mark: i am mark halperin. john: and i'm john heilemann. with all due respect to donald trump junior, we think we know what cap of candy he is not giving out halloween. ♪ john: on our show tonight, new details emerging about ahmad khan rahami, the man suspected of setting off homemade explosives in manhattan and new jersey, injuring 29 people. his father warned police that his son two years ago with an fbi assessment of the case after

no ties to terrorism were found. authorities obtained a notebook that belonged to the bomber that exhibits opinions sympathetic to jihadists causes. clinton over how the nation should respond to an internal terrorist threat, donald trump stayed on offense. clinton was off the trail today, held a conference call with her national security advisers taking aim at trump's to prevent. mark, both campaigns have tried to use the incident to protect the other and gain the upper hand. who at this moment has it? mark: i would say people think this is a rerun that i think we saw today what we saw yesterday. both sides think they can go on offense. they show this country needs to re-examine its procedures and congress has just as much culpability as the president. hillary clinton is trying to show that donald trump is

unqualified and donald is trying to show hillary clinton is insufficiently aggressive. for another day come i think they need to keep talking about it but i do not see anyone gaining advantage. john: i totally agree. i think it was a draw today. i cannot imagine the past 48 hours, the very predictable things trump has said about the issue and hillary clinton in the array of issues raised, and the things hillary clinton has said in response, mostly about trump. this does not do anything to move any movable voters in any one of their camp's. they are probably doing a little bit to solidify this of they have but it does not seem any one of them is gaining appreciably in this argument. mark: i find them both to be kind of hot on this issue. it is an emotional issue and an important issue, and they both want to project strength. but my gut feeling is that some people in the country would like to see a more optimistic, confident message about winning

the war on terror, and not something so negative and hot. john: yes, i think that is probably right. we talked yesterday about president obama, a lot of people critics of ham on how he handled the war on terror, but one aspect that i always find potent politically in some respects, is to have that calm demeanor and suggest that this is a long battle, one where calmness and rationality may be the right cards to play. mark: all right. next topic. there been plenty of recent polls to suggest the presidential race has tightened, two surveys have her up five points 50-45 among likely voters. she has a lead in a four-way race. that is a wider cap then the two-point margin earlier this month.

before the poll out today that has clinton up 46% to 41% over trump. two polls that are good for clinton, but before those polls, most of the recent ones have not been good for clinton. they show the race tighter, with trump ahead. brooklyn has been dishing out conflicting messages on just how nervous they are, and how nervous their supporters should be. for instance, yesterday, robby mook sent out a widely is to be did e-mail, with the subject line "the ways of trump can get 270 electoral votes." "s dire warning read in part, the path to the presidency is no longer a pipe dream. it is clear and it is real." yesterday was also the day he reportedly circulated a private 2000 word memo to donors with a much different tone. that memo noted the electoral map made a trump presidency impossible unless he sweeps every battleground state, and listed the numerous ways clinton

could with one or two wins, block any path he would have. so, john, which version of robbie's reality is the real one? like the debate, there's a lot of managing of expectations and emotions that when we get down to the home stretch. both of them are trying to play the goldilocks game. especially if you're the front runner, the expected winner, as hillary clinton is, you want people to not be complacent, but not be panicked. try to find the right not to hot, not too cold, the memo that circulated yesterday which shows hsllary clinton with more pat are closer to reality when the ones -- compared to the ones earlier were they talked about a landslide for clinton. fluff -- david

flup has said she has a 0% chance of winning. i think trump has to win for the comment of ghana and ohio before we can talk about a path to victory. if he wins those three there is a couple ways he can do it. he is still the underdog, even if he can win those three. but i think brooklyn has to be serious about this. they are not as panic as some of their supporters, but of trump north carolina, footer, ohio come all possible for him to do, then brooklyn has to worry. it is a race they could lose. john: david farenthold strikes again. a washington post reporter has been giving donald trump a headache by investigating his charitable foundation has in his story out, and it is a doozy. the latest report shows donald trump spent more than $250,000 from his nonprofit to settle lawsuits from people assuming his private business by donating money to charity.

