states. i guarantee you. i guarantee you. applause] mr. trump: we are going to protect our country and we're going to protect our children. to create tax-free child care savings accounts which is going to be amazing. increase funding for local police. applause] mr. trump: for our military can for our own good, we're going to eliminate the obama-clinton defense sequester. we do not put the money into our military anymore. at a time when we needed as bad as ever before. the rebuilding for the military will include major new assets across the state of florida

including new navy and coast guard ships to patrol the sea. new advanced manufacturing on florida's coast and new aircraft that will fly from mcdill and and naval air station air stations pensacola. we know that. we are going to set high standards for ethics reform to end government corruption of which we have plenty. with the victory in november, everything will change. just think about what we can 100 daysh in this period. we will accomplish so much for our country that we all love. we are going to have the biggest tax cut since ronald reagan. eliminate every unnecessary job-killing regulation. lawort the men and women of

enforcement. cheers and applause] mr. trump: we are going to save the second amendment, which is totally under siege. and appoint justices to the united states supreme court who will uphold and defend the constitution of the united states. applause] mr. trump: i will end the wasteful government spending and hold the bureaucrats accountable. i will faithfully execute the sacred office of commander-in-chief and create a new foreign policy that always, always, always will put our country first. america first. president, the tide of egg government will never threaten to wash away our dreams, our jobs, and our

borders. we must unite so we can save this country. the country that we love. and have a rebirth of american liberty and prosperity. we need a rebirth. we are headed so wrong, folks. this is why i am doing this. i am going to fight for every last citizen in this nation. i'm going to fight to bring us all together as americans. just imagine what our country could accomplish if we started working together as one people under one god saluting one american flag. applause] [crowd chanting "usa"]

vote.ump: go out and vote tomorrow. vote the next day. but definitely vote and if you have not voted by november 8, no matter how you feel, no matter how bad things are, and get up and vote. we have to vote. and if we win, together, we will make america wealthy again. we will make america strong again. we will make america safe again. america greatake again. god bless you. god bless you. god bless you. mr. trump: thank you everybody.

♪ [playing rolling stones' "you want"]lways get what you

♪ announcer: euros a look at the most recent has released the clinton and trump presidential campaigns. >> let's go to worry, that is my crack she hasp

the experience. >> i do not want someone running country as a business. i want a human being. she loves every individual, that is what i appreciate from hillary clinton. >> make sure you get out and vote. sec. clinton: i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. mr. trump: i'm donald trump and i approve this message. he hit him so hard with a closet rod so hard it broke into four pieces then he took her to a field and doused with gasoline and set him on air. >> hillary clinton's brutal policy is going to allow people into the country just like the one that murdered my son. announcer: coming up on c-span, the role of north carolina in the 2016 elections.

then the debate between senator pat toomey and his democratic challenger. after that, hillary clinton and senator elizabeth wharton campaign in manchester, new hampshire. that is followed by donald trump campaigning in tampa, florida. >> coming up tuesday, a conversation on climate change with john pershing, state department special envoy live at the atlantic council starting at 11:30 a.m. eastern here on c-span. defending alliance freedom considers whether small business owners have the right to refuse service to others based on religious beliefs. that is live at 12:30 p.m. eastern also here on c-span. >> c-span's washington journal. live every day with news and you.y issues that impact this week we are focusing on

presidential battleground states leading up to election day and coming up tuesday morning, iowa. jasonlitical reporter noble will talk about why iowa is a battleground state. then we will discuss the clinical layout of iowa and hillary clinton's chances of winning the state. conservative top radio hosts will talk about donald trump's chances of winning iowa. c-span'so watch washington journal live at some :00 a.m. tuesday morning. join the discussion. >> this week, washington journal is looking at the election season battleground states. next, dallas woodhouse, north carolina republican party executive director on the makeup of the tar heel state. it is 40 minutes. >> a weeklong look at battleground states is the focus for the washington journal this

week. look at northa carolina and focusing specifically on that state we are joined by dallas woodhouse. director ofecutive the north carolina republican party. thank you for joining us. if you take a look at the averages on the real clear for the state of north carolina when it comes to the presidential race, it shows hillary clinton up by 2.5 points or so. how do you feel about those numbers so close to election day? guest: i think republicans are closing strong in all their races. it is ironic. . we've been in full campaign mode for over a year and we are almost exactly where we started in the beginning with three 'sjor races for north carolina presidential electors, the u.s. senate race in the governor's race, all within a margin of error with the polls. if turnout is going to be the issue, what is the

republican party and the state doing to ensure it -- to ensure party turnout? guest: we have an incredible ground operation we have built with our partners in the republican national committee. we not done over a million doors in north carolina. we've got people in every part of north carolina. we've got people scouring all 100 counties, getting republicans out to the polls, s to seeunaffiliated things our way, talking to voters on the telephone. that will continue right up to the close of the polls on election day. host: mr. woodhouse, how does that campaign or at least that effort compared to the donald trump effort, his campaign and his on the ground campaign there? guest: it's interesting. i can't speak to what everybody else has said in their state, but we have a great working relationship with the trump campaign. there have been in my office

more times than not. the a now have their own office space near us, but we shared office space for a long time. we worked very closely on getting the vote out. that is the biggest a-list a party does. we are totally -- that is the biggest thing the state party does. we are totally in sync. and they're helping us with our candidates down the ballot. has taken arty bigger role on the ground operations then perhaps it does at other times. it seems to be working really well. we are comfortable with where we are. host: specifically what areas of the state are you focusing on? not only with the donald trump, but the other candidates at play as well, senator burr and governor macquarrie? mccrory?nor guest: what you like to know. [laughter] host: i would.

guest: we scour every four corners of the state, the rural areas, the urban areas on the suburban areas. republicans have done very well in the rural areas. democrats a little better the center city. and we duked it out for the suburbs. i think that is no different now. m you sawc the stake go just barely 10 mitt romney back in 2012. d.c. that kind of emphasis or enthusiasm for donald trump? kinds he has brought all of new activists and volunteers into our party. he has given our party a lot of energy. that is a positive thing for our party. so it is good to see a lot of new faces. these races are very close.

you're doing everything you can to squeeze out every single voter you can. one thing that i feel really good about -- we have done tremendous work with our partners. democrats have dropped significantly on registration election.a's we have come up converter registration about 150,000 voters since 2008 erin it is a significant number. it makes a big difference in a close election. host: our previous guess was talking about the impact of the voter id law. what did you make of the decision and what ultimately the legal system decided about the law? guest: the decision that came out of theguest: fourth circuit, what it has done is told north carolina citizens that they'd don't have the same rights as citizens in indiana and georgia

to have voter id. citizens have not been treated fairly in this regard. we ought to be treated the same as any other state and be able to have a fair, const to show voter id system. the judges, some of the decisions, as the sum the commentary coming out -- not guest: i think that is -- coming out -- guest: that's exactly right. i think that was a lyrical that -- amore political decision more than a legal decision. it is a really fascinating thing. the judges found that the political actors acted with discriminatory intent, but not a discriminatory result. that is almost unheard of. if people intend to discriminate, the in fact to do

it. but the could find no examples where people were discriminated as a result. african-american voting is up. our african american registration is up. what they're saying is that we believe you acted within 10. it is flawed legal strategy. and it is virtually unprecedented. we will eventually get reversed. or, if we don't come other states will have to lose their voter id provisions. because north carolina cannot continue to be treated as a redheaded stepchild of voting law and not allowed to have the same constitutional protections at their ballot that many other states already have. host: dallas woodhouse with us. north carolina residents come if you would like to ask some questions --

steve is our first call. he is from hickory, not throwing up. -- he ishank you for from hickory, north carolina. caller: thank you. this goes to the what the previous caller said. ,he north carolina legislature ruled by the judge, used the data as it pertained to african-americans in north carolina, used in such a way that the actually precisely went at the voters in the sense that the word -- they were disenfranchised. most african and -- most african americans would be open to the republican party.

