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More States in Play as Trump, Clinton Sprint to Finish; Dems Going Full Court Press on Typical Blue Michigan; Final Trump Ad Takes Aim at Financial Establishment; Trump: U.S. Military Leaders "Group of Losers"; Stevie Wonder Performs Before Obama Speech; More Than 36 Million Votes Cast Across 39 States. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired November 06, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:03] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And here we go, we're live. I'm Brooke Baldwin in Washington D.C., the heart of the nation's capital for CNN special coverage right up to the finish line, that home. The new home for someone in the next couple of days, depending on how you all vote. We're less than 48 hours away. Millions of other Americans will be casting votes. And later that night, we could know who will be the next president.

But first, right now, an all out sprint to the finish. Donald Trump is swinging through five states today. He just finished up a rally in Sioux City, Iowa. Next, he's headed to Minnesota and then onto Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

As for Hillary Clinton, she's continuing her star-studded campaign tour today. She will be joined by two very popular Jameses. First, you have King James, Lebron James in Ohio. And then James Taylor later tonight in New Hampshire.

And minutes from now, even more star power coming out for the former secretary of state. You have Stevie Wonder who will be performing before President Obama addresses the crowd down there in Florida. This as a brand-new CNN Poll of Polls shows Hillary Clinton with a three-point lead over Donald Trump, nationally. But as we know, it all comes down to one very important number 270, right? Electoral college, 270?

Let's begin this hour with Jeff Zeleny. He's live in Cleveland, Ohio with the Clinton campaign. I mean she has to win. The Cleveland suburbs must win for Hillary Clinton.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke, you're right, the number is 270. The number in Ohio is 18. That is the number of electoral votes here that she is trying to win or if not win, perhaps even more importantly block Donald Trump from winning. His path on the 270 are still much narrower than hers are. So she's back in Cleveland, Brooke, for the third time in the last week. That's how important Cleveland and its suburbs are to her chances here.

She will be with Lebron James. He endorsed her a month or so ago but has never appeared with her. Brooke, he's not been involved in politics before. So that's why the Clinton campaign believes his endorsement may actually attract more attention and draw more people to the polls on Tuesday. Early voting is under way this afternoon as we speak here in Ohio. But earlier today, Hillary Clinton was in Philadelphia and she talked about the stakes of this election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CNADIDATE: In this election in many ways is about what kind of future our country will have. Will it be dark and divisive, calling up that specters of our past as Cory said a re-run of some of our worst moments or will it be hopeful and inclusive and united? I personally believe we have come too far to turn back now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, Brooke, she's clearly trying to make the case to Democrats there in Philadelphia and later here in Ohio, the stakes of this election, trying to get their voters to the polls.

Brooke, for the next 48 hours or so, Ohio is so central to this. But I was struck by the front page of the Sunday Cleveland Plain Dealer. It says, has Ohio lost its electoral clout? We will discuss that later after the election results. But for now thees 18 electoral votes so critical to both sides, that's why she is back here in Cleveland as I said for the third time in the last week, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Jeff, thank you so much. And just a reminder to your viewers, we will be dipping in and out of events as we roll along this afternoon on a Sunday. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much.

From team Clinton to team Trump, we know Donald Trump moving onto Minneapolis where he will take the stage there for a campaign rally. This is part of, as we've mentioned, this five-state sprint that he's making today, all of them battleground states except where he is next, Minnesota.

Sara Murray joins me live from Minneapolis. You know, when you look at polls, he is quite a bit behind. You think of the last time a Republican won that state, was that Nixon landslide in 1972? So why is he there, Sara?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Brooke, there's no doubt this is a questionable stop just days before election day. And I think that even though the Trump campaign is outwardly projecting confidence, they do feel like they have momentum, they're also very aware of the electoral map. They're very aware that Donald Trump has fewer paths to victory than Hillary Clinton. And so they're trying to touchdown in a number of these swing states. Like you said Minnesota hasn't voted for a Republican since 1972. Just to see if there is an outside shot, they could make inroads in one of these places.

