>> reporter: the word is fanatically reckless. that's how south korea's president park described in nuclear test. here in tokyo within the last hour, the foreign minister said that japan is looking at new sanctions against north korea. but we've seen some of the strongest sanctions on record against the reclusive country have done little to stop kim jong-un and his regime from developing these nuclear weapons. it was estimated this was a ten kiloton nuclear weapon. the previous nuclear test in north korea in january was four or five kilotons. however, still weaker than the bomb dropped by the united states on hiroshima back in 1911 1945. strong condemnation also in china. but china is not saying right now whether they were warned ahead of time this nuclear blast might happen, even though a north korean nuclear official, we believe, is in china right now. chris and alisyn? >> thanks so much, will, for all of that reporting. we'll check back with you.

the pentagon calling north korea's brazen nuclear test a serious provocation. president obama is promising serious consequences. pentagon correspondent barbara starr is here in studio with more on the u.s. reaction. barbara, great to have you here. >> good morning. >> what are you hearing about what the u.s. will do? >> this time around it is much different. this is not about the words. this is not about the rhetoric. if, indeed, the north korean regime did test a nuclear warhead, this puts them a huge step closer to being able to actually put a warhead on a missile, shoot off that missile, and potentially some day be able to strike the united states. what my sources have been telling me for the last several weeks is there is increasing concern the north koreans are getting better at this step by step with every test. they're having successful missile tests. they're now having this warhead test. and they have developed a mobile capability, which means in time of war, they can put a nuclear missile potentially on a mobile launcher, move it around.

u.s. satellites have to chase down where it may be. it's very interesting. the intelligence analysis in the last several weeks has really fundamentally been different. they really believe the north koreans are making progress and not sure how they're doing it. >> so what's president obama going to do? >> you know, what do you do about all this? we keep hearing the language. sanctions, talk, rhetoric. you may have some leverage with the chinese, but the chinese are upset that the u.s. has put some missile defenses into south korea. the south koreans are upset. the japanese are upset. the region is really on edge at this point. fundamentally, the south koreans and the japanese now are in a state of alert of some sort at all times against the possibility of a north korean attack. going into the presidential election, this is very serious business in the view of the u.s. intelligence community. rhetoric can get very dangerous here. the north koreans are just not

backing off. >> barbara starr, thank you very much. our discussion of what we're doing vis-a-vis the world's bad actors ek tends into the campaign dialogue. donald trump is standing by his praise for vladimir putin. he's now getting support from his running mate, the man who's supposed to walk back trump east reckless talk. hillary clinton is slamming trump's comments and just moments ago getting new military support as she prepares for a sit down with national security experts. we have cnn's senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny following all the developments. >> good morning, chris. the praise donald trump is showering upon vladimir putin is a remarkable break from the traditional boundaries of american politics. it's outraging democrats and making many republicans uneasy about the blur lines of country versus party. now, hillary clinton says it's the latest sign trump is not fit for the presidency. >> he is really very much of a leader. >> amid ongoing criticism of his praise for russian president vladimir putin -- >> he's been a leader far more than our president has been a

leader. >> reporter: donald trump in an interview that aired on a television station funded by the kremlin telling larry king he thinks it's unlikely the russian government is meddling in the 2016 election through hacking. >> i think it's probably unlikely. i think maybe the democrats are putting that out. if they are doing something, i hope that somebody's going to be able to find out so they can end it. because that would not be appropriate at all. >> reporter: trump's team telling cnn they did the interview as a favor, claiming they had no idea it would end up on "russia today." his running mate, governor mike pence, defending trump's comments about putin. in a cnn interview with dana bash earlier in the day. >> i think it's inarguable that vladimir putin has been a stronger leader in his country than barack obama has been in this country. and that's going to change the day that donald trump becomes president. >> reporter: hillary clinton highlighting trump's continued praise of putin. she says it's the latest example of how her opponent is unfit to

be president. >> that is not just unpatriotic. it's not just insulting to the office and the man who holds the office. it is scary. it is dangerous. we have never been threatened as much by a single candidate running for president as we have been in this election. >> reporter: and clinton also casting trump as a divider in this new ad hitting the air waves in swing states this morning. >> donald trump says he alone can fix the problems we face. well, i don't believe that's house you get things done in our country. it takes democrats and republicans working together. >> reporter: this as both candidates continue trying to paint themselves as the better commander in chief. >> i opposed going in. and i did oppose it, despite the media saying, oh, yes, no. >> reporter: trump sticking by his false claim that he opposed the iraq war early on, despite

