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Candidates Eye Possible Paths to 270 Electoral Votes; Trump and Biden Set to Meet Thursday for Final Debate; Europe Faces Tougher Restrictions as Cases Spike; Pope Endorses Civil Unions for Same-Sex Couples; Trump Supporters Gather for Dune Buggy Rally. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 22, 2020 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: CHURCH: All right, returning now to the U.S. election, and CNN has just released new polls in the battle ground states of Florida and Pennsylvania. They indicate that Biden is leading Trump in Pennsylvania by 10 points. It's an important swing state, of course, which Trump carried four years ago. But the polling is tighter in Florida, 50 percent for Biden, 46 percent for Trump. That is within the margin of error.

Now, along with his edge in the polls, Joe Biden has a big advantage in cash on hand. $177 million for Biden compared to Trump's 63.1 million. But in the end, the only number that counts is 270. That is the number of Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Joe Biden and Donald Trump will earn those state by state, and CNN's John King spoke to Anderson Cooper about the possible paths to victory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Let's say Joe Biden has a shaky debate, or Donald Trump has a particularly strong debate. The Biden campaign could come out of that thinking all right, we need to protect.

If Biden has a shaky debate or Trump is strong. One scenario you think of is the President takes away the toss up states, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida. President could even flip Arizona back to him. He won all those states in 2016, perfectly within the realm of he comes out of a debate with momentum.

What's the Biden's strategy then? Then it becomes protect. Then it becomes protect, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the three most spoken words in presidential politics of the last four years, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Biden then would protect them.

But Anderson, imagine this. What if Biden thinks he has a strong debate? They come out of the debate thinking not only do we have all that money we had a strong debate. Well then, you start thinking about this. Number one, you think not only do you have money, Michael Bloomberg is spending money in Florida for you, Priorities USA Super PAC money, Future Ford Super PAC money, all these Democratic Senate candidates are blowing the Republicans away in fundraising. So, there's a lot of money to spend.

And again, then you're thinking if you have a strong debate, then this is still going to hold true. You're going to be leading in Michigan, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin, and guess what you're in play in Arizona, you're even leading a little bit. You're in play in Iowa, you're in play in Georgia, you're in play maybe a little behind but competitive in Ohio, in play in North Carolina, even close in Texas, right, and Florida.

So, then if you're Biden, a lot of Democrats are going to be saying you come out of that debate tomorrow night strong. Think big, think bold. Think about making a statement. You take Florida for Joe Biden, game over. The President can't win without Florida and it's 29 votes. If you get North Carolina back to the Democrats again, there is just no way the President can win.

Plus, guess what, is a very important Senate race there. Then you're the Biden campaign, you start looking, two Senate races in Georgia, a Senate race in Iowa, a Senate race in Texas. And wow, if the Democrats won Texas, what a statement that would be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now is CNN political commentators Tara Setmayer and Jess McIntosh. Great to have you both with us.

JESS MCINTOSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's great to be here.

CHURCH: We are just hours away from the final presidential debate, Donald Trump has been slamming the format, and the moderator calling this all unfair. But what each of the candidates need to do to sway undecided voters, and what risks do each face? Jess let's start with you.

MCINTOSH: You know, I still want to put the brakes on the fact that we are sure there's going to be a debate happening tomorrow. A couple of things need to happen that Donald Trump has never agreed to before. He says he is going to this time, but we know that doesn't always work out.

He is supposed to take a negative COVID test, he has said he's willing to do that, but he was unwilling to before the last debate. He also has to agree to have his mic shut off when Joe Biden is talking, which seems like it shouldn't be necessary, but it honestly is.

All in all, this is a pretty risky debate for Trump. He seems like he can't afford to lose any more supporters that he already has, and the last debate performance certainly cost him with a few women. So, I'm still not entirely in the camp that thinks this is 100 percent definite tomorrow night.

CHURCH: Tara, how do you feel about this? And what do you think each of the candidates need to say and do? SETMAYER: Well, I'm with Jess where, you never quite know what's going to happen until you actually see Donald Trump step foot on the stage. He's been so erratic lately, and he's throwing a lot of temper tantrums, and he's very upset with a lot of people, and that list is getting longer that you never quite know.