instead of using his own money, he reportedly gave those individuals cash. the story suggests the trump foundation may have violated the law. that it was a slush fund. how big a deal could this be? mark: i am not minimizing it. it is another case where he may have broken the law, but the most serious thing about this is one of trump hired accountants and lawyers to deal with his foundation. he is not an expert on the laws governing foundations, but i question the judgment he has in hiring people. because the lawyers and accountants that allow this, i think should lose their jobs. this is such a bad judgment to do with this story says trump did. he should have points deducted from his capacity to offer himself to the country as a great leader and a great manager if he hired people that incompetent. john: dude, if this story is true, and the pam bondi story, which people are still reporting on, the pay for play situation.

you have a slush fund allegation, a paper plate allegation, close to a bribery allegation. it suggests to me that the trump foundation, if the legal allegations are true, is way more corrupt on the face of it, way more corrupt than any allegation that the clinton foundation is, right? you and i both have issues with the clinton foundation on how it has done business. but these two stories, and this one in particular, are gratuitously corrupt. and we should hit hard in the -- on the fact that this is a guy that seems to be running a charity to advance both political and business interests , rather than do what charities are supposed to do. mark: i do not want to minimize what is alleged in the story because it it is horrible, potentially illegal and bad judgment. the people that did it for him, he should have never hired them. this is not involved the government. he was not a government official. so i'm not sure corruption is the right word but it is

reckless, irresponsible and a selfish, what he did. i will say for a third time, someone who would hire accountants and lawyers that would be that corrupt or that dishonest, i should say, or that sloppy, i have to question their judgment as a leader. up next, the gentleman from georgia, david perdue, the senator from the peach state, a supporter of donald trump joins us next. later in the program, the early voting ground game a deeper , dive. we are right back after this. ♪

♪ joining us now senator david perdue from the great state of georgia, a long and strong donald trump support. he joins us from capitol hill.

thank you for joining us. >> good to be with you guys. senator, tell me what you think the state of the presidential race is, is donald from favored, underdog or a tossup? >> i think he has struck a nerve in the electric. but our turnout was up 60% this spring in the republican primary. i saw the same thing back in 2013 and 2014 in georgia. i think he has touched a nerve that is not going away. i do not believe the national polls right now. either way, there is a lot of noise in the system. and a lot of the intensity behind trump support does not show up in the polls. i actually think he has a chance to win this thing. i do think it will be close in some battleground states, but the high ground is, the lack of performance in the obama administration, and the fact that hillary clinton is offering no change in direction, and the people want that more than anything else. we were sold hope and change eight years ago and neither happened. mark: you think he is still the underdog in the race?

well, look, i operated every day in my race as an underdog. i know this guy. he is a fighter. he is operating every day as if he is an underdog. my prediction, he will win big. i really believe this is bigger than donald trump, bigger than me. this is about the direction of our country. people are realizing the direction we are taking now is failing. this is the weakest economic recovery in over 70 years, the gdp growth on a compound basis in the last eight years is under 1%. people are hurting out there, struggling to get from payday to payday. a lot of times these polls, the way we look at that in washington is through the lens of the washington establishment sometimes misses that i think that is what is going on right now. john: you were a former coo of a fortune 500 company, right? >> right. john: today, i'm asking about a story in the washington post about mr. trump which suggests in his business when he was facing legal problems, that he agreed to make terrible

donations to make those lawsuits go away, and use money from his 501(c)(3) charitable foundation to make those donations. would you consider that proper behavior on the part of a private businessman? >> first of all, i'm not sure i can accept the premise of the question. if those things are true and they go through a court and he is convicted, obviously that is a problem but that has not happened yet. we have the same thing on hillary's side where she was in a government position taking personal advantage of the government. those are serious allegations. the real issue right now in my mind is people in america want to see a direction for the country. and what to have hope again. and right now, we are not seeing that out of the hillary campaign. i mean, honestly, we are talking about economic changes that are increasing taxes, more regulations, smaller military. these are things that bother people when they see a crisis globally and in the security crisis.

