baked in with hillary after 24 or 30 years. the republican attack machine has done a good job. on the flipside, donald trump did a good job of defining himself which has been pretty negative so yes, people have concerns with secretary clinton but at the end of the day in florida as will be in the country, i think there's certainly more comfortable with somebody who's reliable and has the right temperament and i think that will make this a more obvious choice. we are closing in to fewer and fewer undecideds. >> host: what do you think could make the difference for hillary clinton's campaign in florida? what will it be and where could that happen? >> guest: suburban women. out of republicans, there are a few left. it's going to come down to two factors, how good is the turnout in south florida,

dade, broward and palm beach and in the i-4 corridor which is a swing area running from tampa to orlando through the east coast. i think there there are a lot of swingvoters, a lot of independents and i would bet we will win florida , a very close race. but because people just say i can't trust donald trump, specifically women. >> host: let's get to patricia who's in dade city florida, you're on the air. >> caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i've listened to this whole thing this morning and i must admit i am born and raised in the city of new york and i have all kinds of experience with wall street and how people are and so on and so on. both candidates to me represent money and more money. the problem is that money trumps this whole election cycle more than it ever has in my life and i'm an older female. i also one of these people who supported bernie sanders

and i'll be honest with you, i'm not a hillary supporter and god help me, never a trump supporter but on the other hand i couldn't throw my vote away so i had to vote for her. i had to. there again i still don't have the faith in her that i should as a staunch democrat andi've been a democrat my whole life . the divide between myself and my family is phenomenal because they are republicans and their younger than i am. but what i see in florida is devastation. there was a piece put out in the newspaper locally here last sunday, the state of anxiety. well, people need jobs. do i have faith in her? i don't. do i have faith in him? of course, if you wants to pay the minimum wage or not pay you at all.

so as a voter, a registered voter, a democrat in the state of florida, i have a very very difficult time even believing half of anything that comes out here because it's not true. >> host: patricia, hang on the line. and mister caesar, what do you say to patricia? how do you convince her that she should have faith in hillary clinton? >> guest: let me say that i've gone through a lot of presidential cycles and i've had disagreements for many years with republican nominees philosophically but i would never really be so concerned about how it would negatively affect the stock market, the world and so forth. this is the first time in my entire life that i've ever been genuinely scared because of the candidacy of donald trump. maybe a candidate is supposed to scare somebody like me but i think it scares most people regardless of whether they are republicans, democrats or independents. i think secretary clinton as the right temperament and she

is a consistent, the consistency of her service. donald trump has no background and he clearly shows himself as he did in the debate to be kind of a petulant child, an 11-year-old that really can't control his emotions and runs to twitter.we have to have somebody who's respected worldwide. i don't think donald trump is capable of that. i applaud you for your dedication for being the only democrat in your family . but i think secretary clinton offers a consistency where donald trump not only switches positions as we all know but you will switch it multiple times in the same day. you can't have apresident like that. someone has to leave the country and lead the world. we have to have steadiness and i think secretary clinton offers that . >> host: patricia, are you still there?

i think we lost her. we will go to flow who's in eastliverpool ohio. flow, good morning. you are on the air with mister caesar in florida, go ahead . >> caller: thank you. i've been wanting to do this for days now. i want you to know i don't like either one of them as far as winning for president. i think hillary should be in jail, not running for president. that's my opinion and i think everybody ought to vote for a party, not for the person because luke you're going to get. you're going to get obama again, obamacare and everything that you do. i just think i stop and think about it, i can't even do it. there's going to be people that's going to help him through it and forget what he says. that's my opinion. >> host: mister caesar, what's your reaction? >> guest: first let me thank the caller, she lives in another swing state, i think you said it was ohio.i

think people are just very tired. the one universal sentiment i get from everybody i is they are excited it's almost over. i think the candidates would agree on that. i think they said it's at the house smith dinner and that was totalagreement which is rare on anything these days. a lot of people are frustrated. the economy, the stock market, the unemployment rate is decent but a lot of people have been left out of the economy . there's no question the secretary clinton has talked about that for a long time and that's why she's trying to appeal to young people, not only to make college tuition free in the context of those were making less, the families making less than $125,000 but that's also helping to spur the economy. she's been very specific about the program. donald trump has not. he talked in broad generalities when he doesn't get sidetracked and he's only reading off the teleprompter but he's honestly offered no

specifics. if you're going to spend or do something you have to show where it comes from. he's never done that. it's all broad messages. secretary clinton has been consistent. >> host: randy is in amsterdam new york, your next. >> caller: good morning. i'm a victim of hillary clinton's economic plan anyway. she promised 1000 new jobs and work and never could deliver but my question is if your guest can tell me how the clinton campaign reimburses america for sending obama out on the campaign trail, who's paying for that? >> host: mister caesar, do you know as a member? >> guest: i can give you a free educated guess, it's not paid by taxpayers. that money for air force one

and all the other pieces are paid usually by the democratic national committee traditionally. it may come from another front but it's absolutely not paid by taxpayers. >> campaign event has to be reimbursed. is that correct? pj, you are on twitter and you have this. he says that when four vice presidential running mate tim kane, the senator from virginia was in florida, only 30 people showed up to see him . tj on twitter says there's testimonial from people in florida saying the crowds are in the thousands, tens of thousands for donald trump and a lot less for hillary clinton when they hold their respective rallies in the state. >> i don't know of any rally that there were 30 people for a senator tim kane. i just don't know of any place unless it's a small meeting, i've not heard that before at all. yes, donald trump gets bigger crowds.

he also gets people who go to the same type of events in different pieces of florida and frankly, crowds are a measurement but they're not a major measurement. if there were, with all due respect, bernie sanders would be the democratic nominee. it's a situation where there are different venues, different things, different needs, especially once you are the nominees so i'm honestly not aware of the specifics to the caller questions but i could tell you that crowd size like anything else is valuable, it's a great adrenaline thing. it just doesn't guarantee success. >> host: pensacolaflorida, lynn, good morning .>> caller: good morning. bernie would have been the nominee of if the system wasn't great but i've got news for mitch, trump is going to win florida and nobody respects a liar. >> host: glenn, before you go to mark.

>> host: i'm still here. >> host: why do you think donald trump will win florida, what can you point to? >> caller: nobody wants to vote for hillary over here. >> host: caesar? >> guest: well, i do think it will be very close. in the last 24 hours there have been tuples about florida, one showed trump by three yesterday, another one showed hillary up by four today. the bottom line is it's very close, closer than the margin of error. that's why florida is the ultimate swing state. i do have to say as i did before, florida is at least three different states. south florida is more like the northeast, central florida is like the midwest and north florida is like the south. pensacola has been eerie democratic where the caller lives and he's correct when he says he's not going to do great in the panhandle.i think that's true and that's given. to that margin just like

south florida in that margin, exactly the reverse situation so yes, a lot of times south florida has to make up from the democratic perspective thevote tally in the panhandle .>> host: it's been noted by reports that florida has become less white by three percentage points. that tends to advantage democrats. where will you see that play out in florida?>> you certainly won't see it in the panhandle. you will see it to some extent in south florida but you will see it mostly in central florida, mostly with folks who are of puerto rican descent or hispanics in general and that's around the greater orlando area. a lot of people there in the hospitality business, a lot of people flock therefore work with disney world, universal and all that. you're going to see that in two or three or four key counties centered in the dead middle of the state with orlando as the nucleus. >> host: what about cuban-americans in florida? we were talking about it earlier.

there are no longer reliably republicans and they could be either no party affiliate or democrats. what was the impact of president obama's decisions to dissolve relations with cuba in florida? >> guest: >> host: it's helped democrats frankly, that's not the reason for it because it's a global initiative but i think it has the other humans like everybody else who's younger, it's a total blend. there definitely more progressive socially at least and the last poll i saw in miami-dade county was the greatest concentration of cubans more or less, certainly in florida, the race was a dead heat. it was a dead even race in the cuban community in dade county. that's not good for republicans and that's what folks are moderating and younger folks like the lifting of the embargo and the list lifting up so i think that's a growing trend.