But assuming that it does happen, Joe Biden needs to just make sure that he does no harm. He needs to continue to represent the adult in the room, needs to continue to show the American people that he is presidential, ready on day one, and that he is the complete opposite of Donald Trump.

And the vision that he has for this country, moving forward, is one that, I think that the American people would want to see. They just want some normalcy back. Everyone is exhausted from the Trump show for the last four years, which President Obama was so articulate about today on the campaign trail.

And for President Trump, I mean, he needs to have a moment where he could actually articulate his vision for a second term and try to stop the bleeding. He's hemorrhaging voters, to Jess's point he's hemorrhaging women voters.

[04:35:00]

His performance in the last debate was atrocious and he -- unless he does that and has a moment to stop the momentum for Joe Biden, which I think is probably not going to happen, but he -- that's what they need debates for. He needs this more than Joe Biden does --

CHURCH: Right.

SETMAYER: -- but I am not holding my breath Donald Trump is who he is, and he is not keen to change.

CHURCH: The microphones will be cut off while each candidate speaks for that first two minutes, so they're not interrupted. But that's not going to stop the other one hearing what said. I mean, if Donald Trump is talking on the stage there, Biden is going to hear him and that may very well put him off. We saw moments of that in that first debate. What do you think is going to be the likely response to this? And does this improve the process?

MCINTOSH: Well, I think it probably makes him a more pleasant viewing experience for the audience at home. I can't imagine anybody watched the last debate and went away feeling good about the capable, steady hands that our country is being governed by and we won't have to hear as much of that this time.

I do feel for Joe Biden in all of this. I think Trump walks into these debates looking for ways to destabilize his opponent. We saw some of the absolutely depraved things that he tried with Hillary Clinton in 2016. So, I certainly would not put it above him to make use of the fact that the microphone is off, and that we won't be able to hear what he says, but his opponent will. I think Joe Biden has a really strong closing argument, and I think that America is desperate to hear from a leader who wants to understand what they are going through. Who cares about them. Who has a plan for getting us out of the situation that we are currently finding ourselves stuck in.

So, I think as long as he stays focused on who he is talking to, Trump can play whatever mind games he wants, and he is going to get his message out.

CHURCH: And Tara, you get to the final word on all of this.

SETMAYER: Yes, I agree with Jess on that. I think that Joe Biden is in a very strong position to give his closing argument. We've already seen that in ads, and he is uniquely qualified to bring the country together, given his own life experience, his own personal losses. And what better time to have someone who can be someone who can empathize with the loss and the tragedy that's going on in this country, when we have 221,000 dead Americans, and that was preventable, and it's directly correlated to the failure of Donald Trump's leadership on COVID-19.

And Donald Trump, I think, is, you know, he's not having a great week, and the fact that President Obama is now out on the trail, someone that Donald Trump despises. On top of all the other things that are going on, I don't think that he is going to be able to contain himself, and all of a sudden have the magic presidential pivot that's never coming. So, strap in, folks because you never quite know what you are going to get from Donald Trump tomorrow night.

CHURCH: All right, Tara Setmayer and Jess McIntosh, thank you both for joining our panel.

MCINTOSH: Thank you.

CHURCH: I appreciate it.

SETMAYER: Thank you.

CHURCH: And stay with CNN for our coverage of the final presidential debate starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday. That's 12:00 a.m. Friday in London, 3:00 a.m. in Abu Dhabi and 7 a.m. in Hong Kong.

Well, the number of coronavirus cases on the rise in many parts of the world, including in Europe. A look at some restrictions in place to slow the spread. That's next. And later, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC NELSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: We believe that Trump will help us be able to keep the money that we make and let us be able to work as hard as we want, and not give our money away.

People like Nancy Pelosi can, you know, get her funding to give money people aren't willing to work for it. I worked for it all my life. I had to work to put myself through college so I could get a job and do what I enjoy, which is an activity like this, and spend, you know, 15 to $20,000 on toys because I choose to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN goes to an unofficial Trump rally where supporters are unapologetic about the President's alpha male attitude and their own wealth. Back in a moment.

