election. at this point it's all about turnout. who will vote and the fight over whose vote will be allowed to stand. the candidates are blitzing the battleground states, just a shorts time from now president trump will speak in iowa, the second of five stops he's making today. he's already been to michigan. later it's on to north carolina, georgia and florida. so five different states in one day. also next hour joe biden is in the critical state of pennsylvania. he'll be at a get out the vote in philadelphia, one of two events his has planned. in the final hours it's less about changing hearts and minds, but really more about getting people to show up, especially in the key battleground states. make no mistakes, this is still anyone's rate right now. a series of new polls have shown extremely tight races in florida, north carolina and arizona. jeremy dimon -- diamond is in

dubuque, iowa. >> reporter: ana, the president seems to be focusing the final hours on continuing to downplay the surge of coronavirus cases that we are seeing across the country. president trump not only denying that this surge that we have seen with our own eyes in the data, whether it's in terms of number of cases, hospitalizations or even deaths, all of which are rising across this country, the president continues to be in denial he's also seeking out a difference between himself and the former vice president, accusing him of wanting to lock down the country for the next several years. listen. >> under biden's lockdown, you will be living in a prison state. they want to lock it down. let's lock our country down for a couple years and let it go away. by the way, those are the people that do the worst. they're the ones doing the

worst. europe imposed draconian lockdowns, but think of it, now they have to do it all over again. what the hell are they doing? i think i'll go over and explain it to them. they're locking down parts of europe again. >> reporter: now what the president is saying there simply isn't true as it relates to joe biden. he's not said he intends to lock down the country. instead he plans to listen to the public health experts, whose advice the president has recently been ignoring. europe is experiencing a surge in cases. several leaders are planning to lock down their country, but they didn't experience the summer surge that the united states did, so therefore the u.s. is in a far worse position today than many of those european countries. the president has also been talking about this issue of his supporters who surrounded a biden/harris campaign bus in texas just yesterday, the president saying i love texas

and afghanistan no criticism of those trump supporters who just showed up and surrounded the biden campaign bus. that prompted the biden campaign to cancel several stops in texas, ana. >> you're doing a great job competing with the theatrical music behind you. i have to ask you about this new development the president's go-to adviser having to apologize for an appearance he made on russian state media. what happened? >> reporter: that's right. we saw dr. scott atlas, who we should remind everybody is not an infectious disease expert, not a public health expert, but has been the primary medical adviser to president trump on the coronavirus crisis he appeared on "r.t." a russian state media appeared, and he apologized. he said -- i regret doing the

interview. i especially apologize to the national security community, who is working hard to defend us. while it may be controversial that dr. scott atlas appeared on that network, what's far more controversial and perhaps far more dangerous is the advice he's presenting to the president. we know that dr. atlas has been arguing for these policies that essential amount to herd immunity, essentially saying allow this virus to run roughshod and probably vulnerable people. ana? >> jeremy diamond in dubuque, iowa, thank you. the president expected there any moment now. let's helped to philadelphia, where joe biden is campaigning hard. democrats have far outpaced republicans when it comes to early voting in that state.

so far they have cast 67% of votes so far, compared to 22% for republicans. how could that balance shift a tuesday? cnn's m.j. lee is in philadelphia, which is one of the bluest cities there in pennsylvania. m.j., the fact this is where biden is spending the second to the last day of the campaign, more proof this isn't about changing minds today, it's really about driving voters turnout. how is the biden campaign feeling about pennsylvania right now? >> reporter: well, ana, the biden campaign could not be making it more clear that pennsylvania is a critical, critical state for the campaign. the campaign actually just announced what the final 24 hours of their campaign is going to look like tomorrow, and essential the entire campaign is going to be fanned out across the state of pennsylvania. just listen to this list of events that biden himself has tomorrow. he will be in beaver county with union and labor leaders, then

heads to pittsburgh where he will have a drive-in events with african-american community leaders. then his final election night event will be a drive-in event in pittsburgh. those notable, you may recall that his first-ever event as a campaign candidate was actually in pittsburgh as well. it's not just biden spending a ton of time in pennsylvania tomorrow. it's also his running mate, kamala harris, she will be in luzerne county, also in -- and their spouses will be spending time across the state tomorrow as well. it's one of the clearest reminders, ana, that one of the best and clearest paths that the biden campaign sees right now runs through the rustbelt, including this state of pennsylvania, a state that hillary clinton lost in 2016. democrats are still feeling the sting from that from four years ago, wanting to make sure they

don't repeat the mistakes from four years ago. >> thank you very much, m.j. lee. it's not just the campaigns flooding battleground states, so are the voters. breaking records all across the country. i want to start with gary tuchm tuchman, who is in cleveland, ohio. we learned as m.j. reported this afternoon, biden is planning to make a visit there tomorrow, gary. so just two days out, what are you hearing from voters? >> reporter: we're in ohio. we actually took a detour. we left cleveland, now we're in delaware county, just north of the state capital of columbus. you are looking at democracy in action. this is sunday early voting. ohio is one of only five states in the country that has sunday early voighting. this is the 23rd day of early

voting, and everyone says tuesday is election day. it's actually the end of election season. we can tell you four years ago donald trump won the state by alternates over eight percentage points. now the polls show the race is too close to call. we all take voting seriously, but nobody more than ohioans. they have a knack of picking president. the last 14 elections, they have picked the winner of everything election. the last time they missed was this 1960 when they voted for richard nixon. of course, eight years later nixon did become president. but there's record-setting voting here. we talked to the ohio secretary of state. >> the early voting numbers have tripled, absent user ballots

have doubled. those are a few days old. what i believe is by the time the polls open on november 3rd, i think more than half the votes may have already been cast. that's an important thing for people to understand. really ohioans are taking advantage of early absentee voting in record-breaking numbers. >> reporter: we do want to talk about the precautions because of the covid. as you can see behind me -- you can walk, come on. we don't want to delay voting. come on by and congratulations on casting your vote. all the boxes are placed six feel apart. everyone who works here is mandated to wear a mask. the people who vote here are told we want you to wear a mask, but if they insist on not wearing a mask, people will be allowed to vote here. because they don't want to disenfranchise voters.

