the president on his way to wisconsin this hour, ignoring the advice of the governor and kenosha's mayor in injecting himself into the middle of a racial tinder box. not on the president's itinerary, a meeting with the familiar life jacob blake. he, of course, is the unarmed black man shot seven times in the back by police neon days ago. the which is which is trip comes nine weeks to election day. ration and policing are without a doubt a big issue, but the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest issue and seven months in we're still getting mixed messages and conflicting advice from the president and his experts. the u.s. world worse coronavirus case count sits sadly over 6 million infections. 183,000 americans have died. dr. anthony fauci says that 1838,000 is sad but accurate. dr. fauci was compelled to make that clear because the president again tried to muddy the facts, and in this case re-tweeting a baseless qanon quack who insists, absent facts, that cdc data show the coronavirus death

toll is far, far lower than the officially reported numbers. that constant tension between what the president says and the data is a recurring pandemic headache. newly released white house coronavirus task force reports highlight several more examples of his experts sounding alarms, warning states of new red zones even as the president, who we should note skips most task force meetings, offers the public a far more rosy outlook. constant tension and conflict now making it hard to know whom to trust and now that fueling giant worry that the food and drug administration may rush a vaccine to market to satisfy a president who have a vaccine before the election. dr. stephen hahn said he would consider a an emergency use authorization for a vaccine and last night he acknowledged, yes, he's upped a lot of pressure but insists this pressure is not out of bounds. >> have you felt pressured politically to make a decision one way or another? >> i have not been pressured politically to make an incorrect

decision. >> reporter: how about pressure to make what you think is a correct decision? >> i mean, there's been pressure throughout this pandemic, jo. i think anybody who doesn't acknowledge that would be kidding themselves. >> the president certainly hopes you feel less stressed about the pandemic by the time you vote, and the white house apparently wants to spend $250 million of your money to help make that help. let's get straight to cnn's nick valencia. take us inside this important reporting. >> well, pressing question, john, since the beginning of the pandemic has are these health agencies working in the best interest of the american public, or are they putting politics ahead of science? an even more relevant question today after politico obtained an hhs document which shows that they are putting out a byrd for a $250 million contract to communications firm to, quote, defeat despair and inspire hope on the coronavirus. we want to share with you part of what politico obtained here saying, quote, by harnessing the power of traditional, digital

and sports and entertainment industries and the public health administrations and other creative partners to create important public health information, the administration can defeat despair and inspire hope and achieve national recovery. news about this contract, john, comes curiously just two months before the november elections and as health agencies are facing questions from critics just how independent they are from the white house. you remember last week we broke the news here, according to a federal health officials, that the testing recommendations for the cdc were adjusted, changed, because of pressure from the white house. one thing is very clear here, that the health agencies in america are facing a shortfall of confidence as the coronavirus cases surpass 6 million in the u.s. john? >> nick violence yeah, appreciate that reporting, and your continued reporting on these conflicting signals, shall we say and political pressure. $250 million of taxpayer money to make you feel better. okay. nick, keep on top of that one. joining me now to continue conversation is cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay

gupta. again, we're having a covering that i wish we didn't have to have, and that is mixed signals from the administration or things that the president says that are confusing. we know dr. scott atlas who was brought into the white house coronavirus task force, he apparently is an advocate for the so-called herd immunity, more people will be exposed and then eventually will be okay. this came up last night, though that's not exactly what the president was asked about. listen to this exchange with laura ingra hamm. >> on the flu vaccines in massachusetts, they are mandating that children get flu vaccines in order to go back to school. the there's a controversy about that. a lot of parents are like, whoa, wait, we don't want our kids to get the flu vaccines. are you worried that on the push for vaccines, these fast vaccines for covid you might be splitting a coalition of americans frankly in both parties who aren't comfortable with forcing vaccines? >> well, once you get to a certain number, we use the word herd, right, once you get to a certain number it's going to go away so it doesn't have to be, but, yeah, i mean, a lot of