some of the policies that a nobleman, same thing with hb 2 -- i am not for it or against it -- but one has to actually look at how it impacts the residents of north carolina. by getting back to the ruling on the voting here in north ourtlina, the appeals c determined that the data actually targeted african-americans and disenfranchised them and that is why the ruling was as such. host: ok. the court performed all kinds of legal jujitsu in the made.on it the one thing that has been so frustrating is the legislature are and received hundreds and thousands of pieces of information on all kinds of things. you can arguably say that there have to look at how certain

voting things a certain groups to be in compliance with the voting rights act. what they'd don't tell you is north carolina, what it added in his voter id provision put in a safe harbor for people who have hardship. in other words, if you could not get an id, could not afford one, even we give it to you for free, couldn't find a birth certificate left your wallet home, all you had to do was sign something that said it's the case and you can go. hardshipna put in a provision. it's really ironic. what is frustrating is that courts have not allowed north carolina's voter id to go through. at the same time, the justice department cut a deal with the state of texas to let an identical law go through for this election cycle. north carolina continues to have among the most liberalized voting laws in all the country. 17 days of early voting. you cannot function in this

society without some sort of id. and if you don't have one, we have a responsibility as good citizens to help you get one. that's why we're willing to do it. help you get the documents for free. help you get the id for free. our party will take you to get one. we have a program to help people with that kind of thing. but this was a political decision by a political court. host: whiteville north carolina. good morning. caller: yes, good morning, sir. i would like to say that i will be voting in just a few minutes from now for miss hillary clinton because she is the lesser of two evils. and what donald trump has said -- i have three daughters -- and what he said about women showed me what type of man he is. and the republicans gerrymandering of districts in north carolina and governor pat crushed the -- industry no caps on up. carolinaought to north

the texas-style government, the way texas runs their state. from my understanding -- guest: how did the governor do anything to the film industry? caller: he crested down in walton, north carolina. guest: he stopped giving the moneyguest:? caller: he took the -- guest: should the film ministry make it on its own or should we subsidize? mr.: let himself -- woodhouse, let him finish his thought and and you can respond. the loss of the all-star in the ncaa games and broke -- the straw that broke the camels back come other week before last, and african-american man atplained about hog waste the lagoon broke. host: a lot out there. we will in our guest respond. just a lot of factual inaccuracies there. i'm glad the voter will be will beng --

participating in our electoral process. north carolina's economy is now booming under governor mccrory. we had one of the biggest unemployment numbers, on employment rates in all the southeast of the country. we had the highest taxes in the southeast. the governor has turned that around. we now have a much lower, flatter state income tax. the fastestave growing economy in all of america, measured by gross thomistic product -- gross domestic product. i think that is why governor mccrory will be returned to the governor's mansion in a couple of weeks. host: lee, you are up next. i have a comment and a question. first of all, everyone voting for jill stein; a day after the election, you will be outran to get signatures on the about so we can have legitimate third parties. my question, i understand there are several states that receive more in tax subsidies than that

contribute to the federal taxes. i wondered if north carolina is one of those. and is that a comment on the efficiency of the governmental philosophy in that state? correct,do believe is but i will say, in north carolina, i will say that north carolina's governor and our legislature have a real regard for all tax dollars. and the realize that federal taxpayers are also state taxpayers in the trade to make sure that tax money is not wasted, no matter whose scoffer it is at the time. the caller mentioned miss stein who it -- ms. stein who is running on the green party ticket. she had a bout of pneumonia. i hope she is at her. i've had it, too. i don't know how a presidential candidate can manage with it. i had a hard time with it. i hope ms. stein goes better. north carolina come even

call us. from charlotte, this is david. i'd like to say several things. i've been working the polls. number one, there are not enough machines. it's heavily overcrowded. people have been standing in line the days i have been there for at least two to two and a half hours to get to vote. that is a suppression if you ask me. i have a concern of many of the election officials. i called the board of directors, etc. everyone plays the reason to have destined not having all the pull stations of -- we'll have 10 open and the are all spread out. the reason for not having the rest of them open is just because the cutbacks that mccrory has instituted. number two, listened to your show all morning and i've been listening to these ladies

particularly the christians and say they're going to vote for truck. i don't know how that happens. i like to say a quick thing about mccrory. i have a daughter who teaches in the public schools. she is an eight-year teacher. when mccrory says that he gave a raise to the teachers, yes, he gave raises to the first and second year teachers because we have lost so many and no one was to come here -- guest: what does that do for your daughter when she's governor? didn't she gave raises over four years? mccrory has been better about that, right? caller: if i make him a mccrory is the one who claims he gave all these resisted teacher. host: we will let the guest respond. guest: i wanted to point out that it is a fact that governor teachers given more in raises than any other governor in all 50 states during his three and a half years in office. that's just a fact.

the caller does bring up an interesting thing about early voting. north carolina has 17 days of early voting. i think it is available. -- debatable whether that's a little too long are not. the what we have done is we made it ready think the will have to wait in line on election day where we have hundreds and hundreds of precinct open. and we funnel them to the early voting site, especially in the first weekend in the last week in of early voting so the lines are very long. if you want to go during the week this week, the lines will be very long. if you want to vote by mail, which anybody has the right to do in north carolina, you don't have to wait in line at all. i think north carolina will have to decide whether it is going to continue to have a traditional election day or not, because the state cannot afford to keep every voting site open for a month. it is extremely expensive and inefficient.

veryready have -- we have liberalized early voting laws. we support early voting. but you're never going to have -- the caller was referring to a mecklenburg county, where there is 10 or a dozen early voting sites. there are hundreds of precinct on election day. there's just no way all of those will be open for 17 days. no state could afford that. no state is a for that. host: let's hear from hollywood, florida. hank is up next. caller: yes, hello. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: i want to talk about something different. what is the view of republicans and democrats on sharia law, the muslim law, with all the muslims coming into this country. they'd prefer to be under sharia law, which is totally against women and homosexuals. would you allow in north carolina or anywhere in the united states the practice of sharia law to get a foothold in america? and no one has answered that

question yet. guest: i believe our legislature specifically banned that practice. certainly people who come to the state of north carolina, no matter what their religion is, no matter what their gender is, no amend or -- no matter anything else, they're expected to follow the laws of the good people of north carolina without regard to anything else. is a very law and order state. we have a large military population here, a lot of retired military. we are a state that expects people to behave and behave accordin to the rule of law. host: talk a little bit about the impact of the passive beds -- the passage of hb 2 on this electoral cycle. do you think it's going to affect people and how the vote? a lot of things affect a lot of people and have a vote.