now we go to suzanne malveaux. >> reporter: while many were attending church service in person or by zoom, we went to a warehouse to track the ballots all right being -- already shattering records. 95% of all those who voted back in 2016, this is a competitive state, polls showing that perhaps biden just a smidge ahead of president trump, but still up for grabs. a story that we are following, an ugly story out of grand, north carolina, attracting national attention. this was several hundred peaceful marchers, a get out the vote effort, if you will, led by reverend greg drumwright, heading from the courthouse to a polling center when they kneeled and gave a minute of silence, a

moment of silence for george floyd on the street. that's when law enforcement authorities told them to move to the sidewalk. apparently they didn't move fast never, and you have women throwing up from the pepper spray as well as a woman in a motorized while chair. many people have been speaking out about it. we heard from the governor, roy cooper, who said this is unacceptable, it was voter intimidation. the naacp has also gotten involved. we're hearing today from the reverend and others. >> i and our organization is, marchers, demonstrators, and potential voters left here

sunken, sad, traumatized, obstructed and distracted from our intention to lead people all the way to the polls in graham, north carolina, on the final day of one-stop voter registration and voting. >> i understand that some people were saying we pepper sprayed children and other -- disabled folks. again, i want to reiterate we never directly sprayed anyone in the face. it was all directed towards the ground in an effort to disperse the crowd. >> so voting by activists are really readying themselves for tuesday in case there's any problem at all. they are training people to make sure they can still participate and vote. now to ryan young out of wisconsin. >> reporter: thank you, suzanne.

this room was packed just about an hour ago, and then the packers game started, but voting has been very brisk here in the state of wisconsin. you can see the room where people have been casting their ballots for about the haas few hours or so. this is a state that believes in getting out the vote early, but we're seeing record numbers here. you also have to remember they are dealing with a coronavirus surge, and you can see this plate that's been put in place to make sure the workers here are not close to anyone as they walk up. thinks disinfect anything that anyone might touch. 5,000 new cases here as of friday. a family was definitely excited. they're worried about the coronavirus, but they felt like this was their civic duty and they had to be here. take a listen. >> well, i always think it's important to vote and get, you know, your word out there. it's vince's first time voting,

so we wanted to do it all together. so it's been more exciting for us because of this guy here. >> at first i was excited about it, pretty happy i didn't have to go to school. after a while, it was like, man, this sucks. >> very challenging, very different teaches remotely, a whole different stress level. i'm at the end of my career, so i feel like i'm learning how to teach all over again. he is my only son. it was difficult for me to not watch him walk across the stage. sh >> reporter: this is the last day of early voting, like i said, almost 50% of the people have already decided to cast their vote. this is the last day of early voting. it goes to 4:00. that's what we're dealing with now. over to randi kaye in broward county, florida.

>> reporter: just about five hours left here of early voting on this final day here in the state of florida. i'm here in broward county. 8.7 million floridians have already voted, more than half of the registered voters here in the state of florida. if you want to look at who has actually voted, there's a professor from the university of florida, who looks at this very closely. he says that the independent voters haven't been showing up, not nearly as much as republicans and democrats, so the question is, will they show up on election day or sit this out? in 2016, those independents who did show up on that day did break for donald trump. the other question is, where are the young voters? according to this professor, 70% of those 65 and older have voted, but as far as younger people, only about 39% of the 18 to 23 have voted.

he's also taken a look at the race, in terms of the race breakdown, and he found that african-american voters and hispanic voters are lagging behind white voters so far in the early voting process by about seven percentage points. we talked to some voters here today. here's what one of them told us. >> there's definitely great excitement. it's hard to say. i think a lot of it has to do with absentee ballots. rather than seeing a lot of folks here at the polls, but i truly believe a lot of people are still voting. >> reporter: democratic support certainly seeming to lacking in miami-dade, a big reason why former president barack obama is heading to south florida tomorrow. my thanks to all of you. fauci unfilter, the top infectious disease expert, not mincing word about the white

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the it's postal service is announcing yet another drop in on-time movement of ballots. the postal service says on a national level it moved fewer ballots on time on saturday than on friday. the movement is even slower in cry wall battleground states. the worst-hit states so far appear to be colorado and wyoming, where less than half of all ballots are being moved on time. meantime, we also have this just into cnn, the fbi is investigating the alleged harassment of the biden/harris bus. a caravan of trump supporters surrounding the bus.

people in this so-called trump train shouted object sensity and block kayed the entire entourage. a biden staffer tweeted a picture of her damaged car, and at a rally today the president defended supporters saying they were protecting the campaign bus. let's talk about the pandemic, which is worsening. the nation's top infectious san diego expert, totally unfilters this weekend, in a new interview with "the washington post," dr. anthony fauci slams the white house's pandemic response, saying we're in for a whole lot of hurt. it is not a good situation. you could not possibly be positioned more poorly. he also went after the pandemic advisory, dr. scott atlas, who we should note is a radiologist not an infection disease expert.

he said -- i have a real problem with this guy. doctor fauci also saying joe biden's campaign is taking the pandemic seriously. judd deere firing back at fauci, saying as a member of the task force, dr. fauci has a duty to express concerns or push for a change in strategy, but he's not done that, instead choosing to criticize the president in the media and make his political leanings known by praising the president's opponent, exactly what the american people have come to 1k3ek9 from the swamp. dr. megan ranney is with us now. the to hair the white house dismiss him as a member of the swamp, what is your reaction to that? >> i am almost speechless. dr. fauci has been an active members of administrations since

the time of reagan. he's been -- well published and truly nonpartisan scientists. his only goal has been standing up there next to trump for the past search months, has been to try to keep the american people -- and to inject in accuracy and evidence into our government's response to this pandemic. to see them slam fauci like this, especially coming on top of kushner's words about taking back the pandemic response from the doctors that we heard last week, it is just infuriating. i hope the american public don't listen. i hope they continue to trust fauci, because he's never done anything that's not been guided by science and public interest, which is more than i can say for those criticizing him. >> dr. scott atlas has the president's ear right now, but he is apologizing for an appearance he made on russian state tv. he apologized for choosing that

