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Presidential Race Election Day; CNN Discusses Election Day. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 08, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: For being with me. I'll hand it over to Erin Burnett. Our live coverage continues right now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And good afternoon. I'm Erin Burnett. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world today.

It is the most unpredictable presidential race in the United States, possibly in history, most certainly in modern history, and now it is in the hands of voters around this nation voting. The first polls closing in just a few hours.

We are live across this nation. Polling places in battleground states. And we're going to be giving you live updates throughout the hour. The lines where turnout is high.

With her husband Bill in Chappaqua, New York, Hillary Clinton voted earlier this morning reflecting how it felt to cast a vote for herself for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is the most humbling feeling, Dan, because, you know, I know how much responsibility goes with this and so many people are counting on the outcome of this election, what it means for our country and I'll do the very best I can if I'm fortunate enough to win today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Donald and Melania Trump bought a cupcake at the polling place bake sale before voting at a public school that is near Trump Tower. Trump was asked what his plan is for tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We'll see what we can do. We'll let you know. We'll see what happens. It's looking very good. Right now it's looking very good. We'll see what happens. It'll be an interesting day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: This is an election of historic proportions because whoever wins, and no matter how passionate you are about that, think about this, it's either going to be the first woman president or a businessman who has never held elective office, something that hasn't happened before. And as a nod to the historic significance, long lines in Rochester, New York. There, people paying silent tribute at the grave site of the (INAUDIBLE), Susan B. Anthony.

Our reporters are fanned out across the country covering this from every angle. We begin, though, in New York City, because New York City is election headquarters for both candidates. They may want to live here in Washington, where I am today, but that is where they will spend their night tonight. Jeff Zeleny is at Clinton headquarters, Sara Murray is at Trump headquarters.

Sara, let me start with you. The final hours here. The polls are closing, Donald Trump has been doing rally after rally after rally frenetically. Today, oddly, nothing to do.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: It is a little bit of a quieter day and sometimes, Erin, these hours can be the most stressful because your ads are up on TV, your field staffers are out there, but what do you, as the candidate, have left to do? So he is in Trump Tower. They have a war room set up there. Donald Trump has already passed through there, chatted with some of the folks. We're told that he got a standing ovation when he walked through.

He's been calling into radio stations in battleground states urging people to get out the vote. And it's interesting, he's been asked multiple times today whether he will accept the results of this election, obviously building off that moment in the debate where he would not say definitely if he would, and he's sort of playing it vague today, saying, we'll have to see what happens. In one case he did say that it looks like everything at this point is on the up and up.

Now, there is one exception to that, at least so far, as far as the Trump campaign is concerned. That's a lawsuit they filed in Nevada that had to do with Clark County and those lines we saw in early voting that allowed some of these polling places, according to our sources there, not to stay open later, but to stay open long enough to allow everyone in line to vote. That's the comment we're getting from Clark County. But that's not sitting right with the Trump campaign, so we have at least our first legal challenge of the day, Erin.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Sara.

And I want to go now to Jeff Zeleny at the Clinton campaign headquarters. And what is happening inside the Clinton campaign this afternoon, Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good afternoon, Erin.

The Clinton campaign is feeling pretty confident at this moment, largely because of all of the early vote that came in. This is a different election night in so many respects this year because more early vote than ever before, particularly in some key battleground states, like the battleground state of Florida and North Carolina. So the Clinton campaign, the advisors I talked to, say they are feeling very confident about the Michigan, about Pennsylvania, the states where she campaigned yesterday. They feel confident about Florida. They believe North Carolina may be the closest of all battlegrounds tonight. Now, they don't need those 15 electoral votes, but they certainly would like to block Donald Trump there.

But, Erin, I am inside the Javits (ph) Center on the west side of Manhattan and we are getting our first look where Hillary Clinton will be tonight, win or lose, giving a speech here. And if you look behind me here on the stage, she will actually be standing on a stage that is the shape of the United States of America. You see the dip here of Florida going in. She'll be walking out, and so this is the setting here. There is a glass ceiling here in the Javits Center and you will hear that metaphor and reference so many times tonight should she happen to win.