that piece of legislation has stirred up a lot of passions on both sides. i believe in north carolina the democrats didn't have much of an issue because the governor had the economy going, getting people back to work, dropping unemployment, offerings will chose -- offering school choice that there wanted to create a divisive issue and they'd managed to do it. host: we will hear from tim kaine and what he had to say about it aired we will get your response to it. here is tim kaine. [video clip] >> when the city of charlotte passed an ordinance to protect against discrimination, state leaders wanted to crack down on the ability of cities to do that. even though the city was doing what their voters elected them to do. now a to b 2 has become a national cause that has rocked the wrong kind of attention to north carolina. because you are not a place where bigotry is ok. north carolina values are progressive values.

and i know that that is a huge issue that drives a lot of us. host: mr. woodhouse, your thoughts on that. guest: mr. woodhouse, your thoughts on that? dallas: he optically of his own backyard. -- he ought to clean up his own backyard. play partisan politics, but here is the message republicans are going to send -- we are not going to put young girls into the same bathroom facilities and shower facilities as grown men. we weren't going to do it. not going to do it. not going to do it. not going to do it. if tim kaine wants to do that in the state of virginia, by all means, he can go back up to the commonwealth and do that. but we're not going to do that here. we are going to do the things that are required and necessary to protect people's rights, safety and security. pedro: would you say there has been an impact upon businesses?

we heard about the decision from the ncaa and other businesses pulling out. what do you think are the long-term effects of that? dallas: the long-term effects is that the u.s. supreme court will have to figure this out. i will just say this -- the charlotte ordinance, if you are private business and you decide to keep single gender restrooms, the same kind we have had since indoor plumbing was invented, and you decide to keep that in your private business, the city of charlotte could put you in jail. they could put you behind bars and lock you up for 30 days. that is inappropriate. that is the kind of government overreach that republicans are not point to stand for. we should leave private sector decisions about their bathrooms to the private sector. mccrory has signed some executive orders making special accommodations for people that need them in government restrooms. i just do not believe that the people in north carolina are for grown men going into the showers

of 11-year-old girls. facilitating that in any way, even if by accident, to the charlotte ordinance. and so we are not going to do that in north carolina. pedro: our guest is dallas white house, the executive director of the north carolina republican party. kerry from canton, north carolina, europe next. -- you are up next. caller: good morning, mr. woodhouse. i want to let everybody know that i am not biased. hillary clinton could look into the mirror and the reflection will be jeb bush. jeb's father was the architect of nafta. hillary's husband signed into law. the day he signed it into law, our textile factories and furniture factories in north carolina left. today, we have two candidates. one candidate says he wants to bring jobs back to this country. the other candidate, hillary, says those jobs are gone and never to come back.

and we as consumers have to be complacent. when we go and buy a product, it has a sticker on it that says made in china. for all of the bernie fans out there, he sold out to the machine. pedro: thanks, terry. we will let our guest respond. dallas: there is certainly a lot of conversation about jobs in north carolina. pat mccrory and the republicans have done a good job of bringing some back. i do think we do have to rebalance our trade deals some, as mr. trump has talked about. pedro: from greensboro, julius is up next. caller: good morning. dallas, i heard you say one time that you just wanted to have one

polling place in charlotte. as big as charlotte is, you just wanted one polling place open. you know what you -- pat mccrory is a basket full of deplorables. you all should be deplorable. dallas: come on, i would not say that about you. come on. caller: you said you want one polling place open. dallas: i don't believe i said i wanted, i believe i said that is what the law required. there is a difference between saying what i wanted and what the law required. but here is the bottom line on early voting, sir. north carolina, under republican boards of election, has provided more early voting hours and more early voting opportunities across the state and the state has never done -- ever done. the republicans are now in charge, and they have passed

more early voting hours in the democrats ever did. period. pedro: talk a little bit about the senatorial races. i want to get this in there before we go. richard burr, what challenges does he face from deborah ross? dallas: the biggest challenges he faces is all kinds of liberal special-interest money pouring into the state. but this was always going to be a close race. i think mr. burr will pull it out by two or three points. in north carolina politics these days, that is a landslide. ms. ross has a very long record in the legislature and through her time as attorney for the american civil liberties union, which reflects some values and some interests that i do not think match very well with the people of north carolina, including being very soft on crime, not for collection of dna versus accused felons, being against the original creation of

the child sex offender registry. and i think even for a state certainly has got a moderate streak to it, i think they're going to find that ms. ross is too liberal for the state of north carolina. pedro: what do you expect turnout to be this year compared to previous cycles? dallas: we expect turn out to be really healthy and really good. it may not quite match 2008, but it will probably be into 2012, that range, somewhere in there. it will be a good, strong turnout. pedro: how much did you get in 2012, turnout was dead wife -- turnout wise? dallas: i would have to look back at it. i think we were in the 70's. i would have to look back at it. we are certainly going to have a lot -- we had 75% people voting in wake county, where i am at. i think we will rival that.

we are going to have a good, strong turnout. the thing is, most of the presidential years, people turnout. it's your off year elections where there are wilder swings in who votes and who doesn't. david, from ohio, on the line. guest: good morning, fellows. tell the public what is a welfare state. after president lincoln won the war and all the slave states became welfare states. mississippi used to send a dime to washington and got back a dollar. how much does north carolina send? my next question to you -- black people are the only people in america that don't have a real birth certificate, because their heritage was taken away from them, all right? i'm listening to your answer. please tell the people what a welfare state is. north carolina is a welfare state. how much -- dallas: i don't know -- i don't

know where the caller is going there. in north carolina, if you want to get voter id -- and we think it is the compassionate thing to do, to help people get an id so they can function in society. so they can buy sudafed, go to the doctor and do other things, we will help you find a birth certificate or get the necessary documents free of charge. i assure you, north carolinians pay plenty of federal taxes. more so than they should. i will leave it at that. pedro: marie is up next. harrisburg, pennsylvania, the line for all others. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i am for donald trump because hillary clinton just cannot tell the truth. everybody knows that she does not tell the truth, and i don't

know why -- democrats either don't recognize it or they just overlook it, deny it, and let her get by with the things that she has done that are so corrupt. she has corrupted the fbi. she has corrupted the attorney general's office. there is no law anymore. there isn't any. because they don't believe in it. it's all -- everything is for hillary clinton. and she is just going to take us down all the rest of the way. one thing that really scares me is that she wants open borders. i just heard this morning on another station that one family had taken in what they thought was a 15-year-old refugee. found out he was a jihadist and threatened to kill the family. that's how they found out. now, where is all that vetting that hillary says we're going to do? it scares me to death, because speechard her say in a

that she was actually going to raise taxes on the middle class. people sat there and clapped for her. i just hope north carolina has the good sense to come through , like they usually do. caller.ot you, color -- dallas: we are counting on north carolina's good sense to come through. but we respect the people who like ms. clinton and the other folks. we like to have a respectable dialogue. i do think that one of the big issues in the campaign and nationally is just the complete collapse of law and order. people coming across borders with impunity. people not telling the truth to the fbi, people setting up servers outside of their homes. people cleaning those servers while they are under subpoena. most ofs of things that us know we would be answering to an fbi agent if we did personally. i do think that one of the driving factors in this election

