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Campbell Brown

Two Days to Go Until Election; Coverage of Candidates on Campaign Trail

Aired November 02, 2008 - 20:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Only two days to go until the next president of the United States is elected. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer here at the CNN Election Center. We've got extensive coverage coming up over the next two hours. Campbell Brown is joining us. She's here, together with John King. He's got the magic map. Bill Schneider is crunching all the latest numbers. And we also have the best political team on television, our reporters, our analysts, they're all standing by. It's been an exciting day. We've got brand new poll numbers we're going to share with you. We're going to go to the campaign trail right now, first and foremost, Candy Crowley is standing by as is Dana Bash. Sarah Palin, by the way, she's speaking in Batavia, Ohio. We're going to bring you some of her remarks. That's coming up as well. Later, Barack Obama, he's getting ready to speak in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ohio, a key battleground state. Let's go to Candy Crowley, though first. She's in Cincinnati. Candy, that's where Barack Obama is going to be delivering what they say are his final arguments in this campaign. What do we expect to hear?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we expect to hear is what always comes in the last 48 hours of any campaign. And that is a rock 'em, sock 'em speech. Because the reason Barack Obama is out here now, assuming that most people understand what the direction in which he would take the country, that most people know enough about him to make a choice.

What he's trying to get them to do now is go to the polls. So you will hear a stem winder. It will be hardly that sort of rhetorical flourish that you heard early on in his campaign during the primaries, a little bit of policy in there, sort of the broad strokes. And you will also hear some attacks on John McCain. So it's kind of a kitchen soup speech that he's been giving throughout these final days.

This, of course, is the day he's been in Ohio traveling across the state. Hugely important for the Obama campaign to pick up this state. But you will also notice here just the level of excitement that you get in these last 48 hours from the crowds. They draw excitement from him. He draws excitement from them. And, again, this is the same old thing in the McCain campaign I'm sure because it is a typical thing. And it's what makes frankly these elections so cool, as you were sort of sliding into home with 48 hours to go, Wolf.

BLITZER: And he's expected to be speaking now in an about a hour behind you. We'll go there live once he does. But Candy, talk a little bit about the mood inside that Obama camp right now? When I met with the Democratic candidate on Friday in Iowa, he and his people were very, very confident. But take us behind the scenes.

CROWLEY: Well behind the scenes they're even more confident than that. Listen, you cannot certainly on this stage, you will hear Barack Obama saying, don't let up, not for a day, not for a minute, not for a second. You don't want people waking up on election morning going, well you know, he has it, and it's raining or whatever. So you won't hear that in public.

But we did have a conference call with his campaign manager who outlined really so many reasons that they believe that Barack Obama has this. And key among them, and key to their strategy at this point, has always been that early voting. Massive early voting turnout across the country in those states that have it. And when they are back crunching the numbers, and they have this huge, long list of voters, whether they've been sporadic voters, whether they are new voters, whether they are their voters, that is people prone to vote for Obama. They know so much.

We've been told some of the issues of these individual voters. So they are getting a really accurate sense, they believe, of how these early votes are going. They say it's going heavily for Obama. As David Plough, the manager put it, the guy is being cast as we speak. They think that John McCain has to have a super day. He has to over perform on Tuesday with people coming and casting their ballots on Election Day in order to overcome what they believe now is a big Obama advantage with those early voters, Wolf.

BLITZER: Candy, stand by. We're going to get back to you. Dana Bash is in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Dana, it was almost a thank you that he gave the people of New Hampshire, John McCain, because this is where he really got going after suffering enormous setbacks in the early days of the race for the Republican nomination. It was New Hampshire that really got him going. And he went back and he did what he did so many times there, he had a town hall meeting.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He sure did. It's obviously pretty unusual to have this kind of event 36 hours before the polls close. For the most parts what candidates do is what Barack Obama is about to do in Ohio and what John McCain has, barring except for this particular event, been doing also, over and over repeating the same theme. He opened himself up here to questions from voters. Now he didn't get very many hard-hitting questions to be honest with you. He did get one on the issue that set him back during the primary season, that is on immigration.