you don't have to be an actuary to understand that some of the folks are getting old or in fortunately are not with us and the younger people are moving up and the demographic works as you said earlier in this context in the democrats favor. >> host: we will go to gainesville, stella. >> caller: hi, how are you. >> host: good morning. >> caller: i wanted to call in and talk about how this election has pulled my relationship apart with my fiancc because i am as an immigrant, a woman and a disabled person, he doesn't stand for anything that i am so i will definitely not be voting for him but my fiancc has gone to the dark side and has decided that his candidate. although he voted for obama twice. i was like, what happened? this election i'm definitely voting for clinton in and he stands for a lot more than what i am, that's what i

wanted to comment. >> host: stella, before you go, you make arguments to your fiancc about hillary clinton versus donald trump, why does he say he is going to vote for mister trump? >> host: i don't know what happened. somewhere, somehow he went from one side to another. i don't know if it's because he is a blue-collar male, a white male, he believes that's been a big part of it so i understand where he's coming from because him and all his friends see the same things so i do stand up and i do talk about hillary's position and why i'm voting for her . you know, it turns into this discussion that i find very difficult because when you are not talking to like-minded people, you can try to say as much as you want to read it's tough to convince anybody. >> host: why do you think democrats should lose that demographic of the blue-collar white male worker? >> guest: well, i think in

some sense that's been the democrats for a long time. i don't think we're losing them as bad as people think, secretary clinton is running very wellamong minorities, among whites . donald trump brings far behind the mitt romney numbers on almost every category including drugs. let me say with all the respect to our military based on analyses in, i want to thank her for her service for hanging in there.but you know what's interesting is every poll has shown and it's a microcosm of what she's experiencing, every poll has shown that america is getting more divided every day. it also shows sociologically that people are tending to socialize now much more with people that share their philosophy and don't socialize, a more clannish if you will and don't socialize with people who disagree with them. that's nationwide as a phenomenon, that's not good for america. it's a fact now and she is

kind of letting it. >> host: let's go to pennsylvania, john, good morning. >> caller: how are you doing today? i was listening to the last caller and i totally disagree and i'll tell you why. i think that hillary clinton stands for the muslim brotherhood considering the clinton foundation has taken many contributions and given many contributions to them. also, the iran deal , they say they were trying to pay bills or they were paying bills. $1.7 billion to the largest terrorist organization in the world. that's going to the muslim brotherhood, that's going to isis. let's be realistic here. george soros, you talk about the biggest conflict of interest in the world . george soros owns 16 percent or 16 states, owns the machines in 16 states. and you wonder why people talk about the election, you don't have to be stupid to

understand that. >> host: let's get your response to that. >> guest: i understand this dismay and frankly i feel like i'm talking with all due respect to a truck surrogate but everybody's entitled to their opinion. i don't find most of what you said to be factually correct and if you're referring to the money paid over, that was money we owed for a long time and it was scheduled and that was the payment date to begin. i know of no connection secretary clinton has to the muslim brotherhood in any way. that is frankly all far right talking points.that's for donald trump and and his campaign, those are people that are advising him. donald trump has tried hard to not tell the truth. he just doesn't. that's why he always complains about fact checkers. it has nothing to do with any disrespect to the caller but this is in effect be streamed

an chamber that's being done and it's been done for a long time so i don't fault the caller for his opinion at all. obviously that's what makes america great but most of that has never been factually proven to be correct. >> host: let me follow up on what the caller said about george soros and the voting machines. the washington post had a headline, george soros is voting machine. welcome to the third edition of the internet, a hail mary attempt which might cover the political means, blog posts and miscellany that everybody sees. it says that the one about george soros, at least a dozen fringe political blogs already have george soros, they claim he will rake the election with his electronic voting firm and one concerned voter petition congress to convene an emergency session. they say in the washing to

see a tenuous connection between george soros and the company and its actual owner sits on the board of the open society foundation, a trump organization founded by soros. soros has never worked for or had an ownership stake in this pacific firm though, it's quite traumatic. the viewer should go to washington post to read more. danny in monticello florida,hi danny. >> caller: how are you all doing in florida? >> host: what your question or comment ? >> caller: i just want to say what bernie sanders said at the convention . hillary, she's done a lot of good work over the years about some of these things that republicans are talking about her. trump has disgraced earth and they're saying that if you've been a democrat, this is what

people are supposed to be thinking about, it's about what she thought over the years. >> host: how many commercial ads are you saying, what's it like to be a florida voter? >> caller: i've always looked at both sides of things and i have voted republican in the past so that is all in the past but there's not a lot of ads on tv right now. there's been a few but not many here, they're not coming out yourreal fast . >> host: in monticello florida is where he was calling from but he's a swing voter and he says he has gone back and forth. how important is that swing voter to this hillary clinton campaign? >> guest: i think he's

critical and i think he becomes even more critical because he's calling from north florida which has traditionally been a republican bastian and he's indicative of a lot of people. the very fact that he's undecided and he's a male frankly in north florida, i think shows that donald trump has not closed the deal. sound like he's going to and i think it's up for grabs for secretary clinton. he's the type of voter that makes a difference whether we win or lose because it's that close.i do think where we are probably up in florida, clinton is by an inch but it's all about turnout, early voting, election day voting and also you may have to have to vote in before election day. so someone like the gentleman who just called, he's a late decider. i think he'scritical . >> host: did you hear the tweet from donna who says same here in florida. i will be definitely voting for hillary to and in parentheses, not the biggest fan of hers though. then she writes will vote straight ticket, what you think that means for down ballot and the senate race

with marco rubio the incumbent and congressman patrick murphy? >> i think that means everything and that's why hillary clinton is campaigning so hard in other states for down ballot people like patrick murphy area i actually spent a fair amount of the afternoon before the debate with him. latest poll shows he's down to and others show he's down for. the bottom line is he's down by a couple points, it's in the margin of error, very close. patrick himself as said many times he does not think he can win florida if hillary clinton does not win florida soap for somebody running straight ticket andof course the senate is the next thing on the ballot, not really far down, it's thesecond shot . it's critical.because he's a moderate democrat . he's progressive on a lot of social issues and frankly that's what florida really is, florida is a microcosm of the rest of the united states in addition to being three different states, sign of a personality as i talked about before so the fact that she's

going to go down ballot else everything because we are talking about not just a party, we are talking about philosophy and it's the philosophy that i believe is one thing with americans that donald trump envisions which is a dark, bleak place.>> given that what you just said, are you concerned, you think it was a mistake for the democratic senatorial campaign to not put more money behind patrick murphy. they taken money out of the state in the senate race. >> guest: on obviously not privy to what his strategy is nationally but considering as a floridian, it was a mistake . >> host: marie in homestead florida, good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> host: you are on the air marie, you've got to listento your phone, turn your television down . >> caller: okay. i am from haiti. and since i've been a citizen

since 1993 and never vote for no one. but this year i am a democrat. i'm a republican, i am independent. i'm making it in my mind to vote for hillary clinton. but when i see all this going on, especially in hate , it costs so much money from this convention and there's people in 80, the poorest country in haiti and he spends on coke, he's a liar. hillary clinton, she should not be the president of the united states . at that point i'm going to vote for trump. i'm not voting for half of

the people, i'm voting for the will of the people and for our country. i'm voting for the american people, they have proof vote for their conscience. hillary clinton is all talk, don't do nothing. >> host: marie, are you voting for donald trump or you said you're not voting for the president? >> caller: that's the first time in my life i'm voting for a president, i'm going to vote for donald trump because i know he says a lot of things about women, this is not about women. this is about the united states. the united states is down now. if donald trump can deal with isis, my son is in the army for a long time. he's been sent to iraq and everything and god be with him but what now is how many

people can work, it's donald trump. >> host: i want to get a response to what you heard from him. >> guest: donald trump has obviously shown no interest in minorities, totally no understanding of what it's like to grow up in that type of situation whether you are from haiti or you are from puerto rico or cuba or any well else. he's had no life experiences interest with that except maybe people he's hired in his company. to be honest with you, for lower exelon jobs. there's no evidence that minority has had a part in any trump organization. i think hillary clinton does understand, she came up from humble beginnings unlike donald and frankly i think she's long understood basedon her history , based on her adult history whether it's fighting for children and children's defense fund, whether it's voting for and fighting for minorities, her