But the Clinton campaign now is still trying to get out the vote. It's what the campaign machinery and muscle is all about. That's what they've been taking some 18 months building. A lot of the old Obama organization out there. And they are looking for a strong rise in Latino votes across the country. That could be the story of this election here, the new coalition, the changing face of America. It certainly will be one thing to watch tonight when the demographics come in. But so far, at this hour, at 2:00 on the East, the Clinton campaign is feeling confident.

[14:05:30] Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Jeff, thank you.

And it does, at this point now, just come down to what voters are going to do, right, who gets to 270. Our political director, David Chalian, is with me.

And, David, you know, we know how important a state like North Carolina is to Donald Trump. What states are you watching most particularly tonight?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Erin, I'm watching five states very closely tonight. This won't be too much of a surprise here. This is our battleground map. And, of course, the three remaining toss-up states on the East Coast, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, I'm watching all three of those pretty closely, all for different reasons.

One, if Florida starts looking like it is going Hillary Clinton's way, Donald Trump is going to have a very tough evening. It's almost a complete blockade state for Hillary Clinton, that if she wins that state and wins it early, Donald Trump is going to find himself scrambling to get to 270. He starts on our map at 204. Without this huge electoral prize in the sunshine state, it becomes very difficult.

North Carolina, one of the closest contested states of the race. I think it's going to be a nail-biter and may come in late. So that's why I'm watching that to see how such a closely divided state all along shakes out. And New Hampshire, those four electoral votes could be critical to

Donald Trump. Remember, he's got to sweep the battlegrounds, find some other insurance policy in a blue state. Those four electoral votes in New Hampshire might be the key to his success. So I'm watching those carefully as well.

The two other states that I'm watching are leaning blue on this map, Michigan and Colorado. And I'll tell you why. Michigan, you saw all that flurry of activity at the end. Both sides saw that state really, really narrowing the margin there. Tight race. And let me tell you that when both sides look at the data and say that it's tightening, you can sort of take that to the bank. This state has a voter profile that should work for Donald Trump. White, not college educated. His trade message is very resonant here. This could be a place, hadn't gone Republican since 1988. We've had it leaning blue the entire election. But Donald Trump making a last stand there. This could be a place where he digs into Democratic turf.

And Colorado, it is the place that both campaigns have seen most differently. The Clinton camp thinks they really have it in the bag. It's been leaning blue on our map the entire time. But Trump and the RNC operation, they believe they see opportunity there. So I'll be looking for that later in the evening.

Those are my five states to watch tonight, Erin.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, David Chalian.

Let's get straight to our panel. Mark Preston, our executive editor for Politics, Maeve Reston, political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson, our senior political reporter, David Gergen, senior political analyst, Kayleigh McEnany, Donald Trump supporter, Dan Pfeiffer, former senior advisor to President Obama, Jeffrey Lord, a Donald Trump supporter, Angela Rye, a Clinton supporter.

All right, thanks to all.

So let's just start with this issue, David, of these states. You hear David talk about what he's looking at, Michigan, Colorado now, right, on there as a battleground state right now.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. And the tossup states, if you look at the CNN map, and you give Hillary all of the solid states and those that lean Democratic, and give Trump all the ones that lean or are solid Republican, she only has to win one of the toss-up states. He's got to win all five of the yellow states.

BURNETT: Right.

GERGEN: Otherwise, if he does not, he's got to pry away the Michigan, or the Colorado, and that becomes a tougher fight for him.

BURNETT: And, Nia, he was on this morning on Fox News talking about the states he thought he could win. Obviously he's going to be very robust about that forecast, but -

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, yes, very generous to himself.

BURNETT: Yes. Here he is - oops, sorry. Let's play - let's play what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And I think we're going to win Iowa and Ohio and New Hampshire. We're going to win a lot of states. I think one that's going to be interesting is Michigan because it's not a state that's gone Republican for many decades and I spent a lot of time there and the people are incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: You heard that, Ohio, Iowa, list (ph) them out (ph).

HENDERSON: Yes. You don't - yes, you know, I think at some point they were talking about New Mexico, too. I mean they are very bullish on their chances. And, listen, they should be. They've come this far. The polls look very - very tight. There are a lot of independents who are voting and that's, I think, an unknown factor in this. Where are those unaffiliated voters coming from? Are they new to these different states? Are they new voters in terms of just ageing into the electorate? So it's anybody's guess as to some of these states.