this is a very real issue where we see no solution from the hillary cap. --camp. john: i will stay with that point, i know you do not like the debt, it there is not a single nonpartisan analysis of donald trump's tax plan that does not suggest it would add trillions of dollars to the national debt. so, make the case for why the trump tax plan is acceptable to you. >> i am excited about the first step. if we get the economy going, that is one of the first four or five things that have to happen. he is talking about tax reforms, releasing this energy boom we have been given. they are great first steps. i would love to see us move to the repatriation tax. we have to deal with agencies such as the security and medicare and the rising health care costs to think he will address in this campaign. it is a great first step. i am very excited about it. mark: senator, whether you have given private advice to that campaign, give us some here publicly. what should donald trump do?

>> i do not think he is changing anything. i think right now he goes in there and takes the high grad he is taking right now, and that is to address the failures of the obama administration, talk about the fact that hillary clinton is going to double down and give us a third term, and talk about the hopes and aspirations of america and how they have been disappointed. how the liberal progressive movement of barack obama and now a potential hillary clinton administration had failed to various people they claim to champion. if he does that, it does not matter what the questions are, he will come out on top. mark: give us an example of a question you would like to see forth toolt put hillary clinton? >> how do you put people back to work? he has done that in the real world. he has not had a perfect way. no one has had a perfect career. he has had to survive in the free enterprise system.

he knows had a fight for people, and he has said that. i want an american president that will stand up for american interest and create a level playing field around the world from a national security perspective and also an economic perspective. he will do that. i think that will become very clear. i am optimistic that you are going to see this intensity behind the trump campaign grow over the next two weeks. the ground game is taking force in my states and other states, i think north carolina, new hampshire, colorado, you will see a lot of increased activity. john: i know you have expressed disappointment that your fellow publicans have not unify fully behind mr. trump. what do you think explains that? why is it that the party is not unified and why there are so many holdouts and critics? >> i hate to be blunt, i think it is self-interest versus national interest. we have a stark contrast in two different direction offered by hillary clinton and donald trump. i do not understand any

republican or conservative thinking that a direction of hillary clinton would be better than the direction of donald trump. it is time to put our big boy pants and big girl pants on and step up until the american people a better way, and that is what they are hoping for in the next seven weeks. mark: senator purdue, thank you for joining us. >> thank you guys. mark: when we come back, we will get schooled by the national education association president. after this brief recess. ♪

♪ john: welcome back, class. we are taking attendance, with the national education

association president and hillary clinton supporter lily , eskelsen garcia. did i get that right? lily: you got it. john: in the ballpark, right? i know you are a big hillary clinton supporter, but let's start with education. on the issues that matter to school reform, education for our country, why is it that hillary clinton is your choice? and what is wrong with what donald trump has said about the issue? lily: we don't have time to get into the breath of what is wrong with all trump taking millions and millions of existing dollars from the assisting education budget, which is special education, title i to give to private schools, not a good idea, but for hillary you take a look at where she started her career. she started her career as a young lawyer saying, i'm going to fight for the rights of poor kids that were not receiving the special ed services that they deserve.

she has far for special education, for preschool, for affordable college for the dreamers. you name it, she has really put families and communities in kids in their education access first. john: understanding she has a biography you find appealing, that the surprising nea would be on the side of democrats, but what is one idea she has put forth in terms of education reform that you think is new and important? lily: one of the things that really appealed to us about hillary clinton, when i was talking to her about her plans, what are your priorities, what would you do for public education? she gave me the best answer i have ever received from any politician. i ask that question all the time. she answered with a question. she said what are teachers , saying? what is getting in their way, what is it that is an obstacle, what do they need to get ahead, can you put together some third-grade teachers for me?