whole history is replete with fighting for the type of folds that's reflective in the last call. donald trump is not. everybody has different reasons. a lot of americans are angry. unfortunately, some of the economy has left people out and secretary clinton talks about that but unfortunately we've seen a history of people voting against their own economic interests. and their own social interest. the caller may be doing but maybe other superseding reasons. >> william in merritt island florida, good morning. >> good morning and thank you for taking my call. i have a two-part question. i'm an undecided that's leaning towards trump. a lot of my friends in my area are doing the same thing . some of us voted for barack the first time and started seeing that the talk that he was talking was not following through so a lot of us left

the party and i guess my question is a two-part question and i need for you ma'am to help me with it because after the phone call i'm not going to be able to guide mitch back to the meat of the substance here and that is every time i hear someone proposing a question or a problem, just talking about about donald trump, they're never answering about hillary clinton and giving us the meat and i need to know three accomplishments, and jobs are not one of them, that hillary clinton has done in the last 20 years of her life in policy because i want very badly to vote for her but i cannot. the second thing is the media is the thing that's driving me further away from hillary is the media. the media isconstantly , constantly running over her

sins. if you guys would just deal with truths and talk about reality, i think you have a lot more people that voted for her. >> host: i want mistercaesar to respond to you . >> guest: i'll give you a couple of three off the top that i think are the most important.obviously after the horrible attacks in new york and 9/11, she was at the forefront of trying to help the responders, victims and be at the forefront of that entireissue. i think it's a very personal thing. she was a senator then . i think also quickly, secretary had a couple quick points. she worked part of the equation for osama bin laden which president bush had been hunting for a long time. she was part of the decision process which ultimately resulted in his death. i would say the secretary of state, various peace treaties

around the world and also raise i guess is a fourth thing, raised the vision nationally, internationally across the world about how america is perceived for democracy and human rights and that's just all the different things she's done legislatively for kids and different groups and women specifically. people forget when she was the first lady if you may not remember for accomplishments, when she went to the other side of the world to talk about women's rights and people's rights, that's one of the most important things in motion. it never happened. a lot of these things that she has done for her entire life are taken for granted now, almost like history doesn't count for the last 30 or 40 years. >> host: brad in florida, what's the name of your town brad? >> caller: gentleman. >> host: go ahead. >> caller: good morning. i just wanted to talk about the economy. wouldn't you say that's the most important pole and trump is winning? because she's helping, you

all talk about her helping global kids and kids, now you are talking about kids in inner cities, she knew she was running for president when she was secretary of state and still they didn't get no help and he's winning i think 55 to 40 in the economy because he wants americans back to work. i mean, could we do that first? and then worry about everything else? >> host: mister caesar? >> guest: as i said before, the stock market is better than it's ever been ever. the jobless rate is about five percent which is doing pretty well and on the negative side, a lot of people are left out of the economy, a lot of this change in technology. when donald trump says he wants to make america great again and what he's alluding to when he's in the midwest city is the fact that the factories are gone. that's a terrible thing and it's affected everybody but it's also the technology that's doing that.

and she's been through that and talked about that again with very specifics. donald trump talks in broad, easy tv soundbites but never once specifics. if you go on the website, a couple of dozen issues with great specificity. when she talks about providing help for college, she specifically talks about how there will be a tax increase for the upper percent where the money is coming from. she wasn't specific. donald trump just says i'm going to make it great again and leaves it at that. he started the campaign into a game show or reality show and that's fine for him and his candidacy that's not fine for the future of america . >> host: jonathan, boynton beachflorida . >> caller: high. my question is senator

sanders supporters seem to be so disenfranchised from the democratic party. i'm thinking he only ran as a democrat for fundraising purposes only. i'd like to hear his comments, thank you. >> guest: i'm not sure of the question. >> host: about bernie sanders supporters being disenfranchised from democrats area. >> guest: i don't think that's true. i understand the concern but i don't think that's true for two two reasons. you see senator sanders out on the campaign trail quite a bit. bernie does what he thinks is best and his motive is as much by politics then he wouldn't be on the trail for hillary clinton if he didn't believe it. second of all as somebody who was at the democratic convention and sits on the board of the dnc for a little bit, put out the most regressive democratic platform in the history of the party. and that's been very significant for the input of the standards, bernie sanders

and all his supporters. there's no question about that so i don't think a lot of bernie's ideas have been left behind , quite the opposite. and the most obvious one was the college tuition help which is critical area not only for kids but for future families and frankly for the economy. it generates much more to the economy. >> host: mister caesar, when you look at the election results from 2012 for florida and you break it down by county and you can see where president obama, the blue counties he wanted and mitt romney, red counties, as we said before a very tight race, president obama won with 75,000 more votes for this 29 electoral votes, where when it comes to thei-4 corridor right across the state from tampa to orlando , president obama won counties like hillsborough and osceola and corn county but could the math change? where do you think it could change? >> guest: it could. it won't change in south and

north florida, you are correct. it would have to change in central florida. by hillsborough which is tampa, a key swing area as are the other places. osceola is in joining county towards county which is orlando which we spoke about. i think in certain places in central florida it's about who can flip like a hillsborough county perhaps. in a place like osceola county i think it's more the democratic county now, it's turned demographically and continues to be do so and it will be almost like south florida as to the question of turning. so if it's going to happen, yes, it will happen in central florida but it will be a dead even race, that's why we're the biggest swing state in the country. and where more than 10 percent, we're more than 10 percent of the electoral votes. >> host: that is why we are talking to you in florida today. mister caesar, thank you very much for your time this morning. >> guest: thank you. >> host: there are 29 electoral votes up for grabs

in the state of florida. it's been a swing state over the years area voting for the winning candidate all but one time since 1964. joining us from miami this morning to talk about donald trump's chances in the state and the strategy there is nick decidedly who is the republican party chair for the pinellas county. mister, let's begin with the state of florida and whether or not donald trump absolutely has to have it in the win column , do you believe that is true? >> guest: good morning and thank you for having me. absolutely. there's a lot on the line here in the state of florida. it's the number one swing state in the country. donald trump needs florida, he needs north carolina, ohio, nevada. we know all the swing states that are vital for trump to be successful on november 8 and florida is at the top of. >> host: i miss spoke and

said you were in miami, you're in tampa. where is in florida you think mister trump will do well? where will it happen, what could be the determining factor demographically or otherwise? >> guest: we always talk about the i-4 corridor and the i-4 corridor goes from dallas county to clearwater which is the anchor through temp , orlando, jacksonville. certainly hillary clinton has a stronghold in south florida. donald trump and republicans during any statewide race have a stronghold in north florida. that i-4 corridor is the one that always decides statewide elections in the state of florida so when we look at places like canalis county we have got a third republicans, a third democrat and a third independence and over the last two years we have finally caught up with the democrats in voter registration so this is a

number one swing county in the state. hillsborough county, again another swing county and the list goes on but it's going to be the i-4 corridor that will determine the selection in the state of florida what type of voter will determine it? >> i think we have got you know, this middle-class, white voter, certainly leaning toward donald trump but i think even more importantly, enthusiasm for hillary clinton from these other demographics, the african-americans, hispanics, the trends right now as we see it with the tightening race are showing that the enthusiasm is simply not there for hillary clinton so 12 days to go, our efforts right now or get out the vote so will get out the vote whether it's female, male, hispanic, african-american, we are speaking to the entire electorate and that is what is going to take to win this race.