[04:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Coronavirus cases are surging across Europe, and some countries are now looking to curfews to help curb the spread. France has just surpassed 1 million total COVID-19 cases according to Johns Hopkins University. It is the 7th country to pass that mark.

Ireland has just imposed Europe's toughest lock down and is set to remain there for at least six weeks. People are encouraged to stay home unless they're essential workers and they can't have gatherings in homes and gardens. But schools will stay open.

In Germany, the country's Center for Disease Control is reporting a record high number of daily cases. That number just shy of 11,300.

In Italy, a new curfew is set to begin at midnight on Saturday in the region surrounding the city of Rome.

And for more on the situation across Europe, let's turn now to Scott McLean. He joins us live from Berlin. Good to see you, Scott. So, each European country struggling to come up with its own approach to containing this virus. What's the latest on that?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rosemary. So, we'll start in Germany where the health minister just tested positive for the virus, the same day that this country recorded a new record in daily confirmed cases, smashing the old record by more than 40 percent.

You mentioned France hitting that 1 million confirmed cases mark. Spain also hit that mark yesterday as well. And I want to show you a chart that shows you the situation in Europe. You can see that Europe has surpassed the United States in new daily confirmed cases per million people, and you can see that trajectory really shows no signs of slowing down.

But it gets even worse than that, once you add on Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, all of which are dwarfing the U.S. and Europe. Belgium and the Czech Republic are reporting five times more new cases per capita than the United States. The Czech Republic, in fact, has more new cases per capita than any other major country on earth. And here's why the situation in the Czech Republic is particularly scary.

Most countries saw a high death toll early on in this pandemic in the first wave and their second wave, well, they may be seeing a lot of cases, not a lot of deaths. That's not true in the Czech Republic where deaths have really started to skyrocket, and hospitalizations are following as well. The government is setting up a field hospital in Prague. They expected to have about 500 beds in it. They're also bringing in doctors from the U.S. National Guard.

The Czech Prime Minister was really praised for his handling of the situation in the first wave, but he's taken a lot of criticism as of late. Earlier this week one of his own cabinet ministers called him a moron on a hot mic. She was caught on a hot mic. He hasn't responded because he has much bigger fish to fry.

[04:45:00]

After an emergency session of Parliament yesterday he conceded that the current measures in place simply were not working and he apologized for not acting sooner. So, starting today, the Czech Republic will go back into something that you might describe as a lock down. There will be only essential businesses that will be allowed to open, and there will be severe restrictions on movement as well.

And Rosemary, I want to share with you one other pretty remarkable statistic. If you went to the Czech Republic today, one in every 85 people there would officially be infected with the virus right now. The official number or the true number, I should say, is likely much, much higher because more than one out of every four people being tested for the virus is actually turning up positive.

CHURCH: That is very high. Scott McLean joining us live from Berlin. Many thanks.

Well, in a break with the past, Pope Francis has declared support for civil unions of same sex couples, but the church's position on marriage between a man and a woman is unchanged. CNN's Delia Gallagher is joining us from Rome. She joins us now live. Good to see you, Delia. So, the Pope's now supporting same sex unions, but this will of course anger some Catholics. What are they saying?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Rosemary, because the Pope's comments about legalizing same sex unions are a departure from the teaching of his predecessors, John Paul II and Pope Benedict the XVI who were against the legalization of same sex unions.

Now the Pope's comments came during a film documentary which was premiered yesterday in Rome. Let's take a look at what he said during that film, according to the Catholic news agency.

The Pope said homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They're children of God and have a right to a family. All What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered.

And we should say, Rosemary, that in interviews in the past, the Pope has shown himself to be open to the legalization of the same sex unions. But this is the first time as Pope that he has directly come out in support of it. When he was Archbishop in Buenos Aires, for example, b he argued for same-sex unions to be legalized instead of same-sex marriage. So, the Pope in the past has made a distinction between marriage as between a man and a woman, but legal protection for gay and lesbian couples.

Of course, this has been met with both praise but also, some criticism inside Catholic circles because of the change that this represents, Rosemary, in the past teachings. We should emphasize that these are comments from a film. So, we don't yet have any official document from the Pope or the Vatican. We'll see if that's coming -- Rosemary.