i want to talk to them. she said, i have a lot of ideas but i do not know if they are good ideas are bad ideas on this i talked to the people who actually know the names of those kids. i said, i love you. that was, to have a politician at that level say, i want to talk to a teacher before i would think about pushing some kind of policy, that is what gave us no child left untested for 14 years, a bunch of well-meaning politicians that never asked the third-grade teacher about the unintended consequences. she did. mark: i know hillary clinton is a big supporter of you and your organization, but if there -- but is there any issue where hillary clinton and the nea disagree? lily: i was captured by her saying, you always have a seat at the table. i cannot not expect that having

three teachers in the same room that three teachers are going to agree. mark: are there any big priorities or issue positions at the nba that you know hillary clinton does not agree with you on? lily: on every single issue, from affordable college, to preschool, to the wraparound services that they need, she is with american pussycats and with our families and with us. mark: so the answer is no, she agrees with you on everything? lily: no, there are so many issues, and so many ways to get to the goals. she has agreed with us on every goal that we have talked about for our students. mark: i know you are pretty negative to say the least about donald, and i know you are very optimistic about the american people. i want you to reflect on the reality that donald trump will get most certainly 40% of the vote in this election, and may be substantially more. what does that say about the country? lily: that is a very good

question. i think there is going to be a lot of analysis and books written about the trouble fact, -- trouble fact -- trump affect, about people rallying to a message that can be so hateful and so divisive. we are actually seeing that sometimes in our schools now, where kids are bullying other kids because of their ethnicity, a little girl wearing a headscarf. there are studies being done on that as well. we are looking at role models when we look at candidates. our children are watching, and they are watching this campaign. i think it is frightening some of them. john: let me ask you this question, given what you have said, and giving your harsh views of donald trump. a lot of people assume the hispanic vote would be for hillary clinton, she seems to do well with the percentages she is attracting, but there is a widespread sense that there is not the same old enthusiasm for

her candidacy among younger hispanic voters that was expected by the campaign and that barack obama has. what explains that? why are hispanic voters not more into hillary clinton? lily: i look at the people in my circle of influence, and it is pretty solid with hillary. so, i think you will be looking at polls and looking at a lot of things that change over the course depending on what the articles in the newspaper today are. john: there is not much time left in the election. donald trump has said a lot of things to hispanics, and she is a champion of traditional things like immigration reform. how can it be if this point that hispanic enthusiasm is problematic? even the campaign acknowledges that is one of the problems they face. lily: i think this has been such a negative campaign that has turned a lot of people off of

politics in general. there are a whole lot of folks tuning it all out because it is so overwhelmingly but election negative. day is 49 days away. one of the things the national education association is going to do, and 3 million of our members, who understand how important it is who sits in that office, who sits in your governor's office, your senate, your school or races, we will be out there at the ground game, knocking on doors to make sure people hear from us why we are supporting hillary. john: thank you for coming on the show. when we come back, the great debate expectations game. who is winning, after this. ♪

♪ mark: once again, the nation is wrapped in the fallout of more

footage showing an african-american man killed by white police officers. this case is in tulsa, oklahoma where crotch of a shot after police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle. videos of the incident show crutcher with his hands off before he falls to the ground. the officer who fired her gun claims he is not cooperating with authorities on the scene. hillary clinton went on the y radio program and called the incident "unbearable and intolerable." we have seen this incident over the past two years and has become a campaign issue. do you think at this point, this incident or others could become a dominant issue and how bill clinton and trump deal with it? john: you will recall back in july that may have the two