[14:10:09] I mean I'm definite looking at Michigan, definitely looking at Pennsylvania. The Trump campaign has been very bullish on that state as well. Jeffrey Lord has also been bullish on it.

BURNETT: Yes.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I voted this morning.

HENDERSON: And it will - yes, it will be interesting to see. And those states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, close pretty early, 8:00 and 9:00. I think some of these states, Nevada, obviously, is out west. That's going to be a lagging indicator in terms of viewership and tuning in to see what the rest of the map looks like.

BURNETT: Right.

HENDERSON: And then it's just overarching narrative of what two Americas are emerging, right? I mean sort of the rust belt state, the states that most presidents have tried to run up the score in and win.

BURNETT: Right.

HENDERSON: And then the sun belt, these different states that have Latino populations, emerging Asian population, as well as (INAUDIBLE) African-American.

BURNETT: And you mentioned independents. And, Maeve, that's a really crucial group, because a lot of people who watched this election say they can't imagine being undecided and yet we saw today, even at the poll stations our reporters are at, undecided voters. And independent voters in the polls, and obviously I don't want to get into specifics on polls, but you did see there were still large numbers of independents and in some states that was something that seemed actually beneficial for Donald Trump.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, and at certain points in this race they have certainly skewed toward Donald Trump. And then in other - other points there have been, you know, younger Latinos who are part of that group. So I think it's going to be really interesting to see what happens tonight and whether or not the millennials turn out and whether those independents, particularly in Florida and other states like that are younger Latinos and younger African-Americans and whether they can pull Hillary Clinton across the line.

BURNETT: And it's all about turnout. It really is. I mean we had - you know, look, early voting, you did have records in several states, but that's all done now. Now it's, who do you actually get to either add to that or reverse it?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Yes, and we spend a lot of time about - about these candidates going out and holding these huge rallies, whether it's Donald Trump or we saw Hillary Clinton last night in Pennsylvania. But it's really the boiler room operations behind it that is getting the vote out, right? It's the operations that are built in the states.

And the Democrats have had an advantage on that because they've been a more cohesive party. So what traditionally we've seen, and we've seen this with Hillary Clinton, is that you have the Democratic National Committee have an operation in place and by and large should be very thankful to what Dan did and his folks did with Barack Obama -

BURNETT: Yes.

PRESTON: In really creating a situation, putting this together and merging it together with the Hillary Clinton campaign. What we saw with the Trump campaign, though, is that it was by and large just built by the Republican National Committee. So it can't be matched up. Their get out the vote operation, there's no way it can be matched up to what the Democrats have for get out the vote.

BURNETT: And when you look at get out the vote, Dan, I mean, today, let's just take a couple of the states that we do know, right? You see long lines. You think that means high turnout. Not necessarily. There could be fewer voting stations than there were before. But, look at Connecticut, OK. Obviously that state's going to go for Hillary Clinton, but you have what looks like could be record turnout. They're talking about very high turnout. What does that mean? Oops, sorry, my papers are blowing away. What does that mean, though, if you're going to see that in a state like that? Can you extrapolate from that to enthusiasm for her on Election Day elsewhere?

DAN PFEIFFER, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes, I - look, I think turnout usually is not just high in one state, it's high nationwide. We saw that in 2008. Even in states Barack Obama did not compete in, record turnout. So we're - higher turnout is going to be better for Hillary Clinton in this race. That is traditionally true for Democrats. The larger number of people votes, the better they're going to do. We saw tremendous enthusiasm in the early vote.

When you look at the electoral map, the real challenge here is, David Chalian can't put this on his map, but when you look at the numbers in the early vote, Nevada is gone for Trump. So he has to win Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Colorado and then sweep the rest. So that's where we are looking at the race right now. And, you're right, turnout matters and - but it is - the higher turnout is bad news for Trump.

GERGEN: Why is it necessarily bad news for Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't -

GERGEN: Why -

PFEIFFER: Because the Democrats have a much larger base than the Republicans do.

GERGEN: But if it's high independents, isn't this what Donald Trump wanted to do, was to bring out people who haven't voted before?

BURNETT: Uh-huh.