Now, I think, when you talk advisers, they still feel like they have a better chance of flipping a place like Michigan, flipping a place like Pennsylvania. But Donald Trump slotted publicly that he wanted to go to Minnesota and now we are here with campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway. What they insisting this morning that they're internal numbers show a closer race.

But Brooke, as you pointed out, all of the public polls we are seeing here suggest that the trend will hold in Minnesota and that will once again go blue on election day. But, of course, Donald Trump is going to show up today shortly and try to make his best pitch to try to turn that trend around.

BALDWIN: All right, Sara, thank you so much. Let's begin there with my panel. Let me bring in my voices. Dan Pfeiffer, CNN political commentator and former senior adviser to President Obama. Kevin Madden, CNN political commentator and former senior adviser to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. Maeve Reston, CNN national political reporter and Rebecca Berg, CNN national analyst and national political reporter for RealClearPolitics. Nice to see you all on a Sunday in Washington.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: To my sartorial blue wall to my left, I'd like to begin with the ladies just on Minnesota and Trump dropping by today. I mean, you see, you know, the packed crowd but still, why? Is he wasting his time?

RESTON: I mean I think that this is such a so representative of the fact that Trump's advisers have always argued that they had all these different paths to 270 but, you know, I think as Zeleny said this morning, it's the kind of like -- looks like throwing spaghetti at the wall a little bit.

BALDWIN: To see what sticks.

RESTON: Yes, to see what sticks. I mean, his chances there are really not as good as they are in a place like Michigan, for example. So you would wonder why he isn't spending all of his time there. But clearly, they do see the momentum behind them and they think that they have a chance of some of these state but it does feel a little bit like gambling on, like, the day before.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you, Kevin Madden, because we're talking before the show started with the Romney team in 2012, you had that 11th hour push, you all swung Through Pittsburgh, you know, at last minute. Hey, Pennsylvania, we're here, we want your vote, didn't pan out.

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR/FORMER SENIOR ADVISER: Right. A lot of it was driven by metrics though. We were looking at polls that showed Pennsylvania tightening. And I think we also saw polls there where Minnesota was tightening too so we made those late plays. But obviously, the numbers didn't pan out on election day. But I think one of the things that the Trump campaign is trying to do that we were also trying to do in 2012 is send a message to the supporters nationwide about our optimism that we're, you know, on offense here. We're trying to expand the map. There's momentum on our side.

BALDWIN: That's interesting (analogy).

MADDEN: And that is something that not only do Republican voters across the country feed off of but volunteers. The idea that their work on the ground matters at that moment. And when you're in the stage of the campaign as Dan knows that, is less about persuasion, it's more |e about mobilization. That's an important element that the campaign has to take into consideration.

BALDWIN: Well what about even throw Michigan in, right? We know that the president -- I mean he talked about somebody who has been out and about so much for Hillary Clinton, they are sending him to Ann Arbor, the day before election day. He's not going to be kicking it in the house behind me, he's going to be stumping for votes. That tells me though I'm wondering if that means that Dems are nervous, that the president is there the day before.

DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR/FORMER SENIOR ADVISER: No. There are two reasons why he's going to go to Michigan. One, Trump has really no path unless he can pick off Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. There's really no other way to do it. So that's one.

So let's lock that. You don't get extra points if you get more than 270 votes so just the 270. So lock that down. Second, Michigan, like Pennsylvania, where they will also be on Monday night. Our states, they do not have significant early vote.

Therefore, all of the vote we decided on Tuesday. They've already banked most of the vote in Florida, most of the vote in Nevada, Colorado and North Carolina. These two states can decide entirely by Tuesday. So you put your weight where there's the most opportunity to move the vote and not in Michigan (inaudible) the last two days.

