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Early Voting Begins in Washington State; Pfizer Plans to Apply for COVID-19 Vaccine Emergency Use Authorization Next Month; Coronavirus Becomes a Big Ad Theme in 2020 Race. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired October 16, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02]

JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: More than 39 million ballots have been requested across the country. We are in a pandemic election. Some people think it's just not safe to vote. Some people think, give the modern technology, why should Election Day be just one day, I'll do it by mail.

Last night in the debate, the issue came up again. We know how this works. Many states are new at this. Some states are having problems and some issues. But the president doesn't describe it as problems or hiccups or issues, he says massive fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, MSNBC HOST: Your own FBI director says there is no evidence of widespread fraud.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Really? Well, then he's not doing a very good job. All you have to do is pick up the papers every day, 50,000 in Ohio, the great state of Ohio, 50,000 in another location, I think North Carolina, 500,000 applications in Virginia, no, no. There's a tremendous problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Washington State kicks its election work into gear today, in- person early voting locations open and ballots are being sent to all residents in Washington State beginning today. The state reported record primary turnout back in August, and officials believe that's an indicator for higher turnout general election as well.

Washington though not new to the vote-by-mail phenomenon, it is the norm there. And officials are confident they can handle the volume.

Joining me now, the Washington secretary of state, Kim Wyman. Madam Secretary, grateful for your time again.

You're sort of the nation's premier expert of this since you've been at it for so long in Washington State. I was reading the other day a transcript of an interview you did, I believe, on public radio. You were talking about how you can handle this but what strikes you is the vitriol in this campaign unlike any other, including the president of the United States. And you're a republican, the nation's top Republican saying fraud, saying rigged, saying things that frankly are wrong, correct?

KIM WYMAN (R), WASHINGTON SECRETARY OF STATE: That's correct. And every time President Trump takes a swing at absentee ballots or vote- by-mail ballots, it undermines voters' confidence. And so election officials have even more work to do to try to make sure that they know -- their voters know that their vote is protected, that their vote is going to be counted accurately and that we're going to count for every vote we receive.

KING: And so the numbers the president was using there with Savannah Guthrie last night were just wrong, just wrong, exaggerated. But there have been cases where people are finding ballots discarded or ballots in wrong locations. Are your colleagues around the country, other secretaries of state, are they reaching out to you about how to handle this? From what you've seen so far or you have major concerned so far? Do you think these are routine hiccups?

WYMAN: Well, we've been working with secretaries of state and election officials from across the country for the last seven, eight months, and we're all facing the same challenges. 10 percent of the population moves every year. So we're constantly trying to keep up our voter roles to make sure that we have the most accurate address, we get the ballot to the voter on the first try and we get the right ballot to the voter.

But people do move in an apartment or a condominium, we're going to have opportunities for people to receive someone else's ballot and that's why we have security measures in place to make sure that only the voter it was issued to is the one that gets to cast that ballot.

KING: Your state is a high participation state anyway, a civic tradition and all that. But I look at the numbers, I look at primary turnout, number one, now, I look at these early requests, the off the charts. You see lines for the states that have in-person early voting open, huge lines in many states. You see the numbers of mail-in ballots requested that is off the charts.

Based on those and based on your experience, what does it tell you about the interest in this election?

WYMAN: It's exactly what we expected. We're going to see very high turnout. And I'm really excited because I think we're going to see here in Washington close to 90 percent turnout of our registered voters.

So, as an election official, it makes you excited and we just have to work really hard to make sure we can get through all the volume.

KING: Get through all the volume. Secretary of State Kim Wyman, we'll bring you back again as we get through it. I appreciate your candor and your experience at this critical issue for the country right now. Up next for us, Pfizer says it's getting ready to apply for emergency use authorization of its coronavirus vaccine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:35:00]

KING: Drug giant Pfizer announcing today its plans to apply for emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine perhaps next month. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.

Elizabeth, this sounds like progress. Is it?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is progress, John, but there is a huge caveat here. Before I get into the details, I want to just say, you and I have talked about this so many times, this is yet another indication that President Trump is not going to have the vaccine by Election Day because Pfizer is talking about having data by the end of November. So as if we needed more evidence, this is yet more what the president said is just not true.

So let's look at what the Pfizer president said here -- CEO, rather, said. He said, assuming positive data, Pfizer will apply for emergency authorization use in the U.S., meaning permission from FDA to put it on this market, soon after the safety milestone is achieved in the third week of November.