evidence from 2002 that proves otherwise. >> are you for invading iraq? >> yeah, i guess so. >> reporter: as clinton qualifies the language around her pledge to never put troops back on the ground in iraq. >> we are not putting ground troops into iraq ever again, and we're not putting ground troops into syria. >> isn't that ignoring ground forces who are there and boxing yourself in? >> there is no, in my opinion, path forward to ground troops that would be in our interests. >> clinton is hoping to highlight her commander in chief credentials by rolling out the endorsement of now 110 retired generals and admirals after she convened a bipartisan meeting of security experts today in new york. he's also drawing attention to trump east comments on putin by evoking ronald reagan. yesterday on the campaign trail, she asked this. what would reagan say about a republican nominee who heaps praise on russia's president? i think we know the answer, she

said. >> jeff, thanks for all that. let's bring in our cnn political commentators. we have christine quinn, hillary clinton supporter, and corey lewandowski, former trump campaign manager, who is still receiving severance from the trump campaign. welcome to both of you. great to have you here. corey, why does donald trump continue to praise putin? >> well, i think you heard what mike pence said. vladimir putin has had a stronger influence on his country than barack obama has had here. he's been a stronger leader. >> you believe that? you believe that vladimir putin is stronger than president obama? >> i think that for his people, vladimir putin has been a fighter. and what he has done for his people is to say, look, there's an opportunity sometimes to work with our what would be normally an adversary. what donald trump has said was let's engage with russia for a common goal, which is defeat isis. >> sure, but this is different. vladimir putin is a dictator. does donald trump believe in locking up your political opponents? does he believe in shutting down a free press? >> i think vladimir putin has done some terrible things, and

there's been some speculation and conjecture of what's taken place inside the kremlin. >> so why praise him? >> what we do know, is when there are times to work together, we should be working with our adversaries. >> go ahead, christine. >> that's a strategic decision, right. who you're going to work with. that's not what we're talking about. what we're talking about is a presidential candidate, a nominee of the republican party, praising a man who is without question a brutal dictator. to say he's been a strong leader, he's a dictator. he's not a leader. >> does donald trump understand that distinction? dictator versus strong leader. >> of course he does. >> then how does he praise him? >> look, i think again, you have to remember, hillary clinton tried to do a reset with the soviet union, with russia, it didn't work. what we need to do is we need to have a better relationship with our friends and our enemies across the world. >> so why then --

>> so we can defeat a global terrorist community. >> why is donald trump giving russia a pass on hacking, possibly, into the dnc computers? >> we don't know if they hacked into the dnc computers. >> the intelligence officials believe russia was behind hacking into the dnc. >> let's see if that's true or not. >> why are you giving them the benefit of the doubt? why give russia the benefit of the doubt? >> it could have been the chinese. the biggest adversary we have in the economic world is the chinese. they continue to manipulate the currency. we don't see that with the soviets, we don't see that with russians. what donald trump has said and continues to say is let's find a way to work with russia so that we can defeat isis. that's the number one priority. >> he has said that putin, and i'm paraphrasing, but a terrific leader, a strong leader. a man's praise who i will accept. this man, again, i just don't understand how you praise someone who has oppressed his people s a terrible dictator, has a long record of human

rights violations. it just is totally counter to the united states' values. and to kind of double down on it, not to talk about it in the more kind of parsed out way that you are, corey, but to double down and really embrace him, it seems, to quote secretary clinton, just un-american. >> christine, tell me if you understand this. the polls are tightening. despite all this rhetoric that you find offensive, the polls are tightening. look at these quinnipiac polls. these are the latest polls in the swing states. this isn't a national poll. these are the states that matter. pennsylvania, yes, clinton is still up, but by a smaller margin. north carolina, 47 to 43. florida is in a dead heat. ohio at the moment, donald trump is up a point. how do you explain that? >> we all knew this would happen. i think if you asked the internals of either campaign, they would have said -- >> but i mean this week. in this week particularly, as he's praising putin, as all the things you think are sort of