>> host: what are your polls showing because as you said, recent polls by bloomberg show donald trump is up one point but when you look at the real clearpolitics average , hillary clinton is up nearly 2 points. if this is tightening, tell us why. what is your internalpolling showing you ? >> yes, it is tightening and in canalis county specifically, donald trump and hillary clinton have been in fights for several weeks now and what we are seeing is simplythis , donald trump represent a voice that is tired of the broken system in washington dc. hillary clinton represents the actual broken system in washington dc. so i think this race is becoming more about what these individuals represent versus republicans and democrats. we are seen certainly some democrats that might be coming over to vote for donald trump and viceversa . so i think with 12 days left,

going to this very negative campaign, very personal campaign, we are now at the point where folds are looking at donald trump as someone who represents change, this is a change election. hillary clinton represents some what of the same. we had eight years of obama policy, she's going to continue the policy. donald trump certainly represents what we like to call the change election. >> trump represents a change. if this truly is a change election, donald trump is going to be the next president of the united states. host: is he spending enough money in the state of florida? hillary clinton is spending more. he is spending less overall. is he spending enough in florida? guest: look, hillary clinton has been outstanding donald trump since day one, and we have a

tight race. he is getting on the campaign trail. he vis he visited about six cities in the state earlier this week and he was getting 20,000 people in attendance at these rallies. now i'm not going to tell you because he's pulling 20,000 people he is going to win this race but to me it shows that there is a movement here. there's an intensity on the republican side that we have not seen in decades if ever, so donald trump he is going face-to-face and door-to-door. we are certainly going face certainly going face-to-face and door-to-door within our precincts and within our county. we have an aggressive get out the vote campaign right now that is all grassroots so hillary clinton certainly she is on tv t and she's spending a lot ofing money but ultimately this race is going to be determined on the ground and donald trump certainly the way we see it and the way we see the intensity, he certainly has an advantage i think right now.s

the momentum is beginning to go in his direction. >> host: you are on the. do you agree with your candidate that the election system is rigged? >> guest: i will say this. pines when it comes to for example our supervisor of elections in pinellas county deb clark she is one of the best in the state. i have 100% confidence that she is going to have a 100% flawles8 election on november the eighth. we have a secretary of state also a republican conducting the elections in the state of florida. i wanted to present competence in the ability of her as well. my talk by rigged election apec about the mainstream media. the mainstream media is clearly in the tank for hillary clinton. there is no denying that. when you have the power of coverage for example and 55 minutes is covered on donald things t trump and things that happened 10, 12, 20 years ago and five

innutes discussed about hillary clinton and the e-mails and the corruption and the wikileaks, there's a problem there and i think the american people are seeing through that and i think ultimately they are going to go to the voting booth and they are going to say do we want change or do we want for the same? i think the intensity we are seeing, the polls are tightening we are going to see a change o selection and donald trump is our next president of the united states. >> host: given what you just said mr. diceglie if the media is for hillary clinton, if she wins on election day, should donald trump and his supporters accept the results? >> guest: yes, and i say that because despite what has been said certainly there are no serious indications of legitimate voter fraud and there is absolutely no reason why this election should not be acceptedt by either donald trump or hillary clinton.

>> host: let's get to calls. sarasota florida, troy has been waiting. good morning, go ahead. try it, are you with us?le i don't know what happened to troy. let's move onto matilda in gainsborough maryland. hi matilda, good morning. >> caller: hi, good morning. thank you for c-span and your guest.i do not i am a democrat and i'm proud to be a democrat and what i see is donald trump is giving a populist message about the trade, ringing jobs back. i heard them in pennsylvania talking about drinking water quality, pollution, things like that and those are typically democratic issues. they are not typically in the republican column so i feel like over the past years a lot of the

people have been essentially misled because if you look at the republican party and you listen to comments it seems like most comments are littered with words like free enterprise, privatization and those all have a profit motive. but republicans need to know agai their party voted against equal pay, the violence against women act, the veterans jobs bill. they voted primarily for the trade bills whereas more democrats voted against the trade bill and i just feel like they were really democrats that the democratic party wasn't able to bring them in and that is the fault of the democratic party.t >> plus go i want to have nick diceglie respond.

>> guest: i'm not sure the question is what i will say that it's very difficult forrdiff republicans you know, you get some of their initiatives passed in washington. .. obstructionalists with president obama. republicans have found it difficult to work with the president who does not want to listen to or even remotely compromise with the republican congress. again, i think that as we get towards the end of this election, i think this country needs new fresh vision. we need a new direction. we need to change the broken system we have been witnessing in washington, d.c., for a very

long >>e lost in. >> and this this the disconnect but that led to donald trump of an republican primary and is on the cusp of winning this election because people are tired of what they're seeing and what is going on in washington. but certainly in my opinion the policies of the republican party that we need new fresh leadership in washington d.c. >> this political story that was posted yesterday with the g.o.p. nominee trailing a load turnout is why he is carrying the state but the

memo put together by the vice president of political operation for the associated industries of florida business sent it to members obtained by "politico" that said clinton's lead is within the margin of error and 3 percent is not asthe st close as it may seem that turnout could be as much as 71%. if that happens clinton's raw vote could be 400,000 votes this is a landslide. based on a consistenton failure those under 50 and female that is only help is a low turnout. >> i read that article yesterday actually i respectfully disagree. what we see right now is we

see that florida started early voting this week mailing the absentee ballots and what we see is a very tight race even more importantly than that we seek the bloomberg paul 50 percent of republicans say they will vote on election day. it is very similar to what we experienced in the special election for congressional district 13. wendy absentees were populated that evening the democrat was up three percentage points but the republicans won on election day and they think we will see that. this will be a high turnout election.ump so talk about the hidden trump of vote. there is some validat statistics there are new

registered voters many of them have never voted before. there were in their fifties they have never voted beforenald but they registered it specifically for donald trump. so it is impossible for the polls to capture. with those key demographicsamern with the african-american communities and that this sets up very well for donald trump that is a high intensity that a lot of people but being on the ground it isn't only happening but it is real in

the selection. >> host: from miami good morning. >> caller: the reason i am calling clinton is the nominee. [inaudible] this will never ever happened. >> host: what about the bernie sanders supporters i

that are not going over to hillary clinton with this donald trump's message to them? >> guest: this is age changed election.ratic going back to the democratic primary. bernie sanders with millions of americans and particularly millennial spot the problem is bernie sanders is a self-described socialist.at. i take issue with that i believe in what my principles are. i do believe that there is a mistrust between bernie sanders supporters and hillary clinton.ee.

and never the caller speak about the college cost under she isclinton's plan. so where is the money coming from? so under hillary's plan we will raise taxes on the rich to redistribute for college education. they are about to except any hint of socialism that is det what this country is dueue be about. those individual states need to take the issue by the horn with their legislature and governor.y for those university systems., of course, they're having a

difficult time going to the polls. it is obvious that the more that comes out of the mails it is proof she is part of the local system and she has a more than 30 years and certainly independence are not comfortable with hillary clinton because she is not to be trusted. >> host: a caller from kentucky. >> caller: hillary clinton keeps talking about contractors not getting paid but we need to come back as republicans or donald to a dispute that. because all the jobs he has created an airport at 1600

jobs plus buildup resorte peoplr with those wages spend on wages when he starts reducing every betty's wages she will say she will raise minimum wage at $15 an hourage because me is the contractore y there is a house used to have 70,000 out 150,000. >> but you have heard from your candidate about raising minimum wage as well. >> because he will reduce taxes for the economy. countr corporations will want to stay in this country.

>> host: about the impact of his businesses had on the state of florida economically but. >> let's not forget it takes one disgruntled employee to complain about donald trump for his business and hillary's campaign comes then with that one individual day make millions of dollars that he is ans irresponsible business owner but here is the reality donald trump creates jobs. under governor bricks got millions and millions of new jobs in the state to get other corporations to set upis shop because there is a low tax burden on businesses. is in their best interest.we hap

we have no personal income-tax with a strong republican leadership a strong legislature in the house and in the senate this a is what it will take to turn our economy around and donald trump is very much inhe line but the philosophy of rick's copper co or the corporate taxes. and that is why they take t their shops and businesses overseas.fl companies are coming to the state of florida. and ims small-business ownero as well but that is what

this country is about whether you are a billion dollar corporation or small 2 business you are creating jobs, getting people back to work is the fabric of america.r families they work hard. and that is why he is so attractive to so many suericans. for someone that has ben successful in the business world.ith the he has done that his whole life. and within his campaign and we can all agree with those huge assets? we would have been to have him running with donald trump.