incidents take place in baton rouge and minneapolis, those incidents still haunt the communities at this point in the became a focal point where they dominated the news for several days when there were two of them and the results of the shooting in dallas at the same time. instances, this one pretty horrific on the case of the video, but given how numb the country has come to these, it takes more than one to break through. in this instance, hillary clinton is addressing it the way she has addressed these in the past. donald trump seems to be ignoring it. it seems to me this one may not catalyze a giant debate even though it should. the local press must cover these cases and i think the consciousness has been raised amongst the media that these must be covered, whether there is a new angle, it must be covered. candidates need to address it. i am glad hillary clinton did and i suspect donald trump

certainly should. the reality is as we get closer to election day, the stories breaking through and candidates talking about them take something like a terrorist attack that we saw over the weekend for the campaign to shift the message that they are on, and that is just a reality becoming more and more difficult for anything to get attention except the very biggest things. john: this is a pretty big thing. as i said, it becomes sadly all too common. it is also sadly easy for people not to focus on. let's talk about a different story. kennedy is saying if bush is saying something about a clinton. the daughter of robert kennedy posted a photo of former president george bush to facebook along with these eight words "the president told me he is voting for hillary." a spokesman says the former president's vote will be private. mark, is george herbert walker

bush is in fact voting for hillary clinton, does that in will that matter? mark: you know, again it is getting a lot of attention. people would assume that some of the bushes would vote for her. surprising though, obviously he did not say it on camera and they have been quiet about it. it is not getting quite the attention i thought it would. you and i have discussed it. the clinton campaign realizes pushing republican support made not be in his interest for all sorts of reasons, greeting it suppresses democratic turnout. getting democratic endorsements is important. getting votes from the bushes may not be the best way to energize the campaign. john: this summer we saw it where she said. cap is an abnormal republican and there are some states where normal republicans have come to her side. i thought they would have some big republican endorsements, whether it might be this bush or maybe even george w. bush coming

to her side by the end of the fall. i know agree with you though, if they ever had that plan, they may be rethinking the plan because they need a lot more energy with the democratic base. this is not the way to get it. mark: the bushes do not represent the republican party put the establishment. trump has a chance to win the election, and he clearly does, it is because he is the anti-establishment candidate. it is easy to say the clinton and bush is that have owned the white house are gaining up on me. do we want more of the same that they brought you or do we want to go in a different direction? i'm not sure if either george bush offers hillary clinton a positive endorsement. true aboutnly is it them being establishment, but they do not have that much purchase, even with moderate, suburban republicans.

the bush man, just as jeb bush proved is not what it used to be. mark: the first debate less than a week away which means both of the candidates and their campaigns are making their final efforts to set expectations. take for instance donald trump last night on the o'reilly factor. if she treats me with respect, i will treat her with respect. it really depends. questionked me that but i do not know that. i will have to feel it out when i get out there. i can talk about her record which is a disaster. i could talk about all she has done. i will be doing that. we are going to go back and fourth. she has a lot of baggage. i tell you what, she has been there for a long time. mark: here is what hillary clinton told jimmy fallon last night. trump are you going to get?

he seems to be changing a bit. ms. clinton: well, he is trying to convince people to forget everything he has said and done. you know, i do not think he is going to get away with it, at least judge us on what we have done, what we stood for, and at maya angelou has this great line. i admired her so much. i was fortunate enough to get to know her. she says, when someone shows you who he is, believe him the first time. mark: both candidates are talking about what they expect, with a planted it, what they do not plan to do, trying to set the table. they will also be trying to play down their own expectations. john: who is winning right now? i do not know. i am not sure. people are so set on what they think. i think that a lead opinion assumes it will a better debater so she is the favorite. i think among the average voters, i think a lot of trump

supporters think that donald trump is going to clean hillary clinton's clock and vice versa on the democratic side. i do not think any of the expectation setting will matter because this is such an unusual debate with so much expectation and huge high profile combatant. mark: i have the right to change my mind. they suddenly laid the groundwork for this. it is trying to get the media to judge this not as a crazy, unorthodox contest, but to judge it by normal standards. i think they feel confident if the debate is judged by normal standards, they have a much better chance of clinton doing well. that does not mean that the normal standards are healthy for democracy, but i think they will be comfortable if it is judged the normal way which is a lot of theater criticism, big moments. i think they are fine with that. they do not want donald trump judged by some trump standard. john: this is a little