disqualifying -- and i'm putting words in your mouth. >> that's fair. >> why don't voters see it that way? >> i think we will. presidential races always tighten after labor day. both sides know that. i think we're going to see things change over the next few weeks. and again, i want to go back to what errol louis said earlier on the show. those swing state numbers are in states that are typically not ones where the democratic party wins. so when you look at them all together, they're not -- being up in those swing states is not bad, but we knew it would close. >> this week we saw donald trump lay out a specific plan when it comes to education choice. we saw him lay out a specific choice when it comes to rebuilding the military. we saw him answer questions in a commander in chief forum. the first seven minutes were focused on hillary clinton's e-mails. she continues to be dogged by this criticism. the news networks have not accepted this notion that no e-mail was labeled as classified. it's just not the truth. what you saw this week was donald trump winning. with nine weeks, less than nine

weeks to go in the election, you don't have to win every day. you have to win every hour. if he continues to win, these numbers will continue to improve, and he'll be the president. >> this has also come up this week. does donald trump believe that president obama was born in hawaii? >> look, of course, he said that. he said he's not going to talk about it. >> no, he hasn't. he hasn't talked about it. he's never said he believes that. >> he's said that barack obama has produced his birth certificate, and he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. that's what he said. >> why doesn't he say, i apologize for saying he was not an american? >> no, he asked a question. he said, produce your birth certificate. it's been produced. he's moved on. >> that doesn't mean he accepts the birth certificate. >> are you saying it's not a real birth certificate? >> very tricky, corey. hold on a second. >> i want to know what donald trump thinks. >> let me play for you what he told bill o'reilly, who brought it up. fox news is bringing it up because donald trump is so unresolved on this issue. >> so you think your birther

position has hurt you among african-americans? >> i don't know. i have no idea. i don't even talk about it anymore, bill. >> no, i know. but it's there. it's on the record. >> i don't know. i guess with maybe some, i don't know why. >> that's all he said is i don't talk about it anymore. i don't know why. i don't talk about it anymore. he never says, i now think i was wrong. >> the question was, is this, you know, hurting you with african-americans? what we saw in the last two polls was donald trump is getting about 8% in the african-american population. >> that's not my question. why doesn't he say i was wrong? >> it's a nonissue. >> it's not a nonissue. it keeps coming up everywhere. >> he's not running against barack obama in this campaign. if he was, he would win. let's talk about hik, who's running for president of the united states. >> last word. >> donald trump has insulted the president of the united states, spread lies about his citizenship, and insulted the first african-american president

of the united states. now that he's running for president, that deserves an apology. yet again, donald trump can't admit he's wrong and dog whistles out there across the country to divide us, not bring us together. >> the president has attacked donald trump multiple occasions from the white house. if he wants to apologize to donald trump, i'm sure he'll apologize. >> he's not saying he wasn't a citizen. >> he's said a number of egregious things. >> this is a different category. will we ever hear donald trump address it? >> he gets one vote like everybody else. >> who is donald trump to question whether the president of the united states for years now is a citizen. >> got it. all right. we're leaving it there. corey, christine, thank you very much. >> all right. so alisyn, even in this gaffe-a-thon of an election, this moment stands out. libertarian candidate for president gary johnson completely muffs a question about the city at the center of an international crisis. how did gary johnson not know what aleppo means?

what will it mean for the campaign? we're going to talk to johnson's running mate, former governor william well. there he is. from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, creative business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships, and the lowest taxes in decades are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state for business to thrive. let us help grow your company's tomorrow- today at business.ny.gov afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

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what would you do if you were elected about aleppo? >> about? >> aleppo. >> and what is aleppo. >> you're kidding. >> no. >> that's the libertarian ticket leader gary johnson, former governor of new mexico, with his major setback during an interview, an uncomfortable moment to be sure. he blanked on aleppo. that's the syrian city in the north of the country. happens to be the epicenter of that country's refugee crisicri. joining us now is johnson's running mate, former governor of massachusetts, william well. governor, thank you for joining us. how big a deal do you think it should be that your running mate did not immediately understand what mike barnicle was asking about when he said aleppo?