PFEIFFER: There is - there was no evidence in the primary of that actually happening. And when you look at - if you look at - if you look at the numbers and you have - you have a larger group of sporadic voters who identify as Democrats, who would vote as Democrat than Republicans. So the larger - the larger turnout is necessarily going to benefit Democrats if it is universal increased turnout.

BURNETT: What do you make of the turnout issue here?

LORD: Well, all I can say is, having actually voted in Pennsylvania this morning, the line was pretty long. The turnout was clearly very good. And being in contact with a friend in the Pennsylvania legislature tells me turnout throughout the state is extremely heavy, although not certain about Philadelphia, the northeastern part of Philadelphia, which has a lot of Republicans and cops and firemen and people who might be inclined to vote for Donald Trump. That turnout is very good. We don't yet know what it is, or at least I don't, for the rest of Philadelphia.

[14:15:01] If they - John King was talking last night about the turnout for Barack Obama in 2012 and that it was some - in Philadelphia, and it was something like 500,000 to 91,000 for Governor Romney. If Donald Trump - if that drops, you know, in terms of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton -

BURNETT: It's all about your margin, yes.

LORD: Right, then this extensive turnout in the rest of the state can really make a big difference.

BURNETT: And - but pre-election voter turnout, Angela, just take Georgia, which is a state that, you know, everyone expect is going to go for Donald Trump but it's been within a point or two in the polls. It's very close. Pre-election voter turnout, highest ever. Higher ever. Higher than 2008. Higher than for Barack Obama.

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. And I think this is a case of underestimating voters who were not even old enough to vote in 2008 or 2012. We continue to talk about these elections and these demographics as if they are frozen in time, and they haven't. This is a browner and a blacker electorate than what you saw in '08 or '12 and they are folks who are registered.

One thing that I think is so exciting, and I - I was so proud to watch it happen. Last night in Illinois, to use a state that I - we know pretty much is going to go for Hillary Clinton as well, Chance (ph) the rapper teamed up with the Black Youth Project and had a parade to the polls. And I think these are the kinds of things that we continue - where we continue to underestimate not only black folks in North Carolina, right, where they faced insurmountable voter suppression in many ways, but also young black millennials who we've said they're not enthusiastic, they're not turning out. And I think that what you've seen is there are - there - there's a reliable demographic in this country that always show up in spite of the odds.

BURNETT: Go ahead.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think we've also underestimated Donald Trump and his coalition.

RYE: Absolutely.

MCENANY: I looked at the Real Clear Politics averages and if we were to give Donald Trump every state where he's leading in the RCP average, he gets 265 electoral votes. And here's where his challenge lies, finding that one state that will come into his column that is a blue state. New Hampshire, for instance, that's a toss-up on our map. I haven't included that because he's trailing -

BURNETT: That's four there.

MCENANY: He's trailing in the RCP average there, but slightly. If he can hold down where he's leading, even slight leads in Florida, for instance, where it's 0.2 percent, and pull in New Hampshire, we've got 269, 269 and the legislature here might be the one making the decision. We all hope that doesn't happen for the sake of the country.

BURNETT: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).

RYE: (INAUDIBLE) that doesn't happen.

BURNETT: All stay - all stay with me because we're going to go to North Carolina, which is - perhaps could be the state that decides it all. Obviously must win for Donald Trump. There is one county in particular in North Carolina that you need to watch. We're going to tell you about that county.

And does it really all come down to the black vote in Ohio? And what does a presidential candidate actually do on Election Day? We're going to talk to the two men who know all too well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:59] BURNETT: Welcome back.

At this hour, voters in line at polls across the United States. All eyes are on the battleground states. And in particular, a must-win state for Donald trump, North Carolina. It could be the state who decide who becomes America's 45th president.

Gary Tuchman is live in Charlotte, North Carolina, this afternoon, where people are queueing to vote. And, Gary, Hillary Clinton has several paths to 270 electoral votes with or without North Carolina. She wants it. She doesn't have to have it. But Donald Trump must win North Carolina.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A very important state, Erin, for Donald Trump. And right now we're standing in a place where it's polling place perpetual motion. We're standing in one of the 2,700 precincts here in the state of North Carolina. Right now we're in the heart of Charlotte. And this has been a very busy place. It opened at 6:30 this morning. There was a line around the block to get in. The line died down a bit, but now it's picking up again. And you can see, it's been full all day.