media, not for what he said about lockdowns which, well, let's play it for you. >> lockdowns have been one of the -- will go down as an epic failure of public policy by people who refuse to accept they were wrong, were wrong, refuse to accept they were wrong, didn't know the data, didn't care and became a frenzy of stopping cases at all costs, and those costs are massive. >> again he's now apologized to appearing there, but dr. ranney, do you agree that lockdowns were an epic failure? >> absolutely not. back in march and april when the country put lockdowns in place, we literally had no other choice. we knew nothing about this virus or how it spread. we were sees numbers skyrocket, and you can actually track week by week after we put the lockdowns in place, you saw the case curve start to plateau, and

then drop within two to three weeks after the lockdowns were put in place. now we have a choice. now we no that masking, physical testing and tracing actually work, and we theoretically have the capability to avoid future lockdowns. if we have to put them in place now, it's only because we've failed to support the public health infrastructure and the ver real strategies that could protect us from having to go back into lockdown while also protecting americans from infection and death. >> are we there yet? the need for another lockdown? we're seeing it in parts of europe. >> we are close, ana. i said last week on cnn that we were at the brink. we are even closer to that brink today. we've seen infections go up by over 40% across the country, deaths are 15% up, compared to two weeks ago. hospitalizations are approximately 50% up across the

country. those numbers are scary, and as an emergency figures who works in an e.r. here in rhode island, i can tell you that the mood is grim. we have a little sliver of time to change what we're doing before we do have no choice but lockdowns again. i hope we don't get there. it's not fair to businesses, to kids, to parents or to families, but it's better than seeing or loved ones die. we have a little time to mask up and physically distance. >> that's what i was going to said. thank you, doctor, for joining us, and thank you for all you do. really appreciate it. he's won an academy award and multigrammys. we're talking with common. he joins us live with what he discovered. stay tuned. ally proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration.

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i do motivational speakingld. in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. this is joe biden. blaci'm not afraid to say it. inequities have to be met head-on. african-americans need a fair shake when it comes to economic opportunity, healthcare, criminal justice, education, and housing. that's why, if i'm elected, we'll raise the minimum wage to a living wage of $15 an hour. we'll root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system.

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welcome back. you are looking at live pictures right now of president trump's arrival. this is in dubuque, iowa. we are awaiting the president to come off the plane and greet his supporters there for the second of five different rally events the president has today in five different states. of course we're monitoring these different events. joe biden is stumping in pennsylvania today. meantime there's an unexpected embattle going on in georgia, a state that democrats would love to flip. it could be within striking distance for the biden campaign. just a few points separate the two candidates, based on our polling average. that's why kamala harris is

campaigning there today. grammy winning rapper common is with us now. his new album came out on friday. common, it's great to have you here. i know a lot of people care about what you have to say. you've been listening to so many people trying to ramp up enthusiasm. i want to start there in georgia, a state that hasn't gone blue since 1992. do you think democrats can flip that state this year? >> i do. thank you for having me. georgia was energized. it was inspiring to see the people from all walks of life. i got to sit and meet with senate candidate rafael warknock and jon osoff. it was a beautiful picture of what america can be. this is a black man and white

man, both thinking about all communities, and they were working together thinking about, what is the vision for people in georgia, but also just america. it made me hopeful. i saw people from, you know, like from the most -- some of the most poor neighborhoods still coming out aware, and talking about voting. they were talking about issues. you know, of course, there are some people who -- one of the reasons i'm out there is to encourage those who don't feel a part of this process, to feel a part of of it, to feel empowered. absolutely. we mentioned that kamala harris will be there today. former president obama will be there tomorrow. how important is it for his return to the campaign trail these days? >> i think president obama has truly served as a beacon of light, a leader. i always talk about the demeanor of the country, the aura and

energy of the country is just in a greater place, these past for you years have shown dissension, no party what party you're from, we can all acknowledge these haven't been the best times for america. that being said, president obama has a lot of presence. he's speaking that truth. he's saying the truth, and he understands -- the one thing i always loved about president obama, you could tell he cares for everybody. he listened to everybody. i really do believe that joe biden and kamala harris are on that path. they are taking into consideration, from just talking, me having conversations with them, just always hearing them speak to criminal justice reform, hearing them speak to health care, coming up with a plan with a country that's dealing with a pandemic, people losing their lives, and coming up, creating jobs for everyday

people, they're on the path of what they were working to create. it's great to see him out doing it. i think he represents the togetherness of this country. >> black voter turnout dipped in 2016, compared to what they saw when they were turning out the vote for president obama. based on the early voting this year, it looks to be surging again. why do you think that is? >> we saw so many injustices going on from the killings of george floyd to breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery, many other names, i think we understood that the protests mean something. speaking out means something, but the act of voting is the next step to change the situation. i think we really started to connect, make that connection, and people just want better.

we want better for our lives, and better for our communities, better for our families, and there are candidates speaking to it, you know, like in georgia, when i spoke of rafael warnock, but then in south carolina you have jamie harrison, so you have people i think black voters and brown voters can actually say, oh, this person is actually thinking about, considering us, speaking to things that we -- that will affect our lives. i just think there's a charge going on right now, the country wants better. thank you f . >> thank you, too, for what you're doing. we appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me. blessings. join us for special live coverage the way only cnn can about ink it bring it to you.

election night in america, our special coverage starts tuesday at 4:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. both biden and trump are using the final hours of the campaign to scramble for any last-midge votes, but 48 hours out, who has a better path to victory? we'll check in with mark preston. at university of phoenix, relevant life experience and eligible transfer credits can help you earn your degree faster and for less. see how much you can save at phoenix.edu. car vending machines and buying dea car 100% online.vented. now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car,