BALDWIN: OK. And then Rebecca, let me ask you about Ohio. And I was looking at, it was the -- you had, you know, obviously Jay-Z and Beyonce and all the star power which been starts the question of whether or not, you know, popularity and stars and celebs mean votes but again, it's Cleveland. We just saw Zeleny, you know, ahead of Lebron James. And Ohio, it is close, close, close for them.

REBECCA BERG, CNN NATIONAL ANALYST/REALCLEARPOLITICS NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: And so, I would argue that Ohio is very different than the state like Michigan or Pennsylvania.

BALDWIN: Why?

BERG: Trump has a slight advantage there in terms of just the demographics of this state, the proportion of white working class voters there. It's really his whole case for this campaign was that he could appeal to rust belt voters.

BALDWIN: Economy.

BERG: So if he cannot win in Ohio, that is going to bode very poorly for him on election night and it would deal kind of a mortal blow to his campaign. So Clinton and Democrats are playing a very smart game there. They're spending a lot of time there because they recognized how important it is to Donald Trump's strategy. If Donald Trump isn't winning in Ohio, there is no way he's winning in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, some of these other states with a high proportion of white working class voters, his night would be over.

RESTON: (Inaudible) should you how fluid the race is. I mean, a couple of weeks ago we were saying Hillary Clinton, you know, looks like she's done in Ohio, not going to happen and there's just so much movement in the numbers that, you know, clearly she's back there.

BALDWIN: What does that feel like within a campaign, both of you all being, you know, former soldiers and knowing in those final days and final hours and the crisscrossing and no sleep and the sleeping with the phone under your pillow at night?

MADDEN: That's weird.

PFEIFFER: Yes.

BALDWIN: But I believe you did that.

MADDEN: I mean, the final 72 hours are blur. I mean you almost can't remember the difference between a Friday and Monday. And you can't leave anything to chance. I think that's one of the things right now that's driving so many of these campaigns to be able to pick up and go to Minnesota or shift an event to Wisconsin at the last minute because they really don't want to leave anything to chance.

And again, it is a mobilization game right now. And you have to basically make sure that you're putting every last ounce of effort that you have in the campaign into getting people out to vote.

BALDWIN: But isn't that sort of also kind of like a mind game in a way, like campaigns play with reporters. I remember Cheney went to Hawaii like in the final days of the 2004 campaign.

MADDEN: Yes. And I remember when the Obama campaign went with radio ads in Minnesota, which was essentially a (head think) I think to draw our resources and our time there. You know, that's something too that those type of mind games I think -- well, it's all this three dimensional game of chess here in the last 72 hours.

BALDWIN: You mentioned the ads, I wanted to play, this is a Trump ad that is now out and then will Tapper had on Senator Al Franken responding his own perception of this Trump ad. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election. For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that don't have your good in mind.

SEN. AL FRANKLEN (D), MINN.: Well, when I saw the ad, I thought that this was something of a German Shepherd whistle, a dog whistle, to sort of a certain group in the United States. I'm Jewish. So maybe I'm sensitive to it but it clearly had sort of Elders of Zion kind of feel to it, international banking plot or conspiracy rather and then a number of Jews.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You know, he was pointing the criticism of Janet Yellen and George Soros, you know, folks who are Jewish. He's saying a Jewish man in America, he felt that it was antisemitic,. Does anyone agree with him or is he being too sensitive?

PFEIFFER: No, I don't think he's being too sensitive. There is no question. If you spend anytime on time Twitter during (inaudible), if you follow the Jewish reporter who says something critical of Trump or writes an article that Trump reporter -- some supporters don't like.

BALDWIN: They're inundated by threats.

PFEIFFER: I mean just things you could never imagine being said publicly in America in 2016 or said by people who have #megatrump (inaudible) on their twitter bios and this has been an element that's been fueling some elements of the Trump supporter. Not every Trump supporter, not even most Trump supporters (inaudible) but this is an element of this campaign. And part of it have perpetuated by Breitbart, the media organization run by the Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon.

BALDWIN: What do you think Kevin?