people are not going to want to do it. >> there's a whole lot we could unpack there from both sides of that conversation. number one, there's not a ton of controversy about flu vaccines. flu vaccines are safe. there's an anti-advantages community out there that spreads that informing. flu vaccines are safe and good but the president was asked about vaccines and he moves on to the her. explain. >> well, you know, it's -- it's tough to sometimes understand what he's talking about to be honest, john, so i heard that before and it is worth pointing this out that herd immunity is this idea that enough people are immunized against this virus that the virus has a hard time jumping around. it can't find a suitable host. how do you get to herd immunity? well, there's two different ways really, either from natural infection which we can talk about. that's a bad way to get the herd immunity, or you can do it through vaccination, which is a much safer and effective way if you have a safe and effective vaccine to get to herd immunity, so the term herd immunity i

think gets a little bit confused and maybe unfairly malign. you can get to herd immunity in a safe and effective way if you have a safe and effective vaccine. was the president suggesting let the natural infection rip through the country? i couldn't tell from that answer that he just gave, but that would be a bad way to do it. you know, close to maybe -- between 1.5 million to 2 million people would die. we don't know how long that immunity would last and would probably take according to our calculations four years to get to herd immunity so that's a bad way to do it. >> right. it is a bad way to do it. another source of again, repeated conflict between the president and the top scientists, i want you to listen to dr. anthony fauci on "abc this morning." the president we tweeted this quack last night suggesting that number that you see on side of your screen, 183,649 at the moment, that that's an overinflated number, that the media is trying to hype up this number to hurt the president and it's much lower. that's what the president says. here's what dr. fauci says.

>> the point that the cdc was trying to make is that a certain percentage of them had nothing else but just covid. that does not mean that someone who has hypertension or diabetes who dies of covid didn't die of covid-19. they did, so the numbers that you've been hearing, the 180,000 plus deaths are real deaths from covid-19. let there not be any confusion about that. it's not 9,000 deaths from covid-19. it's 180,000 plus deaths. >> that number is stunning, and it's on its way to 200,000. most projections are 300,000 by the middle of december which is pittsburgh. that's the size of a modest american city and yet dr. fauci again trying to clear up the confusion there, but listen to the president last night saying, oh, yeah, fauci, he was here when i got here. >> i get along with him, but every once in a while he'll come up with one and i say where did that come from? i inherited him.

he was here. he was a part of this huge peeves -- i didn't put anybody in charge. he was here. he's been here for 40 years. >> he'll come up with one where i say where did that come, from like wear a mask? like social distance? like be careful and cautious? like remember this vaccine doesn't discriminate? it's nuts. >> this is -- this is a strategic minimizing of scientific information and in this case a minimizing of one of the truth-tellers of scientific information dr. fauci. where did it come from? it came from the science and the evidence and sometimes people don't want to hear this stuff. i mean, people don't like bad news. the that -- that part is true, but it doesn't mean that the truth doesn't need to be told. i think what's interesting regarding what the cdc put out. first of all, the cdc, why are they putting that sort of stuff out because i think it does in part muddy the waters a bit and then, of course, it gets re-tweeted. the president re-tweets it and that amplifies this incorrect message.

180,000 people have died of covid, a true number like dr. fauci said. how do you know for sure? well, you take care of these patients in hospitals, 140 million people have pre-existing conditions as things stand right now. that doesn't mean they are imminently going to die of those pre-existing conditions. here's another way to look at it. right now excess deaths in this country are around 200,000, so the number of people who have died during this time period this year as compared to the same time period last year, in excess of 200,000. not all of those are covid, but the vast majority are. what else has caused all these excess deaths this year? it's been covid. however you want to look at it. the point is instead of actually tackling this problem, which we can do and which countries have done all over the world quite successfully i might add we continue to minimize the problem pretending it's not there, and this is just another example of that. >> another example of that, and -- and you're following up on what nick valencia was just talking about, want to spend $250 million of the taxpayer money to tell people not to feel

so stressed about this, but the numbers don't lie, as they say, ant the sad numbers on the side of the screen. right there, dr. gupta, appreciate it. back with more soon. dr. fauci now trying to clean up the doubts about who should be tested for covid.

