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More Than 65 Million Ballots Cast With a Week to Go to Election Day; Illinois Governor Warns of COVID Storm as Cases and Deaths Rise; Vice Presidential Nominees to Hit Battlegrounds This Week. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired October 27, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: I want to walk through some of these numbers to get your expertise on what they mean that are eye-popping. Let's just start with the headline. The early voting is just eye- popping. But let's look at younger voters. Here is the data you help us get.

In 2016, 1.2 million younger voters, aged 18 to 29, voted early. Look at that 2020 number, 5.3 million. It's up 342 percent. Black younger voters are voting earlier in higher numbers, Hispanic, white younger voters. What does that tell you?

MICHAEL FRIAS, CEO, CATALIST: I think what that tells us is that the young voters are engaged. And it's ironic, because if you think about it, this is the oldest presidential ticket that we've ever had to vote for with President Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden. And the young voters are really ushering in, I think, what is the future generation. And these are going to be the voters that they're going to be turning to.

And I was hearing some of your guests earlier talk about it that we're going to counting on long after this election, in 2022 and 2024. So it's really encouraging that young voters are taking their mark.

KING: And another group, obviously, a potential swing vote in many, many states, including several of the battleground states is Hispanic, Latino voters. If you have numbers here that show us in Georgia, early voting in Georgia alone, that's up 188 percent, from 24,000 to 70,000, in Florida up, 51 percent, in Arizona, up 48 percent.

The question here, do we know, is this -- there's a pandemic, I'm going to vote early or is it I just have a lot more intensity to vote, therefore, I'm going to cast my ballot as soon as I can or a combination of the two?

FRIAS: I think we're seeing a combination of the two. But I think the thing interesting to us is, historically, voting by mail is something that our parents did or senior citizens did. And what we're seeing now is the combination of the pandemic and the combination of just being extra motivated to get involved and engaged.

And you have kids in Parkland that are reacting to the gun violence, you have young people that reacting -- DACA DREAMERs reacting to this election and to this president. And so I think you're seeing more people pick a faster, more secure option to go and vote.

KING: As you know, not all early voters are created equal. And by that, I mean, if you are a 100 percent committed voter and you would show up on Election Day, if you didn't have the option to vote, but you would certainly show up. It's great to have your vote in the bank but it doesn't count as much as somebody, say, who has two jobs or has irregular hours or maybe lives in a senior center used to go to the lobby and vote, but that option is not available too this year because of COVID.

So the campaigns want to get out who are not so reliable, get them in the bank early most of all. $you have the numbers here of early voters who did not vote in 2016, the percentage. 32 percent in Nevada of early voters didn't vote four years ago. You see the rest of these states that is (INAUDIBLE) people, 28 percent, Arizona, 27 percent, Texas, 26 percent, Georgia. It's a pretty consistent number across those states.

What does that tell you and do we know anything about these people? The Trump campaign, for example, says, in Pennsylvania and some other states, we registered a whole lot more people for this cycle, we think they're going to show up. Do we know who these people are?

FRIAS: We do. And so the thing that you're measuring with people that are voting in an election that were eligible and didn't vote in the previous 2016 election is they are extra motivated to get out. So those numbers are encouraging for Democrats.

Now, what I would say, and we talked about it a little bit, even among the young voters, the turnout among white voters is increasing interesting enough. The positive sign for the Biden campaign is that the percent of those folks that are supporting Democrats has increased from 2016.

So, yes, we know a little bit about them, but what we know overall is that these young voters that are driving these numbers are predominantly supporting Democrats over the Republicans.

KING: And so in the final week of a campaign, I've been doing this for a long time, when I started covering politics, there was no such thing as big data, there was no such thing as a touch screen for that matter, the internet was sort of a baby at the time.

So now, the campaigns have all this information. They know who has voted because it's a public record. They can find out in every state who has voted already. So in the final week, the challenge is we're missing these guys or these people did vote, let's go get some new people.

Walk us through because of this information now, because of the crunching of the data, campaigns today are like they have never been before because of all of these access.

FRIAS: Yes. You and I both got started in an era where this data wasn't available. But, really simply, campaigns set out at the beginning of their organization, they're a set of voters, as you already mentioned, that want to -- that are going to be supportive of you, you just need to get them to go vote.

And then there's another set of voters that campaigns are targeting and trying to communicate with that are persuadable targets. At this point, like you just said, one week until Election Day, they already know who is with them. And so now, it's a battle of efficiency.

And so every day, they get a list and they're not looking at the big numbers being reported through CNN and through other outlets. What they're looking at is their universe of voters and are they moving their voters to vote early.

And then, importantly, and I think you just mentioned this at the top of your hour.

[11:35:02]

When you have the Wisconsin, you still have fluctuations in what's going to be permissible or what's not. The component we added this year is providing campaigns what ballots are being rejected and which of those are curable.