-- one of the things that has really lifted mr. trump is this sort of sense that the system does not treat people the same who are wrapped up in the political culture, wrapped up in the tax culture, those sorts of things. pedro: mr. woodhouse, the front page of "the charlotte observer" this morning shows a picture of secretary clinton speaking at unc. the headline says, clinton pushes for student vote at rally. what is the strategy for the republican party in the state, reaching out to students not only for donald trump but in the down ballot races? dallas: well, we have a very active campus outreach program, we have lots of young people that work on our staff and work with us in the republican national committee. we have our republican leadership initiative that is going out and training young folks. college campuses have traditionally been pretty right for democrats.e

that's not going to change. we just want to make sure that they grow up to be republicans, which has traditionally happened. we expect, you know, all of these races to be settled by just a few thousand votes and every vote counts the same. pedro: because of those colleges and research areas in the state, who do those research areas benefit primarily? dallas: well, the republicans will capture about 70 of north carolina's 100 counties. democrats will probably win 30, mostly focused on the heavily urban areas of wake county, mecklenburg county, guilford county, and some of our far northeastern counties that are friendly to democrats.

we just have to see how the rural versus urban vote balances out. how many ticket splitters we have. i mean, there is certainly going to be people that vote for miss clinton who also vote for mr. mccrory for governor. they're going to be people that vote for mr. trump and mr. burr. they're going to be all kinds of combinations. we will have to see how the strategic voting works out. pedro: wax off, north carolina. steve, good morning. caller: i just wanted to make a couple of comments and ask a question. number one, if you really want to know what teachers make in north carolina, google north carolina's teacher salary schedule. that will tell you that. number two, i never once saw a kid take a shower in middle school. not once did i ever see a kid take a shower.

the question is, north carolina is a -- dallas: smelly kid. caller: is a north carolina university id considered a valid voter id? dallas: thank you for that question. first of all, it's a moot point, because there is no voter id for this election. student ids was very contentious because they did not prove residency. remember, you have to be a resident to vote where you are. there was absolutely no consistent standard from college to college, whether it be private university or public university. so, student ids were not any in the original -- were not in the original legislation. we will see if that changes in future years. but of course, there were multiple ways that college students were able to get a hold of a valid id for voting. pedro: next up we will hear from

harold in east bend, north carolina. good morning. announcer: i wanted to ask the gentleman if he thinks there is a slim possibility that in america's history there has ever been a presidential race where both candidates were disliked to such a degree. and i would like to have a follow-up after his answer. dallas: well, since we are in north carolina, i will bring up the presidential election of 1824. jackson felt like that election was stolen from him by the speaker of the house, henry clay. they fought that out for four years, until jackson came back and won four years later. i don't think anybody was very popular after that election. so that is one that comes to mind. pedro: harold, your follow up? announcer: my follow-up is, what

does he think about the federal civil lawsuit filed in civil court against the sheriff's department for engaging in state-sponsored terrorism? dallas: i have no knowledge about that. not familiar with it. pedro: dallas woodhouse, can donald trump win the presidency without winning north carolina? dallas: i don't know, but that's i going to happen. donald trump is going to win north carolina. it will be close, but we will win. we will return america's best governor, pat mccrory, to the governors mansion, and we will return a great member, chairman richard burr back to the u.s. senate. north carolina is going to stay red. maybe not by a lot, but by enough. from columbus, georgia, on the line for others. hello? go ahead, you're on. caller: ok.

pedro: host: you are on, go ahead, please. caller: good morning, c-span. mr. woodhouse, i have a question. we hear a lot about immigration. my question to you is -- do you have any idea how many illegal immigrants are in the state of north carolina that did not come across the border from mexico? and i will be waiting for your answer. dallas: i don't. i don't. i think immigration is a complicated issue that we have seen roiling not only our state and our country, i think it is roiling the world. one of the reasons that britain left the eu is because they could not control their own borders. america has got to have people of goodwill on all sides come together to try to solve this immigration question. we have illegal immigrants in north carolina, just like any other state. we have a lot of people that are

offering great value to our society who are undocumented. we -- it is just a very complicated issue. there is no one party or one political side that is ever going to fix this issue. it is going to take everybody coming together and probably taking a little bit by a little bit and solving some along the way to try to develop some consensus. pedro: one more call for our guest. this will be from craig, who lives in wilmington, north carolina. good morning, how are you? caller: all right. my question is -- why does the republican administration in north carolina get rid of a scholarship? they had an assault on public education. they no longer offer the teaching fellow scholarship. dallas: our governor in north carolina has offered the largest teacher pay raises of any governor in america. we have done a lot of things to

try to get our education compensation system up. we have offered them liability protection that the democrats didn't offer them. there have also been hard choices that have had to be made. when the democratic governor left republicans with a $3 billion budget deficit, a lot of difficulties had to be figured out, and republicans have done a pretty good job paying the debt back and getting the economy going without raising taxes. pedro: a couple of our viewers on twitter have pointed this out -- this is from the appearance you made with your brother back in december on our network a couple of years ago. they asked if this is one of the brothers made famous through airtime last election, they wanted to see how family relations were going. dallas: i think it would be better for everybody when this election is over. pedro: dallas woodhouse, he is

with the north carolina republican party. he serves as their executive director, as we are taking a look at the battleground state of north carolina. thank you for your time. dallas: guest: thank you. announcer: c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. week, we are focusing on presidential battleground states leading up to election day. tuesday morning at his iowa -- chief political reporter for the day more and register will talk about why iowa is a battleground state. then iowa democratic party vice chair will discuss the political layout of iowa, and hillary clinton's chances of winning the state. and conservative talk radio host steve days will talk about trump's chance of winning iowa. be sure to watch a's "washington journal," live tuesday morning at 7 a.m. eastern.

announcer: c-span's road to the white house coverage continues tuesday with a presidential candidate in florida. hillary clinton speaks at a campaign rally in coconut creek. we are live from the broward college north campus at 2:15 p.m. eastern. lifeless donald trump in tallahassee at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. -- later, we are live with donald trump in tallahassee. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] atouncer: tuesday evening 7:00 eastern, live coverage on c-span of the indiana governors debate between republican lieutenant governor, democrat john greg, and libertarian rec spell -- rex bell. the maryland senate debate. canon 10:00, a debate for the florida senate between marco rubio and democratic congressman patrick murphy.

live thursday night at 8:00 eastern, republican senator kelly a haute and democratic governor maggie hassan debate for the new hampshire senate seat. now until election day, lunch key debates from house, senate, and governors races on the c-span networks, c-span.org, and the c-span radio at. c-span, where history unfold daily. next, we continue our look at politics in north carolina with john dinan of wake forest university. this is 45 minutes. pedro: all this week, our show is taking a look at battleground states to talk with experts and people watching the races, not only on the presidential side, but the senate races in other races as well. today is north carolina, tomorrow iowa. pennsylvania will be our next up on wednesday.