>> you know, no denying it's quite a moment on television. i think gary just didn't realize the context was syria or geography or anything like that. i thought mike barnicle wrote a very nice piece yesterday saying, look, i asked the question, don't blame johnson. could happen to anybody. the wider context is what are we going to do about syria. i've heard gary johnson talk about that virtually every day for the last month. >> barnicle may have been charitable afterwards, but he wasn't doing that moment. he looked at him with nothing short of disdain when he said, you can't be serious, about not knowing it. obviously what that goes to other than the opportunism of the questioner in that moment is if you're running for president, you have to know the things that m maybe 85% of other americans know. that's not really the point though, is it? >> well, no, that's right.

but there are a lot of towns in syria. there's aleppo, there's homs, there's palmyra, there's damasc damascus. i note for the record that the paper of record, "the new york times" reported that aleppo was the capital of syria. it's not. damascus is. "times" also reported it was the headquarter of isis. raqqah is. "the times" is paid to get these things right also. >> so what do you think this does to the campaign? >> you know, i suppose we're going to have to wait and see whether people think that not picking up on the name of a town in syria is a mortal sin. i don't think it does a great deal. i don't think it's something that will last. it comes as we're in the final stretches of the decision making about who's going to be in the debates, and that's what's really front and center on our minds. we're pretty close. we were 13% in the last

"washington post" poll. very competitive in a whole bunch of swing states. so we think that when the polling is showing that 80% of the people, 76% of the people in the country want johnson/weld in those debates, you would hope we're in there. >> let's put up our poll number. most recently has you at about 7%. i've seen you once at 10, once at 13. i've never seen you at 15. >> no, 13 is the highest i've seen. but we're moving. we're spending money. the last poll that had us at 13 does not reflect any of our media buy since we started doing that to move the numbers. >> but there's got to be a standard. you know that about 100 people file to run for president. they have to draw a line about who can get on that stage so there's some type of focus on those with a legitimate chance of winning. >> well, we have two two-term

governors, reasonably successful ones, in blue states who worked across the aisle, which people do not do in washington. we have a different portfolio mix of positions than any other party. we're fiscally conservative, we're responsible, we're socially inclusive. the democrats don't look terribly fiscally responsible these days. and the republicans most certainly are not socially inclusive. so we offer the voters a clear choice. i would think that would weigh with the commission also. i mean, i think there's a national interest in having us in this discussion, in this debate. it's not like we're polling a the 2%. we're polling at 13%. gary's first among active military. he's first among young millennials. he's second among independents. it's also not like he's in third place in everything. >> why isn't the gaffe on aleppo disqualifying for gary johnson?

>> one word? gary said he didn't realize mike was talking about geography. he thought he was talking about an acronym. >> but you don't think that it's a metaphor for what he understands? what i'm saying is, the idea that not knowing what aleppo is, is a metaphor for him not understanding the detail of foreign policy the way a president would have to. >> no, i think it's just a linguistic matter. if he'd said, well, what do you think about the terrible atrocities of the refugee problem in aleppo, that would put it in context. there's no way gary wouldn't have known he was referring to the syrian city of aleppo. >> let me ask you something -- >> there's no context. what would you do about aleppo? it kind of hung out there. >> understood. the larger context of what we're seeing in the election, something that's resonating right now is this ongoing thought from the trump campaign that putin should be elevated above the president of the united states when it comes to leadership. it is certainly odd in an

election, certainly odd for a republican to say something so flattering about a communist leader. what do you think the intention is and what do you think the impact is on this race? >> i just think everything -- virtually everything mr. trump says about foreign policy is beyond belief. this is just one example. saying that we need to close our borders and have a closed economy, turn our back on free trade, he's virtually said we should ab ri gait our treaties, multiply the number of nations that have nuclear weapons. wouldn't it be a handy idea for japan and south korea to have nuclear weapons. he knows nothing about international economics or history as far as i can tell and doesn't seem interested in finding out either. you want information deficits, go hunting in the trump campaign. >> governor william weld, thank you very much for making the case for your ticket and your comments on the race as well. >> thanks, chris. >> alisyn?