Meaning, which of those can the campaign or organizations working on the ground in these states can go and contact those voters and say, hey, you had a problem with your ballot, can we help you correct that to make sure that your vote was counted? That's the wrinkle this year as opposed to previous years where it was purely an efficiency exercise.

KING: It is a fascinating exercise and the availability of the state that makes it all the more so. Michael Frias, grateful for your time and insights and the work you're doing to help us keep track of all this. Thank you very much.

FRIAS: Thank you.

KING: Another big legal ruling, a federal judge rejecting the Justice Department's effort to intervene in a defamation suit brought against President Trump by longtime magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. In that lawsuit, Ms. Carroll alleges Trump raped her.

Today's decision paves the way for this case now to move forward with the president as the defendant.

Let's bring in CNN's Kara Scannell for more on this. It's a big loss for the Justice Department and the president, Kara.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: That's right, John, it is. I mean, the Department of Justice here sought to intervene in the case and substitute itself as the defendant in place of the president in this defamation lawsuit. DOJ have said that the president was acting in his official duties when he had denied raping E. Jean Carroll in the mid- 1990s, and when he said that he didn't know her and that she had made these allegations to boost her book sales.

Well, the judge, Lewis Kaplan, here in New York rejecting the government's position saying that in order to reject -- if the president were to comment on official government acts, it would be okay, but if he's commenting on sexual assault allegations, it's not. He wrote, accepting the government's position would mean that a president is free to defame anyone who criticizes his conduct or impugns his character without adverse consequences to that president and no matter what injury he inflicts on the person defamed.

Now, E. Jean Carroll has responded to the judge's ruling, and she said, as the judge recognized today, the question whether President Trump raped me 20 years in a department store is at the heart of this lawsuit, we can finally return the answering that question and getting the truth out.

Now, E. Jean Carroll and her attorneys want to get a sample of the president's DNA. She wants to compare it to a dress she said she wore the day that this alleged attack occurred in the mid-1990s. She says there is genetic male material on that dress.

Now, the Department of Justice has declined to comment. It remains to be seen, John, if they are going to appeal this ruling.

KING: We'll watch how this plays out. But as of this day, a setback for the Justice Department and the president. Kara Scannell, I appreciate the update there.

When we come back, we check back in with a school to see how it's operating amid a coronavirus spike in its community.

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[11:40:00]

KING: Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says there's a, quote, COVID storm on the rise and he's warning residents they need to prepare. State's positivity rates stands right now at around 8 percent. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths also rising in Illinois and starting tomorrow, new restrictions go into place in six regions. The new surge adds to the COVID challenges at schools.

Joining me is Chrissy Cox, the principal of Denman Elementary School in Quincy, Illinois. It's good to see you again, as I say, every time you come back, you are doing the most important work in the country right now.

CHRISSY COX, PRINCIPAL, DENMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Thank you.

KING: And so we have the surging cases all around the country, including in your state. In your school district, I just want to put graphic, you had three cases among those in the in-person learning out of 420 students enrolled and one person in remote learning out of 127. How are you doing and how do you handle this? And as the numbers go up all around you, are you doing anything different or just staying the course?

COX: You know, I think we're really refining our practices, really ensuring additional cleaning, ensuring, you know, those temperatures are being taken as students entering the building. Our students wear masks. And just so we're really like just refining those practices and ensuring additional protocols are being taken to -- you know, to really keep our students and our staff safe.

KING: And so you have, in the community, in your county, 12 percent is the seven-day positivity rate. So it's 8 percent statewide. It's about 12 percent in your county.

COX: Correct.

KING: Hospitalization bed availability is 22 percent, so you don't want that number to go any lower than that. But in the case of students coming to school, these are numbers and statistics. I suspect as the case count goes up, because it's more in the news, as people know or hear about people who have this issue, there's some anxiety to this. How do you deal with that, in addition to the safety issues, to the anxiety of young kids?

COX: Yes. And I really think that young children really just play off of what adults, their own anxiety. And so I think that's really important that parents and staff are assuring students that we're doing everything possible to keep them safe.

But I will say that anxiety of teachers and staff that are working in buildings is something that we all need to thinking about. This is a very stressful time for them. They have their own families to be concerned about as well. But they also really feel the weight on their shoulders that they only have those kids for nine months and all of the learning that needs to happen.

[11:45:07]

So we've never taught in a pandemic and we're learning very quickly that you have to stay on top of things and that you -- you know, all of our protocols and practices have to be looked at on a regular basis.

KING: Chrissy Cox, grateful for your time. And we'll keep checking in to see how the school year goes.

COX: Yes, that sounds good.

KING: Thank you so much for what you're doing.

COX: Thank you, Mr. King

KING: No, thank you. Thank you. I can't thank you enough.

When we come back, people vote for the candidates at the top of the ticket, but to the vice presidential candidates skipping around the country, how much does that matter?