on thursday, we'll take a look at florida, and on friday, the state of iowa. north carolina, our focus today, and joining us from winston-salem, north carolina to set things up for us and start our conversation is john dinan, wake forest -- professor at wake forest university. welcome to c-span. pedro: -- john: good to be here. could you tell us in simple terms why north carolina is a battleground state? john: you could make the case that north carolina was the most competitive state in 2008 in 2012. barack obama won it by less than .5% in 2008, mitt romney won it by two percentage points in 2012. you can make the case that no other state was that competitive in both elections the last two times. it is not surprising that 2016 would be a continuation. look where the candidates are deposing -- devoting their time

for visits -- they have been devoting as much time for north carolina as any other state, the traditional battlegrounds ohio, florida, north carolina has been right up there. if you want to know what is a battleground state, look at where the candidates are visiting. pedro: donald trump was here recently, secretary clinton was here sunday. she will be back with michelle obama this week at wake forest. john: as i say, in some ways other states -- ohio, florida, sometimes pennsylvania, in recent years virginia -- they have been getting regular visits by the candidates, but north carolina got a little bit in 2008, a little bit into thousand 12, but 2016 has become a regular event that you might have a chance to see one of the candidates, their family members, one of the vice president's or another surrogate. that is continuing. pedro: election data shows us when it comes to the breakdown

of the state itself, about 10 million residents. 2.7 registered as democrats, 2 million republicans, 30,000 libertarians, 2 million unaffiliated. talk about the unaffiliated. it is that where the focus is? unaffiliated, is but it is also on turning out the vote of republicans and -- voter turnout will average somewhere in the high 50's, maybe up to 60%, so you have got a lot of work to be done to motivate your base voters. the unaffiliated category has been significant and increasing in recent years. one of the advantages is you can vote in either republican or democratic parties. sometimes you'll find a lot of people in that unaffiliated category are actually very strongly democratic or republican. that being said, there's a lot

of true undecideds. there is no surprise that the unaffiliated get a lot of attention. pedro: wake forest university's john dinan joins took us about battleground states. we start with north carolina today. if you want to ask him question about what his state and what it is looking like, not only on presidential but other levels. if you're a north carolina resident, give us a call at 202-748-8000. all others, 202-748-8001. and you could post thoughts on twitter as well. professor dinan, you probably do not see it, but we started the show with a map taking a look at the state of north carolina and highlighting some of the key cities with that map. could you tell us what areas of the state favors hillary clinton and what areas of the state favor donald trump? john: sure. you have got some key population of senators in north carolina. when you go down to charlotte and then the triangle region, raleigh, durham, chapel hill,

and then the region where im, greensboro, winston-salem, and high point. others as well -- wilmington, asheville -- but the major population centers, the cities, the urban areas, will be the strongest area for the hillary clinton campaign in north carolina, as in other states. donald trump's key support and republican support traditionally is going to be in the rural areas. and the real battleground oftentimes becomes within a battleground state of north carolina will become the suburban areas outside the main population centers. and that's oftentimes where there votes to be won, if you take the urban areas going to democrats and the rural areas going to republicans. pedro: the point you made before, are the campaigns spending a lot of times in those areas you highlighted, and especially areas that are up for grabs? john: what's interesting is the clinton campaign is going to charlotte, going to winston-salem, greensboro. and donald trump is going to

some of the same areas, but you've also seen donald trump go to some rural areas. he went to one town which has a population of under 1,000 people. there is a lot of people in the surrounding areas, but it's very unusual in eastern north carolina. that's a recognition of that's where a lot of the votes are that he's going to have to win if he is going to keep the state competitive to really run up the vote totals. republicans always do well in the urban areas. he has got to really expand those vote totals. that's been a promise of the trump campaign. we will see whether that pans out. pedro: before we take our first call, we hear states described as red or blue. how would you describe your state right now? john: i would say it's neither one. certainly in presidential races, it has become increasingly competitive and the most -- possibly the most competitive state. in nonpresidential years, when we talk about years in which there might be a senate race up or congressional races, the turnout still gives an advantage to republicans over

democrats. but when we're talking about a presidential election year, 2008, 2012, 2016, the turnout boost the democratic candidates get makes north carolina increasingly very competitive. pedro: john dinan from wake forest university is joining us and taking your call. we start with lucia from raleigh, north carolina. our line for north carolina residents. good morning. go ahead. caller: hello. my question is the republican party has sent a clear message in north carolina to african-americans, and that messages, we don't want you to vote. we hope you don't vote. we're going to make it very difficult for you to vote. we have been through i think three lawsuits. they spent like $9 million trying to suppress the vote. and i want to know why does the republican party seem to put the party over the people? thank you. pedro: professor dinan? there is no doubt north carolina is not the only state, texas and wisconsin have also

been the center of legal battles. carolina in 2013 passed an omnibus voter reform law and had a number of components to it. it imposed a voter i.d. requirement for the first time. it reduced the number of days from early voting from 17 days to 10 days and eliminated the same-day registration, the ability during the early voting period to actually register to vote and vote on the same day. this was an omnibus bill. it was challenged in federal court. initially, the judge upheld the law in all respects. get then went up to the appellate court, and a three-judge panel struck down the provisions i mentioned. it went to the u.s. supreme court for an emergency appeal in the supreme court deadlocked 4-4, therefore allowing the appellate court decision to stand. the sum total means that there is no voter id requirement in this election. there's the full complement of 17 voting days and there is the

opportunity to register and vote during the early voting period. those all have various implications. scholars have looked at what difference did these make? it is not clear whether voter i.d. requirement had much effect on voter turnout and not clear that the voting period had much of an effect. the one environment that has a lot of affect, the scholars have shown, is the ability to register to vote and vote on the same day. that does seem to boost turnout , and the key point is that is restored in a way that it would not have been present if the law had been allowed to stand. pedro: our next call is on the line for others. caller: good morning. thanks for having me on. new jersey is known as the crossroads date in the revolutionary war, but all of america is a battleground now and we are fighting for our survival in this nation. i want to make the comment about

a news blackout about hillary and her transferring america's uranium stockpile to russia in exchange for $130 million being put into the clinton foundation. the only one i have heard mention that was rudy giuliani in his speech introducing donald trump in the new hampshire rally. there is a media blackout about it. the same nonsense happened when bill clinton was president and the information started to come gate, when hejing transferred the technology for the chinese to target their missiles to the american cities, and then there was monica lewinsky obscuring the real crime, the bigger crime of treason. pedro: gotcha, peter. any thoughts, professor? john: it's not surprising that in the final months, many of the candidates have begin -- begun focusing not what they are going to bring to the table

positively, education policy, tax policy. there is some of that, but we are in a polarized era in which a lot of people make their decision not about what is positive about their candidate, but what they see as the negatives about the other candidate. you'll see a number of charges, claims made, criticism brought up about the other candidate. that can be expected to dominate the final few weeks of the that is whatause is likely going to motivate a number of people to vote, not so much here is my plan for fixing the school system. that's in keeping with the tradition that we've seen. pedro: you have heard a lot about in the caller mentioned the clinton foundation. do most north carolinans follow that storyline? do they care? john: well, they will care when it's salient, when it's brought up. donald trump has been bringing up those matters at his rallies. he gets applause at his rallies. it's a matter of whether or not things get salient and prominent treatment outside of

trump rallies and outside of trump appeals to the extent that it gets prominent coverage and network news broadcasts or others that leads voters to get a signal oh, this is something that i care about. but here, it is unclear what salience it has beyond the trump campaign. pedro: jesse is up next from north carolina. go ahead. caller: i like to make some comments, please. i've always been a democrat. but now i am not a democrat because of the fact that this , woman has stood up there. she has lied. she wants to have free trade. she wants to open the borders up. how does the people in america, especially the women, how do they realize or what did they say about having jobs? if we give them all to the other people, we're not going to have anything and there's too

many people, not just in north carolina, that need the help. i wish that they would all get educated in the next 15 days and realize what is going on. this woman's doing nothing but using women and the blacks and it's a crime and shame. and it's especially going to be a crime and shame when we got her in office. because you got four years of her. pedro: professor, your thoughts. john: the caller mentioned two issues in particular that have really had residents -- resonance at trump campaign rallies and advertisements, and that would be the free trade issue and the immigration issue. if you go to a donald trump speech in north carolina, there's a very good chance that