between creating jobs when it would take to turn the economy around to take america into the future. >> i am a registered independent voting early to the gentleman's point, and governor scott was very skeptical of them i am grateful he is our governor and has done a good job.t has no there is still a lot of money at the top but overallk hi we're on the rate right track. i voted for president obama twice. trump is not perfect and his supporters but this is what

i am voting for him. the next four years will be spent in congressional hearings instead of ourea country.at we don't want that. we need to change. let >>my >> if this election as a split it is so close underside has enough electoral votes to go to the house of representatives what about the ramifications?n. >> guest: great question. >> it is hard to deal in hypothetical is to be dealt

in a way that focuses on uniting the country. it is something that we havein never seen before. with the recount that was dealing with a divided nation and at that point and would be two major land negative make sure it was done in an old than manner with the parameters of the constitution. d it is difficult dealing with hypothetical. i have confidence the houseim of representatives would doo the right thing under that circumstance. >> host: for lauderdale go-ahead. >> caller: good morning.d i hav5

i am 51 now but this would be the second time. that makes me a little anxious but according to the issues who better addresses so when i hear the gentleman saying that donald trump is the person who will champion the causes for all these people, and this is disingenuous at best. we can have reports of the economy in florida. so the reports that every

property he has built t.s. sued every city so that was valued at $23 million he isso doing so the taxes he pays is equivalent to thehe property have four or 5 million he never pays full taxes. did gather is that with a trump university lawsuit from the state attorney general, and i and the independent but bios update your character plays a partlicat i and the independent taiwan to look at the issues but as they come out in this election much more

eliminated the editing people have to pay attention >> guest: we have to fly candidates. but this election is what is going on people feel a disconnection with their representation in washington mill millions and millions lost their job and help in the recession of 2008. for the last eight years p many of these people are still unemployed and have a difficult time to put food on the table and while i have been disappointed this election is that focused on policy or a positive vision for the country

unfortunately people areee feeling the disconnect to individual like donald trump. like ohio or michigan in the beltway that generations of american workers over one hactory or american company that have moved these companies overseas. up with the talked-about more policy. over anything and make clinton has provoked proposed she has the failed policies of obama.one

get what they represent one exchange one is going in a different direction or more of the same bed simply doesk. not work. so we could talk again about hillary and donald trump but this is a change election and that is what he represents. >> good morning. i am a democrat i like donald trump and what he says. i have been on the earth for a while politicians have said all kinds of things it was said he doesn't have experience but compared to donald trump he has no political experience but i am willing to except that. he he gives the idea i will do this. i will do that.

>> host: so what will you do? >> caller: i am undecided. i know the baggage that hillary has but she gives me some facts. l >> what about the lack of specifics from mr. trump greg. >> like i mentioned earlier earlier, i love policy of like to seem more policy from mr. trump but because he is not a career politician and he is coming from the business sector as a very successful businessman, and time -- rep entertainer noir, at somebody will change the broken system. here is somebody that is going to make these

difficult decisions, not be a part of the system to tell you on election day this is what i will do and ultimately not fill any of the things that he will do. that is the attraction for someone like donald trump. all bought are struggling with that. there is a policy there andat experience but what has that got in as?n this we need change in this country and then to inject into the political system.

that the people are tired of the same old broken policies and the leaders here in washington d.c.. that is what donald trump represents. withy independence because deep down the american country and the american people know that changes in order. it is time to change because what we have seen is not working. >> caller: good morning. i want to say one thing but after a brawl port to the people in germany they had aro propaganda machine with all of the media.oth and giving both sides to

this story. they have no idea of all love the of wikileaks. you get one side of the story and not the other. >> host: jacksonville,el florida. >> caller: i am from jacksonville i have seen a lot that is going on in this country. butted 2008 it was under bush. h so obamacare amen and blamed him for everybody. but what i say is this. people blame him for

everything but if it wasn't for him for his education and wisdom.wo talk about donald trump he is one of the people now.dicegle they are not part of the 99% >> host: let's let ham respond. >> guest: xx south carolina is part of the '01 '01%. and those that have businesses to create opportunities for people that is what the 1% does. it is frustrating to hear how we have broken down people into certain categories we are all in

this together. the 1% has a role in this country and as far as finger-pointing the opposition party finger poised to whoever is in the white house. i can remember and pointing fingers at george bush and it goes on and on. to point fingers at the 1% that is not fair.he great to america is the greatest country and the world so you create an opportunity for people and that is the duty of the country. >> had a voter and i

minnesota and independent and undecided and my wife is retired military. with the classified computer network and what hillary has done and they signed to all classified material with that e-mail scandal that technically is treason. i know they throw that were around but if you look at the heart of everything.

>> host: is that why you decided to vote for donald trump one month ago?er: i am not >> caller: i'm not sure. i know that i am not voting for hillary. so he is a businessman. he is an outsider. putting everybody everything on either side. if he wants to when basically he needs to side with the republicans instead of arguing with them.

>> host: one about the interparty fighting? to monitor is not a good.ugh ths going through this election cycle, the goal for republicans is to be read -- united. here in the state of florida under the chairman's leadership we are the united party behind donald trump there is some frustration with leadership in washington d.c. with the things that donald trump has said that was 10 or 11 years ago but ultimately we need to get behind and the candidates what is happeningng here in the state of florida with the state party be have been behind him since day number one hopefully this

will not have a negative impact so what will happen on november 9? because having a splintered or fractured party in any way for the future it will impact the races to be a united party in that effort. >> host: we have to leave it there. the republican chair they give for being part of the battleground series this morning.

she urged supporters to go out to vote for clinton on election day. >> so hillary has done her job. now we need to do our job to get reelected president of the united states. [cheers and applause] here is where i want to get real. if hillary does not win the election that is on us. that means we do not stand

with her because we did not vote for her. >> that is the strategy. that we don't want any part of it. so when you hear folks talking about a local conspiracy and then that they try to get you to stay home. they are trying to convince you that the outcome has already been determined. and then try to take away your help with the united states america the voters decide the elections they always have decided and the story. thankfully there coming out

in droves we are making our voices heard if they go los. >> we go high. >> and we know that every vote matters every single vote. back in 2008 i play this everywhere igo barack one north carolina by 14,000 votes. if you break that number down the difference between winning and losing the state was a little over two of votes per precinct. because i know there are people here and they knew people who did not vote. just two or three per precinct he could have lost

the state or the election and let's not forget he did lose the state by 17 votes per precinct. seventeen. that is our presidential elections go they are decided. in this stadium? think about it you can win this election for hillary. [applause] this is what you are supposed to do. you can do this you can see the entire event 8:00 p.m. eastern c-span2. >> bobby kennedy's last words were on to chicago the

next day for he would meet with the very powerful mayor richard daley who was chief of staff to barack obama his son said the recess 7 percent chance are greater he would have endorsed bobby kennedy for president during the trip to chicago. >> if he would have beat nixon like we think she would have some of those issues that we are revisiting today with racial tension and international discord the difference that we tried to address a few years ago.

>> patricia mczay, political writer for the miami herald. first, the rules tonight. they are quite simple. each candidate has 90 seconds to answer a question. all rebuttals and follow-ups are 30-second responses at the discretion of the moderator, and that's me. congressman murphy, you have the first opening statement tonight. murphy: all right, well, thank you very much. good evening. thank you for being here this evening. i decided to get involved in public service because i was tired of the name-calling, the finger-pointing and bickering x i'm proud of what i've accomplished over the past four years in washington. one of my biggest achievements was helping to authorize nearly $2 billion of funding for the everglades, i've brought together 200 members of congress to insure we prevent cuts to medicare advantage, and i'm proud of the legislation i passed to help lower flood insurance rates for floridians and help our citrus farmers

dealing with greening, and these accomplishments are in stark contrast to my opponent who doesn't even show up to work. senator rubio has the worst voting record of any senator in florida for nearly 40 years and has gone on to endorse donald rump. that's exactly why florida's four major newspapers have enforced me including "the miami herald", his hometown paper, because they know i'm going to show up to work each and every day for the people of florida. thank you. >> moderator: senator rubio. rubio: thank you for hosting this event, and i appreciate the opportunity. here's the choice in this election, because elections are at their best when they're about clear choices, and this election is a clear choice. it's a choice between someone in myself who's proud of my six years in the senate and, before that, my nine years in the florida legislature. i actually have real, concrete achievements i can point to. for example, the central everglades planning project that's basically been stuck in lumbar bow for over -- limbo for