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will walk you through your options, answer any questions you have and help you enroll over the phone. plans with a zero dollar monthly plan premium are available in many areas. call now and we'll also send this free guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare. welcome back. these are live images right now. the president, who just landed in dubuque, iowa, is gearing up to talk to supporters there. it's a chilly day. we'll listen in and bring it to you shortly. meantime, he's been ramping up his attacks on mail-in ballots. in pennsylvania yesterday, where he had four events. he appeared to reference the supreme court's decision to allow that state to count mail-in ballots received up to three days after, as long as they're post-marked by november 3rd. >> if we win on tuesday or --

thank you very much, supreme court -- shortly thereafter. >> okay. i want to bling in cnn's senior political analyst mark preston. say the president doesn't need the help of the supreme court here. what does his past to victory look like? >> this is the map as we see it. a record number of votes have been cast. they haven't been counted. there a possibility we may not have a winner announced on tuesday night/wednesday morning. everyone needs to calm down. the map will fill in, election officials will get us there. where does donald trump go from here? well, he's got a tough road ahead of him. if you look right here, here is his path to victory in 2016. now he's in a bit of trouble right now florida no longer a surety thing, georgia, texas, no longer sure thins, north carolina, pennsylvania,

michigan, wisconsin, iowa, where he is right now, and then we go all the way out to arizona. along where he drops right there. for the purpose of this exercise. let's give him texas, donald trump is going to within a republican red state, up to 183, down to florida, democrats are bullish, but they're still cognizant of the fact this could still be a republican state. georgia, he'll be in a state he shouldn't have to be in, now up to 220. now look at the map where we are right now. he got a good poll out of iowa yet, still short. where does he go? well, where did he go today? we saw mike pence in north carolina as well. if he wins that state, 249, again, what's left? what's left is the midwest right here and over here in arizona, where we see donald trump jr.

campaigning there today. so for donald trump to cross the 270 threshold, he doesn't get there. he neither one of these other states. that's donald trump's path. now a very quick path for him, i have to say. where does joe biden go? give him the same map. florida now, georgia being on the table, north carolina. pennsylvania, mish goo, wisconsin, iowa and arizona. where does jobe joe biden go from here? even if he doesn't pick up florida and doesn't pick up georgia, he still has a viability path. he could pick up north carolina, pennsylvania, and then here we go right here, if he were to pick up wisconsin, he wins. michigan, he could win as well. this is not even getting us out west to arizona, which a lot of people are talking about.

>> thank you very much for breaking it down. as we go to break right now, live pictures of trump's rallies in iowa, the second of five stops today. stay with us, you're watching cnn's countdown to the election. tired of overpaying for your prescriptions? try optum perks. it's a new way to save up to 80%. and everyone can do it. it's from optum, a health care company that's trusted by millions of people. you don't have to sign up for anything. just go to optumperks.com. and get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. that's it. i opted in. i opted in. you can, too. opt in and save big today.

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it is the final push before the election. president trump has an ambitious agen agenda. this is in dubuque, iowa, before he heads to three mother states this afternoon. with all eyes on the presidential race, it's important it remember the stakes are high. harry, which party has the advantage of these senate races as we head into election day? >> it's a close call, but i do think the democrats have an advantage. the forecast is to get up to 51 seats. i will know this race remains resident the margin of error. >> where are the best chances?

republicans will problem the most likely pickups in arizona and north carolina. north carolina could be really the telling states. right now, what you're looking at, with the four best pickup chances, in all the states, you also see joe biden leading, which indicates the republican senators will not be able to escape. of course, these are all polls. >> those are four states you're highlighting, but you say they have a chance to pick up more. >> there's a slew of seats right now there is two seats up, montana, kansas, which are close

calls, but -- >> unfortunately yesterday the coronavirus is raging. we just had the global world record for daily case count. do you think that might affect the map? >> it absolutely could. in all the states, the ten best pickup chances, the cases are climbing. there does seem to be some linkage where coronavirus cases are climbing, democrats do tend to do better in the polls. we'll have to wait and see, but i think it will have some effect. >> get ready, drink lots of coffee. i think we'll have a lot of work ahead of us in the next phi days and potentially weeks. from the texas supreme court it's just denied a republican-led petition to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in the houston area. cnn's ed lavandera is going to fill us in.

>> reporter: this case stems from the voting you see here at one of these ten locations across houston. these are the drive-thru voting locations that have been set up in harris county. in all there are ten similar locations across the county. republicans have been trying to set aside the 127,000 votes that were cast in these types of locations across the county during the three-week early voting period. they've been trying to get the vote set aside, kept out of the overall total, but the texas supreme court has ruled here this afternoon that they have dismissed this effort by republicans to set aside these drive-thru votes that have been cast here in harris county. this is being celebrated by chris hollins, the harris county clerk overseeing elections, one of the people who ease spearheading this effort who has been in his words very popular

here in harris county, but this isn't the independence of this issue right now. those republicans have also filed a similar case in federal court. there's an emergency hearing scheduled for monday morning, where those lawyers and those republicans will continue to try to article their case that they feel this is an improper way of voting here. they're essential acrossing chris hollins of breaking texas election law, but so far the courts have not sided with these republicans. as of now, those votes seem to be protected and will continue to move forward. throat a great of concern over what will happen with the 127,000 votes cast in these drive-thru locations. a little over 1.4 million people cast their ballots here early in harris county, so these drive-thru ballots represent almost 10% of the overall early vote total here in harris county. >> and the early vote total has

just been tremendous there in texas, already surpassing the total number of votes cast in 2016 in that state. ed lavandera, thank you. joe biden is about to speak in pennsylvania, a state that could rely decide the election. we'll go there live. i want to bring you more live pictures of president trump's rally in iowa, his second of five stops of the day. you're watching cnn's coverage countdown to the election.

thanks for being with us. i'm an aa could in new york. you're watching special coverage with countdown to the election. let's be clear, the time to change hearts and minds in this race is all but over. now it's all about getting out the vote. we are seize a frenzy on the campaign trail.

any moment joe biden is set to speak in the critical state of pennsylvania, one of two events he has planned there today. president trump is in iowa, one of five states he's visiting. the others are michigan, north carolina, georgia and florida. those are all big battleground states. any of them could help decide the winner. we start in pennsylvania where the biden campaign is putting all their chips on the table. the company campaign team will be in that state tomorrow. mj lee is joining us from philadelphia. tell us more about the emphasis on pennsylvania. >> reporter: we are seeing how in these final 48 hours pennsylvania is really the focus of the biden campaign. we just saw the biden motorcade pull up to the baptist church behind me, so we have see the former vice president any minute now. the biden campaign also just

announcing how the campaign will be fanned out across the spire state of pennsylvania tomorrow. listen to this. biden will be in beaver county with union and labor leaders tomorrow. also a drive-in event in pittsburgh with the african-american community, then end the final day in pittsburgh, which is symbolically pont. you may require that his first campaign event was also in pittsburgh. a lot of symbolic important, and of course political important, the campaign very much knows that the path to victory to 270 could very well likely run through the midwest. >> donald trump narrowly won pennsylvania in 2016, edging out by 44,000 or so votes, less than one percentage point. does biden's victory have to run through the rustbelt?