But for the most part, it was a bit of a sentimental journey here. You're right, Wolf, to the state of New Hampshire. Particularly where we are right now, in Peterborough. This is the place where he ended his primary season in 2000. He ended it for the most part, here, in 2008. It was the place where he had his 100th town hall meeting. He said to the people here, "I come here to the people of New Hampshire and ask them to let me go on one more mission."

So this is a battleground state, the state of New Hampshire. But to be honest with you, even inside the McCain campaign, certainly in talking to Republicans here on the ground in New Hampshire, they say it will be very, very difficult at this point for John McCain to turn what has been a Democratic state and increasingly a Democratic state to the Republican column.

But I can tell you right now, he's on his way to the very important state of Florida. He's going to hold a midnight rally in Miami and then he's going to hit seven states tomorrow.

But it just is very telling where he's going to be going, Wolf. He's going to be going to almost all Republican states. He's going to be defending Republicans' turf. The only Democratic state he's going to hit tomorrow is the state of Pennsylvania. He's going to go back there one more time before heading home to Arizona, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we're not going to let you go, Dana. Stand by, we're going to be getting back to you as well.

Let me show our viewers some of these polls that have come out today. What we call our poll of polls. I'm going to start in Pennsylvania. First right now, this is an average of the most recent polls in the state of Pennsylvania, 21 electoral votes at stake. Right now we have Senator Obama at 51 percent, Senator McCain at 44 percent. Unsure, 5 percent. Senator Obama has been maintaining a steady lead in Pennsylvania for some time now.

Let's go to Florida, another key battleground state, 27 electoral votes at stake. Obama 49 percent to McCain's 45 percent. Six percent still unsure, a four-point spread for Obama in Florida, a state that John McCain desperately needs of course, if he wants to get the nomination, and he certainly does.

In Virginia, which hasn't gone Democratic since 1964, Obama maintaining a 6-point advantage. Obama 51 percent, McCain 45 percent, 4 percent still unsure. Virginia's 13 electoral votes at stake.

North Carolina, another traditionally red state, Republican state, Obama 49, McCain, 47, 4 percent unsure. That's within the margin of error, 15 electoral votes at stake in North Carolina.

And finally in Colorado, where both of the candidates have spent a lot time in recent weeks and months, 51 percent for Obama, 45 percent for McCain. Unsure, 4 percent. There are 9 electoral votes in Colorado that are up in the air right now.

Campbell Brown and John King are both looking at all of this. Campbell, you know we've covered a lot of campaigns. It doesn't get more exciting than it does in these final two days.

CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah and making it even more exciting is there has been a little bit of tightening in the polls, Wolf, at the national level also at the state level. But John McCain without question, John has a very narrow path to victory regardless. Why don't you start us off and just show us right here in the final stage where the electoral map stands right now.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll show you where we are tonight and I'll explain what the McCain camp believes is its narrow, very narrow path to victory.

Campbell let me start by saying they are somewhat optimistic because every poll Wolf just mentioned is closer today than it was 72 hours ago in those key battleground states. So that is where they are taking hope. But here is how steep the hill is.

We now have Barack Obama leading in states with 291 electoral votes. It takes 270, of course, to win the White House. So John McCain is significantly trailing, going into the final days.

Now if you look at the map, the gold states are our tossup states, blue, light blue is leaning Obama, dark blue, safe Obama. Same on the Republican side, light red leaning McCain, dark red, safe McCain.

If you look at right now, if Barack Obama holds this map, if John McCain wins everything else, Barack Obama wins. Let me show you what the McCain campaign says is a possible path to victory. It starts right here, Wolf you just mentioned it, 27 electoral votes in Florida. Key to George W. Bush twice, absolutely critical for John McCain.

North Carolina, almost a dead heat right now. McCain needs to win that state. Ohio is a critical battleground always and especially important to Republicans. McCain needs those 20. And if you look up here at the numbers, he's starting to close in a little bit. Indiana would come next, a red state since 1964. That needs to be there. And Missouri, the show-me state, it's been right, the winner of Missouri has won the presidency for more than a century. North Dakota, a tossup right now. McCain needs to keep that red. And Montana, a tossup right now, McCain needs to keep that red.

Even if he runs the board, we just ran through a hypothetical scenario, John McCain wins all of the tossups, look what you have. Barack Obama is still the president of the United States.