MADDEN: Look, I think Dan has a lot of good points on that. I think from a campaign perspective, the last thing you want to do in these last 72 hours is invite these type of controversy that becomes a distraction for your campaign. So the campaign should've been very well aware of the type of message they could be sending by running something like that and whether or not it would have a depressive effect on some of Republicans who are actually coming home at the last minute here. You know, they're going to unforced error.

BERG: But it really does show, I think, what a close mind meld at the stage in the campaign Donald Trump and Steve Bannon have. This wasn't always the case. Trump didn't really work as well with Paul Manafort, his prior manager. I think we're seeing that he really agrees with Steve Bannon on a lot of these issues.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: he's staying on point -- Donald staying on point. Yes -- no. I mean, they're keeping him on message. He's off twitter. And when you look at the polls, it seems to be working for him. Let me ask you all to stick around, we have more. And also, don't forget, did you know Tuesday is election day?

Surprise, if you happen to be under a rock. This is all leading up to the super bowl of politics, election night in America. We will have every race and every result. Stay with CNN until the very last vote is cast.

Coming up next, we wanted to talk about the ghost of Al Gore. Why perhaps the Clinton campaign is back in New Hampshire, perhaps fearful of what happened in 2000. we will reminisce. Also, after a controversial Jay-Z performance, Donald Trump is

suggesting that Hillary Clinton's parading of stars in a campaign trail is cheating and calling up the language. Let's discuss that.

And speaking of stars and celebrities, Stevie Wonder, we're moments away from hearing from him as he will be performing and introducing the president of the United States in Florida, all part of the Democratic party's full-court press. I'm Brooke Baldwin, live in Washington D.C. and this is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. We're live in Washington D.C. I'm Brooke Baldwin, you're watching CNN on a Sunday afternoon. The battleground state of New Hampshire could be putting a crack in Hillary Clinton's firewall. Right now, the candidates there are neck in neck. Clinton edging out Trump by just two points.

Tonight's campaigns will battle it out with dueling events there. Republican vice presidential candidates, Mike Pence, will be rallying voters in Windham, while Clinton will be in Manchester with signer- songwriter James Taylor. And that is where we find CNN's Chris Frates. Two events. New Hampshire, we were just talking about now. How it is officially a battleground?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And both of these campaigns looking to energize their supporters tonight, Brooke. Because remember, no early voting happening here in New Hampshire. The big event is on Tuesday. So they get out. The vote operations have been huge this weekend. Let's take a little bit of a look here.

Hillary Clinton, 600,000 door knocks, 2 million phone calls, they have 12,000 volunteers spread out through New Hampshire making sure their supporters come to the polls on Tuesday. Donald Trump, 1.4 million door knocks, 1.3 million phone calls.

And if you look at the star power that's hit the granite state this weekend, you get a sense of how important New Hampshire is. On Hillary Clinton side, Elizabeth Warren, a progressive senator from neighboring Massachusetts, Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state and of course Barack Obama himself coming on Monday to make that closing argument.

And on the Trump side, we've seen Ivanka Trump here today. Mike Pence will be here a little bit later as well and Donald Trump himself coming to make that closing argument.

And if you look at the polls, you start to understand why there's so much activity here. The CNN Poll of Poll showing Hillary Clinton up by just two points, 43 to 41 percent. Last month, she had a 15-point lead. So that's why there's so much activity here and this is coming down to independents.

If you take a look at the independents who voted in 2012, 43 percent of those who cast a ballot, cast a ballot independent and they broke for Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton hoping to do that again on Tuesday because they're looking at the ghost of Al Gore, Brooke. If you remember, Al Gore lost New Hampshire. Had he won New Hampshire, he would've won the White House, even though George W. Bush won Florida. Hillary Clinton and her team trying to make sure that history does not repeat itself here in the granite state on Tuesday, Brooke.

BALDWIN: He lost (file) of 7,211 votes. Democrats were irked. He did not spent more time in New Hampshire so therefore Hillary Clinton, she is there today. Mr. Frates, thank you so much.