off-topic, but i am interested in your answer. do you think that the moderators should do to fact checking in real-time as donald trump lies gratuitously onstage or do they have to leave that to hillary clinton? mark: i think they should let the candidate get in if the candidate wants to fact check the other side. i do not think the moderators should do it. john: i am sulking that went through. i have not made in my mind. i will get around to it. up next, early voting is about to begin. we will talk about that when we come right back . ♪

♪ john: as we get closer to election day, two of our

colleagues of bloomberg politics are counting of the votes in key battleground states for the eight part series we're calling "that are grounds, 2016." this is about early voting. it is hard to tell which of you is smarter, more handsome or shorter. tell us about your project this week. yours is all about early voting. >> we look at campaign labs to dig into the voter profile. early voting begins this friday in minnesota. it is basically six weeks from election back in more than one third will vote before election day. it really strange is the strategy and tactics the candidates need in the battleground states. for alet's focus on trump second and think about what the stakes are with the infrastructure and capacity to move. where is he? >> he is very reliant on state

parties, to the rnc. taking time in ohio, this is the ohio republican party that knows how to get to its voters in the early voting. period. the state party already has your name going to a direct mail vendor. you get a piece of mail and if you have not returned or ballot, they chase you down. i think the challenge is, they know how to turn a people that are going to vote for the republican ticket but his will require eating into the democratic base and the parties may not know how to mobilize those voters. john: that is in ohio? >> i think it will be a challenge in ohio. county offices are turning out republican voters. the trump voters might be voting democrats for the rest of the ticket but him at the top. mark: you talk about the democrats in the early voting.

what about hillary clinton? >> we are going to see the disparity between the two campaigns when it comes to infrastructure and hillary clinton has the larger infrastructure. she has staff all over the country. in particular, iowa is a key state where we can watch her in part because iowa, the amount of early votes is not the largest in any state in the country but that is one of the earliest starting next week. what we will see is people see hillary clinton try to turn out -- what we will see is people see hillary clinton trying to turn out hurriedly voters in ohio. iowa. the reason democrats win those states is because they are able to reach out and turn out unreliable voters. this is what we are talking about with the obama coalition. if she could do that, she can win states like iowa, nevada and other ones. she is going to need a head start and democrats have been historically better turning out

early voters than republicans have. mark: north carolina is incredibly interesting because it has a diverse electorate, a change in electorate, obama winning eight once and then governor romney winning it. >> 67% of north carolinians voted early in 2012. the democrats have done a good job getting african-americans to move up there voting. that is why the recent court position is overturning some of the election reform laws. what we can see, hillary clinton's path to victory relies on mobilizing the existing democratic coalition. if she does that successfully, she can know by late october that she basically has the state in the back and start to move --bag and start to move her persuasion spending. john: you can fight it out for answer says, but nevada where i was last week. i was amazed.

this state has been fairly safe. now there is polling that shows trump. what is going on? >> nevada is a big early voting stake. there is a smaller window. they have been really good about turning out a lot of voters in that time. 62% of voters in 2012 voted early. those are voters still on the road now. is reason that matters because of donald trump is going to win those states he will have to turn out persuadable voters. he has less time to do that, and as of now, donald trump is not on the air in nevada. hillary clinton is trying to make a play for the persuadable voters. we have not seen him go there as a traditional campaign would. john: let me ask you the dumbest question in the world. i am going to pretend to be the dumbest person in the world, someone that does not understand this?