>> let's talk a little more about this. coming up, is gary johnson's aleppo blunder a finishing blow to his campaign? our michael smerconish has some thoughts. he weighs in next. ♪ ♪ you got an early-morning-dad side, ♪

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all right. so you just heard from libertarian vermoice presidenti candidate bill weld. was the aleppo misstep by johnson a disqualifier? for more on this and much more, let's bring in cnn political commentator and host of cnn's "smerconish," michael smerconish. good morning, michael. >> good morning. >> so the aleppo thing where gary johnson didn't immediately know what was being referred to with aleppo, is that a hiccup, is that a disqualifier? >> i think it's an embarrassment. i think the timing is terrible because we're right now in that crunch period as you and chris have pointed out where the polls that will determine who gets on the debate stage are about to be commissioned. but i don't think it's a disqualifier. i want them on that debate stage. i think they would provide a valuable service to the nation

if they were on that stage and presenting their message of fiscal conservativism. those view points won't be represented unless johnson and weld are on that stage. i hope they can get past this. >> what does it mean when you don't immediately identify aleppo as the northern city, as the epicenter, as where the refugee crisis is, when it doesn't trigger that in you right away, what does that mean? >> i think he probably -- well, i'll give you two responses. one, he probably had a brain freeze. he should have known. i'm not making an excuse. when you parse the tame and look at barnicle requesting the question, it was offered without context. i think that if it had been explained as, what do you think of the situation in syria, relative to aleppo? you'd have gotten an answer from gary johnson. chris, here's the second answer. i think -- and this has not been discussed. i think it also shows that this

is a ticket not fixated on what's going on in the middle east. maybe that's not a bad thing because one of the hallmarks of the libertarian ticket is to say, we don't want so many foreign entanglements. that was another message i took away from it. third, as governor weld pointed out, i mean, when "the new york times" has to publish two corrections to its own story on this gaffe and explain what aleppo is, it tells you that gary johnson has a lot of company. >> well, speaking of which, michael, i mean, after all of the misstatements or at least confusing statements that donald trump has made for the past year, this is going to get rid of one thing, one word, aleppo is going to get rid of gary johnson? what are the rules in this campaign? >> it's true. there was a radio interview that trump gave very early on in the candidacy where there was a word association and a name association that he played, and he lost. it was not a setback. look, again, it's a gaffe.

it's an embarrassment. he should have known. having said that, i think it's the sort of issue that fixates those of us in the chattering class and i don't think will resonate among americans. my cards are on table. i'm not saying i'm voting for johnso johnson/weld, but i do want them on the debate stage. these are two eminently qualified vqualify ed vej individuals. they're going to be on all 50 state ballots. you're right, 100 or so other people are running, but they're not going to be on 50 state ballots. >> that's a fair point. as you know, though one's been more accommodating of the ticket than here at "new day" and cnn, but i think you should prepare for disappointment. the commission is going to say, we have to draw a line. that number is still so low. they're still trending under ten most of the time.

let me ask you about a different dynamic that should be more obvious. do you think in an election where we would have lost bets all day long about what might happen that you would ever hear a republican who takes the name of ronald reagan has something holy on a regular basis say that the leader of russia is superior to the president of the united states? >> i'm wondering how those comments play. i've been shocked that this cozy relationship that he has enjoyed with putin thus far has not had blowback. now i'm wondering about the other events that you're reporting on, the situation in the overnight with north korea. maybe it's just me, but i draw an association between nations like russia and nations like north korea as not being friendly toward the united states. might today americans say, you know, maybe it's not such a good thing when donald trump is speaking well of vladimir putin at a time when there's been some type of a nuclear test in north

korea. is that really the kind of posture we want our leader to adopt. >> okay. so the putin comments. then we had the candidate forum about commander in chief. we had more clinton e-mail stuff bubble up this week. we had hillary clinton taking press conferences, meeting with the press, fielding dozens of questions. who do you think was up and down this week? who do you think won the week? >> okay. bstance, i would say her. yet, overall, you're going to be surprised, i'm giving it to him. when that cnn/orc survey came out immediately post labor day, even though it was our survey, i was kind of dubious of it. what does it mean it's a national survey and he's up by two? my question was, what's going on in the swing states? okay. she's still leading in the swing states, but those gaps have narrowed. so at the end of the week, this critical first week post labor day when he is narrowing the

gap, he's got to be doing something right. i'm not sure what the hell it is, but he must be doing something right. >> michael smerconish, always great to get your insights on a friday. thanks so much. have a great weekend. and you can check out smerconish saturdays at 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. >> hillary clinton, we were just talking about her, and there's no question she's dealing with criticism herself following the commander in chief forum. but did the republican national committee chair cross the line with what he tweeted? it is a debate about gender and how it's playing in the race next. if you're searching other travel sites to find a better price... ...stop clicking around... the lowest prices on our hotels are always at hilton.com. so pay less and get more only at hilton.com. lots of vitamins a&c, and, only 50 calories a serving... good morning, indeed. v8. veggies for all.