So where does the drama come next for John McCain? It has to come, the McCain campaign says right here in the state of Pennsylvania. If they could take these 21 from Obama and put them in the Republican column, even then, this is where it gets interesting, Barack Obama just wins the White House with 270 electoral votes.

So look at the blue and find a target for John McCain. That is why you saw him, as Dana just noted, in the state of New Hampshire. If under this scenario, if he could get those four, McCain wins the White House. But most Republicans think New Hampshire is out of reach. So where else? He will stop once more in Virginia, a much tougher sled there. Obama ahead. If McCain could get that, that would do it.

But again, most Republicans in the state think that one is going to stay where it is. So we move out here. The McCain campaign has some narrow hope still for Iowa, even though we have that solid Obama. More importantly, they say Nevada they think has been tightening in recent days. That would make the difference if they could get it. Or Colorado, McCain will go one more time on his way to Arizona on Tuesday. So essentially, Campbell, five states or so, New Hampshire, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, maybe Iowa. Those are their possibilities. But first they have to pull off a dramatic sweep of what's left on the board.

BROWN: As you said, a serious uphill battle and the very fact that they are spending, both campaigns are spending these final days in all red states, the states that Bush won with the exception of Pennsylvania. John King for us. We should mention for those of you who lust after this map and want to be John King, you can do that at CNN.com/map. There is some very cool technology here. You can try it at home, definitely worth checking out.

When we come back, we will have our panelists and the best political team on television who are going to walk through all these scenarios with us and analyze what is ahead. Stay with us. Lots more to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't believe for a second that this election's over. Don't think for a minute that power concedes anything. It's going to get nasty, I'm sure in the next four days. They will throw everything at us, like they've been doing. And we are going to have to work like our future depends on it in this last week. You know what? Because it does.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My friends, I've been in a lot of campaigns. I know when momentum is there. This enthusiasm, this kind of welcome, we're going to win Pennsylvania and we're going to win this election. I sense it and I feel it and I know it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Both candidates right there with the same message. This is not over yet. Do not get complacent. I'm Campbell Brown. We're back with the best political team on television. Guys, let's talk about that for a second. Here's a new Ohio poll of polls, our poll of polls. Obama 49 percent, McCain 45 percent. That's close. That's, you know, we're talking within the margins here. John King, is this still very much a race, despite the uphill battle that you just showed us for McCain on the electoral map?

KING: It is without a doubt advantage Obama, without a doubt. But there is a narrow opportunity, which is why I find it amusing in a complimentary sense I guess when you hear Barack Obama saying they're going to throw anything at us in the last couple of days. It is his campaign that has twice changed its ad rotation to put up a more sharp attack ad on John McCain.

David Axelrod and the Obama campaign team, they are relentless. And they have more money than the federal government at the moment apparently. But they are spending it, look, they have watched Democrats lose a close race in 2000, lose a close race in 2004. And some say now go policy. So that if you win, you can say I have a mandate. Look at the ads I put on during the final week. This is what I have.

And they are saying no way. First they run an ad beating up on the Palin choice in the suburbs and they run the Dick Cheney yesterday speech that endorses both John McCain and Sarah Palin. They put that on television within hours because they believe that will drive away independents and suburban voters. Just as there was some evidence at least a small few of them were drifting back to McCain, bang.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: You talk about Ohio, Campbell, of course it's crucial for John McCain. He can't find a way to the presidency without Ohio. But Obama, on the other hand, could lose Ohio, could lose Florida, could lose Pennsylvania and could still have a path to the presidency. So that is such a crucial state for John McCain.

BROWN: The timing in the polls that we are seeing, is this just the natural process of what happens toward the end of the campaign or is there something that's breaking through, something McCain said, something Obama hasn't said yet?

JEFF TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is true that presidential campaigns generally tighten towards the end. One of the cliches you often hear is if the election had only been a week longer, Humphrey would have beaten Nixon in '68 or Ford would have beaten Carter in '76. But in fact, I think, that's a false premise. The elections are tightening at the ends. You can't get an extra week. So yes, it is better to be behind by seven points in Pennsylvania than 12 points but you don't get electoral votes by losing a state by seven points.