it's now september meaning labor day weekend is just ahead. that always a rite of passage, an end-of-summer celebration. this year that worries public health experts who say the siege of the coronavirus surge took root around the memorial way gateway to summer celebration so let's take a look at where we are as we approach labor day. pick where you live in the country, are you lighter or are you shaded darker?

if you're the deepest red, that means you have higher cases per 100,000 cases. the doper the red, especially across the southeast and the south, the deeper the red the bigger the problem meaning more infections. you see lighter parts of the country, are everywhere, of the coronavirus is everywhere. the question is just how high is your rate of infection? a different way to look at it right now in the here and now. 19 state, that's the orange and red, trending up, reporting more cases this week than last week. not where you want to be, but a lot of these are smaller state so the numbers aren't quite as high in terms of the overall case count, but 19 states trending up and 22 holding steady and nine states trending down. the downward trend does include florida, arizona and california. remember, those were three states along with texas which is steady that drove the big august and july surge. they are now in better shape. doesn't mean good shape but better shape. look at the overall case trend here and here's what we want to watch as we go through the week. we now, monday, 33,000, sunday was below 40,000 as well. have we timely shoved the baseline down below 40,000? sometimes you come out of

weekend and you get lower numbers and they jump back up. you see that in some other weeks here so we want to watch this, but right now they have shoved of it down. the question is if you can get the baseline below 40,000, that's progremps i don't want to say it's good. a lot of public health experts would say why didn't you keep it down when you had it down? 20,000 at beginning of the summer surge, so that's where we are at moment as we watch this play out. the states leading right now in terms of the most new infections california, texas, florida, tennessee and illinois. you do see the central part of the country right now is good. you can look at it this way. the south drove the summer surge. it is starting to come down. the west, also part of the summer surge, has flattened out and the midwest, not a big jump, but it's trending up. that's where these cases are come from, the news, a lot are coming out of midwest and the northeast, come over here, went through this early and has consistently stayed down. the challenge is now can you keep it down in the back-to-school environment? new testing is always an issue and you watch this play out. the number of new tests in the united states, 680,000 and

change yesterday. public health officials want it above 800,000. the administration says this is good. we surge test when we need it. another piece of data to watch is the positivity rate which is now on monday was below 5%. you want to get it below 5% and shove it down lower. that could be a sign of some progress in earls it of positivity though there's a debate in the public health community. new cdc guidelines, especially about asymptomatic people, saying maybe you don't need to get test. some experts are worried people won't get tested. that will drive that down falsely, temporarily, and then people will get symptoms and then we'll learn more. we don't know that for sure. we'll watch it, but listen to dr. anthony fauci, again, mixed signals from the administration. he says if you need a test, get a test but not everybody needs one. >> there's no doubt that there's asymptomatic infection and asymptomatic people who can transmit and you can and should test asymptomatic people. the what the guideline was trying to do was to try to make the point that not everyone who

wants to be tested should be tested, only if you need to be tested. understandably, that was confusing. hopefully that's been straightened out now. >> let's bring in a senior scholar at the johns hopkins university center for health security. doctor, good to see you again. is that all cleared up right now? there's been confusion and some criticism from public health experts that what the cdc did, my words, tried to soften sort of the recommendation for who gets a test and a lot of public health experts were worried that they were discouraging people from getting tested. did dr. fauci clear it up for you? >> he cleared it up somewhat. it is still a little confusing because you do have guidelines from the cdc and guidelines from your state and local health department which may in a contact trace of someone with significant exposure still recommend testing. that's what most of them are doing. the clear message needs to be we want people to be tested as much as they need to be tested. it is true that not everybody needs testing, but we're still not testing enough and people are being discouraged from getting tests because maybe the turnaround time is too long or