over a decade, it passed. you know that today american foreign aid around the world is leveraged to insure that we're taking on human trafficking because of the girls' count act that i passed. you know, slumlords in jacksonville in riviera beach and orlando, they're under investigation. time and again during my six years in the senate, i've proven i can get things done, and i encourage voters to compare that to congressman murphy's record. he cited some examples of achievements. they're not true. and as you'll learn throughout this debate, he's been there for four years, and no one's even noticed. that's the choice between voters. we're too important a state to have a senator that doesn't know how to get things done. i do and i will. >> moderator: senator, thank you. gentlemen, each of your senate campaigns has been targeted by one primary criticism. we're going to begin by allowing you to address that criticism directly. congressman murphy, i'll start with you. you have repeatedly been attacked during this campaign as

someone who has padded his resumé. now, you cite your work as a cpa and small businessman as reasons you'd make ad good u.s. senator, though we know you never became a licensed cpa in the state of florida, and you ran an environmental clean-up business your father for less than six months. explain why this experience qualifies you for the work in the u.s. senate. murphy: yes. well, thank you for. this question. and i'm so grateful for politifact that has gone through these accusations and, in fact, the last seven claims thrown out by senator rubio and his right-wing friends have all been debunked, rated as false. i am a cpa, got my license in 2009. i'm one of nine cpas in the house of representatives right now, and if elected to the senate, would be the sect cpa in the history of our country to serve there. and if you look at our fiscal house, i think we could probably use a few more cpa as. and i'm proud of my small business experience to help

prevent some of the oil that was potentially coming down our west coast. and i'm proud and would be quite willing, quite frankly, to put up my experience as a cpa and small business person up against my opponent who's been a lobbyist and career politician his entire career. you see, we need changes in washington, d.c., and senator rubio has been lockstep with the special interest groups. he's been nothing but do the bidding for the interest groups. in fact, we all know he never shows up to work, but when he does, he has a 98% voting record with the koch brothers, a right-wing special interest group. you see, i believe we can do more. and be i'm proud of my accomplishments because they've all been bipartisan in nature. i've brought home money to help with research for citrus farmers, to help our veterans with the backlog. i will continue reaching across the aisle to solve these problems in the united states senate to help the people of florida. >> moderator: congressman, thank you.

senator rubio, you said in last week's debate that you'll serve a full six-year term in the u.s. senate, god willing. and you used that qualifier four times in the debate. now, we know you said that prayer convinced you following the pulse nightclub shootings that this senate race was one you needed to be in, even though you originally declared you would not run while running for president. is god willing a way out in case prayer convinces you to change your mind if you decide to run for the white house? rubio: no, god willing is something i always say. i believe, for example, no matter what happens on november 8th, on november 9th, the creator of the universe will still be sitting on the throne, and everything that's going to happen will be ordered by him. i believe that deeply, and so that's why i always use that. it's not a qualifier. it's what i truly believe. let me address what congressman murphy just said, because i think he's living up to his reputation as a serial embellisher.

first of all, when he ran for congress four years ago, he told people his experience as a cpa was going to make him a good congressman. the problem is, he doesn't have any, because in florida he doesn't have a license to be a cpa and you can't be a cpa in florida and work as one if you don't have a license. he talked about how he helped clean up the oil spill. he didn't. independent fact checkers confirm he didn't have a single contract to do so, so why does someone make things up? because you don't have anything real to point to. the congressman talked about $2 billion that he was able to get for the everglades. no, he didn't. those were projects that were in the water bill that were suggested by the army corps of engineers a long time ago. he had nothing to do with them being in the bill, and they would have passed with or without him. he didn't do anything except sign on to a letter. he didn't save medicare advantage, and i encourage people to compare that to the things i've done in my nine years in tallahassee including

two as speaker and the things over the last six years, bill after bill. there are sanctions today on hezbollah because of a bill i passed. maduro in venezuela has been sanctioned because of a bill i passed. >> moderator: thank you sir. murphy: can i jump in here? senator, if you voted as much as you lied, you might be a decent senator, but you continue to throw out these lies. you see, i'm proud of what i've accomplished, proud of what i've done and, again, willing to put that up to your record. and look, you know, we were already just asked this question about your comments about not running for office. let's rewind a little bit here. you said 10,000 times, was your quote, that you weren't going to run for the senate again. and the day before qualifying, of course, you throw your name back in, and then it takes you four months to finally admit to the voters that you want this job. senator, it took you four months to do that? all of a sudden the polls are dead tied, and he's going to lie to you again and tell you he's going to serve a full term. >> moderator: that's your time, sir. i want to let the senator

respond to that. rubio: first of all, the reason he keeps bringing this up about me changing my mind is it would have been a lot easier for him to win if i hadn't changed my mind. [laughter] you've been given two chances to talk about your achievements, you don't have any. you have been there four year, it's like it never even happened. florida is the third largest state in the country and may potentially one day become the second largest, a key state in our country. virtually every major issue before america has a presence here. we cannot afford to have someone in the united states that after four years in congress has never gotten anything done. never, and, again, i encourage people to compare that to my record of getting things done bill after bill, law after law, policy after policy -- [inaudible conversations] >> moderator: gentlemen, if i could, and being the referee is no good. they didn't give me a whistle, but we have so much to cover. as you mentioned, we're ten minutes in. the next question is social security, and it begins with you, senator. you said earlier this year you'd

be in favor of increasing the retirement age, you're telling workers younger than 5 they'll-- 55, they'll have to work three extra years. rubio: that is incorrect. for example, someone like me, i'm 45 -- after this year i feel 46, but i'm 45, and i would say that for me instead of retiring at 67, i'd have to retire at 67 and a half. and here's the key, nothing would change for people that are either retired or about to retire. my mom's 86 years old. she can't go back to work. she relies on social security and medicare as her key sustenance. i want that to continue unchanged. i don't want to change anything for people that are on it now or near retirement but, yes, for younger workers, there is going to have to be some smaller changes, or it won't exist. these programs are going bankrupt. anyone who tells you we can leave you exactly the way it is is lying to you, and the longer we wait to address this reality, the likelier it's going to be we may have to disrupt these

programs for people already retired. i don't want to see that happen. medicare and social security is not just critical to floridians, it's critical to my mother, to people in my family. i want this program to be there when i retire and for my children, but it won't be if we continue on the course that it is on now. >> moderator: congressman murphy, you oppose cutting social security benefit, you won't increase the age or reduce benefits based on income, so what will you do to protect social security? murphy: there's a stark contrast between my opponent and i when it comes to social security and medicare. i believe these are two of the top achievements in our country's history. they've lifted lifted and kept e people out of poverty than probably anything else. and, you see, all the money, folks, my opponent has taken millions and millions of dollars from special interest groups that want to dismantle these programs which explains why he said social security and medicare have, quote: weakened us as a people. you see, senator rubio wants to put social security, your money, in wall street.

