote. So, I've seen swings. I've seen up to six and seven point swings over the weekend before Election Day in other races in the past. It can happen for her. I think ultimately if Hillary Clinton loses North Carolina, it will be because of the lackluster black vote.

HARLOW: Ryan --

LIZZA: Yes.

HARLOW: Trump obviously wants the crack holes in the blue wall. Frankly he wants to and needs to flip some blue states, you know, at least one. He's trying to do it in Michigan which hasn't gone for Republicans since 1988. Now we learned just in the past few hours he's going to try to flip Minnesota, which has had the longest blue strict in terms of going for Democratic, you know, candidates for president of any state in the country. I mean, they haven't gone red since '72.

LIZZA: Yes.

HARLOW: Do you think it is a smart strategy to go to Minnesota tomorrow, than send Pence there on Monday but also try to go to Michigan. I mean, it just seems, is that a Hail Mary to try for all of these?

LIZZA: Yes.

HARLOW: Should he be focusing on say, just Michigan?

LIZZA: That one doesn't make so much sense to me. I don't quite understand that. As you pointed out, it's just -- the demographics of Minnesota make sense. Right? He's looking for Upper Midwestern states with a very large white population. Right? Those are the states he does well in where there's not as much of a non-white vote. So you would look at Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, he's obviously doing well in Iowa. It looks like he's going to take Iowa. But Wisconsin looks a whole lot better for him to the extent that any of those states can be flipped than Minnesota.

[17:10:33] So, I do find that puzzling. When you just look at the latest CNN map, I mean, the states where he can win this are Nevada, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire. Those are the four that if he can pull those off and then that one electoral vote in Maine, he can just win this. And I think if he did that, there's a decent chance that he would do it without winning the popular vote. I don't know if viewers -- we've talked about this a lot. But she has a lot of wasted votes in big states like California and Texas when you look at the popular vote, right? So, if he wins the Electoral Vote, there's a decedent chance he's going to do it without the popular vote. That's one of the more likely crazy outcomes on Tuesday.

HARLOW: Guys, I got to --

SETMAYER: Just quick. This really, quickly. Interestingly you bring up Wisconsin, Ryan, and they actually had the Trump campaign had a rally scheduled in Wisconsin. They cancelled it seemingly to go to Minnesota which doesn't seem to make sense. But the Senate race in Wisconsin is closing. Ron Johnson is only one percentage points away when he was trailing for quite some time. So, Wisconsin is, you know, the Senate races matter also. The GOP Senate majority is on the brink here. You have five very, very close races including Wisconsin, Missouri even is too close to call as well North Carolina and Nevada. Those early votes in Nevada can make a difference.

HARLOW: Got to leave it there, guys. Getting the rough in my ear. Thank you, Ryan, Tara.

LIZZA: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: We appreciate it. Coming up. A closer look at North Carolina. It has become a state that is really a must win for Donald Trump and had his path to 270. We're there on the last day of early voting. Look at those lines.

Also live pictures from Sarasota, Florida. Another must win. Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine there to get us to the vote event there. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:39] HARLOW: Today was the last day for early voting in one of these elections most critical swing states. North Carolina lines crawled around the block at polling places here in Charlotte just ahead of the deadline. Donald Trump and his wife spoke Melania spoke to supporters in Wilmington, North Carolina and earlier this week, Hillary Clinton held a rally in Durham with Bernie Sanders and singer Pharrell. The latest North Carolina poll of polls from CNN shows Trump's trailing Clinton four points there. Clinton at 46. Trump at 42.

Let's go to Gary Tuchman. He is outside, one of the early voting places in Charlotte. There are still people in line.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've had early voting here in the state of North Carolina for the last 16 days. This is the last day and early voting officially came to an end at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. So, right now, I don't know if you're looking at your watch. It's 5:15 p.m. Eastern Time. Why are people still voting? Because these people arrived at 1:00 p.m. This is the end of the line. There are still about 100 people behind me getting ready to vote. And this right behind me, these are literally the last people who got here at the stroke of one. If you came in 1:00 and ten seconds, we told you, you had to come on Tuesday to vote.

These people showed up at 1:00, this guy right here was the last guy, there's the other guy back there. He's a little shy. First of all, the question to everybody. You've been here for four hours and 15 minutes. You're covering your face.

(LAUGHTER)

We've got some shy people here. I think they're delirious. They are so tired. You guys are tired. Who are you voting for, Bush or Gore? Just testing you to see how tired you are. I mean, that is just a joke. This guy will talk. He is the last person in line. Four hours. If you knew the line was going to be this long, would you have waited this long?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely. Yes.