wait is too long and if we move forward in this pandemic, the way to reduce the harm is by getting people a way to know their stat just, are they infect, contagious or not and until we can test just like we do for hiv we'll still have cases that lead to transmission and undocumented chains of transmission that land on vulnerable people. >> and as we go through this, again, i'm going -- i can't say it's good, but it's hopeful for better anyway, progress, that the case count in the last couple of days is below who,000. let's hope to shove the baseline down. what we're seeing is a number of smaller clusters or smaller reports of cases, some of them on college campuses. at least 260 cases in 12 states now have been traced back to that sturnlgess rally. 260 cases in 12 states traced back to one event, a motorcycle rally in sturgess, south dakota. what does that till you still about the possibility and the power of these superspreader events? >> we know that mass gatherings are going to be very difficult to have until we have a vaccine,

and this was very predictable what happened in sturgess. many warned that this real was going to creed many different states and this really drew people from all over, and you can imagine how hard it is for contact tracers to figure out who was in contact with works and this is going to be the new normal, that any time you have a mass gathering like this, that brings people from all over the country, it can creed ede to ot parts of the country and no matter how much control you have you can lose the control with the mass gatherings. this is something you really have to watch and be careful about >> you mentioned until we get a vaccine. that is a big question. the president said it will be here by election day, by the end of the year. some experts aren't that clear. big debate about emergency use authorization from the fda, if somebody in the middle of phase three trials rays their hand and say we've got a good one here and then there's the question of do people trust it anyway, especially with conflicting information from the people that. came up in the interview that the president did last night. listen. >> 35% say they are not going to

take the covid vaccine. they shouldn't be mandatory. >> if you add 35% to the people who have had it and all the other things, people who have had it, they can't get it though they found one person, and they are making a big deal, one person got it twice, but if you add it all up it gives you very good protection. >> i can't follow that at all. he was asked about 35% who say they might not take the vaccine and he says if you add it all up it gives you very good protection. to me that adds to the confusion out there. if you have some skepticism about taking this vaccine, what is it that the president should be saying? >> the president should be talking about the fact that we're doing phase three clinical trials that will tell us does this work, and is it safe in a large group of people, and if there's only going to be an approval when we have the threshold met, that this creates more benefit than risk, and i think that's the problem that people are going to have because we know that there's been meddling with the fda emergency use authorization process with hydroxychloroquine, with -- with convalescent plasma, so there is going to be this confidence gap

that people have when this is approved. back in h1n1 only 23% of people got the pandemic vaccine and that's tried and true. this is something that's going to be a challenge and we want to make sure we're as transparent as possible. we have a vaccine hesitancy and we have a new vaccine using new technologies. we want clear messages from our leaders. >> clear messages from our leaders would be nice seven months in. we haven't had a lot of that, but perhaps -- perhaps, i'm always an optimist. appreciate your insight. still ahead for us, is there a kinder gentler president trump? speakers at the republican convention tried to make that case but the president's own words, that's the best way to judge for yourself. >> i'm like standing here in a sea of incompetent people, stupid people and violent people.

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a lot of people gathering on a plane. >> yeah, i can tell you that i can probably refer you to the person, and they could do it. i would like to ask that person if it was okay, but a person was on a plane said that there were about six people like that

person morals and what happened is the entire plane filled up with the looters, the an exists, rioters and people looking for trouble and the person felt very uncomfortable on the plane. this would be a person that you know, so i will see whether or not i can get that person. i'll let them know and i'll see whether or not i can get that person to speak to you, but this was a firsthand account of a plane going from washington to wherever, and i'll see if i can get that information for you. maybe they will speak to you. maybe they won't. [ inaudible question ] >> i think a lot of people are looking at what's happening to these democrat-run cities, and they are disgusting. they see what's going on, and they can't believe that this is taking place in our country. i can't believe it either. one of the reasons i'm making the trip today and going to wisconsin is we've had such a big success in shutting down

what would be right now a city that would have been kenosha, a city that would have been burnt to the ground by now, and -- and we're going to really say hello to law enforcement and the national guard and it all stopped immediately upon the national guard's arrival. so, you know, it's easy toe stock market i saw last night where these radical an harchist, and the mayor, all he has to do is call. within ten minutes the probable will be over. they have to call us. call us and request help. all he has to do and the problem will end. they had tremendous numbers of people really harassing him horribly and i guess trying to break into his house and he still sticks up with him because

he's a fool. only a fool would stick up for them like this. these are anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, bad people. they are burning down portland, and you take a look at that. you take a look at the scenes last night and then the fake news media will say that they are friendly protesters, because you people, i'll tell you, if we only had an honest press in this country it would be much more advanced, but we have a very dishonest press. [ inaudible question ] >> you've spoken a lot about the anarchy, did you speak about that? >> if you look at the black community, they want the police to help them stop crime. the hispanic community, they want police. 82%, 84%, numbers that you haven't even seen. they don't want crime.