he wants to privatize it. he wants to turn medicare into a voucher program, dismantling these program froms. i couldn't disagree further. i believe we need to strengthen these programs, and i've introduced a bill called the save benefits act that gives seniors a raise, helps with their cost of living adjustment, and i believe by raising the cap we can actually insure these programs are there not only for our current seniors, but for my generationing and younger, because these prop programs have to be protected. rubio: it's nonexistent. here's the bottom line. what i said is the debt is weakening our country. it absolutely is. it's $17 trillion. if you think about social security, it was designed when we had 16 workers for every retiree. today we are down to three workers for every retiree, and soon it will be down to two. so anyone, including alleged cpas, should be able to do the math and realize very quickly that this program's in a lot of trouble if there recent

adjustments made to it -- aren't adjustments made to it. how do you explain that to my mother who's on social security and medicare? i want to save it, i want to reserve it, improve it, but there will have to be changes for future beneficiaries in my generation and in the congressman's generation and my children's generation. >> moderator: sir, i'll offer a rebuttal opportunity for the congressman. murphy: forget your quote, that was weakened us as a people. beyond that, it's the programs you supported it, it's the ryan bill, it's privatizing social security and turning medicare into a voucher program. that dismantles these programs. that is a huge change for these programs. it's not just what you're saying right now on stage, it's what you've actually done as a senator. that should be very scary to our seniors. we can do more. rubio: i'm going to say that is false. i do not support privatizing social security. i said that repeatedly in 2010 when i ran the first time. i have never supported -- i do not support privatizing social security, and i do not support

turning medicare into a voucher. i support turning it into a choice which, by the way, it is now in many ways. medicare advantage -- which you claim to have saved from cuts, you did not, of course d is a choice program p. it allows people to decide whether they want to stay on medicare or go to a private provider. i just want more people to have that option. >> moderator: all right, gentlemen, thank you. we're going to move on with the a question from my colleague, neil brown, the tampa bay times. >> good evening, gentlemen, thank you. let's talk about health care for a moment. congressman murphy, yesterday we learned that premiums for many of those insured under the affordable care act are expected to rise an average of 25 next year. that's awfully steep. you said you'd support some changes to the law. can you be more specific as to what needs to be done to improve the law and reduce premiums? murphy: yes. thank you for that question. there's no question that the affordable care act was a huge step forward for our country,

but the focus now has to be on getting it right. working across the aisle to insure that we are fixing it, making sure we have more coverage for more people that's more affordable. and be i believe we can do that, but you've got to show up to work, and you've got to be willing to reach across the aisle. and, you see, senator rubio has spent the last six years trying to undermine this legislation. he wants to take us back to the days where you could get dropped from your health insurance if you got sick. where you could be denied coverage if you had a pre-existing condition, where women were being charged more than men just because they were women, where seniors were being charged more for their prescription drugs. that's where he wants to take us back to, and i know he's about to tell us about the plan that he's put forward. that should be renamed the florida premium increase. that is exactly why, and many health care experts have said, that is why our health insurance rates are going up right now, because of his plan. i don't know why he brags about this. that has made it more expensive for you all.

i believe that we can expand medicaid. that means 900,000 more people in florida alone would have access to affordable health care. i believe we should be pushing to insure that our government is negotiating with the pharmaceutical companies. and i believe that we can do more to go after the waste, fraud and abuse and duplication in our health care system. i also believe that we should be looking at a public option, especially in rural areas. because one of the major premises of the affordable care act was that there was competition, that there were more people fighting to insure you. but you've got to have that competition. the public option would be available for those to help lower those insurance rates. >> all right. let's ask senator rubio -- let me ask you this question this way. you've repeatedly vowed to repeal obamacare. but today 20 more million americans are insured since when you ran for this office the first time. what, if you repeal the affordable care act, what will

you do tomorrow for the people who have health insurance today? rubio: sure. he called it a risk corridor. it's a bailout. let me explain what happened when they negotiated obamacare so everybody clearly understands. one of the ways that the obama administration got the big insurance companies to support obamacare is they put a provision in the law that said: if you guys lose money under obamacare -- and we know you're going to lose money -- we're going to bail you out with taxpayer money. and, yes, i'm proud of the fact that we got rid of that. why should we be using taxpayer money to bail out private insurance companies who are making millions of dollars in profits? why should you be bailing out private insurance companies? and i want congressman murphy to answer why is that the right thing for our country? why should any of us, why should taxpayers be bailing out private insurance companies? i'm proud we got rid of that. now, what should we do instead of obamacare? i do not want to go back to the old system. the old system didn't work. his answer, by the way, he didn't have answer answer. -- an answer. he wants to make obamacare even bigger.

here's a better approach. number one, today, if your employer wants to give you money and say we're going to give you health care money and you can use it to buy any plan you want, you have to pay taxes on that money. i want to get rid of that. if an employer decides to give you the money to buy your own health care, you can do so tax-free. or, of course, they can continue to buy it for you. if that is not available, i want every american to have a fully-refundable tax credit which they can use to buy health insurance from any company in america across state leans of the kind of health insurance -- state lines and the kind of health insurance that you want. the high risk pool where we can insure people that find it difficult to find insurance because they have pre-existing conditions that ultimately make them uninsurable. that is a much better approach than the system we have now where you are forcing people on to obamacare, because if they don't, they get fined on their taxes. >> moderator: senator, thank you. congressman, rebuttal. murphy: yes, please. i'm glad you brought up the high risk pools. that plan has been tried in 35

states, and it failed in all 35 states. it adds billions of dollars to the deficit, it makes it more expensive and drops people from their plans, and it's already failed. but that's, of course, the talking point given to him by the koch brothers and the other special interest groups. that plan doesn't work. we can make the affordable care act more affordable. we can make sure more people have access to it. and end these risk corridors. the idea was to help level and smooth the costs because think didn't know who was -- they didn't know who was going to sign up, how risky they were going to be, so they wanted to level that out so we didn't have these surges in prices that we're seeing right now. but because of your legislation, we do have a spike. so it's thanks to you that floridians are now paying more, and you're bragging about that? rubio: i think congressman murphy should answer the question that i asked. why is it right for you, the american taxpayer, to have to bail out private insurance companies? these -- this is about insuring that these companies would

participate in obamacare with the promise that if they lost money, you, the taxpayer, were going to bail them out. the only thing my law said was you can bail them out with their money that they're paying as a fee into the program, but not to with taxpayer money. just to tell you the lawlessness of this administration, do you know what the administration is doing now? they've gone to the insurance companies and have said, don't worry, just sue us, and we won't defend ourselves in court, you'll get a default judgment, and you'll get your taxpayer money anyway. this is an outrage. >> moderator: senator, thank you. we're going to move on now to the supreme court. this is for both of you. we'll begin with congressman murphy. the next president is expected to send several new supreme court nominees to the senate for confirmation. what criteria will be important to you to confirm a nominee from a president of the opposing party. murphy: yes. well, the constitution is pretty clear on this one. it's the president's role to nominate a supreme court justice, and it is the senate's

job to confirm that individual. in fact, i think this is one of the most important jobs of being a united states senator. and i think it's critical that whomever that choice is, number one, understands the constitution, that they will follow the rule of law. and that they will be able to make sure that that is played out fairly and equitably for everybody in our country. and this is one of the areas that i i think is pretty disturbing to a lot of americans, quite frankly, because the senate hasn't acted. you see, the senate hasn't even had a hearing on merrick dollarland. by all -- garland. by all accounts, he's as qualified as anybody we've ever had in the supreme court, yet there hasn't been a hearing. senator rubio hasn't even taken the time to meet with merrick garland. i guess he was too busy running for president. he hasn't asked these simple questions. and the american people right now are so frustrated with congress. they're mad at the house, they're mad at the senate, republicans and democrats. but i don't think they ever

expected that the dysfunction in the house would ever bleed over to the supreme court. and that's what's happening right now. you see, the supreme court isn't even taking up certain cases because they know it's going to be a tie, right? that is a complete unnecessary course of action, and it's all because of the obstructionists and the tea party republicans like senator rubio that care more about their own ambitions than they do getting things done for the people of florida and this country. >> moderator: senator rubio, the question is the criteria that are important a nominee from the opposition party should -- rubio: there's one primary cry tee tier -- criteria are, that the person understands the properer role of the supreme court in this country. i want to understand and i i want a record that proves they understand what the proper role of the supreme court. let me tell you what it is. the proper role of the supreme court is not to write laws. that is the job of the legislative branch that's accountable to voters. it's to take the case before them and apply the constitution according to its original

meaning. what did those words mean to the people who wrote them. now, if you don't like what the constitution says, then we have a constitutional amendment process. and that process is the way you change the constitution. so what i care about, my number one criteria is, is the person before us as a nominee -- because they're all smart people, they all went to ivy league schools, they're all intelligent, but do they understand the proper role of the court. if the people are on that court do not understand the proper role, we will lose your constitution, because the role of the court is to a apply that constitution according to its original meaning, and that is the singular criteria i will use in evaluating any nomination from either president, republican or democrat, that comes before the senate. >> moderator: gentlemen, thank you both. we're going to move to my colleague, patricia, from the miami herald. >> senator rubio, nearly half a million people have died in the five-year civil war in syria including tens of thousands of children. millions of people fleeing their homes led to a refugee crisis