But let's take look at that first phrase, assuming positive data. John, basically, saying, this is what they're saying. We think that we will have data by the end of November, and assuming it is positive, we will apply for permission to put this vaccine on the market.

[11:40:07]

But that assumes that that data looks good. There is a real possibility that that data may show the vaccine doesn't work or that the vaccine maybe works and that Pfizer needs to keep going with their clinical trial but then it's not ready for approval yet. So that phrase, assuming positive data, is a huge caveat. Of course, we hope their data looks terrific but this is very early on, it might not look terrific yet. John?

KING: And emergency use authorization is also something we should explain. That means if they get that positive data and if they give it to the government, the government gives it initial, yes, that's emergency use, it's not widespread, that would be then limited use, right? Because of availability or would that be everybody?

COHEN: Well, actually, it could eventually be everybody. I mean, EUAs can apply to the population. But to your point, John, it's not going to be made available to everyone all at once. You can't vaccinate the whole country all at once. Remember, the vaccines require two doses, which makes it more time consuming.

So, Pfizer is one of the companies that is out ahead on this. The other company is a frontrunner is Moderna. Let's take a look at what a Moderna source is telling me. They are saying that they think they're going to finish their enrollment of 30,000 people by next week or during next week. And then they say that they also think they could have data next month.

So the thinking is that Pfizer may be a bit ahead here, but not by much, that we should see some data coming out of both Pfizer and Moderna next month.

KING: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you, important reporting and the timetable and context, all the more critical. Elizabeth, thank you.

Coming up for us, how the coronavirus is impacting campaign ads for both candidates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:00]

KING: The coronavirus pandemic is the biggest issue in the 2020 campaign and more and more focus of the political ads now everywhere on television. President Trump had hoped the virus would fade as a campaign issue. This tells you he knows it will not.

Take a look. 56 percent of the president's ad spending in the past week or so is COVID-related. Before, COVID only account for about 36 percent of his campaign ad spending.

The president's pandemic response is a consistent response in Biden's ads. Look there in the most recent week, 46 percent of Biden's ad spending was about the virus down just a bit from 51 percent in the weeks before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If I'm your president, on day one, we'll implement a national strategy I've been laying out since March.

Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to the nation. He's failed to protect America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Donald J. Trump delivered on the impossible in his first term. And in his second term, he will continue to fight for you. President Trump will end our reliance on China, eradicate the coronavirus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: With us now to discuss, Meredith Kelly, she was communications director for Kirsten Gillibrand's presidential campaign, now a partner with Democratic communications and ad making firm, Sena Kozar Strategies, and Colin Reed was a spokesman for Chris Christie, and is managing director at The Levinson Group. Thank you both for your time today.

Meredith, let me start with you, in the sense that campaigns make calculations about how to do their ads, Joe Biden straight to camera using a speech of him about the coronavirus to put it in an ad. What does that tell you about the confidence of the campaign and the message?

MEREDITH KELLY, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, thanks for having me John. I noticed a few things about the ad campaign that's going on in these final weeks of the presidential. One thing I'll point out first is before we get into the content is just the sheer difference in the amount of money that each campaign has and where that has taken the air war.

Biden has been able to outspend Trump in the key northern battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan by nearly double this week, as well as expand into places like Arizona, Texas, and others, and go back into old battlegrounds like Iowa. So I think it's notable where the T.V. ads are actually running before we get into the content.

When it comes to the content themselves, you're seeing Joe Biden offer a vision for the future. It is one that, on the short-term, rebuild our economy after coronavirus and also speaks about his plans to have a safe and just society where health care is affordable, or we deal with climate change and we fight for workers unlike big corporations and the very rich.

Coronavirus is only amplified what was a successful message strategy in 2018, focused on health care and the economy. It has only exacerbated hardworking family's concerns about the costs they face. And so Joe Biden is able to speak to them directly with a lot of credibility about fighting for workers, fighting for health care and fighting for jobs. And while it's a tragedy for the country, the pandemic has made his messaging all the more personal and relevant right now.

KING: And, Colin, to the point about money, number one, do you think the Trump campaign blew too much money early on? There was a lot of money spent early on when the president had no primary challenge. And you get it, as there's an incumbent president, you're trying to lay the ground work but some people say, now, maybe you would have been better off to keep that money in the bank. And then how do you message coronavirus if you're this president that right now the numbers are heading in the direction?