Another reason why Hillary Clinton is now returning to New Hampshire as I just pointed out, Al Gore and lessons learned from the past, Gore only held one event in New Hampshire actually in 2000. he was campaigning to become president, ended up losing the state of New Hampshire. Democrats aren't hoping that same mistake will not haunt them this go around.

And with regard to the former vice president, he is set to stump for Hillary Clinton tomorrow in Colorado, a state where Clinton is in a close race with Donald Trump. So to Ana Cabrera we go, live in Colorado.

We have heard him. He was with her before in Miami talking climate change, reaching out to those millennials and saying, you know what, learn from me, every vote matters.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. He will be here tomorrow as you mentioned in Jefferson County, this is one of the state's bellwether counties, twice voted for President Obama, twice voted for George W. Bush before that. It falls sort of a microcosm of the state at large.

When you look at the population here, Jefferson County does have the national renewable energy laboratory which makes sense, Al Gore is coming here to talk about the environment. But it's also a very western, rural rooted town with blue collar workers who tend to lean more conservative, it's also a large college town, young educated people who tend to lean more to the left and more liberal and then there's also 15 percent of the population in Jefferson County that is Latino, about even with the state electorate.

Now, state wide, about one and a half million voters have already sent in their ballots, have cast their vote. That's about half of all registered voters in the state. And when we take a look at some of those early vote returns, we can tell you Democrats have a slight edge according to the latest secretary of state numbers. But Republicans have been closing the gap.

Democrats also have an edge when it comes to total registered voters in this state. Now that is the first time since 1984 that there are more registered Democrats than Republicans here in Colorado. And yet, the largest voting bloc in Colorado is still unaffiliated voters, those who are registered essentially as independents. And so that's why we're seeing this huge push by both campaigns to really focus on getting out the vote.

With Donald Trump visiting Colorado last night, having his rally at the Denver National Western Complex and then Al Gore coming here for Clinton tomorrow to try to rally those liberal voters and try to turn out the millennial vote in particular here in Jefferson County and Boulder as well, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I love that sign. Howdy folks, welcome to Golden Colorado. Ana Cabrera, thank you so much. We will look for that tomorrow.

Meantime, we are taking you all around the country here. A dizzy afternoon, the zigs, the zags from the candidates and the surrogates. Coming up, Donald Trump rallying in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a state that by the way hasn't gone Republican since 1972. Why is he there?

Also, Stevie Wonder and President Obama about to campaign together near Orlando, Florida. And next, with a major offensive under way against ISIS, Donald Trump once again questioning U.S. military strategy in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What ever happened to the element of surprise? The element of surprise. What a group of losers we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And we're back. We're live here, it is a Sunday. You're watching CNN. Pretty pictures, blue skies over the White House on this Sunday afternoon, just a couple of days and someone else eventually will be calling that home.

Today, Donald Trump is weighing in once again on the war on ISIS and the battle for Mosul that is raging as we speak. The Republican presidential nominee is criticizing American military leaders again for discussing their battle plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: One of the reasons we're going to Mosul is we want to get the ISIS leaders. We think they're staying in Mosul and we want to get them. Well, before the announcement is over, they've gone. Whatever happened to the element of surprise? The element of surprise. What a group of losers we have.

BALDWIN: CNN White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski, is live in Florida where President Obama and Stevie Wonder are set to take that stage.

But before we get to that, Michelle, I wanted to ask you about this new ad the Clinton campaign will be airing tonight. I imagine referencing Donald Trump's quotes on the military and speaking specifically to this country. Tell me about the ad.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, these are two spots, 30 second each and they're going to air during tonight's NFL game. So Hillary Clinton is going to feature white men, Republicans, members

of the military reinforcing to why they are voting for Hillary Clinton and not for Donald Trump. And, you know, this military element has been big throughout this campaign as you know. I mean, some of the statements that Donald Trump made. Remember, he at one point said that he knew more than the generals about how to counter ISIS. It was back in September that he was touting that he had 88 members of the military current and former endorsing him but Hillary Clinton then came out with a larger list of 110 at that point.