they don't want to be mugged. they don't want to have any problems, an it's just a shame, an as far as the previous administration, take a look at baltimore, what happened? was it freddy grey? take a look at baltimore. take a look at st. louis. take a look at ferguson. take a look at what happened. what they had was -- put what we're doing -- it put them to shame. put them to shame. take a look at those places, and you always had portland. portland has been like this, i read an article, for 50 years this has been going on. i would like to stop it, and we can stop it quickly. all they have to do is say, okay, president, now we're ready. now we're ready. when i watched that scene last night with all of those really horrible people outside of the mayor's house, i also saw the way they shot the young gentleman in the street. he was targeted. they targeted him. they shot him in the street and

then they were so happy that he died. you don't mention that. you mention somebody spray painted somebody from the other side. they shot a man in the street. they executed a man in the street, a religious man in the street, and you don't mention it. it's not even a story. you talk about other things. the press should be ashamed of themselves. i think the press is actually, the media is what's fueling this, more so than even biden because biden doesn't know he's alive. the press is really fueling this, and they are fueling it horribly, and you're doing a great disservice to your country. okay. any other questions? [ inaudible question ] >> i may. no, i may. i'm also going to be speaking with a pastor who was talking to, as per your question previously, very well involved and a respected man. i look forward to that. i spoke to him yesterday, by the way. pastor of the family, as you

know, and i spoke to him yesterday and had a great conversation and i'm speaking really today there for law enforcement and for the national guard because they have done a great job in kenosha. they have put out the flames immediately. as soon as they came in, boom, the flame was gone. now maybe it will start up again in which case they will put it out very powerfully. >> can you give us the latest on tiktok and what percentage you want, if any, of that deal? >> well, i told them that they have until september 15th to make a deal. after that we close it up in this country, and -- and i said that the united states has to be compensated, well compensated because we are the ones that is making it possible, and so we should be compensated so the treasury has to be well-compensated. >> mr. president, do you have an update on airlines and what your administration wants to do to help airlines? >> well, we'll be helping the airlines, yeah. you have to help the airlines. tough business, always s.airlines are a tough business in good times, and we're about

ready to get back to good times. you look at the numbers this morning. many so of the numbers coming out are incredible. we have now the all-time highest stock market. if you take the average. we're at a number that nobody would even believe. we're doing well. we have tremendous -- i'll kell you, we have tremendous, what would you say is the best word, the enthusiasm for the country, the enthusiasm for the comeback, the "v." you look at the "v." now i think it's a super "v" and morgan stanley, of course, which is one of the most respected on wall street, would you say, they just made a big prediction. you know what the prediction was, that president trump is going to remain president, so we'll have to see. we'll have to see, but i don't -- i cannot imagine anything else because if somebody else got in, namely my opponent, your stock market, instead of setting records right now, they will crash. your 401ks will be down to nothing.

your stocks will be down to nothing, and we will have a depression like you've never seen before. we'll have an incredible economy. next year is going to be one of the best years that we've ever had, and everybody is getting a big tax cut. thank you very much. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> yeah. we're working on drug companies on substantially lowering drug price. i've put out a favored nations clause. i've signed it. that means we get the lowest prices anywhere in the world, and we match whoever gets the lost and the drug company is having a real problem with that and they are coming in to see me, and we expect to get a very substantial price reduction of prescription drugs which has never been done before. >> they are coming, yeah. they are coming, this week. >> president of the united states boarding air force one. he's at joint base andruce just outside of washington, d.c. on his way to kenosha, wisconsin, and if you're watching that, change, forgive me, it was kind