COLIN REED, GOP STRATEGIST: You're right, John. Well, look, hindsight is going to be 20/20 and everyone is going to be able to analyze the spending after the election is over.

Right now though with the remaining two and a half weeks are left, if you look at the arenas these two campaigns want to be fighting in, Joe Biden clearly wants to be talking about coronavirus and the president's handling of it. And Donald Trump needs to talk about the economy. Because poll after poll after poll that shows Joe Biden leading Donald Trump also shows voters favoring Donald Trump on the issue of the economy.

[11:50:04] So politics isn't rocket science. If you're fighting in your opponent's e arena and not yours, you've got to figure out a way to shift back to yours. The trouble is right now for the Trump campaign is the COVID-19 outbreak and continuing cases is not really allowing him to shift the conversation where he needed to go.

KING: Well, you better call or text your friends at the Trump campaign if that's the case. If you look at the percentage of Trump ad spending related to the economy, if you go back just a couple of weeks ago, he was spending, look, 44 percent of his ads on the economy. You look right now, they dropped that number quite a bit. So if you think they should spend more on the economy, you'd better get on the phone with them.

Flipside is Joe Biden does realizes that this is -- the president has a strength left in the campaign, it is on the economy. And look at his T.V. ad spending, it was less on the economy just a little while ago. Now, it has jumped up to about 37 percent of his ads, a little more than a third there.

Another fascinating issue to me is health care, because I've been around it a long time. And so I want you to listen here to ads on health care. And I'll talk about how times changed on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: My son, beau, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, given months to live.

Fact of the matter is health care is personal to me. Obamacare is personal to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joe Biden tried to cut social security and Medicare for decades. Now, Biden is promising your benefits to illegal immigrants. President Trump is protecting social security and Medicare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Meredith, ten years ago, Democrats were running from their own accomplishment, Obamacare, in the 2010 midterms, they got crushed. Joe Biden quite proud to stand on it now.

KELLY: Yes. So I was actually at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2018 when we flipped the House almost exclusively on the issue of health care. I remember being worried that the Republicans might actu7ally have a plan to repeal and replace the ACA that was popular, but then they came in with a plan that would get rid of protections with pre-existing conditions, increased cost and so much more that would harm the American people.

And ever since then, Democrats have built up an incredible amount trust on the issue of health care. And I think Joe Biden benefits from that. That's why I think the attack about very old tapes about Medicare and social security from that, Trump is using in his ads, will really fall short and really defy credibility right now. And I got to say, the most popular position on health care in the entire country is being against the Republican and the Donald Trump plan to repeal it. And so I think the more it is about health care, the better off we all are up and down the ballot.

KING: All right. Sorry, we're out of time for this conversation today. Meredith and Colin, we'll bring you both back on, I'll give you a little more time next time. I'm out of time.

Up next though, NFL's Indianapolis Colts report four new COVID-19 test results that are actually false positives. We'll explore that in a second.

But, first, social distancing has had devastating effect on the mental and emotional well-being of the elderly seniors. Social isolation can increase the risk of developing dementia by 50 percent.

Since 2014, CNN Hero Carol Rosenstein has been using music to help people battling dementia, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

When COVID hit, she moved for organizations programming online and it is worked now more crucial than ever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL ROSENSTEIN, CNN HERO: COVID just makes this doubly difficult for people to sustain their levels of wellness because they've got so much isolation going on, going to see people deteriorating faster.

But we can provide a great substitute that it's going to keep us healthy and well during quarantine.

Music is medicine for the mind. The complexity excites so many centers in our brains. All of that excitement miraculously pushes neurotransmitters that help us function. Medicine with a side effect? It is pure joy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: See Anderson Cooper's full story about Carol's remarkable work using music to battle the impact of COVID. Go to cnnheroes.com. And go right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:00]

KING: This important news just in. The Indianapolis Colts now reopening their practice facility after four COVID tests turned out to be false positives. That announcement coming just hours after the Colts initially shut down that facility. The team says it will practice this afternoon as planned, and at the game Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals will go forward.

This all comes, of course, one day after the Atlanta Falcons closed their practice facility due to positive tests and the Titans and the Patriots had games postponed due to outbreaks.

[12:00:03]

Hello to viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John King in Washington.