All right, we shall indeed. Delia Gallagher joining us live from Rome. Many thanks.

Well, in a time when the truth is under assault and facts are questioned, we want to mark the passing of one of truth's greatest champions. James Randi, the dazzling magician who became one of the great myth busters of our time has died. The Amazing Randi was 92 years old. In a career that spanned seven decades, Randi began as an escape artist and trickster, but soon turned to debunking the paranormal, religious deception and so-called magic. In 2004, he conjured this observation about ghosts in a conversation with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You're open to the possibility of there being ghosts, yes?

JAMES RANDI, MAGICIAN AND MYTH BUSTER: Well, absolutely, yes. I'm also open to the possibility that major Richard Nixon is alive and well and living in Argentina. I don't think it's very likely, nor do I think that ghosts are very likely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Canadian born Randi was awarded a MacArthur genius grant for his investigative work, but he always enjoyed performing magic too. He once told "The New York Times" the difference between them and me is I admit I'm a charlatan.

And we'll be right back.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are back on terra firma. Their Soyuz capsule landed in Kazakhstan several hours ago after undocking from the International Space Station. The three crew members wrapped up a 196 day mission that included more than 3,000 orbits of earth. A Russian cosmonaut is now in command of the orbiting space station.

And after Thursday's debate with Joe Biden, President Trump's next stop is Florida, where he will host two rallies on Friday. But some Trump supporters are organizing their own unique events. CNN's Elle Reeve went to one of them in Oregon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like alpha males. I think President Trump is an alpha male.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whenever I watch the news, it seems like they're bagging on Trump. They make it sound like nobody is going to vote for him. But we feel like we all need to get together just to show people that, hey, there are people that are going to vote for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the Dunes and Deplorables Let Freedom Ride Trump rally protest. It was unfurling a 30 foot by 50 foot American flag, having everybody gather around, play the national anthem, and just be able to be with a bunch of friends and family.

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unofficial Trump events like this have been happening all over the country. Boat parades, car caravans, bike parades. What attendees have in common is disposable income to spend on fun. While Trump's working-class supporters have gotten a lot of attention, in 2016 a third of his voters made more than $100,000 a year. In fact, support for Trump is particularly strong among white voters who have high incomes for their area, the locally rich.

PAUL VELUSCEK, TRUMP SUPPORTER: The people on the left that really think we're deplorable, think we're deplorable. If hanging out with families, bringing your kids out and having a good time is deplorable, then I guess we'll take it.

REEVE: I went for a ride in the dunes with Eric Nelsons who has been riding motorcycles since he was 14.

[04:55:00]

Eric drove two hours to come to the rally.

ERIC NELSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Hopefully, you heard her scream.

REEVE (on camera): That's what mic is for.

NELSON: The reason we're here supporting Trump is that we believe that Trump will help us be able to keep the money that we make, and let us be able to work as hard as we want, and not give our money away.

People like Nancy Pelosi can, you know, get her funding through that's giving money to people who aren't willing to work for it. I worked for it all my life. I had to work to put myself through college so I can get a job, and do what I enjoy, which is an activity like this, and spend, you know, 15 to $20,000 on toys because I choose to.

VELUSCEK: He really is for, you know, hard-working people. Do I think he's racist? No. I think he's racist against lazy people.

REEVE (voice-over): The rally was mostly men. That's no surprise given national polls. Men are much more likely to support Trump than women. And what these men said they liked about Trump was that he's a guy who's just like them. NELSON: He's not a politician. He's one of us. Yes, he's one of us on

steroids because he runs a great big business and makes a lot more money than we do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can be crass, but we didn't hire him as a president, we hired him because he was a businessperson, and that's what America needed because our country was starting to tank.

REEVE (on camera): Isn't part of his job being like a moral leader?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe so.

REEVE: You don't think so?

No, he says things that upsets people, and we just don't care. And we think he's helping all of those people because they don't fully understand what's going on.

REEVE: Elle Reeve, CNN, Winchester Bay, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN, have yourselves a great day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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