So she was able to say then --

xx

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: -- counter ISIS. It was back in September that he was touting that he had 88 members of the military current and former endorsing him, but Hillary Clinton then came out with a larger list of 110 at that point.

So she was able to say then that even though she's a Democrat, she was able to garner more military support and higher ranking members of the military as well as former members that were supporting her.

And clearly tonight while this football game is on, while so many millions of eyes are watching, she once again wants to hammer that point home and again, it fits the timing of some of these recent remarks by Donald Trump -- Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: So she grabs the attention of millions during the game tonight. Meantime, we'll be watching leading to see the president and also Stevie Wonder to help introduce at the event there near Orlando. We'll take it live. Michelle, thank you so much in Florida.

And speaking of celebrities and these surrogates, did you watch any of the Jay-Z, Beyonce performance the other night? You know, the Trump campaign said it was controversial because of the language that was used and also suggesting that Hillary Clinton is cheating by parading out all of these stars on the campaign trail. Let's discuss that.

Also ahead, as Senator Bernie Sanders campaigns right now for Secretary Clinton, here he is, there was a student who was actually selected to introduce him and he got booted from the stage after he actually shared some very choice words about Hillary Clinton.

We'll play that moment for you if you've missed it and as we mentioned with Michelle there. We're moments from hearing from Stevie Wonder performing in Florida introducing the president. It's part of the Democratic Party's full-court press on this Sunday afternoon before Election Day. You're watching CNN's special live coverage from Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. Moments away from Stevie Wonder and President Obama taking the stage in Florida, all part of the Democrats out and about on this Sunday before Election Day. We'll take you live when we see that.

[14:35:06]Hillary Clinton has been deploying an army of celebrity supporters down the stretch of this campaign. You know, the A-team, have been attracting mega crowds and also stirring up a bit of controversy.

Let's begin there with my political panel here in D.C., Alice Stewart is with us, CNN political commentator and a Republican strategist, and Angela Rye is also a CNN political commentator and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Doug Heye is also a CNN political commenter and a former communications director for the RNC.

Welcome to the set in front of the White House here in just a couple of days, obviously, everyone turns out officially to vote. I want to begin with the mega concert Friday night, Cleveland, Ohio.

You have surprise, Beyonce pops out along with her hubs, Jay-Z. It's a huge event for the Clintons trying to get that millennial vote. If you're not familiar with Jay-Z, some people may not be or his lyrics, if I can quote without -- you know, you're turned into the mother bleeping greatest he was saying.

If you're feeling like a pimp bleep go and brush your shoulders off. You know the lyrics. The issue is it was a huge event for the Clintons, but the Trump campaign and Kellyanne Conway said are you kidding me? You're using that language and does she have a point?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: To a degree. I mean, sure, we all know Jay-Z is a potty mouth. That's not a big surprise, but coming on the heels of what he heard from the "Access Hollywood" tape, yes, it's kind of hypocritical to call that out.

Look, there's no doubt these star-studded galas are drawing huge crowds and it makes Democrats feel good and cool and hip. Americans want to feel safe and feel their financially secure and want to feel as though they are going to continue to have jobs.

So it's important to have context when it comes to that's all well and good. However, we need to make sure that we are supporting a leader that will make this country safe.

BALDWIN: You disagree?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I agree and disagree. I was troubled by the language I heard. I went to the watch the throne concert when Jay-Z and Kanye came here. I'm a fan of Jay-Z. The language I heard crosses a threshold, doing a song or not, it's a bad place for America.

We know that Ted Nugent will be with Donald Trump today. He will probably say something outrageous, and whether it's in the confines of a song or not, given the bad language that we've seen for months and months on this campaign trail, I'd hate to see that replicated more and more.