There's a woman right here, as a matter of fact, I'm going to ask you a quick question while you're registering here. Which one of you are voting? Both of you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, are you voting?

TUCHMAN: Are you voting too? OK. Good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.

TUCHMAN: OK. That's good. But, quickly, you told me that you actually left because it was too crowded, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did. I did leave this morning because it was too crowded?

TUCHMAN: How long were you waiting before you left?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I didn't have much time because my husband needed to go to work and he was with the baby. So, I mean, I think it was an hour long this morning. It wasn't too long. I would have waited if I didn't have to get my husband.

TUCHMAN: But you're voting now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: It's nice meeting you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You too.

TUCHMAN: We can tell you that this county, Mecklenburg County, was very kind to Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. In order for Hillary Clinton to win the state of North Carolina, she also has to do well here. And she would have to do well in areas like the research triangle, which is Raleigh-Durham, which is northeast of here, about a two and a half hour drive.

This area where we're here right now, they're letting us walk around and give you an idea of what's going on. There are no voter ID's necessary in the state of North Carolina. You line up here after you fill out a form. You had them the form. You make sure - they make sure that you're registered here in this precinct. And then they escort you to one of these machines over here. They have 21 touch screen machines. People vote here. They've had no problems with the machines all day. Everything has worked very orderly.

We can tell you, Erin, one thing about the lines here, which are incredible, most people have already voted in the state of North Carolina. A very extensive early voting program here, 16 days of early voting, 3.1 million North Carolinians voted early. Now, there are 6.9 million total registered in the state. So you already had before anyone came to any of these polling places today, 45 percent of registered voters already go to the polls.

And one more thing I want to mention to you. We've heard about Donald Trump's lawsuit against the state of Nevada about people voting after the voting was over. We can tell you one anecdote here that we saw on Friday. Voting was over at 1:00, but the line continued until 6:15 because there were hundreds of people in line at 1:00 and literally, when we stood there at 1:00 at the end of the line, we watched someone show up 30 seconds after 1:00, they were not allowed to vote, but everyone else waited in the line for five and a half hours if they got there before one.

Erin, back to you.

BURNETT: Wow. All right, Gary Tuchman, thank you very much.

And my panel is back with me.

And let's just start with - I want to talk about some crucial places around this country. Not even at the state level, but for anyone watching in America or around the world right now, there are clues that may not be an overall state. You may not have to wait for a state to see how this election's going to go. Let's start with North Carolina, where Gary was just reporting from, Wake County. A specific county crucial. In 2008, Obama won this county by about 64,000 votes, David, and won North Carolina. In 2012, he won it by 54,000. So only a little bit less. Still won it, but it wasn't enough. That county turned out to be the crucial county because he ended up losing North Carolina. You know this county well.

GERGEN: I do. I grew up next door. My son lives right next door now. And I'll tell you, the - it's - this is a state and a county that really represents the importance of college educated people. There's been a lot of inflow into Wake County. The main - the driving city, there's Cary, c-a-r-y. People think it stands for the acronym for "concentrated area for relocated Yankees."

BURNETT: Oh, that's great.

HENDERSON: Yes. Yes.

BURNETT: And it's become very important, Mark Preston, when you look at that because it is - when you look at Wake County in North Carolina, there are other counties like that now around the country, especially as you've seen those sorts of voters, people with that educational profile, not just lying in five places in the country, but in 25 places around this country, 30 places. A lot more diversity.

[14:25:16] PRESTON: And we're also talking about new coalitions that are - that are being created in this election. Whether they hold, we don't know. But college educated voters have voted traditionally for Republicans and at least in the polling we're seeing that they are going Democrat at this point. So as David says when you're talking about the influx of people from other states moving in to North Carolina, you could also look out to Colorado as well, right?

RESTON: Yes.

PRESTON: And if you look out to Colorado, you're looking a county such as Jefferson County right now and we could potentially see some signs - early signs in North Carolina about how those voters are voting and maybe see how Colorado is going to go later on.

BURNETT: Yes.

PRESTON: So even two different states, but very similar.