>> reporter: no, they've been emphasizing that they don't necessarily need to have that path run through the rustbelt. they are saying one of the things they feel most confident about, they feel multiple ways of getting to the 270 electoral votes. they say that's why they're investing in states like texas, georgia, north carolina. i should know the final two states is exactly where kamala harris is campaigning today. >> thank you, m.j. lee. right now president trump is speaking in iowa. let's listen in. >> how about the supreme court ruling, where the supreme court -- no, this was not good. the supreme court gave them more time, more time. so what does this mean? does this mean we wait? so it's not november 3rd?

it will be much later than then. we should know the result of the election on november 3rd, the evening of november 3rd. that's the way it's been and that's the way it should be. what's going on in this country? what's going on? we believe that every child is a sacred gift from god. biden and harris will eliminate the private health insurance plans of 180 million americans. their socialist takeover will ration care and force you on to endless waitlists. you know what we've done by the way for the military is incredible. we've gotten rid of the waitlist for our veterans. our opponents to pack the supreme court with far-left justices. we're into the voting now. it's ridiculous -- by the way, i like election day. most of you, too. who will vote on election day.

okay. who's already voted? okay. and you sent ballots in? be careful with your ballots. just be careful with your battle. i don't know. other opponents would pack the court. remember, a lot of people have -- peg of those mail-in ballots. we have breaking news that could put mail-in ballots at risk. with just two days to go, the u.s. postal service is reporting a -- and some battleground states are among those seeing the worst of it. tom foreman, how much of an impact could this have? >> reporter: well, if this race is as close as some people might think it might be, it could make a big difference. all it tay is a few thousands ballots not showing up where they should be, but look at what we're seeing in the delays in central pennsylvania, 62% are

moving on time. in atlanta, 64%. in northern new england, 64%. it's under 90% in arizona, michigan, wisconsin, minnesota, north carolina, parts of texas, florida and pennsylvania. that last list there, all those in the end, we're talking about just a fistful of battleground states which really could be key in deciding this race. i will say, ana, this is precisely what many democrats were worried about, that the postal service would not be reliable here. the postal service says basically they're dealing with chronic understaffing. there having flags raised about the pandemic. the bottom line is, whatever the reasons, in about half the states, if the ballots don't arrive by election day, even if

they were posted three weeks ago, they don't count. so look at the states we're talking about, look at the idea that a bunch of battle could show up posted two weeks ago, three weeks ago, and they simply don't get counted. if this is a close race, this could be a very big deal. >> tom foreman, thank you. there was a federal judge order just this weekend, ordering the postal service to take extraordinary measures to go above and beyond to get the ballots moving. in the meantime, let's discuss with cnn senior political analyst john avalon and margaret hoover. i want to go back to where the campaigns are today. joe biden could be campaigning anywhere two days before the election, but he's in philadelphia, a reliably blue city. tomorrow he'll continue in pennsylvania, what does all of that tell you? >> well, first of all,

pennsylvania is the keystone state, laterally, in this campaign. if he can flip it, it guarantees a biden win. philadelphia should be a democratic given. the issue is turnout. that's where hillary clinton got hurt. will turnout by sufficiently high. the fact that he's campaigning in cleveland and ohio, that's a different message. no one thought ohio would be in place at the beginning of this year. now a lot of folks they it might be. you see the rest belt core that surrounds the blue wall. >> marg cigarette, trump is all over the place, what do you make of that strategy, hitting five different states rather than just focusing on maybe one or two key states? >> well, both campaigns know they're essential five battleground states in this

election. trump frankly needs to win all of the states he won last time, and he basically has to told. he's blitzing, frankly, ana, because he personally doesn't have money in his campaign coffers and he's trying to drum up the earned media to turn out numbers. the strategy has never been to expand the tend, so he has to rely on his core supporters in all of those states to turn out. >> and he obviously is counting on his family to help bring those voters out, with ivanka just joining him -- policy legitima -- apologies for interrupting. >> there's one thing to say relatability to rustbelt voters, it's ivanka trump. >> john, that's not fair.

they love the family as much as they love donald trump. let me tell you that will go over real well. >> forgive the snide on my left here. >> got to have some fun with here. there's so much stress going on. >> and now an fbi investigation regarding that ugly scene involving the trump supporters swarming a biden campaign bus on the highway. the fbi now investigating, and rnc chair was asked about this on "face the nation" this morning. take a listen. >> the president tweeted out a version of this video yesterday. what is your response to that? that appears to be an act of intimidation being endorsed. >> you know, i haven't seen that part of the video. i saw a bit of the trump supporters surrounding the bus. certainly you don't want harm and we shouldn't be hurting

other people. the president would not endorse that. >> guys, the president did endorse it. he again made light of it today, saying his supporters were protecting biden's bus, because they were nice. what's your reaction? >> i mean, look, there's a couple different flavors of trump denial, and one of which is when people say they're really stuck, well, i didn't see that. that's what we heard from the rnc chairman. there's no excuse for intimidation. he's got a pattern of endorsing that. so confronted with the facts, you simply say is i haven't heard the tape. >> frankly the video speaks for itself. that happened in texas, and another indense in north carolina yesterday people were marching to go vote. they were pepper sprayed by