TUCHMAN: And tell me why it's so important for you to be here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because my predecessors before me, they sacrificed a lot to vote. So, one way to honor them is come out here to vote.

TUCHMAN: This guy is a great American. I am going to ask this lady right here. Not the shy lady. The lady right in front of her over here. How come you decided to wait four house and then decided to go home and come back Tuesday and maybe have a shorter wait?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I was here already committed to being here and so I met great wonderful people, and we've really had a good time.

TUCHMAN: All right. It's like a real party here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is.

TUCHMAN: As early voting comes to an end in the state of North Carolina. Back to you, Fredricka.

HARLOW: Gary, I love you, but it's Poppy, my friend.

TUCHMAN: Oh! Poppy, Poppy. I love you too Poppy. I love Fredricka and I'm sorry.

HARLOW: Just one big happy family.

TUCHMAN: I'm delirious too, Poppy. I'm sorry about that.

HARLOW: I know. I know. And it's not even election night.

TUCHMAN: Sorry.

HARLOW: Gary, thank you so much. Coming up, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Jay-z. Hillary Clinton rolling out some serious star power. Will it be enough to get voters excited and to the polls. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:22:12] HARLOW: Tonight in Philadelphia, singer Katy Perry will take the stage as part of the get out the vote push for Hillary Clinton. Just last night in Cleveland, Clinton appeared alongside hip-hop power couple Jay-z and Beyonce. Tomorrow, she will be back in Ohio with basketball super star LeBron James. She's also had Cher, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, all out for the trial for her. Trump reacting to her star surrogate this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We don't need Jay-z to fill up arenas, you know.

(APPLAUSE)

We do it the old fashioned way. We do it the old fashioned way, folks. We fill them up because you love what we're saying and you want to make America great again. That is about it. Something tells me that he would be okay with Jay-z filling up an arena for him.

Let me bring in my CNN political commentators, Maria Cardona, a Clinton supporter who does work, whose firm does work for pro-Clinton Super PAC.

Also with me, Scottie Nell Hughes, a Trump supporter and a political editor for RightAlerts.com. So let me begin with you Maria, what do you say to the criticism. We heard some of it from Trump there that despite all the star power, the star surrogates, enthusiasm is lacking for Clinton.

MARIA CARDONA, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: She's winning. So that I think is the real mark and measure of enthusiasm.

HARLOW: I mean, the poll of polls is a three-point race now.

CARDONA: But she's winning. So let's remember that last cycle, four years ago, President Obama and Mitt Romney went into this and in a tie, 47-47. And President Obama ended up winning. She is ahead in most of the battleground states. There is also a hidden Hillary vote. I know we talked a lot about the hidden Trump voter, there is a hidden Hillary voter. And we are now seeing it come out.

HARLOW: Why? Why have they been in hiding?

CARDONA: It's not that they've been in hiding. It's that, in all of these public polls that we're seeing, they don't measure Latino voters, they don't measure Millennials, they don't measure first time registered voters because they don't fit the likely voter model. In addition, Latino voters if you don't have bilingual colors, which none of these public polls do, you're going to severely undercount the Latino support. It's what happened in 2012 and 2008 and it's what's happening now and we'll see it on Tuesday.

HARLOW: Scottie, when you look at the surrogates for Donald Trump, obviously he has got his family out in droves which, you know, many of them have been an asset to him. Some of his other top surrogates have been grabbing the headlines in the last few days for the wrong reasons. You've got Rudy Giuliani going back and forth on what FBI agents did or didn't tell him about the emails. You've got two convictions of two former Chris Christie aides in the Bridgegate scandal. You have got, you know, the former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SUNUNU (R), FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR: You think Bill was referring to Hillary when he said, I did not have sex with that woman.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Should this be a worry for the Trump campaign? Just sort of this pile on of not great things for some big name surrogates.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, POLITICAL EDITOR, RIGHTALERTS.COM: Well, at this stage of the game for both sides, surrogates should not be in headlines. It should be the most boring interviews that you were getting out of surrogates from both campaigns because the focus should be on the candidates and the rallies that they're putting on.

HARLOW: -- getting interviews with the candidates. They're both sort of seemingly allergic to national TV interviews.