RESTON: And it's so fascinating because I was just actually out in Jefferson County talking to women there, those affluent, well educated, suburban women in that county that has been a bellwether for so long. And so many of them just could not stand either candidate. And, you know, it makes you - it may be a sign also of what kind of strength the Republican Party has going forward after this election. I mean Donald Trump is just not a good candidate for Colorado. But if they vote, you know, down ballot for other Republicans, will there be a future in Colorado for the Republicans?

BURNETT: Right. Do the Democrats, even if they win, read too much into a victory tonight?

RESTON: Yes.

BURNETT: You look at a Florida, Hillsboro County.

HENDERSON: Yes. Yes.

BURNETT: This is another one, obviously. Florida, a must-win state as well, but Hillsboro County perhaps a bellwether. The winner? They have - that state, that county has predicted it correctly in 19 of the past 20 elections. Right now, talk about a split, 39 percent Dem, 32 GOP, 29 percent independent.

HENDERSON: Yes. And who are those independents? I mean we were talking about that again. BURNETT: Yes.

HENDERSON: Are they younger voters? Are they Latinos? Are they people that switch their registration because they don't want to be affiliated with either party? That's - that's the -

RESTON: Donald Trump's secret army of voters, right?

HENDERSON: Yes, they could be Donald Trump voters as well. all of these bit counties, hugely important - hugely important. The white vote, as you said before, if you look in Wake County in North Carolina, for instance, it's really five counties, those five large counties there, like Forsythe, Durham, and that's where Obama was able to do really well.

GERGEN: Yes.

HENDERSON: And two-thirds of the vote is there. And then if you're looking at Donald Trump, he's got to swell some of the vote in some of these rural counties. That's where you think those secret voters are.

BURNETT: And we're going to - we're going to see many more of these counties through the show.

HENDERSON: Yes.

BURNETT: And I want to make sure everyone knows, this is John King's expert eye that has selected these counties around this nation.

HENDERSON: Yes.

BURNETT: So we're going to go through more because there are a few others with very different demographic profiles that could really hold the key to the entire thing tonight.

Let's go to Martin Savidge right now in another must-win state, Ohio. He is in the town of Parma.

And, Martin, Donald Trump, of course, must win Ohio tonight as well.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And he's got a path to doing that. And that really relies on Democrats, working class Democrats. We've talked about this in the primary. He had this crossover effect. He was appealing to those Ohioans who are blue-collar Democrats. But yet this time around, because of the economy, job loss and what they see as just a decline of their way of life, Donald Trump spoke in ways that they liked - bring the jobs back, renegotiate those bad trade deals and other issues which he has been so strongly on. Those resonated in places like Parma. We're still in Cuyahoga County, outside of Cleveland. This would be a densely Democratic area with the exception that this is the perfect kind of area Donald Trump has been reaching into where they've lost all those jobs.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, needs to have the turnout of every Democrat in the northern part of the state and she's particularly relying on the old - what we would say Obama coalition. These are the minority and African-American voters who would turn out in large numbers. The problem is, early voting suggests that hasn't happened. She has not caught fire here. The enthusiasm is just not the same.

Early voting was up in all parts of Ohio, especially the southern parts of Ohio, Donald Trump area. The only area that was down? Cuyahoga County. It was down by 15 to 16 percent. That doesn't tell us what votes were cast, but it gives you an indication of why Democrats are concerned.

Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Martin, thank you very much.

And joining me now, former 2016 Republican presidential candidate, Dr. Ben Carson, who, of course, is supporting Donald Trump, and the president of the NAACP, Cornell Brooks. '

And, Cornell, you're with me, let me just start with you. The issue that Martin is mentioning in Ohio. Take Ohio as an issue. Are you concerned about that, the drop in turnout?

CORNELL BROOKS, NAACP PRESIDENT: I'm very concerned, very concerned, because the NAACP has staked everything on the right to vote and protecting the right to vote. So we are concerned about any depression in turnout. But what we have done has been, we've been - we've reached out to millennials, to African-American women. We've mobilized our 2,200 units across the country, but we've also mobilized units to phone into Ohio, to phone bank into Ohio, because we're concerned about turnout. It is everything to us.

[14:30:09] But the voter suppression, the negatively of this campaign and