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KING: Candidate stop is a valuable commodity especially in this coronavirus campaign season. So, how each team deploys its vice presidential nominee in the final week is a signal about where team Biden and team Trump think things stand.

The vice presidents' visits this week include the Carolinas today, battlegrounds Michigan, Wednesday, Nevada and Iowa. Senator Kamala Harris hits Nevada too, and then to traditionally red states that perhaps will turn blue, Arizona and Texas.

Let's discuss the role of the V.P. candidates. Former communications director and adviser to Vice President Al Gore, Lorraine Voles, and former press secretary to the 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, Michael Steel. It's great to see you both.

Lorraine, I want to start with you. Look, everybody says, people vote for president, not vice president, and that's true, but these candidates can help by targeting particular constituencies. Listen to Senator Harris. Obviously, part of the goal for her is to gin up African-American turnout and suburban women. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We have to ask ourselves why are so many powerful people trying to confuse us, trying to make it difficult for us to vote? And I think the answer is because they know our power. They know the power of us when we are organized, when we are standing with each other. We make change happen and we win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: A little help (INAUDIBLE) either. But, Lorraine, where do you see Harris -- did we just lose Lorraine now? All right, we did. That's what happens in the age of technology.

All right, Michael, you have to fill in for Lorraine until we get her back up here. In terms of deploying like that, you put her on with Oprah, get an audience, you're targeting women, African-Americans, but more broadly women voters in this campaign. Are they using her smartly?

MICHAEL STEEL, PRESS SECRETARY TO V.P. NOMINEE PAUL RYAN: Absolutely. There are certain audiences that she will be more receptive to her appeals, and I think that they are using her in a very smart, strategic way to reach those audiences as the former vice president himself remains a fairly low key campaigner and largely working in places like Pennsylvania, where he has appeal to working class white voters.

KING: And so let's flip the scales, listen to Mike Pence, who is former governor of Indiana, former congressman from Indiana. So he's going to spend a lot of time out that part in the heartland, including -- this is a hard one for the Republicans. Yesterday, they sent him to Minnesota, one of those states that's always close. You always think, we're going to get it next time. So far, it has been unsuccessful for Republicans. But here is his pitch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: America will never be a socialist country.

Men and women of the iron range, we have a choice to make when it comes to this economy. I think it is a choice between a Trump recovery and a Biden depression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: He is a Midwestern. He is an evangelical himself, a Christian conservative. Is that the best place for him out there in places like that?

STEEL: Yes. I mean, the president, essentially, has to write-off a lot of college educated and older white voters at this point. And so the only way to make up ground, the only way to try and tip the balance in their favor is to get even more massive overperformance, even more massive turnout from those rural areas, ex-urban areas, the real heart of Trump country.

And I think that's why you the vice president out there campaigning not just in Minnesota, a state that when the rest of the blue wall states fell in 2016 to President Trump, Minnesota was the one that got away. But not just in Minnesota but in the iron range, that rural area, long way from Minneapolis, they're trying to turn out those Trump voters in rural areas.

KING: Lorraine Voles, I believe, is back with us. So, Lorraine, I have been talking to Michael in your absence. Welcome to the technical difficulties we deal with in the age of COVID here.

One of the fascinating things to me, and the reason I wanted to talk to the two of you is worked for Al Gore in his campaigns with Bill Clinton. Two southern Democrats, two centrists, two men who yet had differences from time to time, but were more or less in sync ideologically. Michael worked for Paul Ryan, he ran with Mitt Romney, two traditional sort of Chamber of Commerce fiscal conservative Republicans, similar.

In Harris and Biden, very different. Pence and Trump, very different. Does that make a difference when the vice presidential candidate is ideologically temperamentally different?

LORRAINE VOLES, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: I think it can make a difference and it can really help. One of the things people forget about President Clinton and Vice President Gore, they were similar, but it was the energy. And that's what the time was calling for, young, new energy.

[11:55:00]

I think now with Senator Harris, she balances out some of the positions that Vice President Biden has had during his campaign, but also can appeal to voters that maybe have been a little nervous about him.

KING: And then you dropped on us when I was trying to get to the point, of where do you think it is best to use Senator Harris, where does she complement Joe Biden and where does she help in a place maybe where he is a little weak. Where would that be?

VOLES: So I think if I were scheduling Senator Harris, I think I would have her in suburban Ohio with her step daughters and her god daughter. That was one of the most powerful moments of the Democratic convention was that video. I also think she can be deployed to places, other places where you might not expect her to do so well where I think she could, Waterloo, Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, I think that those folks would be really happy to hear from her and I think she would do really well.

KING: All right. Well, she's working in a little of her own Iowa history there as well. Lorraine and Michael, great to see you both in the final week of this campaign, we'll have a lot of fun just ahead of us.

Up next for us, we'll continue to breakdown the map, how does each candidate see their path to 270, and with one week to go, who has the easier way.

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