NELL HUGHES: I know. Once again, it's all about who -- they don't want -- nobody wants headlines there in any way negative. They want to talk about the positive parts of politics. Because that's what we've seen in the last ten months. And as for Hillary Clinton, the 90s called and want her political strategy back. Rock the vote might have worked then. I think it would actually do the Clinton camp, it would be better maybe if they were handing out free iTunes cards for all of their supporters who are going to sit in line for two to three hours for voting on Tuesday. That might be able to encourage them more. But I think right now it's more about focusing on these candidates, their policy points. I mean, I think this is going to be the most boring weekend of the entire campaign season. Hopefully it is.

HARLOW: Don't say that, people will turn the TV on.

NELL HUGHES: I know. Hopefully and politically significant. Then, we're actually listening to what these candidates policy is actually saying and what they're doing. I mean, Donald Trump today kissed a baby. Brought a baby up on stage. It was wonderful to actually get to see him. The baby looked like he was more like kind of the lion king --

HARLOW: Do we have that picture? All right.

NELL HUGHES: It was great.

HARLOW: All right. I don't know if we have that picture. I said to you last hour I wanted to know your Wednesday morning headlines. Do we have a winner and if so, what is the headline?

CARDONA: Welcome madam president.

NELL HUGHES: You're hired. America chooses Trump.

HARLOW: Did you guys ever think -- very quickly before we go to break, that we'd live through an election like this? Did you expect 16 months ago it would be look this?

CARDONA: Absolutely not. Though I have to say, back in early October, I called that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee.

NELL HUGHES: I called it in July, but we still have three days more left to go, Poppy. Talk to me on Wednesday morning. That is a lifetime in politics.

HARLOW: Guys, thank you so much.

CARDONA: Thank you.

HARLOW: Maria Cardona, Scottie Nell Hughes. We appreciate it.

Coming up next, switching gears, something you have to see. We take you inside Mosul Iraq and truly frightening video from inside. Our incredibly brave correspondent Arwa Damon and her entire production and camera team inside Mosul caught in the firefight for more than 24 hours between ISIS and Iraqi troops. This report exclusively on CNN from the frontlines of this battle, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:33] HARLOW: The intense fight to push is out of Iraq's second- largest city and our teams right there in the middle of all of it. Some incredible and frightening pictures that you will only see here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: This is Mosul, where Iraqi troops are fighting house to house, push them out. Listen to these words. They are the raw notes from our senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon. She was right in the middle. These are her word: "A massive flash of orange, a massive explosion when we were stopped. My ears are ringing. The door to the MRAP couldn't come up fast enough. Everybody coughing from the dust and the dirt kicked up. Out the back window I saw family running with kid. It was a suicide car bomber, they said. I can't stop thinking about that family and all of the others."

Let's go live to Arwa Damon. Those were her words. She is now safe, just about 55 miles away from all this happened.

Arwa, you and your photographer, 24 hours, you are stuck in the middle of this. I read the entirety of your notes. It's remarkable. Talk to me about living through it. You've covered so many war zones. How is this different?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, our photographer and I were with this unit of Iraqi counterterrorism forces. What happened was ISIS ambushed them in a very complex attack on one of these narrow streets that they were going down and they managed to split the convoy in two. I have to say that this is the most harrowing experience that I have personally been through, despite having covered war zones for more than a decade. Once they managed to split the convoy in two, with gunfire, rocket propelled grenades, they began to systematically take out the convoy's vehicles, Humvees and MRAPs, starting at both ends and forcing the soldiers and eventually us out of our vehicles on to the streets and building, basically putting the troops in more vulnerable positions. Then, the ISIS fighters were moving in and attacking the buildings that the troops were sheltering in. At the end of very long 24 hours, the bottom line is that we were under siege with around 22 wounded soldiers, six who were not wounded. It got so bad at one point in the morning, Poppy. Despite the fact that the unit was repeatedly calling in for backup, none came. They were running out of ammunition.

This is how close the ISIS fighters were, in the building right behind where all of us had spent the night along with an Iraqi family. An air strike took out the building, the house behind us. We later found out that eight ISIS fighters were there.

At one point, there were ISIS fighters on a roof top right next door, throwing grenades into the courtyard that wounded more of the soldiers we were with. They were screaming for anyone who could walk to come up to the roof and defend this position. The reason why backup couldn't arrive. Based on what we were told, the units that were supposed to be coming as reinforcements also got bogged down because of clashes that they were undergoing with ISIS.

This illustrates the challenges that the Iraqis are going to be facing as they try to clear Iraq's second-largest city.

HARLOW: The family, Arwa, in those notes that you send back in the midst of all this, you talk about the family with their children. Do you know what happened to them?