BALDWIN: It does make you wonder if there was some sort of conversation -- I'm looking for the quote because essentially, I guess, a Clinton aide was saying, listen, Jay-Z does what Jay-Z does. Do you sort of say this?

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Brush your shoulders off, yes. Here's the thing I'm struggling to understand when Jay-Z started running for president. I'm struggling to understand why --

BALDWIN: But he's on a mega stage saying go vote for Hillary Clinton.

RYE: And he's using the lyrics from his songs. This wasn't a concert performed on the Sesame Street stage. It was at a college campus in Cleveland, Ohio. Donald Trump is the new white DJ quick, talking about Jay-Z and this man is actually running for president.

He says, well, you would never hear me use this lewd language. If there was only one more tape in time to be leaked. Give me a break. Furthermore, we're talking about Jay-Z, a man who used his personal money to bail out Black Lives Matter protesters.

We are talking about someone who is absolutely a part of social activism and here's the real issue. He's not mad about that lewd language. He's mad because Jay-Z got on that stage and said we cannot elect this man as our next president.

HEYE: When Don King used some bad language at a Trump event, Don King was attacked for it.

RYE: And it's different.

HEYE: That kind of language I don't think we need in the discourse in politics.

BALDWIN: Why is it different?

STEWART: Surely there's a calculation on part of the Clinton campaign, given that whether he offered to give this concert or he asked them to, you're not going to get him to sing nice songs or clean songs because Jay-Z will be who Jay-Z is. Clearly they felt that was a calculation or risk that was worth taking.

BALDWIN: Going back to Doug's point, why is it different because both are surrogates?

RYE: I think it's much different. Don King is not a rapper. The last time I think he's up there using racial --

BALDWIN: With the language that he --

RYE: Yes. Racial epithet to talk about a person. Jay-Z is using something that is now colloquial term in hip hop. I know that there are people who don't like it. There are black folks who agree with me on this point, but the "n" word is different to me and so I think other folks who I think are similar in age and status to me. If I'm going around calling somebody the "n" word in a negative way is different than saying somebody is your friend, homey, or whatever using the word that way. I know there are people that don't agree with him, but that's he use it in his lyrics.

HEYE: If Ted Nugent does what Ted Nugent does on stage with Donald Trump, I think that also takes it to a bad place. For me, that's not a partisan issue. We have kids to go to these events, and that's my concerns.

[14:40:06]BALDWIN: Right. And we've heard a lot from parents saying, I can't even let me kid watch the coverage because of the language being used, but you look at the column of all the celebrities under Hillary Clinton. I think today she's going to hanging out with King James, Lebron in Cleveland and Stevie Wonder is performing with the president and Bobby Knight and Chachie. Donald Trump says I'm able to fill these arenas, airport hangars, and you're cheating. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We didn't bring any so- called stars along. We didn't need them. You know, the reason Hillary has to do that is nobody comes for her. She can't fill a room. We can get stars. We don't need them because we just want to make America great again and we know what to do. OK. We don't need that. That's almost like a form of cheating, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now, if Beyonce called up Donald Trump and said hey -- I don't think he would say no to her.

STEWART: Or Stevie Wonder -- clearly, we're outshined when it comes to putting on big events like that. Donald Trump is out there by himself, the reality is --

BALDWIN: People are waiting 12 hours to see him in some places. They are.

STEWART: True. The question is why aren't there other top names with him in the Republican Party? It's lonely at the top when you see and insult on people all the way at every wrung of the ladder and that's the reality of where he is and why he is up there by himself.

But at the same time he himself does have the charisma and drawing power where he's getting good crowds. There's a reason why he didn't have top named surrogates up there with him.

BALDWIN: Let's pause, I'm told we're going to listen in to Stevie Wonder. He's going to play a song he wrote last night.

(STEVIE WONDER SINGING)

[14:45:10]BALDWIN: Stevie Wonder down in Kissimmee, Florida, ahead of the president stumping for Hillary Clinton. Singing a song he says he wrote last night, hearing over and over we already live in America that's great.