BORGER: But give John McCain credit here. He's gone back to the sort of tax and spend message. He discovered Joe the Plumber and that clearly has had some resonance with voters in a state like maybe Pennsylvania, maybe Ohio. So you know, I think the McCain campaign in the end has sort of found a message and they're sticking to it for a change. And it's helping them.

BROWN: Let me ask Bill Bennett, given the time constraints that the McCain campaign is dealing with here and the noise, there's just a lot of noise at the end of the campaign, is there any singular message that can break through at this stage?

BILL BENNETT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: A lot of noise in Lubbock, Texas, last night, seven points. Texas was favored, they're ranked No. 1. Texas Tech is number seven.

BROWN: And this is going somewhere, Bill?

BENNETT: Texas Tech won. We have a funny thing in this country. I know we have pollsters, I know we have social scientists. But it ain't over until the people say it's over. I would have stayed on one message. I think the Joe the Plumber message, the redistribution message.

BROWN: Is a good one?

BENNETT: Is a good one. That's not the one I would have stayed on, but that's the one they liked. I would have stayed on liberal and inexperienced. Liberal and inexperienced, it's a dangerous swirl. This ad they've been running, would you fly with a pilot who hasn't flown before, I think they finally got it right. But it's uphill. As John McCain said, we got them where we want them. I'm not sure we got them exactly where we want them but overconfidence may be a problem.

BROWN: Is overconfidence a problem, Hilary?

HILARY ROSEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think you're seeing overconfidence from the Obama team. They may feel it but they're not acting like it.

You had Barack Obama on the phone last night with 20,000 of his team leaders from across the country. You have them operating in every single state. The strategic decision that the Obama campaign made at the beginning is now what I think is going to drive them to the presidency, which is we are not going to be stuck like Democrats have been in the last three elections, playing for one or two states. We have to widen the map. And that widening of the map, at a very early stage, focused on raising a lot of money to do it, is now what's saving them.

Like John said, McCain has a very narrow path to victory and Barack Obama has a lot of options.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Frankly, Campbell, I think if Obama is able to pull this out, James Carville, Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer, they should apologize to Howard Dean. They criticized Dean for the 50 state strategy. Obama comes in, you're seeing it playing out. What happens when you expand the map, when you energize your Democrats on a local level.

The issue here is also infrastructure. The Democrats, they allow themselves to get away from the Republicans, they built it in 2000, 2004. You're seeing the ground game pay dividends right now. That's the key. In the last 48 hours, getting your people to the polls.

BLITZER: And Ed, you can't deny the impact, the enormous amount of money they have compared to McCain.

ED ROLLINS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We've never had a modern day campaign, and I go back to Nixon in '72. Never had a modern day campaign that we haven't had the money at the end of the day. We've always had more advertising, we've always had a better ground message.

And campaigns matter and candidates matter. And I would argue at this point in time, their campaign has been the most disciplined campaign I've ever seen. They have been on a message and the message was to tie McCain around Bush and unfortunately McCain has been all over the place. He has the right message today, maybe a month too late.

ROSEN: There's something about the money though that's a little bit of a misnomer. The Obama campaign is dominating the message on TV and it's hurting McCain now because he doesn't have a national audience access without television commercials. But the ground campaign is a volunteer based campaign. That's not money. That is enthusiasm. And that's a very critical difference right now between the Democrats and the Republicans.

BROWN: Let me toss it back over to Wolf. A lot more ahead with the panel when we come back. Wolf?

BLITZER: Campbell, thanks very much. And the countdown clock is continuing. Less than 48 hours until the first polls close. Actually 46 hours, 38 minutes from now. The first polls will be closing at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on the East Coast in these six states, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. We'll look very, very closely at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday night in 46 hours, Indiana specifically and Virginia because those are two key battleground states.

We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Bill Schneider has been going through some numbers on Governor Sarah Palin and her impact on this race for the White House. We'll also be hearing from Governor Palin. Later we'll be hearing from Senator Obama. Much more of our coverage on the next president of the United States. We're here at the CNN Election Center. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're taking a closer look at the next president of the United States, whoever that might be. Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. We're here at the CNN Election Center. Sarah Palin, she's the Republican vice presidential nominee. And Bill Schneider is over at voter analysis right now, crunching the numbers. Bill, has she been a lot of help to the Republican ticket? Has she hurt the Republican ticket? What are we seeing on this day, less than 48 hours from the first poll closing?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Wolf, that is the question very much on a lot of voters' minds. So we asked people how they were going to vote. And we asked two different ways.