you would hear about his criticism of bad trade deals within the first five to 10 minutes. it has had prominence in the trump campaign speeches and it does seem to resonate at his rallies. the immigration issue is also one that trump will bring up, perhaps not quite as prominently, but also still pretty prominently. the criticism there is we don't have border security. how do we get more control of the border? those issues you hear another trump rallies and speeches, you will see them in ads in other states, particularly north carolina. they have been prominent, no surprise that the caller would mention those, and those have certainly been prominent features of the trump campaign here. according to the department of labor, there is a 4.7 percent unemployment rate in the state of north carolina. in thes that play out concern about economy and jobs? john: we see an interesting

dynamic in a north carolina economy. we have a republican governor, pat mccrory, who took office quarter years ago, and he is running for reelection against democratic challenger roy cooper. one of governor mccrory's main arguments for reelection is that he has brought the north carolina economy back to where it should be. the carolina comeback. he said the unemployment was among the highest in the nation when mccrory took office four years ago. now it's more towards the national average and more healthy. but you can also see a different dynamic, and that's what you would expect from an incoming -- an incumbent governors seeking reelection, how the economy is. but the trump campaign is seeing a different direction, they are trying to knock off the party in power. there are challenges to the economy, so they are more inclined to emphasize the negatives about the economy, some challenges in the economy, so you can see some different messages the north carolina

voters will be getting, depending on whether they are hearing the presidential campaign or the governor campaign. 202-748-8000 if you are a north carolina resident, and 202-748-8001 for all others. larry lives in morgantown. you are next. hello. caller: good morning. i have two questions for the professor. i want to know why they closed college campus voting and no more sunday voting days. pedro: -- john: the caller is referring to the voter reform act we were discussing a few minutes ago that was passed in 2013. there were several changes, and one of the changes they made was in the early voting period. it had 17 days in early voting.

and it would include sunday in some counties and in others, they would choose not to have it. and the question was where there should have voting precincts and what should be open on election day. that law was put in place. it actually had affected for 2014 those elections. but for the current elections, based on an appellate court, a three-judge panel, the federal court of appeals of the fourth circuit, those changes are not in effect anymore. back to the full 17 days of early voting. it is the case that counties have decisions to make. do you have early voting precincts at 10 precincts in the county, or 16 question mark -- 16? those debates have continued. those continue to be a local decision. depending on where you live in north carolina, you may see sunday early voting. some counties, there may not. it is one of the testaments -- people come from another country

and they expect a uniformly run election in united states. the first thing they're surprised about is how much discretion there is at the state level, and the second thing, how much discretion there is at the state level within counties in the state that still make these decisions. how many voting precincts, where they should be placed that still rest at the local level. you see decisions made in different ways. pedro: there were some issues due to flooding. did that affect voting or the people who could vote because of the flooding that took place? john: there certainly was significant flooding in the eastern part of the state as a result of hurricane matthew. there were highways closed down, a number of people displaced. that really did dominate attention for people in the state. we had several debates in the prior week, last week, debates for the governor's race, senate race, and the first thing candidate said were prayers for the people who have been

displaced and affected by and lost their lives because of hurricane matthew. the second thing they said was that some people may not be able to watch the debate, they had to listen, because they did not have power to have their tv set running. it did dominate attention. it does have some political effects. everything has political effects these days. governor mccrory spent a lot of his attention focused on election -- spent a lot of his attention focused on reaction and relief to the hurricane. saw governor mccrory not just as a candidate, but people ining -- but someone acting leadership capacity. that's probably the political effect we saw in the past few weeks. pedro: janet lives in west virginia. thanks for calling. go ahead. caller: ok. people say that hillary is qualified and trump isn't. the only thing i see she is qualified for is filling her pocketbook.

she has -- what she did in benghazi, i just can't believe that anybody could vote for her. she lied about that lady, the mother, telling her there was a movie. and so did obama. it was on tv. and to open our borders -- i just can't understand that. like the bible says, a house divided cannot stand. and when you have people in here that have such a radical thing about -- i don't know if you would call it religion, whatever they do, they have cut people's heads off over here and they don't bring it up, and they should the police every day, we never heard of that until obama got in and hillary. and she is as phony and you can be. and it started way back in arkansas. -- i just and that's think people's blinded.

pedro: that's janet in west virginia. professor, go ahead. john: there's no doubt -- people have said it before and it is worth repeating. we have not had two candidates of the two major parties with such historically high unfavorability ratings. that's true of hillary clinton. that is true of donald trump. some candidates have a little higher unfavorability rating, we can compare clinton and trump. but compared to previous candidates, that is the situation we are in. the question is what effect does that have on people's turnout to vote? ofre is probably the case some people who do not turn out to vote. they're just turned off, saying i can't really vote for either of those candidates, and third party candidates always have a tough time of it. there is one third-party candidate in north carolina. libertarian gary johnson is on there. jill stein, the green party candidate, is not on the ballot. you can write her in, but she is not on the ballot.

the historically high unfavorability ratings of the two major candidates, does that push people towards third-party candidates? does it push them toward the libertarian? we will see. that is one of the things we will be watching for. historically, third-party candidates might gain a few points a couple weeks out, but historically that fades as we get closer to the election. we will be watching to see if that holds up this time in light of the dissatisfaction that people have with the two major party candidates. pedro: can you tell us about the religious makeup of the state and how that plays out when people go to vote? john: it certainly historically has been very definitely protestant, baptist in particular makeup. there is a growing number of other religions, catholics and other religions moving into the state. there has been a significant inflow of migration of people into the state. that being said, if you look at the evangelical population in terms of voters, it is still

quite high, as you would expect in other southern states and other similarly situated states. there's no doubt that the religious denomination plays a role. what we have seen, though, and what political scientists have noted, is that we used to have a traditional understanding. we understood that protestants would give their support to republican presidents. catholics, a long time ago, would give their votes to democrat candidates. in recent years, more split. what political scientists are focused on is less the divide, but the frequency and commitment to religious worship. if you could ask one question these days -- you probably have several questions -- but one of the leading questions if you wanted to predict whether they would vote republican or democrat, you ask how many times a week or month they attend religious services. the higher the number is, the more likely they are to vote republican. so these days, we don't ask voters whether they are catholic or protestant or jewish, we ask

about their commitment to religion. dean. this is caller: i'm 68 years old. i know who set up medicare. it was set up back in the depression. it paid for my open heart surgery, 80% of it. it is taken out of my social security check. the democrat party set that up for us. now it is looking out after us, taking care of us. they looked at the great depression. in there -- mp you have to protect what you have. pedro: ok, thanks. john: the caller has rightly focused attention on one of the most important programs that the federal government runs. social security, medicare.