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hillary clinton got some criticism after wednesday's commander in chief forum and not all of it was about her answers. rnc chair reince priebus tweeted, hillary clinton was angry and defensive the entire time, no smile, and uncomfortable. donald trump has also said clinton lacks a, quote, presidential look. lots of people consider these not so veiled sexist remarks. let's bring in two of them. joining us now to discuss is cnn political analyst kirsten powers, and cnn contributor peter beinart. great to have you both. what did you hear in reince priebus' tweet, she wasn't smiling? >> well, look, was donald trump smiling? i don't remember that. i think a lot of women hear that and think it's sexist. it's this expectation she's supposed to be smiling while she's talking about very serious issues, while she's frankly kind of under attack by the moderator. this isn't the miss america pageant. this is a serious forum to talk

about serious issues. it is a double standard, i think. we have this expectation that she's supposed to be smiling and, you know, somehow in a way that we don't expect donald trump to be doing. >> you sent out a tweet, kirsten, right away, that said, you have no idea how sick women are of being told to smile by men. i sometimes want to slap people who tell me to smile. >> yes. exactly. i don't think people realize it's not just -- it can happen to a woman and you're just standing on the street and somebody walks by and they're like, smile. it's like, why? i'm just standing here. it's not -- or when i'm having a serious conversation on a panel with other men and people will be tweeting me, why aren't you smiling? it's like, i don't know, why am i not smiling when i'm talking about syrian children being killed? it's a serious topic. >> i know. we get it all the time. it's really valuable that you're pointing that out, how often we are told that as women and as

women obviously in the public eye. peter, what's your take on this? a lot of men don't like hillary clinton. but how do you know that's sexism? maybe they just don't like her. >> right. look, hillary clinton is not perfect. i've written critically about her myself. but her unfavorable ratings among white men are off the charts. 20 or 30 points higher than the unfavorability ratings among white men for barack obama and john kerry when they ran. i don't think you can explain that simply by her e-mail scandal or the clinton foundation. in fact, politifacts says she's been an unusually truthful candidate. for a piece i wrote in "the atlantic," dozens and dozens of studies about the way men and women respond to women in power. i was appalled. there's so much evidence that people respond differently to women in power. one study, a fictional male state senator and fictional female state senator. the people in the study are

supposed to read a biography of them. it says this politician is ambitious. no negative reaction to the fictional male state senator. outrage at the female state senator. men who were hired by female supervisors negotiate more aggressively over money than those who are hired by men. men are more likely to send pornography in these studies to women who describe themselves as feminists than women who don't. there is so much evidence that helps us understand. again, not to say hik is perfect, but to understand the totality of the outrage that she's experiencing, the academic literature helps us understand it. >> kirsten, when you dive into that, you get a real flavor for what she and any female politicians or leaders are up against. >> and also, she did this as a post on something called humans of new york talking about how why she seems walled off. >> and we have that. that's really valuable. i want to get to that, kirsten.

this was an interesting venue that she chose. this isn't a network. this is an instagram account. she said, i had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions. that's a hard path to walk because you need to protect yourself and you need to keep steady, but at the same time, you don't want to seem walled off. i mean, what a window into how hillary clinton has conducted herself. >> yeah, and also, i have to say, when i was reading it, it really made me angry that she -- and again, i'm not a huge hillary clinton defender per se. i think there are plenty of things to criticize her about. but as a woman, it's very upsetting to see her having to make excuses for basically behaving the way most men behave. you know, she has to explain -- and again, she's saying i'm taking responsibility. for what? she hasn't done anything wrong. she doesn't have an obligation to be emotional in public. if you look at donald trump, does anybody really feel that