First, we asked people how would you vote now if the choice were between Barack Obama and Joe Biden and John McCain and Sarah Palin? That's this left-hand column over here. With the vice presidents named, Obama leads by seven points, 53-46. Then we asked the question without naming the vice president. How would you choose if you had to pick between Barack Obama and John McCain? Without the vice presidents, Obama is leading only by four points. This is pretty convincing evidence that Sarah Palin is costing John McCain a couple of points.

Now, when she was first named to the ticket, there was excitement among conservatives. She was relatively unknown to the rest of the voters. How has she played during the campaign? Let's take a look. Back in August when she was first named, her unfavorable rating was very low, it was only 21 percent had a negative opinion of Governor Palin. September climbed to 35 percent, early October, 40 percent, now, 48 percent. Almost half the voters have a negative opinion of Governor Palin which means she has not gained points. She has not scored well with the electorate. Right now the voters are divided on whether they like her or don't like her.

We then asked people if John McCain does not win the election, would you like to see Sarah Palin herself run for president eventually? The answer is, by nearly 60 percent, 59-40, voters said at the moment, they would oppose Governor Palin running for president if McCain doesn't win. So she has not made herself a popular figure in this campaign and in fact, the evidence indicates she's costing John McCain a couple of points. Wolf?

BLITZER: Interesting numbers. We're going to be spending more time on that as well. Bill Schneider over at voter analysis for us. Just a little while ago, Governor Palin spoke at a rally in Batavia, Ohio. Let's listen in briefly to hear what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: OK, so we are just two days away from the election and the time for choosing is near. Ohio, are you ready to help us carry your state to victory? You ready to make John McCain the next president of the United States? Are you ready to send us to Washington to shake things up for all of you and get to work for you?

As the time for choosing arrives, the choice could not be clearer. Our country is facing tough times, tough economic times. Now more than ever we need someone tough as president and only John McCain has the wisdom and the experience and the courage to get our economy back on the right track. John has a pro-private sector, pro- growth plan that's going to put government back on your side. And Ohio, please, never be led to believe that it is not your government. It should be working for you. You should not be working for government.

We're going to put government back on your side. And as president, John McCain, too, he's going to have the guts to confront the $10 trillion debt that our federal government has run up, $10 trillion that we're expected to hand to our children, and ask them to pay off for us? That's not right and it's not fair and it will not happen on our watch.

We will impose a spending freeze to cover all but the most vital functions of government like defense and keeping our commitments to our seniors and our veterans. We are going to balance your federal budget by the end of our first term and you can hold us accountable. We will keep our promises. It's proven because John and I are the only candidates in this race who have a track record of reform.

John McCain known as not just the patriot in the Senate but as the maverick, taking on his own party when he had to. He's got the scars to prove it, that he is able to encounter and do something about the corruption, the abuse, the self-dealings. He's got the scars to prove that he's already done that.

Finally, as president, he'll have the opportunity for all of you to end those abuses once and for all. So here's how we start. We will lower your income taxes. And we'll double the child tax deduction for every family and we will cut the capital gains tax. And we'll bring tax relief to every American and every business.

John McCain and I, we have a very basic, fundamental disagreement with our opponents on this whole issue of taxes. Now is the worst possible time to even think about increasing taxes, taking more from our families and from our small businesses. Now is the worst time and yet, that's what Barack Obama wants to do and we know from independent analysis -- from independent analysis we know that our opponents' economic plans would destroy nearly six million jobs over the next decade, six million jobs gone.

But see, Barack Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes. And though it seems that he adjusts his tax plan pronouncements nearly daily now, flip-flopping around on what all the details are, his commitment to higher taxes, though, never changes. And you just have to look at his record on this.

And, folks, it's not mean-spirited and it's not negative campaigning to call someone out on their record and their plans and their associations. It is not mean spirited to call him out on his record. And that's what we're going to do because that's in fairness to the American electorate.