we have talked about medicaid, the state shared responsibility of health care for the low-income people. and yet, what is striking to me and other political analyst is how low amount of attention those types of issues have gotten in the debates, in the campaign as a whole. you saw in the third presidential debate, the moderator tried to press the candidates on these very issues. the candidates did not want to spend as much time talking on his issues. yet those are crucially important. social security program is now beginning to enter a situation which will eventually face some challenges economically. medicare is taking an increasing percentage of the federal budget. perhaps among the many things disappointing about this presidential campaign -- and there have been a number of disappointments -- for me, that would rank right up there. the failure to devote more attention to making sure these

programs are healthy going forward. what are the candidates competing plans? have not seen a lot of attention given to that at a trump campaign or clinton campaign in north carolina. perhaps those issues deserve more attention. pedro: tom from maryland. okouncer: can you hear me --caller: can you hear me ok? so many things i want to talk about. you are talking about social security. all these americans were so in favor of donald trump, where do you think we will get the money to pay for social security if he gives a huge tax cut to big business? that is where we get the money from to pay for social security and medicare, from taxes. donald trump, he pays no taxes. people are thinking about putting for somebody who does nothing to support our government. i don't know where their minds are. has got to thing

leave america, or else it is going to destroy it, because it makes no sense. it makes no sense to give up your right as an american citizen to follow somebody because he has some foolishness to say he can do what he could do, like a dictator. he talks like a dictator. he looks like a dictator. he acts like a dictator. he probably is a dictator, given the opportunity. john: the caller has focused, among other things, our attention on the tax plans of the two candidates. i would say that the tax plans have gotten somewhat more attention than the plans for social security and medicare. but here as well, i think we could have benefited from even more attention from the tax plans. if we look at the three debates and vice presidential debate and we add up the amount of time devoted to these issues, in many cases voters and analysts were wishing there would have been even more attention devoted to really drilling down. the trump tax clan would have

what features? hillary clinton's plan for tax reform would have what features? i would expect, and this is a much surprising, but if you ask voters to give a soundbite about how you would characterize the trump versus tax plan, it would probably be difficult, perhaps because the candidates themselves have not amplified that to a great degree but it just is not been prominent. is one issue that has been on the table in the last two to four years and the next two to four years, there is a window of opportunity for reforming the tax code. democrats have a plan, republicans have a plan. it will make a significant difference, and it could be that not much gets through washington, but there is always the possibility of movement on tax reform. it is important going forward to hear little bit more from the candidates on how they would use that policy window and change the taxes. pedro: john dinan from wake

forest university. carol lives in glenville, north carolina. go ahead. caller: thanks for having me on. i'm going to address the caller who claimed that voter id was a way to suppress votes. that is not what voter id does. what voter id actually does is it protects legal voters. think that they have that voter id requirement in many states. i voted for a long time in the state of georgia, where we had voter id, and it seemed to be just fine. they say -- these people that are against it -- say that there is not a way for everyone to have an id. i can't figure out who it is that does not have an id these days.

that law that was passed by the legislature made getting an id as easy as anything anyone has ever done, right down to going to various institutions to see that people signed on for voter id. pedro: thanks, carol. john: there's no doubt that the voter id issue has been a very contentious one in north carolina. -- carolina over the last four years. ever since the legislature passed the 2013 law, which would have imposed a photo id requirement, it has been a matter of political debate and legal filing. that being said, as the caller mentioned, north carolina now does not have a voter id or any voter id requirement to vote. in that respect, north carolina is now out of line with the majority of states, which now do have an id requirement of some kind. those id requirements vary. sometimes it can be non-photo id. sometimes it can be a photo id.

it is the case now that north carolina is somewhat out of touch with its neighbors, neighboring states, each of whom would require a voter id of some kind. but that has now been resolved by a three-judge panel on the fourth circuit court of appeals, and for this election, there will not be a voter id in north china. pedro: on the topic of contentious legislation, we have of you are on twitter who makes this statement, saying governor mccrory should be defeated just for signing hb2. can you put that in context for us? john: that has been a source much discussion over the last six months in north carolina. this spring, the city of charlotte passed an ordinance that provided various transgender rights, provisions, and among other things, a lot of individuals access to bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. there was much debate over whether the city of charlotte could legally do that in north carolina, or whether it was the responsibility of the state.

the state legislature held a one-day session and passed a law overturning the charlotte ordinance, and then going further than that and saying individuals in public facilities in north carolina will now be required to go to bathrooms that will correspond with their gender, not necessarily their gender identity. that has been a matter of discussion in north carolina and also a matter of legal filings. it's now tied up in court. it is moving forward in court. politically speaking, what we know about this? sincecally speaking, ever some people reacted to that law, business it may's -- businesses may decisions, they will no longer hold business north carolina, and various athletic conferences -- atlantic coast conference, ncaa -- decided to draw conferences from the state. those last developments,

the sports conferences to withdraw, that really seemed to kick things into gear in which people in surveys recently say law you approve of this hb2 or do you disapprove? disapproval is clearly outpacing approval. so, no surprise there that democratic candidates in the state have been in their appeals and campaign has zynga hb2 is a as saying campaign that hb2 is a mistake. you should oppose governor mccrory and any state legislators who supported hb 2. what is not clear is whether or not that will have a clinical effect. -- political effect. how will it fair on governor mccrory's reelection bid? republicans have a super majority in the state right now. we will be watching the

governor's race, the state race, and the legislative races closely. pedro: from alabama, good morning. caller: i have two questions. the first one is, will illegals be allowed to vote in the election in north carolina? number two, this tpp, the current trade deal waiting in the wings, it's my understanding that they are going to be able to move workers from all these areas in the trade agreement freely into the united states. wouldn't that cost a lot of ir jobs?s the john: in regard to voting, there is an expectation that you will be a citizen when you are voting and will be expected to say as much when you register to vote, in north carolina, as in other states. on tpp, the trade issue, that is no surprise that has been a dominant feature at trump

campaign rallies in north carolina. he has been arguing we have made bad trade deals in the past -- nasa gets a frequent mention. he said don't make mistakes in the future in regards to tpp. the trade issue which is likely to be committed to congress in the coming months. no surprise that trump has played on that. the trade issue is a classic issue where there are diffuse benefits. economists will say, as a whole, the country will benefit from making these trade deals. they are diffuse, spread out benefits, but concentrated harm and pain. that is, it might help the country as a whole, that is what statistics show, but it is also possible to see particular communities and workers who are harmed as they lose their jobs. donald trump has been focusing on that concentrated pain and harms, and he has been making that case. others have been making the case, overall, you benefit from trade deals. that is a tough argument to make in a campaign where people are

much more likely to feel i am negatively affected by this, and it is tough for me to see this benefit you are touting for the country. pedro: from arabian falls, north carolina, we would hear from marlene. caller: good morning. i'm calling -- i find that the coverage of the press, you know, our forefathers believed, in order for us to remain a free country, we had to have a free press. unfortunately, they don't really inform the people. take nafta, which you just mentioned, about trade. nafta is -- people think it is just trade. what nafta actually calls for is services, and people. -- is free movement of goods, services, and people. you never hear the third leg of it. i moved to north carolina recently from new jersey. new jersey is absolutely

overrun. my family was here since the 1600s. i saw, within 25 years, new jersey go from an american state to an international state. so when you talk about these trade deals, how good is it for america when we have a $28 billion trade deficit just with mexico? callerhe issues that the brings up have been very prominent in trump campaign rallies, trump campaign ads. it is a whole set of issues. it's issues about immigration and a changing population. it's issues about trade deals. these issues have not completely than foreign to -- been foreign to republican party politics. pat buchanan raised these issues in previous nomination battles, continues to raise them in national party politics and trying to push those into the republican issues. but donald trump has raised

those issues to a greater degree than most previous republican presidential candidates have and perhaps could be said to have a different position on them that -- on them than previous republican presidential candidates. question to be race going forward is what is the staying power of these trump appeals, particularly on the trade issue? suppose trump loses, suppose trump wins. regardless of what happens, does trump change the republican party in ways that kind of make the free trade position -- the standard free trade position in the republican party -- a more difficult one for republican candidates to embrace? or does this not have staying power? that is a question we will be focusing on. we don't yet have an answer. we will know a little bit more in years to come. pedro: professor dinan, we have talked a lot about the presidential race.