ofry. the president saying a number of things that were not true. some of them blatantly dishonest and him saying in the biggest problem in the country is a dishonest news media. it was the dishonest president of the united states that was part of that there, in part him saying the situation in kenosha has improved because of the national guard taking credit for that. he had nothing to do with that. the democratic governor sent the national guard in there after the preface because of the jacob blake shooting. the president had nothing to do with it and he called the mayor of portland a fool, said he's willing to send the national guard into portland, oregon, if the mayor or governor will ask for it in that state. the president on his way to kenosha. he was asked if he wanted to do something to heal racial tensions in this country and he said he's about law and order and he believes that will do it, that that will do it. harsh words there from the president and that's the big question right there. he's off to kenosha there and democrats are worried that harsh tone will further inflame

tensions there. if you hear supporters, they will say there's a softer side. >> i've known donald trump, i've seen him treat security guards and janitors the same way he would treat a v.i.p. he made them feel special. >> the same way president trump has supported me, he supports you. i see it every day. >> and i can tell you he really cares. i have seen his true conscience. >> but the president's words and tweets since the republican convention, including what you just heard, speak for themselves and they carry more weight than the glossy convention testimonials because they are backed up by years of his harsh history. >> i think there's blame on both sides. you look at -- you look at both sides. i think there's blame on both sides. >> any guy that can do a body slam, he's my kind of guy. >> knock the crap out of him, would you, seriously? okay? just knock the hell -- i promise you, i will pay for the legal fees.

>> we are now nine weeks to election day. one veteran republican strategist, you can read it there says, quote, it would be nice to show more heart and less harshness if the president wants to win over persuadable voters that. republican strategist is with us now. ellie stewart who worked on the presidential campaigns of michelle bachmann and rick santorum and others. you're wishing for the president to show more heart and less harshness. we were just listening to him on the tarmac at joint base andrews. he's asked about -- he talks about criticizing democratic mayors. he says that they are fools. he takes credit for things that he had nothing to do with. he also was talking there when he was asked do you want to do something to heal racial tensions? he says i do and then he says i'm about law and order and he's right. african-americans would like less crime in their neighbors, latino americans would like less crime in their neighborhood but nowhere -- there was an opportunity for the president to say they would also like not to be pulled over because they are black and brown and they would like not to fear that their sons

or daughters might get shot in the back seven times because they are black or brown. where is that from this president? >> well, that remains to be seen, john. thanks for having me. look, for a day like today that is billed as one for the president to go out and show compassion and concern and caring for the people that are hurting in kenosha, what we just witnessed was what we call getting off message, and it's not very helpful. what we needed to take away from today was the president meeting with people, and as he said with pastors and expressing concern and, unfortunately, i feel as though this is what's going to get a lot of the headlines today, but the good thing is that what we saw out of the republican convention and what i hope to see for next nine weeks is really a softer side of him. we had melania talk about him. i think can a kayleigh mcenany's compassionate story was one that we hopefully will have much more because john, as you know, the -- this race will be decided by the independent swing state

voters and those people right now want to see a softer side of the president. look, we know that the base of trump loves the brashness, they love the passion but the swing voters want permission to vote for this president, and the way that he goes about doing that is to show that he not only has policies of law and order and strength and peace through strength but he also does it in a way that makes them feel good about it which is really the message that the trump campaign needs to put forth moving forward. >> we've known each other a long time and i applaud your loyalty to your party and i understand a lot of republicans, even republicans who sometimes roll their eyes at the president understand how he does in november affects how all the other republicans do in november but i get your point, show more heart, but it has to be genuine, does it not, because a lot of what we saw at the republican convention was a mirage. 36% of the speakers at the convention were women. there are only 17%, we can show you the numbers here, 17% of the members are women and republicans in congress only