Now his record shows that he voted 94 times for higher taxes, even on hard-working, middle-class Americans making just $42,000 a year. Ninety-four times he had opportunity to be on our side. And instead, he chose the side of bigger, growing government, taking more money from you and growing government.

And now he's committed to nearly a trillion dollars more in new government growth but he won't tell you where those trillion dollars will come from to pay for these new proposals. Now you can either do the math or just go with your gut.

Either way, you draw the same conclusion and it's based on his record, Barack Obama is for bigger government and he's going to raise your taxes. In fact, Ohio, this tax plan of his, it's so phony, it's already starting to unravel. I am so thankful, though it is the 11th hour, but I am so thankful that at least now, finally, the light is shining on what this tax plan is all about and what his intentions are here.

It seems like every few days we get a new definition now of what he considers the middle class, whose taxes he promises not to increase. Now, it started out, remember, at $250,000 a year. And then, well, if you make $200,000 a year, then you won't be slammed with the tax increase, he says. And then it dropped down to $150,000 a year. And now we hear Obama's campaign saying, the Obama tax plan would define middle class as those making $120,000 and under, which would hurt small businesses all across this country.

Small businesses are the backbone of this economy. You are who keeps the engine moving in this economy. So now, all the way down to under 120, well give him a little time and Barack Obama, he is going to be back to raising taxes on folks earning just $42,000 a year.

Now, he calls all of this -- he calls this taking more of your hard earned money which you produce, which you earn and, according to politician's priority, he calls this spreading the wealth. But Joe Biden calls it patriotic.

And then though we have Joe the Plumber, there in Toledo, Ohio. Go, Joe! Joe the Plumber said to him, it all sounds a lot like socialism. Now is not the time to experiment with socialism. Now, Joe the Plumber, he was there at a stage photo-op and he was there to get more than just a handshake and campaign button. He wanted some straight talk. And he succeeded where the rest of us had failed and the media had not been able to accomplish this. And that's to get Barack Obama away from the script and just speak candidly, truthfully about what the intentions were in all of this.

And by the way, ever since Joe the Plumber asked that straightforward question, he has been investigated and attacked. Bless his heart. He was just asking a simple question.

But what he got out of that day and he is speaking for so many Americans, too, understanding after that day that our opponent's plan is for more big government and government too often is the problem, not the solution.

Now, John McCain and I, we have just the opposite commitment in all of this. This is for you. Instead of taking more of what you earn and produce and then spreading your hard-earned money around to entities, services, people, according to some politicians' priorities, no, we're going to spread opportunity so that you can create new wealth, Joe the Plumber can create new wealth, hire in more people. That's how we get the economy rolling along.

Now, can you imagine if we went down that path, though, of taking more and then, as Barack calls it, spreading the wealth? What that would do to that work ethic that we try to teach our children, that they must have and reward for the strong work ethic and productivity. It would stifle the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country the greatest country on earth!

So, Ohio, if you share our commitments and if you work hard and if you know what hard work feels like and if you want to get ahead and if you believe that America is the land of possibilities and you do not want your dreams dashed by the Obama tax plan increases, then Ohio, we're asking for your vote!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin speaking just a little while ago in Batavia, Ohio. That's not very far away from Cincinnati, Ohio. That's where Barack Obama is getting ready to speak before a huge, huge gathering there.

We're standing by live to hear what he has to say. We have got some live pictures coming in from Cincinnati. That's where you see all those change banners. Barack Obama getting ready to key battleground state of Ohio. Cincinnati, specifically. We're going to go there live once he starts speaking. Also, we're standing by to hear from our own Tom Foreman. He's been doing what is so incredibly important throughout this campaign. A CNN truth squad, an assessment of what these candidates are saying. Is it true, is it not true? Tom Foreman and Campbell Brown, the best political team on television, they're all standing by. Much more of our coverage from the CNN Election Center. "THE NEXT PRESIDENT" right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The economy is by far the number one issue in this race for the White House. Tom Foreman has been reviewing what these candidates are saying and some of it is true, some of it not so true. Tom, you're part of our truth squad. Tell our viewers what you're learning.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, both candidates this weekend are continuing to do exactly what they've done all along, rip into each other over the economy and frequently they are making false or misleading claims in the process.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCCAIN: Senator Obama is running to spread the wealth. I'm running to create more wealth.