donald trump really cares about them? the idea that somehow she has to prove that in a way that he doesn't have to, it's just -- you know, it's just extremely frustrating that we're constantly demanding this from her and we're not demanding it from the male politicians. >> peter, has your research shown that the fact that voters want her to emote more and want her to seem less walled off -- sometimes people say robotic -- is that about her being a woman, or is that that her personality is not giving as much as some other politicians, like, say, her husband. >> the most remarkable thing i found in all these studies i read is the impact of the way you were being perceived has on the way women actually act when they're in power. women in positions of power are not given the legitimacy in general that men are. tragically, that could produce -- this is a study by a professor at yale, a kind of self-reinforcing cycle. because you're in the perceived as legitimate, because you know you're being judged by a

different standard, it can make you more defensive, and it can actually have a negative impact on the way you behave. i think if you look at the hillary clinton scandals, going back to the 1990s, the pattern you see is that it starts with something relatively small. she reacts defensively. she makes the problem worse. i think part of that has to -- again, i'm not excusing her for everything. part of it has to do with she's always been judged by a different standard. she has responded to that, and i think that's part of what you're seeing in that post. >> it's a really interesting hypothesis and interesting research. everybody should read peter's piece in "the atlantic." what's your take on all this? tweet us @newday or post your comment on facebook.com/newday. i'm going to go arm wrestle chris cuomo now. >> smile while you beat me. the latest snapshot of key swing states is showing a tightening race with 60 days to go until voters hit the polls. we're going to show you the numbers and try to figure out what's the moving them and where the leverage is in these neck-and-neck contests. rn >> first, in a programming note,

in a pair of documentaries, cnn talks to the people closest to hillary clinton and donald trump to learn more about them. >> i accept your nomination. >> for the presidency of the united states. >> the essential hillary clinton. >> we are stronger together in charting a course toward the future. >> the essential donald trump. >> i love you. and we will make america great again. >> all on one blockbuster night. clinton has been called the most famous person no one knows. >> i never understand that. it's so clear to me who my mother is. she never forgets who she's fighting for, and she's fighting first and foremost for children and for families. >> trump has a passion for business and the spotlight. >> no one is going to outwork him. no one's got more energy than him. >> he always said to us, find what it is you're passionate about and pursue it with your full heart. >> their stories from the people who know them best.

cnn's special report, donald trump at 8:00, hillary clinton at 10:00. cnn, tomorrow night. the open ro. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

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upgrade your phone system and learn how you could save at vonage.com/business the polls. there are so many. what do they mean.

we've got you covered. new poll numbers out now. we showed you them earlier in the week. the race for the white house between trump and clinton is tightening, period. but why, and how will it impact on what you see going forward, and how does the electoral college map play into this? that's a question we're going to get some insight from david chalian. professor, you have these new polls, quinnipiac, new battleground states, pennsylvania, ohio, florida, north carolina. >> that's right. >> take us through them with an eye toward whether or not they reflect what we saw in our national numbers. >> well, listen. this is a tight race and these are battleground states for a reason, chris. we expect it to be where the battle is joined by both candidates. let's look at the new numbers. in pennsylvania, key state, we see clinton, 44%, trump, 39%. five point lead there for hillary clinton. take a look at ohio. you see here, trump has a four

point lead, 41% to 37%. now we're going to look at florida. this is a dead heat in these quinnipiac polls. 43%/43%. doesn't get tighter than that. we've got two polls out. clinton up four and then a suffolk university poll, had trump plus three in north carolina, again, showing that's going to be a critical battleground state. >> north carolina, okay, now we had heard a lot of favorable talk about that state going democratic from the national party, just a week or so ago. where does that stand? >> listen, north carolina is that state that barack obama was able to flip from red to blue in 2008 and lost it to mitt romney in 2012. this has been on the clinton campaign target list. they really want to bring it back to the democratic column. you've seen both candidates there quite a bit, including hillary clinton yesterday, in charlotte. but that's going to be one of the key factors here, and when you look at the electoral map,