DAMON: The family we were with that we spent the night with shall they didn't want to be filmed. They were very friendly, welcoming. At the same time, they were terrified. Overnight, we were chatting, laughing, joking. In the morning, when the ISIS counterattack began, they were crying, hiding under the staircase. They were trying to leave the house to go to their neighbors, because they thought they would be safer there. They made a few attempts to run out. The gunfire drove them back. One of the little boys was screaming out, I don't want to die today. Eventually, they did leave their own home running out without their shoes on. We weren't even able to say goodbye to them. And I don't know what's happened to them right now.

[17:35:24] Another family that we met, Poppy, that did agree to be filmed, we met them early on in the day. One of the daughters, she was just 19 years old. She was shaking. Her body was visibly shaking. Her hands were shaking because of the fear of the fighting that was happening all around her. She was afraid the Iraqi security forces were going to take her father away.

It drives home the reality that Mosul is a city with a population of 1.2 million people. There are civilians living within these homes, civilians that often times their presence is not directly known.

The other concern, Poppy -- this happened on a number of occasions -- sometimes a house will have a white flag outside of it. Sometimes that house will even have a family on the lower floor. As one of the soldiers told us, he went upstairs, five ISIS fighters were hiding in the upstairs room. He threw a grenade. Two were killed. One grabbed for the gun, shot the soldier in the leg. So they're hiding amongst the civilian population and using the civilian population as fighting positions.

HARLOW: What can you tell us, Arwa, about the man, this taxi driver that we are seeing in some of the new video that you have from this harrowing experience?

DAMON: That really just illustrates the chaos of the battlefield and how it is very difficult to discern whether someone is friendly or an enemy and how tense the entire situation is. What happened is that the soldiers asked this man in the taxi to stop. He stops his vehicle. He gets out of it. He begins moving towards him. Remember, their biggest threat in all of this is suicide car bombs. The initial assumption is that he is a suicide car bomber or a suicide bomber himself. He moves towards them. They start shooting. One is screaming at them to come, to go. He ends up on the ground. They drag him away. They try to treat him. He eventually dies of his wounds. They don't know who he is. There's no identification. They still think the vehicle was packed with explosives.

And then there was such an intense firefight that ensued right afterwards that the last I saw his body was on the side of the street wrap in a blanket with pink flowers on it.

These are scenes that aren't unique to our experience, scenes that play out everywhere as these troops move through. Every single unit is coming across similar experiences.

HARLOW: They are unique to us and our viewers.

You see this. You and your team are living this hell frankly. What the one million plus are living. This is the first time they are seeing some of the images like this. It certainly brings it home for people.

Talk to us, Arwa, about how you, your entire team, your photographer, how are you protected when you are in the middle of these streets, when you are in the middle of chaos for 24 hours on end, not knowing get out? How are you protected?

DAMON: Well, our experience is pretty much very similar to the soldiers' experience. We are traveling in their vehicles and their armor is fairly solid. We carry our own protective gear. We have basic training. But this is a war zone. That experience and the experience of a lot of our correspondents, was among the most intense we have been through. You do really gain this greater appreciation. I have stood in front of the camera on numerous occasions and talked about Iraqi troops being ambushed, being under siege, about rocket propelled grenades flying in. Those words right now carry much more meaning. I know, and through the images, the world knows to a certain degree what it is to actually be in that situation.

For us, we were lucky. We were able to leave and now I'm standing in a fairly safe area reporting back to you on this. Those soldiers are still out there. Those civilians are still out there going through what we have been through on a regular basis.

HARLOW: The children are still stuck helplessly in the middle of it.

Arwa Damon, brave does not begin to do justice to what you and your team have done today. Thank you. Stay safe.

[17:40:10] HARLOW: As we go to break, back to the campaign trail and a live report from Florida where Tim Kaine is speaking right now.

But first, a flash back to this day in history. It was exactly 20 years ago when Bill Clinton won re-election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP))

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: This is a very victorious night for William Jefferson Clinton. He has been re-elected. He wanted it to be a majority and not a plurality that happened in 1992. He has a lot on his mind, a lot in his agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Donald Trump went a little old-school politics in Florida, shaking hands and kissing babies. Literally, scanned the crowd in Tampa and came up with a baby all decked out in red, white, and blue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, look a future construction worker. Look. Look at that baby. So cute. Oh, give me that baby.

(CHEERING) TRUMP: Future construction worker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: There you go.

CNN's Randi Kay joins us from a diner in Orlando, Florida.

I don't know if there's any future construction worker babies where you are, but you have found a family feud of sorts, two sisters, two separate opinions on this election.