FOREMAN (voice-over): McCain's camp says Obama will destroy six million jobs in the next decade, citing the Center for Data Analysis. But that's false. The center, part of the conservative Heritage Foundation, says Obama's plan would create fewer jobs than McCain's but that's not the same as destroying current jobs. As for Obama?

OBAMA: So no matter what John McCain may claim, here are the facts. We don't need to raise taxes on the middle class.

FOREMAN: Misleading. The implication ignores the fact that McCain, like Obama, would lower taxes for the middle class. McCain would just give richer people some breaks, too. And this is probably the biggest misconception of all, being pushed by both men.

OBAMA: We don't need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government.

MCCAIN: He can't do that without raising your taxes or digging us further into debt. I'm going to make government live on a budget just like you do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: The problem is, both McCain and Obama, while promising tax cuts, have alarmed tax and budget analysts who say if either man delivers on his proposals, the deficit will soar and we could pay the price with more economic turmoil down the line.

So Wolf as we've said all along when we've done truth squad, go to their Web sites, read their plans carefully. Find out what they're actually saying, not what their opponent is saying about them. Wolf?

BLITZER: On CNN.com, that's the place to go. All right Tom, thanks very much, Tom Foreman, part of our truth squad. We're going to take another quick break. Remember, we're standing by to hear from Barack Obama. He's getting ready to speak in Cincinnati, Ohio. We'll go there live. Campbell Brown and the best political team on television, they're also standing by and we'll go there, right after this.

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BLITZER: We're less than 48 hours away from the first poll closings here in the United States. We're covering the next president of the United States. Campbell brown picking up our coverage with the best political team on television. Campbell, you know, as we watch all of this unfold, the last minute back and forth between these candidates is intriguing to see what they're stressing even at this late moment.

BROWN: What the message is and also who they're targeting. We talked so much about demographics and who's going to decide this election. One week it seems like it's women and then it's young people and then it's white working class voters. Who is going to decide this election? What demographic are they most speaking to or is there one right now, John King?

KING: It's more complicated than picking one. But you're onto the idea that McCain has to turn out the Republican base in huge numbers. But guess what? The Republican base is smaller now than it was four years ago. So he can't run the Bush/Rove strategy. You lose. Even if every single registered Republican shows up to vote, McCain will lose.

So you have to get some Independents and you have to improve your standing in the suburbs. That's what they've been trying to go at. The suburban women, the suburbs are increasingly drifting Democratic. And if that continues to happen in this election -- it happened in the last election but Bush was able to win. If it keeps happening, the Republican Party will not only lose this election, they're going to have a long-term problem on their hands. Because the Democrats are getting more votes in the suburbs, right now more votes from Independents. And guess what? The Latino population in this country is exploding and right now Barack Obama is winning their votes by a more than 2-1 margin.

BROWN: Very different from George Bush. Go ahead.

BORGER: In a way though, George Bush and Karl Rove sort of began this whole microtargeting of the folks in the suburbs and in the excerpts. And I think what you're seeing now with the Democrats is taking a page from Rove's book but taking it beyond anything that Rove could have imagined because of the amount of volunteers and paid people and labor that this campaign has working for it.

But I'm going to be looking at those suburban voters and those ex-urban voters. And also Campbell, do not underestimate -- one thing we're going to be looking at is turnout. We've been talking about the undecided voters, who are all of these undecided voters?

BROWN: Who are they?

BORGER: They're so important. You know what, I think in the end, turnout is going to be more important than all those undecided voters we're talking about right now.

TOOBIN: You know what's extraordinary is that the issue profile of this campaign has changed so much since we started here two years ago. The Republicans debated immigration at great length, the Democrats --

BROWN: We've hardly talked about it.

TOOBIN: -- fought over the war in Iraq. Both subjects have virtually disappeared from the political dialogue. It is all about the economy. It just shows when you have a campaign that lasts this long, the world changes and priorities change.

But immigration, in particular -- the veracity with which Republicans went after that issue and now you never hear a word about it. It's mostly because McCain and Obama more or less agree on it, I guess.