chris, because this is what matters, the path to 270, this is our latest assessment. sort of red state leaning and the blue state leaning, and if it goes this way, hillary clinton above the 270 that she needs, meaning that donald trump could win all of these yellow states, and still not get there. he is going to need to dig into hillary clinton's territory. let's give him florida, north carolina and ohio. three states that we just looked at in the polls. he was ahead in ohio, he is ahead in one poll in north carolina. they are tied in florida. you see, he is still not there. again, he could get nevada and iowa too, he wouldn't be there. he has to get something like pennsylvania. >> okay, that's what i was going to ask you. why is pennsylvania so important? >> well, listen, it is a big prize. 20 electoral votes. it is a state that has gone democratic since 1988. we've seen a ton of activity there. we're going to see clinton

surrogates out there, bill clinton and elizabeth warren, chelsea clinton was just there. the democrats are not taking it for granted, and key, because of the size. this, if donald trump can flip pennsylvania, chris, he opens up new paths to 270 that at the moment, seem blocked off to him. >> all right, let's geek out on this for one more second. if he loses pennsylvania, it is still not over for him if you put into the calculous, even if he loses electorally. >> add those twoogether, that could overtake pennsylvania. if he loses pennsylvania, but is able to dig into a place like michigan and wisconsin, that could be very helpful. but you've got to imagine, if donald trump is winning in places like michigan and wisconsin, he is probably darn close to making pennsylvania in his column as well. i would imagine that pennsylvania might be an easier

target for him to try to make some inroads than michigan or wisconsin which have been trending democratic. >> let me ask you this. why don't we see the things he says registering in the polls more? even a week like this. we'll see new numbers by the middle of next week, him saying pew putin is a better letter, a death sentence, usually. what's the disconnect? >> here is where we have seen it, chris. when donald trump says something that is controversial that divides the republican party, much like after the controversy about the gold star family, the kahn family, that's where you see him suffer a bit in the polls, because he doesn't have that fortified base of support of all republicans. i heard a lot of republicans yesterday concerned about his putin comments. i don't know if we'll see that reflected in the next round of polls. as you said, we don't have a reaction to those comments yet. if the party divides, that tends

to hurt him more than generic controversial things he says. >> we haven't seen an exercised john mccain about trump's putin talk, given how strong and negative his feelings are toward that communist leader. dav david, thank you for making us smarter. let's get right to the numbers. north korea launching -- >> we have a man who now looks like he is getting more and more hostile. >> successful test makes him a nuclear power. >> he prefers the russian president to our american president. that is not just unpatriotic. it is scary. it is dangerous. >> he is really very much of a leader. >> vladimir putin has been a stronger leader in his country, and that's going to change the day donald trump becomes president.

>> iraq, i oppose going in. and i opposed the reckless way hillary clinton took us out. >> he is on record as supporting it. >>announcer: this is "new day," with chris couomo and alisyn camerota. good morning. 8:00 in the east. breaking news overnight. seismic event detected in north korea, powerful nuclear test, leading the un security council calling for an emergency meeting this morning. >> kim jung yun -- barbara starr is here with more. are the claims right? >> that's what we don't know right now. the fact that they're making this claim is so significant. north korea saying it tested a nuclear war head. you have to have a miniature, to put on a launcher that could

eventually attack the united states. this puts them further down the path of being able to do all of that. the u.s. intelligence community, i have to tell you, for the last several weeks has been increasingly concerned. they're seeing north korea do test after test after test, and the tests are working. they are just simply having more and more success. they're having a lot of success with their missile tests, and it is unsettling the region. you can bet on the fact that south korea and japan right now, pretty much on a continuous state of some type of missile alert at all times. the north koreans are firing them toward japan and puts the obama administration in a very difficult position. what do you do about all of this? are you going to call him on the phone and say please don't or we'll have more sanctions. the un meets in a couple of hours in new york this morning. hard to see where this goes. >> is there any measure to be made in finding those who are helping? right, because one of the

suspicions is they're not coming up with this on their own. >> right, so you know, we're not casting stones at anybody, but you know, typically in the past, iran, pakistan, have been known to help with nuclear programs around the world. but this time, it is difficult to say intelligence community officials believe, because north koreans are making steady progress. right now, they don't care if the world sees their failures. they are putting the am he messt there, we're testing, and we are going to have a nuclear missile that can attack the united states some day. >> really troubling stuff. we'll look forward to more of your reporting. >> clear indication why national security is so important and playing out in the white house right now. donald trump standing by his praise for vladimir putin. even did it on russian state tv. his