[17:45:18] RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You know, along the campaign trail you find a lot of different opinions, and a lot of folks are getting feisty about it. Here in Florida, where early voting has been underway, we found one sister who early voted and one who hasn't.

Let me introduce you to them.

This is Melissa.

You early voted. And your sister, Carlyn (ph), has not. I understand you're on opposite sides of the fence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I voted for Hillary. I just don't like Trump. I think he's a crook. And I like Hillary what she stands for, the experience she's had. I watched the debates. I think she was very well spoken. I like how she works with children and families.

KAYE: You think she would be good for women as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

You're not so excited Carlyn (ph) to see the first woman president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's sad I would have voted for a woman, but I can't back her with the stuff that's come out from the e-mails, the anti-Christian type thing.

KAYE: Why are you backing Trump or is it more anti-Clinton.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually am backing Trump, as a businesswoman, and he's a businessman. I like what he's done with his own businesses. The thing that comes out about losing the $900 million, maybe as a business person, maybe he bought something. We don't know. You don't lose it.

KAYE: What about the accusers that have come forward, the "Access Hollywood" tape?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, most of it has been debunked. I'm more worried about a criminal using a private server.

KAYE: How do you feel about -- really you've already voted. You're going to vote on Tuesday, I take it. How do you feel about

your sister cancelling out your early vote after all that hard work. You went and voted.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It stinks. We've talked about it a lot. We've debated back and forth and we can't wait for it to be over so we can be best friends again.

KAYE: You been arguing a lot and getting into it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's ugly.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm trying to teach my little sister she has to do what I say.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: Listen, I'm sure maybe by 2020, the two of you will get it worked out.

Thank you for talking with us.

Poppy, that's just an example of a lot of disagreement we're seeing among families along the way here in Florida.

HARLOW: I think, Randi, all families could take a page from those two sisters on sort of cordial discord --

KAYE: Absolutely.

HARLOW: -- and the right way to have a family feud about politics.

Thank you, Randi. Have fun.

Coming up, the battle for the blue. Team Trump says Michigan and other big Democratic prizes are in play. So is he right?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So if you live here or in Michigan or Pennsylvania or Minnesota, you can change your vote to Donald Trump will make America great again.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:45] HARLOW: Hillary Clinton's last-minute campaign strategy shows fresh concerns potentially about the long-time blue state of Michigan. It is gone Democratic for the past six presidential elections. We learned she's sending her most powerful surrogate President Obama to rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Monday, and Hillary Clinton herself will campaign in Grand Rapids Michigan on Monday as well. And new polling out of the state shows Clinton ahead there but Donald Trump's message is resonating with blue collar workers especially.

Jessica Schneider joining us from -- I believe you are in Warren, Michigan.

This state hasn't gone red since '88. Michigan is not used to getting this much attention this close to Election Day and now both Clinton and Trump certainly showing the state some love.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Poppy, I'm actually in Detroit, Michigan, just to correct you there but Michigan itself has become a focal point for two distinct reasons. The tightening polls showing Donald Trump gaining momentum. In fact, to get some perspective, it was early October when Hillary Clinton was up by 11 points, now up by just 4.

The second reason it's a focal point is this state does not have early voting. That means that the campaigns have to sustain the excitement of their base all the way through until Tuesday. So instead early so to make sure their voters and their base get out to vote. And because of that, we've seen a frenzy and a flurry of activity out here.

In the past few hours, my e-mail inbox flooded with announcements about people coming out here to two days. Donald Trump will be here tomorrow. Also, Bill Clinton will be in Lansing, Michigan, tomorrow. And Monday, Hillary Clinton in Grand Rapids. And Ivanka Trump out here stumping for her father. And then, of course, the president, President Obama will be here as well on Monday in Ann Arbor. It seems like every few minutes, we get an alert someone else coming to Michigan, a state for the past decade or more actually since 1988 is more uncertain Poppy.

HARLOW: But Donald Trump has said all the way through, there's a secret Trump vote. He believes he can flip some of the blue states and he's trying as hard as he can to put some cracks in that blue wall that helps Clinton.

Jess, thank you very much from Detroit, Michigan, not Warren. Thank you, Jess.

[17:54:14] Coming up, live pictures of Hillary Clinton's plane arriving in Philadelphia. She will appear tonight in that critical swing state at a concert with singer Katy Perry. We're standing by for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: That will do it for me. Be sure to stay with CNN all weekend long for special political coverage, all leading up to Tuesday, Election Day in America. We are live around the clock.

I'm Poppy Harlow, in New York. So nice to be with you. My friend now, Michael Smerconish is in Washington with "SMERCONISH,"

which begins right now.