BROWN: We talked about turnout. But let me bring it to early turnout because we've been really looking at those numbers over the last few days. And they seem to be at least going Democratic. Can those numbers be trusted? Do you think that's a great sign for Obama at this stage, Hilary?

ROSEN: The most important sign is not what the numbers show, it's the detail that the Obama campaign has about those voters. I'm hearing from the Obama campaign that because they've done so much early work in this ground game, they actually know who their voters are. And so what they're able to do is emphasize on Tuesday, getting out the votes of those people who haven't already gone to the polls. They know that household by household in a very specific way. So in North Carolina and critical states, North Carolina, Florida, Nevada, they know who they've got to go call and drive to the polls on Tuesday. You can't underestimate the importance of that specificity.

BROWN: Is this something that McCain should have focused on more or are there concerns about the ground game comparatively?

BENNETT: He had to focus on everything. Just to pick up on what Jeff said, he's absolutely right. And there's a warning there, which is be careful of what the pundits say, including us, which is like the wire at the crossroads. Be careful what they're saying. Even the guy who tells you to be careful.

The other thing is it's really quite amazing. Go through the numbers. Suburban numbers, women voters, Latino voters, incredible turnout, financial advantage. And we know all the headwinds John McCain has been flying into. And then add the economic cataclysm on top of that, on top of the Bush numbers. And still, six, seven points. Still he stands. What's making him stand? Some, there's a reluctance about Obama, is it respect for John McCain? I think it's a little of both. But still, he's alive.

BROWN: What do you think? To that point, Roland, what do you think is McCain's stand?

ROLLINS: In 2004, 39 percent of the voters were self-identified Republicans, 39 percent were self-identified Republicans. We had a little advantage on those that were Independents. We're now down to 32, 33 percent self-identified Republicans. They're still about the same number.

So all they have to do is turn their vote out and split the Independents which they're doing right today and they have a five or six-point lead. A five or six-point lead doesn't look like much in a poll. But when you're talking about 140 million people, you're talking about 12, 14 million people. And that's a lot of people to shift.

MARTIN: And Campbell look, also, when you studied 2004, Democrats figured out, you were looking at the Electoral College votes. Again, five states, 30 Electoral College votes, he's got about 60,000 people. Democrats figured out Republicans have always focused on the absentee ballots. Democrats said you know what? We've got to get out folks to the polls early and not hope they show up on Election Day.

BROWN: All right, guys, quick break. We have a lot more to talk about. Stay with us. Check out CNN.com, too, for all the political info online. We'll see you shortly.

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BROWN: Back now with the best political team on television. Let me ask you this question, John. You've been so deep into the map. Which red state that Obama has a real shot at comes as the biggest surprise to you?

KING: Indiana, I think, just because of the tradition of Indiana. Everyone thinks Indiana, middle of the country, Republican, Republican, Republican. It has a pretty popular Republican governor right now. So that one does, as a surprise. If you want to talk about the changing of America which is what fascinates me as you travel the country, I think again, if you look at the state of Virginia, the African-American population and the suburban growth of the Democratic Party.

BROWN: In Northern Virginia?

KING: In Northern Virginia. If you are a Republican not only looking at this election, but looking where does my party go for the next 10 years, you're watching these demographic changes. It's happening in Virginia as well. The suburbs are growing. The Latino population is growing and you have a significant African-American base and this year you have a unique candidate who can turn out more of them because of the pride factor and the energy factor. But if you're a Republican and you're studying -- this is the capital of the old confederacy. BROWN: Right.

KING: It looks like it is about to go Democratic in this election. It's had two Democratic governors in a row. If you're a Republican looking at how are we a national party, you look at Virginia and you say we need to fix this. Because if we can fix this, then we can start to fix everything else.

BORGER: I've got a surprise state which I think is North Carolina. I mean, there hasn't been a presidential contest there in a generation. You have Barack Obama's organization there. You have African-American voters and you have early voting in which Democrats have outnumbered Republicans and it's a real race in North Carolina.

BROWN: Got to take a quick break.

TOOBIN: Virginia, same story.

BROWN: And you know, we'll know the answers to those questions early in the evening, too, on Tuesday evening. It will say a lot. We have to take a quick break. Back with a lot more, right after this.

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