and opened the door to isis. you voted against u.s. airstrikes in syria in 2013. would you vote to commit u.s. ground troops to join the rebel fight and topple the assad regime? rubio: first, let me say that the situation in syria today is much more difficult than it would have been four years ago when i outlined and prodded the president for a clear way forward. what i asked was let's identify elements on the ground in syria -- now, listen, they're not going to find a lot of thomas jeffersons running around the in syria, but let's find people we can work with, and insure or they are the best trained, best equipped group on the ground, because if you don't, it will leave a vacuum. the president chose not to pursue that route. as a result, people say moderate groups, certainly less islamist groups declined in their capability, creating the vacuum for isis to emerge after they crossed over from iraq and the situation that we find ourselves in today. the bottom line is this, our interests in syria at this

moment are singular, and that is to insure that it is not a safe haven for radical islamists to be able to take root and plan attacks against the united states and our interests around the world. and so if a president comes forward with a plan that works, that could actually achieve that aim, i would most certainly consider it. i do not believe it will require ground troops, in fact, i believe that would be counterproductive, but i do think the united states would need to do more in the furtherance of that plan. and the reason why i voted against the president's proposal is because that is not what he was proposing. he was proposing pinprick strikes, not backed up by a clear plan. when i voted against it, i articulated what we should have been doing instead. this president failed to do so, it left behind a vacuum, and it's not only been filled by radical islamists, but iran and vladimir putin, and we have even less influence in that region today than we did just four years ago. murphy: yes. no question things have become much more complicated in syria.

but it was pretty clear, the people of syria spoke out five years ago that they wanted to have a small voice, at least some say in their government. and since then what have we seen? assad has done nothing but i murder and kill, use chemical weapons on his own people. so we have to make it abundantly clear that assad must leave power. and we must do that by working with our allies. but what we're seeing is a more complicated situation developing. as a member of the house intelligence committee, i think it's critical that we unite to insure this problem doesn't get worse. and vladimir putin is getting more and more involved, continuing to help boost assad up. i believe that it is our alliances that are going to help bring assad down and get russia out. but how do we do that? you see, it's these alliances. and those very alliances that will give us that strength, the choice of marco rubio, donald trump to be our next commander in chief, he wants to tear up those alliances. that's not going to strengthen us.

you see, senator rubio's lost all credibility n my opinion, by supporting donald trump in this election because donald trump, we all know has millions of dollars of financial ties to putin, thinks putin is, quote, a strong leader, and now wants to tear up the very alliances that will help insure we get rid of asawsed. so it's -- assad. so it's pretty confusing to me especially someone who knows how dangerous vladimir putin's involvement and russia in the middle east is. rubio: if i may respond to a couple points, secretary clinton was the secretary of state when these decisions were being made, and that's who you support for president of the united states. i disagree with donald trump on this issue, and i've repeatedly pointed as to why he's wrong on a number of issues. you talk about the alliances, i'm not sure who you're talking about. the united states is working with elements in the kurdish part of syria, that has created an incredible strain between us and our turkish allies to the north who view their efforts as

a direct risk to them. which alliance are you talking about, the syrian kurds or the turks? this is a situation this president has put us in. he's put us in the this situation either with the turks or the syrian kurds as well. again, these are the consequences of a failed foreign policy. this country today has less influence in syria than it did three or four years ago as a direct result of the broken foreign policy of barack obama, much of which was instituted in this part of the world when secretary clinton was in the state department. murphy: it is important to note how many factions are involved in sir rah -- syria right now, the moderate rebel forces that we have tried to arm in many ways, and it's important to talk about them, because i think senator rubio and i, both members of the intelligence committee, know how complicated it is. but we also both know that donald trump probably can't name or identify any of those groups or their involvement, yet you are continuing to support donald

trump. we are seen 16 u.s. senators not only disavow donald trump, but unendorse him because they know how dangerous he is to our country. you've got to be able to stand up to people like donald trump if you care about our national security. >> moderator: gentlemen finish rubio: he criticized someone for not knowing the facts about the region. there are no peshmerga in syria. they're iraqi -- murphy: and they're helping us fight. rubio: the syrian kurds, in fact, don't get along with the -- murphy: which is why it's so complicated. rubio: syria's not going to be new zealand anytime in the future. our interest is to insure there's stability in that region and at a min that there isn't -- minimum that there isn't a vacuum to plot against our country. >> moderator: congressman? do you have a response to that? murphy: yeah, i mean, it just goes back to the same point that, you know, senator rubio continues to support donald trump, and it is shameful -- [laughter] that he stands there with him

when you know that frump doesn't know any of this. we are seeing what is happening in mosul. donald trump's saying it's a failed plan that's not working. we are going to move on raqqa, and we have to continue working with all the various factions that we get along with, but we haven't had action or leaders willing to stand up. look, i are will will stand up to anybody whether they're republican or democrat to do what i think is best. >> moderator: this last question has gone on very long, i know you want to get to other issues. everybody take a breath, take a drink of water. we're going to take a very quick break and come right back. this is 2016 before you vote. again, we'll return in just a moment. >> now, back to decision 2016, the u.s. senate debate live from broward college. here's moderator wpbf 25 news anchor todd mcdermott. >> moderator: i'll ask our audience to retake their seats. let me check on them. i promise, there's 30 minutes left.

everybody gets to talk. all right. we're going to go again to patricia for a question to both candidates. >> senator rubio, the president of one of the nation's largest police organizations recently apologized to minority communities for mistreatment by police which has led to mistrust among blacks and hispanics. is that mistrust justified, and what can you do about it in the senate? rubio: let me begin by saying that i believe the overwhelming majority of our men and women in law enforcement do an extraordinary job for our country and for our state and for our cities and communities, and i want to thank them again tonight, because if there's danger, we're going to call them, and they're going to show up. we've seen far too many cases of men and women wearing blue and brown, our deputy sheriffs, our sheriff's deputies and police officers who have lost their lives protecting us. on the other hand, i think it's impossible to ignore that there are many communities in this country, predominantly minority communities, who do have a terrible relationship with police departments and a huge level of mistrust. i personally have talked about

this. i talked about it for months even during the presidential campaign about people i know personally. one of them's a police officer who had been pulled over numerous times in the course of two years without explanation. .. >> >> law-enforcement is the function of local and state government there is no such thing as a police department there are multiple law-enforcement agencies and doing a excellent job like this year from duval county they have a good relationship with the communities.

other places need to a improver i am in support of my colleagues in south carolina that creates grants for smaller departments to afford body cameras i think it is in the best the trust of the officers and the community. >> ecl have a criminal justice reform plan but what have you done as a house number two showed communities you care about this issue in the past? murphy: no question the vast majority of police officers share of law-enforcement are dedicated and brave men and women want to put their lives on the life for all of us every day. but also a breakdown of trust of the soul many communities the past several months my own congressional district has to terrible tragedies were one who was a drummer and a church . and every sunday he was on his way home when his car broke

down and in its later shot and killed by a police officer. and then the young man from fort pierce and that getting shot and killed by police officers. i had no chance to worship and pray to get to know what these people but bitumen tear apart the entire family. and i introduced the trust tacked to make sure they have bought the cameras so we know exactly what happened. we're getting more transparency with more technology but what we can do is have presidential candidates like donald trump won the most racist bigoted people ever to run for office and still espousing

the hatred which is the exact problem where division is part of our community in we deserve better than that. rubio: basically the answer to every question with from congressmen murphy is donald trump i will paraphrase that says somebody else's platform is a noun and deferred and donald trump and. >> we do have a breakdown at the community level that yes in many communities along enforcement that they put forth does not reflect the community that they are supposed to be protecting and law-enforcement departments are recognizing that there are issues we need to confront i am proud as speaker to bring about children's owns modeled after the one in miami has spread to orlando and jacksonville.

it delineates the edge geographic area to say those to overcome those challenges we need to face. >> moderator: senator please. murphy: i did work on that with senator cory booker. i cannot tell you how many and one negative owe frustrated he was not to sign on his legislation overwhelming bipartisan support there were some common sense provisions to help insure that tune of get back in the workforce that they had the education that he did not even support that plan. >> this is what i am not in favor of of those reforms