police. i think these kind of events are the kind of things that in states like texas and north carolina that are very, very kl close, could make a difference. it doesn't break well for the trump campaign in terms of how they have played it in both states. >> but it's a tell perhaps for the kind of election -- >> -- pandemic at this moment. dr. anthony fauci slammed the white house coronavirus response, and that led to the white house actually lashing out at fauci. margaret, bad politician to get wrapped up in a feud with fauci? >> ana, every time they're talking about the coronavirus they're losing. every single time. if they're talking about the

economy, they're actually doing better. they had great economic numbers on friday. but instead they are so thin-skinned and so aware of their vulnerability, they can't let it go, so yes, not only is it a bad form who has an 60% of credibility and lifetime in his field, but all it does is remind people how poorly them managed this pandemic. >> margaret, john, i appreciate both of you. >> what she said. thank you. see you soon. >> thanks, ana. we're going to take a quick brake. we'll stand by, and in the meantime trump continues to speak at an event in iowa. wow, i wish i could get a deal on a smartphone, but i'm not a new customer. well, actually now, new and existing customers can get our best smartphone deal. it's historic. that is historic. which means... i'm making history, right? yea, i don't know if i'd exactly sa-

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through key battleground states. cnn correspondents are on the ground to bring you the latest. i want to start with bill weir in madison, wisconsin. what are you hearing from voters this time around? i'm curious if brett favre's recent endorsement of trump might have an effect? >> reporter: you have to get more credit to the hearty poll workers, help folks vote from their cars. there's about 1.87 million ballots that are already in here in wisconsin. just shattering all early sort of democracy early voting records right now. the interesting thing in this

state is they can't open a single one of those ballots under 7:00 a.m. so a lot of the smaller communities that may lean more red, they'll get their numbers in earlier. big cities, it may take them into wednesday to get thing done. he election mail was so slow that a federal judge in washington state this week ordered the postal service in wisconsin, the great lakes region to have a nightly sweep, starting tonight. if they find any balance, they must take extraordinary measures to get them in by tuesday night. during the primaries 23,000 were rejected because they forgot to sign the envelope. as you said, that was the difference four years ago. from a much warmer battleground state, let's go to drew griffin. >> reporter: much easier to vote

here in florida. beautiful weather. 8.7 million voters overall. what is a bit troubling to democrats at this moment is the gap between registered democrats and registered republicans showing up for the polls, has now narrowed that early voting for less than 100,000, though 1.8 million floridians saying they're not affiliated with any party. it's this enthusiasm gap that democrats are starting to see that has them a bit concerned, which is why events took place here in tallahassee. a souls to polls march, jill biden was here in tallahassee, there to kick off this march, in which several hundred people actually marched down directly from church service to polls to cast their ballots. you also have barack obama coming to south florida later on

i think tomorrow actually trying to get more of the minority voters out, which is where the democrats believe they're underreporting. big, big state here for donald trump. he has to win the 29 electoral votes basically to have any chance at the math, but in the meantime biden is trying to hold him off. we're going to go to alex fields up in pittsburgh -- i believe you're in pittsburgh, right, alex? >> reporter: i am instead in pittsburgh, in pennsylvania, where the candidates are spending a lot of times. both campaigns leaving everything on the field. president trump will be back in pittsburgh tomorrow. joe biden's team barnstorming the state tomorrow, with the recent announcement they're bringing in star power to try to close the deal. senator kamala harris will be

campaigning with john legend in philadelphia, and biden will be spending time here accompanied by none other than lady gaga. 20 electoral votes are on the line. this is a state trump flipped with just 44,000 votes. recent polls in pennsylvania show biden with a narrow lead, but nobody is leaving anything up to chance. well, patience will be required. nearly 3 million ballots have been requested. 2.4 have already been returned. some counties are saying they won't start county counting mail-in ballots until after the election.

if you want your mail-in ballot to count, you're being urged to drop it off. evan, what are you seeing? >> reporter: greetings from where the swingier parties of new england, and i'm talking about maine's 2nd congressional district. even if a candidate wins the state, another candidate can pick up one electoral vote here in this congressional district. donald trump did that in 2016, the first candidate to do it in now, president obama won auburn, maine b.r by more than 2,000 votes, but president trump won it by just 29 votes in 2016. so turnout is important we're seeing a huge interest in absentee voting. and i spoke to the town clerk

while she was tallying battle. we got a look at that about the extra workload this year. >> it's been extremely, extremely busy. absentee applications became available 90 days before the election, and we were getting hundreds of requests daily. i feel like we're, you know, we're living history, but it's extremely stressful. all of my staff, we've been working late nights, 10, 12-hour days for probably about a good month. and we're working weekends. >> reporter: just amazing dedicated people at the assembly line of democracy there in the town hall here in auburn. we won't know who won those votes until the close of physical polls on tuesday night. they're tallies them, but don't release the numbers until that

night. we know that both of the candidates have been here. we've seen dr. jill biden here last week, president trump made a stott here. it's an important stop. thank you all. we are almost there after a race like no other race ends here. join us from the first votes to the critical count, understand what's happening in your state and across the country. election night in america, our special coverage start tuesday at 4:00 p.m. eastern. zuckerberg: i really just care about building something that my

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joe biden is set to hold a get out the vote event any moment now, but it's not just a fight foe those states cnn's center political analyst mark preston is back with us. biden's campaigns believes that winning back to say voters may give him the clearest path sending it could be remaking politics as we know it. but let me start with this. as you said, ana, we spent so much time focusing here in the midwe midwest.

but that's not the only path. right now not only did we see donald trump up in michigan, but donald trump went to what will be north carolina, georgia, in florida today as well. what's interesting about that, democrats have won florida only four times since 1976. and by the way two of the times were the former governor, jimmy carter. . up in north carolina, it's only been two times. think about that. you have donald trump on the defensive, but not only in these three states, but texas as well. one time since 1976 have democrats won texas. that again was in the carter years. let's just out to arizona as well. another state that democrats have not won -- or rather, have only won one time since 1976. so you're clearly seeing donald trump on the defensive.