I want thank all my panel. We're going to stay on this. Take a quick break. More from Florida after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just want to come up live on a couple of pictures just to show you the full-court press on this Sunday before Election Day. You have Stevie Wonder in Florida. We're about to hear from Donald Trump in Minnesota. Senator Sanders, Arizona. Governor Pence in Florida. You get the picture.

We're two days away from Election Day. Tens of millions have already cast their ballots. In the battleground state of Nevada, one county shattered their early voting record on Friday, but the chairman for the Nevada Republican Party doesn't think it was done fairly. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Clark County, they kept a poll open until 10:00 at night so a certain group could vote. It wasn't in an area that normally has high transition. The polls are supposed to close at 7:00. This was kept open until 10:00. Now you feel free right now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:13]BALDWIN: The spokesperson for Clark County Nevada says no early voting stations extended their closing times, but people who were in line at closing time were allowed to vote. So, how is the early voting shaping out in the rest of the country?

CNN politics executive editor, Mark Preston, is here to go through the numbers. Mark, what are you seeing?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Good afternoon, Brooke. Nearly 37 million people in 39 states across the nation have already cast their vote before Election Day. Two states we're going to look at first is Florida, where more than 5.7 million people have already voted.

If we look into the numbers, Democrats hold an advantage of about 7,000 ballots returned over Republicans. About two days ago, Republicans had a 16,000 ballot advantage over Democrats.

But not all good news for Democrats when you look at what happened in 2008 when Democrats had 146,000 returned ballot advantage at this same point in the campaign.

Let us dig deep into the demographics, though, and see who is participating. African-Americans are participating about 12.8 percent in the early vote, Hispanics at 14.4 percent, two key constituencies for Hillary Clinton.

If we look, though, what happened in 2008, African-Americans were at 16.1 percent at that time and Hispanics were at 10.1 percent. However, if you look right here, even though we're seeing about 71,000 more African-Americans have actually cast their ballot in 2016 than in 2008.

This share of electorate has dropped by a little more than 3 percent. Good news though for Democrats and Hillary Clinton is that we're seeing this right here, this Hispanic participation increase by about 4.3 percent or 363,000 more ballots.

Let us go up the coast to the state of North Carolina where more than 2.5 million people have already cast their ballots. If we look who has the lead there, Democrats outpacing Republicans by 266,000 ballots returned.

We dig a little bit deeper and look at what happened in 2012, they are about on pace right now Democrats are, about 14,000 more ballots returned, even as we're seeing the overall participation of Democrats in early voting has dropped.

Let us dig into the demographics of whose participating. African- Americans at 22.4 percent, Hispanics at 1.9 percent. We compare that now to 2012 and this is a troubling sign for Hillary Clinton.

This is why we're seeing all the get out the vote efforts from Democrats in the state of North Carolina. As you can see this drop off here, it equates to about 31,000 less or fewer votes in 2016 than we've seen in 2012.

Hispanic votes have increased by about 22,000. Florida, North Carolina, two key states in this race for the presidency, we'll keep an eye on them all the way through election night -- Brooke.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mark Preston, thank you so much. Let's go ahead and dip back into Stevie Wonder performing for a crowd ahead of the president of the United States there in Florida. Here he is.

(STEVIE WONDER PERFORMANCE)

STEVIE WONDER, SINGER: Are you ready? Are you ready? Here we go. It doesn't need superstitious, your vote does matter. Go out and hammer your business, all right? Let's hit it. Are you all ready?

(STEVIE WONDER PERFORMANCE)

BALDWIN: Superstitious himself, Stevie wonder. He is just good, isn't he? Ahead of the president of the United States in the important state of Florida for Hillary Clinton. We'll dip into that and also Donald Trump. He will be on the stage moments away making a play in the blue state of Minnesota. This is a huge, huge day. This is CNN's special live coverage. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)