10%. 23% of the republican convention speakers were non-white, and only 13% of the trump cabinet is not white and 6% of republicans in congress is not white so what they showed us at that convention was not the reality of the trump administration or the republican party at this moment in terms of diversity. >> well, the key is that recognizing that 52% of the voters are women and making sure that we convey the message to them that this president has their best interest at heart when it comes to schools and jobs and the economy and health care with covid being top of mind for a lot of people. look, i think melania is a very underutilized tool and what she was able to do at the convention, it would be nice if the campaign were to maximize that, using the two of them collectively would go a long way to changing and persuading the minds of independent voters out there, and that is a tool that i hope that they continue to use over the next nine months, but the key is, as you say, john, being genuine and empathetic is the key to this, and we all know

this president, as they say, let trump be trump. he is always going to be the harsh, brash candidate. given the choice between a carrot and a stick, he's always going to use the stick, but the key message-wise moving forward is letting people understand he does have an empathetic side and he does have a compassionate side and while it might not come out of words that he says, there are ways to do it from a communications standpoint that paints that picture in a way that will swing these really important voters. >> your optimism is applausible. you sid nine months, i know it will be nine weeks. >> some days it's going to feel like nine months so i'm sure we'll go through it together. grateful for your time an insights. up next it's primary day in massachusetts. two veteran congressional democrats face challenges from younger liberals and one of those younger challenges happens to be a kennedy. i like liberty mutual.

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but you may not know when he's itching for help... licking for help... or rubbing for help. if your dog does these frequently. they may be signs of an allergic skin condition that needs treatment. don't wait. talk to your veterinarian and learn more at itchingforhelp.com. it is primary day in massachusetts, and two races are very much worth watching. the house ways and means chairman richard neil, a key ally of nancy pelosi is facing a tough primary challenge from a younger progressive and you can say the same for senator ed

markey. that race gets more attention because the challenger is joseph kennedy iii and the big names on the left are split on their loyalties. cnn owes manu raju is here with a closer look. manu, a big day in massachusetts. >> reporter: yeah. no question about it. in that senate race, joe kennedy sewn as a rising star in the democratic party, seen by democratic leaders, they tapped him to give the state of the union rebuttal to president trump two years ago, but he is now facing a very difficult challenge and effort to challenge a sitting incumbent senator, and if he loses tonight as the polls suggest that he might, that he'll be the first kennedy ever to lose an election in massachusetts. he hails from a political dynasty, the grandson of the late robert f. kennedy, campaigning to serve of in the senate like his famous great uncles and grandfather before him. >> i love the kennedys. >> thank you. >> i do. >> and i think you'll do a great job. >> i love the kennedys. >> thank you. >> i have all her "life"

magazines. >> reporter: the 39-year-old joe kennedy is facing something unexpected, a 14-year-old senator who has been in congress for almost 44 years and who has managed to galvanize the support of young voters ahead of tuesday's massachusetts senate primary. >> i think that a lot of young people that are our age and at least from our town have been similarly really inspired by ed markey. >> polls show senator ed markey as the favorite threatening to make the four-term congressman the first kennedy to lose a race in massachusetts. up like other primaries this year where democratic incumbents have been ousted by liberal newcomers, markey has managed to turn that dynamic on the head. >> because it's about ideas i'm the youngest guy this this race. >> reporter: it's been markey seizing the mantle of the insurgent touting his support of liberal causes like the green new deal and endorsement of the firebrand alexandria

ocasio-cortez. >> health care justice is on the ballot. that's medicare for all, and i stood next to bernie sanders when he introduced it. >> reporter: yet, it's been kennedy with the backing of the party establishment's leader, speaker nancy pelosi. kennedy allies have been frustrated that markey has not been held to account for his full record over four decades, like his backing of the iraq war in 2002, nafta deal in 1993, his position on racial issues like school desegregation dating back to the 1970s. >> if a progressive movement is going to overlook those hurdles that's up to the progressive movement. i think an awful lot of folks in many parts of massachusetts have a different view of that record and what that moans to our communities. >> reporter: after going door to door in working class neighborhoods, markey was accused of not spending much time in the state and in an

interview in cnn markey fired back back. >> there's no record of kennedy leading on generational change in washington? kennedy has waited until late in the campaign to stress that it's his family legacy. >> it's a fight for his family's blood. >> reporter: that he wants to continue in the senate. >> i want to make clear it's me on the ballot. it's not me or my grandfather or brothers or anybody else. if you vote for me, you'll get me. >> manu is back with us. also with us, the national correspondent for "new york times" jonathan martin. one of the fascinatings things that you mention at the end of your piece, and you're up in maine today, the kennedy legacy not only on the ballot but it's playing out in the ads. let's listen to a snippet here. >> health care for all, for jobs and opportunity, for racial injustice, long promised by never delivered. it's a fight in his blood. >> we ask what we can do for our country. we went out. we did it.