if you are a candidate, why do you care if someone votes early? >> it depends. there are different ways of approaching this. some campaign say, let's clear out the most reliable voters early so that as time goes on, we can reach the more difficult parts of the electric and mobilize the persuadable voters. others see it the other way which is what we see in iowa where there is a long period. non-reliable election voters and convince them to vote early. part of it depends on the electric. i will this is that we see in nevada, donald trump's late start means he will have fewer options as it gets closer to election day. this is one of the great debates that happens. if you have a month to turn out voters, what sequence do you want them to vote in? john: the notion of, let's bang some votes but what is the

sequencing and the really important tactical decisions you have to make. enough votes bank early, you can pull out and divert resources to another state you need to win. john: you are a smart kid, you know? background 2016, weekly series every tuesday. these guys, being really smart and will play the victory lap later this week. read all about it, the whole thing on bloombergpolitics.com. coming up, what it is like to run for vice president. interviews right after this. if you are watching on washington dc, you can listen to us on the radio radio i-91 .1 fm -- 199.1 fm. be right back. ♪

♪ mark: as the health of both candidates came under scrutiny, new attention turned it to the running mate, one tragedy away from the seat if elected. this pass episode on sunday, mark mckinnon set down with conversations with two men that comes the number two. dan quayle and joe lieberman. >> because hillary clinton got sick, it shines the spotlight on the importance of the role the vice president plays, one heartbeat away from the presidency. how are you? great to meet you. how are you, mr. vice president?

♪ >> how are you old friend? good to see. ♪ >> you know, there were a lot of jokes about the vice presidency. one of the oldest is about the two brothers, one went off to sea and the other went to become vice president and they were never heard from again. >> it is much more than that. >> can you tell us why when you got the call and you learned you would be the vice presidential nominee? >> i was walking back to the hotel. the beeper went off with a call. i get back to the hotel, get the phone number and i call it and take it jim baker. darn, i have lost. >> expecting bad news? >> yes because of his expecting

the president to call. vice president gets on and he says, i would like to offer you officially the vice presidency. i said, what is my assignment? he says, you need to show up at the plaza at 4:00. it was 2:00. i said, where is the spanish closet? he said, i do not know that this is your first assignment. do not screw it up. one of the first calls i get is from president's and. you know, i was about your age and that we tell you, your life is changed forever. >> most people say when you are making this decision, the foremost consideration has to be who has the capacity and experience to step into the presidency. >> ultimately the person the presidential nominee chooses has to pass the most important test

which is the american people will think he or she is capable of being president. >> let me tell you about what it was like to figure out you were on the short list in 2000? >> toward the end it was down to john kerry, john edwards and the. seemoney, the smart money to be john edwards. ward christopher apparently set to al gore, mr. vice president, this election will say more it does about the person you are selecting to be a running mate, and if you select senator edwards, you will have to explain to the american people why you are picking a person who two years ago was practicing law in north carolina and you are putting him second for the most powerful governmental position in the world. apparently that turned the

conversation. >> can you tell me what it was like serving as vice president when he got sick of the japanese dinner when he was incapacitated? >> i get a call and he says, we have had a problem. the president passed out at dinner. barbara bushter, is on the line. i said, barbara, what is going on? .he said, i told him not to he is fine. he has the flu. [laughter] have the right to know what the status of the candidate's health is? >> i think the candidates have a responsibility to reveal their baseline health. >> it is not as important as the media says. mark: our thanks to former vice president dan quayle and former senator joe lieberman. circus"catch "the

daytime. john and i will be right back. ♪

♪ mark: pick up your closest green .comhad to bloombergpolitics right now. we show you a breakdown of demographic groups supporting each candidate. fascinating and i highly recommend it. on "bloomberg west, emily chang talks self driving cars with the highway safety administration -- administrator. sayonara. ♪

♪ it is wednesday, the 21st of september. this is "trending business". . am rishaad salamat ♪ right, live in tokyo and beijing this hour. known sign of recovering, japan data worse than expected as exports decline. a step closer to creating an operation -- wells fargo savaged. the