he's in rome, georgia, this afternoon, a very conservative part of the state, we've seen the senate candidate step out of a debate and just decide to go with donald trump to appear at this rally. why are they concerned? just look at the polls. this is unheard of sought this point of the juncture this is to tie in, as we talk about the news we have seen out of texas while look at this reason why, in texas, the 2016 vote, compared to now -- they are now almost 10% where they were four years ago. for democrats, that is very good, and we're seeing that in these other states as well. ana? >> my gosh, it's so exciting and

i think a lot of people feel anxiety about what is coming on election night. mark preston, thank you for outlining the pathways. it's not just who wins the election, businesses and major cities are boarding up, bracing for what may come after election day. but first here is christine romans with what investors will be watching for. christine? hi, ana. wall street is on edge ahead of the election frankly. investors are worried there will be no definitive winners. delays in counting ballots could cause uncertainty which wall street hates. the big fear is whether the pandemic derails the fragile economic recovery. hear about that on wednesday when the federal reserve meetings. a chances for a deal in a

lame-duck selling are uncertainly. in september, the economy added 661,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate stood at 7.9%. sales are down from last quarter but we are hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uh... boss: doug? sorry about that. umm...what...its...um... boss: you alright? [sigh] [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has powerful, easy-to-use tools to help you find opportunities, 24/7 support when you need answers plus some of the lowest options and futures contract prices around. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today.

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unlike ordinary memory want supplements-ter? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. we're continuing to follow some breaks news. the fbi is investigating the alleged harassment of a biden campaign bus in texas. here's the video of the incident. you can see a caravan of trump supporters appears to surround this bus as it traveled from san antonio to austin. this was on friday. and people in this so-called trump train shouted obscenities,

blo blo blockaded the entire entourage. john, why would the fbi be involved? >> it's unclear what their specific role is. the law enforcement says that they're investigating this incident. it's unclear if there's a standalone federal investigation into criminal law or whether the fbi is there to assist local authorities in their investigation, but we know that fbi resources are involved, investigating the circumstances surrounding this. we know based on some of that video, the bus is traveling up the i-35 cordon when it was swarmed by vehicles with trump 2020 flags. based on this volunteer vehicle trailing the bus.

they were not -- saw some real damage on that vehicle. it appears to be very dangerous move by some of these supporters that were trailing that bus. at one point, a source tells our campaign team that the bus had slowed down to 20 miles an hour on the interstate and these trump vehicles, and nearly 100 of them slowed down in the, the staffers were rattled, there were no injuries. as far as the fbi's part, it's also worth pointing out that they have weed jurisdiction when it comes to investigating election-related matters, voter suppression. we also know from our sources that there was one candidate on the bus for the u.s. house of representatives, so another federal nexus there. and then finally, ana, the president has not addressed the fbi's role in investigating the circumstances surrounding this bus incident, but he did try to put his own spin on the events.

of course, this is a president who has campaigned on a law-and-order message. remarkably trump is klaining that his supporters there in texas were actually trying to protect that bus, which is obviously a claim that does not conveyor with reality based on what we can see on video. it's instances like that that have many cities and states planning for unrest. brynn, what are the concerns? >> there are major stores here in new york city and also flagship locations, the empire state building, macy's bloomingdale's, soho, all boarding up days before the election. we saw this in the aftermath of the george floyd murder, and

this is certainly unprecedented. we'rele learning that consulting firms for security, they've been getting call the from businesses about how to protect their companies. within the last couple weeks, those calls have spiked up, and we're -- how to handle worst-case scenarios. of course, law enforcement has been preparing for this election. there's a coordination between local, state and federal agencies to handle all sorts of scenarios. actions taken by extremist groups, and law enforcement has been practices really for weeks on this, and of course as josh was sort of noting, you know, the rhetoric has bumped up. we've seen it for quite a while, but certainly as we head into this election. we've seen it online, in

political arenas, particularly heightened by the president. that's -- as well, and really there's an anxiety. i can tell you i've been talking to a lot of people who are just anxious for tuesday and what's going to happen after that. take a listen. >> i plan on definitely not leaving my apartment. i just don't know how people are going to react. i don't want riots or people to get hurt. i just want everybody to be safe and i don't know if that's going to happen. >> tensions are high on both sides. it's sad, in general, that we're so worried about this and people's reactions. >> reporter: one source tells me in new york it's not a battleground state, hopefully just a protest and not serious unrest. the battleground states, that's where we could see a lot of activity. we have to wait to tuesday. >> everybody needs to remember we have control over how we

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welcome back. i want to take you now to kinston, north carolina, where we just heard from kamala harris. >> there's a lot at stake for north carolinians. we're here to make sure we're listening to folks, being present. i'm looking forward to being in the state both in obviously some of the biggers cities, but also in the rural areas. there are people there who are important, must be seen and must be heard. >> reporter: the president has reportedly told his advisers that he's prepared to prematurely call victory if he's ahead in certain states. are you concerned about that? how would the campaign respond? he does something like that? >> first, with he plan to decisively within this election.

i don't think we need to get to that point. >> reporter: do you think traveling to places like georgia, the vice president going to ohio, is one of the reasons why the states are prepared to call the election more on election night? >> we've been traveling all over the country. it is because we truly know that people in these various states have so much at stake, and they deserve to literally be sees and heard. we've been all over the country, >> reporter: what are the president's thoughts on prematuring declaring victory -- >> i've already spoken to that. >> senator, do you have any thoughts about a march to the polls rally in north carolina being pepper sprayed by police yesterday? >> i don't know a lot about it. >> yeah. there is a rally in graham, north carolina, where protesters were marching to the polls on the last day of early voting, and it was -- they took a moment of silence in the street and

graham police pepper sprayed them. it's unclear how many actually made it to the polls on that day. >> well, listen, i think it's very important that everyone be able to vote and without any hindrance, without any intimidation, without any obstacles. again, there's too much at stake. and we want to preserve everyone's right to be able to be heard through their vote this election. >> great. thank you, everyone. sorry, would ever got to go. see you at the event. >> from north carolina now to p pennsylvania. you're looking at joe biden about to take the stage in philadelphia. we'll bring that to you live as soon as that happens. the u.s. is still setting staggering records for the pandemic. white house coronavirus adviser dr. scott atlas is trying to downplay the worsening situation, but not here in the united states for an american audience. he's going to kremlin-controlled propaganda tv network rt.