>> with all due respect, it's time to start asking what your country can do for you. >> jonathan, when you were walking through the neighborhoods this weekend, how much of that do voters talk about? do voters talk about loyalty to the kennedy family, or is this about these two candidates? >> yeah. oh, you hear about the kennedys all the time, especially with older voters and african-american voters who often bring up the kennedys. they don't refer to joe kennedy. they just say the kennedys. the challenge, john, if you talk to younger voters and especially younger more progressive white voters, they are just not that jazzed about the kennedy legacy. it's much before their time. if you think about it, ted kennedy's not been on the ballot in that state since 2006, and so a lot of these younger voters there couldn't even vote the last time a kennedy ran statewide, so there is sort of a class divide and a racial divide

and i think that that has hurt joe kennedy and why the closing days of this campaign that he's not only embracing his family legacy, he's really scouring the in places like boston, lawrence, lowell, new bedford. the more modest communities of this state where the kennedy legacy does still resound to a certain degree. >> manu, a fascinating diynamic let's dig deeper, younger progressives go for the challenger, put up the endorsements here, for senator markey. others for ojoe kennedy. it splits a lot of national figures. >> reporter: yeah. typically you will see that newcomer come into a race and try to unseat an entrenched

incumbent. we have seen that in new york. lacy clay in missouri losing his primary. what ed markey, been in congress in the house and the senate for more than 40 years, longer than joe conditionkennedy has been a endorsement of alexandria ocasio-cortez, he mentions that on the trail. and that's a frustration for people in the kennedy camp and kennedy himself because they believe markey's full record has not been taken into account and they believe it's been a reinvention of sorts but perhaps a skillful one appearing to be succeeding in a lot of ways and he can come up victoria because

of that, john. >> you talked about the turnout on election day and could be a test of what we could see come november in the sense that so many people have voted in this primary by mail. if you believe the polls and markey was leading early on then instinct tells you the mail-in votes he would have a lead there. we could go through this election night in november where what happens on election day may not be what happens when you count them all. >> exactly right. if you check out where the early ballots cast in massachusetts, there have been about 800,000 cast already, which is a lot of votes in a primary there, overwhelmingly have come from su sur ban, affluent areas which is markey's base, an advantage that markey has going into election day which is why i think kennedy would need a huge turnout in the more working class parts of the state to make this race competitive. and just real fast, it's

striking to hear the frustration of joe kennedy. i got it on saturday. he is really opening the frustration that as he puts it white more upscale will be rals in the state overlooking markey's history as barney frank, the former congressman never lacking in a quick quote said to me, i admire as a politician the skill with which ed markey reinvented himself. it is an open secret in the political class of what markey has done in recent months but it's been pretty effective. jonathan, manu, appreciate your time and will count the votes tonight. it can come back. >> no "r"s allowed in the hud. >> absolutely, no, sir. new york city announced a change for when schools will reopen there.

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major out of new york city today. schools will not reopen september 10th. instead the mayor deblasio said the city will set the global gold standard meaning he's giving teachers more time to prepare because of the pandemic, of course. the new plan for online classes to begin a week later september 16th. then september 21st schools try a mix, both remote and in person learning. that delay part of an agreement the mayor has made with the major teachers union there after they threatened to go on strike. the president is in the air

right now on the way to wisconsin. the governor and the mayor of kenosha say, please don't come. the president on his way. he says he's the law and order candidate.

hello to our viewers in the united states and around the world. thank you for sharing your day with us. the u.s. coronavirus case over 6 million. 183,000 have died. the united states accounts for 22% of the world's virus