>> lockdowns have been one of -- will go down as an epic failure of public policy by people who refuse to accept they were wrong, were wrong, refuse to accept they were wrong, didn't know the data, didn't care and became a frenzy of stopping covid-19 cases at all costs. those costs are massive. >> dr. atlas has since apologized for doing that interview, tweeting in part that he was unaware they are a registered foreign agent. a source adds, the white house did not clear atlas' appearance. that brings us to our presidential weekly briefing will national security analyst, samantha, a national security adviser in the obama administration. first off, what should we know about rt? >> talk about payday for putin. seriously, at this point it looks like vladimir putin has a russian asset broadcasting live from within the white house compound. scott atlas engaged with and contributed content to a russian

foreign agent without disclosing those contacts or coordinating on his outreach. at a minimum, he looks like an unwitting russian asset. he provided other ammunition to our adversary as well. rt is a registered russian foreign agent based on the intelligence community's assessment that rt serves as the principle international propaganda outlet for the kremlin. the ic also assessed that rt works to undermine faith in the u.s. government. scott atlas certainly helped them accomplish those missions today. i mean, his appearance itself was rife with misinformation that the kremlin will likely weaponize against americans. his apology rested on the incompetence of himself and the white house. that certainly undermines credibility in the u.s. government. so, overall, scott atlas checked a lot of boxes on putin's to-do list today. >> we saw those images of businesses boarding up in anticipation of civil unrest. how real is the risk of physical violence? >> this is a historically

dangerous election cycle, ana. the department of homeland security has warned that violence related to government measures to respond to covid-19 and protests this summer asser baiting the typical election season environment. there are multiple physical flash points. voter intimidation is a real risk. not only because president trump has cheered on his supporters who violently harassed the biden bus in texas. and the trump team has deployed an army of poll watchers all around the country. that could lead to more confrontation. at the same time, voting sites, campaign gatherings and related areas are soft targets. the inspector general assessed there have not been adequate measures to respond to physical security risks and domestic terrorism. anti-government protesters and lone wolves are a primary risk. and the longer that it takes to certify voting results and the

results of the elections writ large and trump's potential refusal not to accept those results ups the ante in terms of violence. we know anti-government extremists, for example, are already fueled up and foreign adversaries will undoubtedly try to exacerbate unrest to sow chaos. this is the perfect storm for multiple physical threats. >> we appreciate your expertise. let's go back live to the president speaking in iowa. >> our beautiful military. we have made america wealthy again. we have made america strong again. we have made america proud again. we have made america safe again. and we will make america great again! thank you, iowa! thank you, wisconsin! thank you, wisconsin. thank you, everybody. i hope it's cold enough for you. thank you, everybody. have a good time. get out and vote.

♪ >> now i want to take you to joe biden taking it is stage in philadelphia. >> reminded us, freedom is not a state. freedom is an act. we have to defend it. we have to vote. this is the most important election of our lifetimes. we're at an inflection points so we have to vote like we never did before. every day, every day's i new reminder of how high the stakes are, of how far the other side will go to try to suppress the turnout. especially here in philadelphia. president trump is terrified of what will happen in pennsylvania. he knows the people of pennsylvania get to have their say. if you have your say, he doesn't stand a chance.

but the american people, the american people will not be silenced. over 90 million people have already voted. already voted. they've had enough. they've had enough. there's too much on the line to sit it out. but we only have two more days, two more days we can put an end to this presidency that is from the very beginning sought to divide us, to tear us apart. folks, in two days, we can put an end to a president that says, fail to protect this nation. in two days, we can put an end to a presidency that fanned the flames of hate, poured gasoline on every opportunity he had, all across this nation. . as i said, millions of americans have already voted. millions more will vote in the two days ahead, but there's still a lot of pennsylvanians that haven't voted yet, and we

need every single one of you to get out and vote on tuesday. my message is simple, pennsylvania is critical in this election. i live in delaware, but i'm a pennsylvania boy. born in scranton. i want to tell you, the last time donald trump ran, he won this state by 44,000 votes. so, every single vote matters. the power, the power to change this country is literally in your hands. i don't care how hard donald trump tries, there is nothing, nothing he's going to do to stop this nation from voting no matter what he tries. [ horns honking ] >> folks, when americans vote, america will be heard. when america's heard, i believe the message is going to be loud

and clear. it's time for donald trump to pack his bags and go home! [ horns honking ] >> it's time to bring some life back into this nation. we're done. we're tired of the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility. we've got a lot of work to do. if i'm elected your president, we're going to do it and we're going to act and we're going to start from the very first day. we're going to act to get -- we're going to act to get covid under control. it's almost criminal the way he has handled it. on day one of my presidency, i'm going to put in action a plan i've been talking about for months, masking, social distancing, testing, tracing, a plan for full and fair and free distribution of therapeutics, vaccines, when we get one.

a plan to address the disproportionate way this virus has been hitting and devastating the black community across america. [ horns honking ] >> folks, every single day we're seeing race-based disparities in every aspect of this virus. higher infection rates, lower access to testing, harder time quarantining safely, lower access to quality treatment when you become infected, and tragically, higher mortality rates. three times as many african-americans are dying as white americans. when they get the virus. one in 100 black americans -- excuse me, 1 in 1,000 black americans have died from covid-19. and if we don't change between

now and january, it's estimated 1 in 500 by the end of this pandemic. that is a mass casualty event in the black community. and it's totally unnecessary, totally uncalled for. my public health plan will ensure the needs of communities that are being hit the hardest by this virus are a priority, not an after-thought. we'll have to plan to get our economy back on track. not to get back to where we were, but to build back better, to make sure everyone is dealt in on a full-scale share of the american dream. we're going to address systemic racism. the blinders have been taken off. the american people have seen, they've seen how bad things