talk about governor mccrory and his likelihood to get reelected, and also talk about richard burr as he is facing a challenge as well. john: naturally, most of the attention focuses on presidential races. that is what drives turnout, but north carolina i would say is one of two, maybe three states that has very competitive races, not only at the presidential level, not only at the governor's level -- we are one of 12 states what a governor's u.s.-- but also at a senate level. all three of those races are highly competitive in north carolina. the only other state you might be able to say that about would be new hampshire, to some degree misery, but really it is -- to missouri,e misery -- but really it is north carolina. the senate race puts two-term incumbent senator burr facing democratic challenger deborah

ross. that has not had the same degree of prominence in the state up until a few weeks ago. it wasn't clear whether that race would be competitive. people probably should not be surprised that is competitive, because north carolina senate races are unfailingly competitive. it has become even more competitive, and a lot of that money has poured in from out of state as group seven saying, let's see if we can drive these numbers up for ross or ferber -- for burr. then in the governor's race, you republicans have mcclory facing attorney general roy cooper, the democrat. that is also a very competitive race. north carolinians are very comfortable slitting their ticket, and it is not improbable that could happen again to read -- again. races we areee

focusing on are very competitive. presidential race, very competitive, and the senate race and governors race. pedro: this is true from north carolina. caller: good morning. thank you for having the show this morning. i was wanting to ask the professor about the down ballot races. i think the latest polls show that secretary clinton holds a slight lead over donald trump. and that roy cooper holds just a slight lead over governor mccrory. i was just wanting to see if you thought that, if secretary clinton won by a bigger margin than what is showing now, if more traction comes to her --

her race in the state -- will that add pressure, more votes to deborah ross and roy cooper and other down ballot democrats in the state here in north carolina? pedro: thanks, drew. john: there's no doubt that one of the central rules in these campaigns in a presidential election year is that voter turnout is driven by the presidential race am a and the candidate that does better at the presidential level at pulling out their voters, has down ballot effects that can boost the candidates on the same ticket. that is the expectation. the one thing we can say, though, is that north carolina does have a history, as i was mentioning a minute ago, of split ticket voting. north carolina voters have been comfortable in recent decades in casting a vote for one party and a different one for the other. there is a down ballot affect --

people, the vote for the presidential race first and foremost, and then they vote in with that for senator and governor. but north carolina, as much as any other state in recent decades, has a history of the ticket voting. those of those are true and in play. pedro: what does early voting tell us about what potentially might happen in north carolina? john: people are naturally -- early voting started in north carolina this past week. it started on thursday. it continues on until the saturday just before the election. people are naturally scaring -- scouring those numbers. what is the racial breakdown, the age breakdown, the party breakdown for people who have shown up in the first three days of early voting. i'm always hesitant to draw too much out of this. they compared to previous years and see if one candidate or party is getting a boost. here's what you can say with confidence. early voting is about on par with, perhaps ever so slightly

below, 2008, 2012 numbers. it is close enough that i would say it is on a par. here is the challenges that different counties, different parts of the state, they will have different hours for early voting days compared to 2016. comparisons to draw or prediction based on what we see. the one thing i would say is that we seem, if anything, to be keeping with no big boosts, no big drops from where we have been. so neither party would really take much from what they see from the early voting numbers in north carolina. john dinan studies politics and teaches at wake forest university in winston-salem, starting things off as we take a look at the battleground state of north carolina. thanks your time. john: good to be here, thank you. "washington-span's

journal," live every day with news and policy issues that affect you. this week, we are focusing on presidential battleground states. tuesday morning, it is i what. -- iowa. the chief political reporter for "the day more and register" will talk about why iowa is a battleground state. party first vice chair will discuss the political layout of iowa and hillary clinton's chances of winning. and conservative talk radio host will talk about donald trump's chances of winning iowa. be sure to watch c-span's "washington journal congo live at 7:00 a.m. eastern tuesday morning. join the discussion. c-span,r: coming up on the debate between incumbent pennsylvania senator pat toomey and his democratic challenger katie mcginty. clinton and senator elizabeth warren campaign in manchester, new hampshire, and donald trump campaigns in tampa, florida.

announcer:usierra, coming up tuesday, a conversation on climate change. live starting at 11:30 a.m. eastern here on c-span. later, religious freedom in civil rights, the alliance defending freedom considers whether small business owners have the right to refuse service to others based on religious beliefs. that is live at 12:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> with the supreme court back in session, we have a special webpage to help you follow the court. go to c-span.org, select supreme court year the right-hand top of the page. once there, you will see the calendar for this term, a list of all current justices, and with supreme court video-on-demand, watch oral arguments we have aired and recent c-span appearances by supreme court justices at c-span.org.

next, the debate between incumbent pennsylvania senator pat toomey and his democratic challenger katie mcginty. this debate took place at temple university in philadelphia. >> this is vote 2016, the pennsylvania senatorial debate. the final matchup before election day. the candidates are republican pat toomey and democrat katie mcginty. today's debate is brought to you by 6abc in philadelphia and the league of women voters of pennsylvania. and now, live from the temple performing arts center in philadelphia, your moderator, 6abc anchor jim gardner. jim: good evening and welcome to the final debate between the republican and democratic candidates for the senate seat. next hour, the candidates will be answering questions posed by me, as well as questions sent by a social

media and from some members of our audience. speaking of the audience, we have asked everybody to refrain from applause or other interruptions, except for right now as we welcome republican pat toomey and democrat katie mcginty. [applause] jim: we are so glad that you are here. we look forward to a terrific debate here tonight. before we begin, a quick note on some of the ground rules. each candidate will have one minute to answer the question

posed to them, followed by a one minute response for rebuttal. to the candidates, a personal message from me, i hope to cover a lot of ground here tonight. and so, i hope you won't think that i'm disrespectful if i really try to hold you to your time limits. i will need your help and would appreciate your help with that. the candidates will also have 90 seconds at the end of the debate for a closing statement. by random draw, the first question tonight goes to katie mcginty. ms. mcginty, few issues around pennsylvania stir passions on both sides more than the issues of guns and gun violence and the second amendment. do you support background checks and assault weapons bans, a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips, and a no-fly, no-guns list? yet one of the countries -- country's most visible advocate

s of gun control, former congresswoman gabby giffords, has endorsed your opponent. if she was in this room, what would you say to her? ms. mcginty: i would say first thank you jim, and thank you all for being here. the first thing i would say to gabby giffords would be to thank her for her service and her courage. the issue of gun violence is critical. some 300,000 people killed over the last decade through gun violence. i would take a leadership role. i am proud to be endorsed by organizations like cease-fire pennsylvania, because i think there is common ground to be had on this issue. i come from a family where my brothers were hunters, we are sportsmen. i don't think that's the issue. but coming together on common sense issues like not letting terrorists buy guns in this country, i think we can get it done. to get it done, you have to stick with it. that's the difference i have with senator toomey. he let -- lent his name to a

bill, but infamously said, when the bill failed by a couple of votes, the senate has spoken. let's move on. let democrats take the lead. i'm ready to take the lead on this critical issue. jim: mr. toomey? mr. toomey: i'm glad you are doing well. thanks to temple for hosting this. i want to thank my many family and friends who came down from the lehigh valley and greater philadelphia to be here. i approach this issue as somebody who is a strong believer in the second amendment. i think that is a very important personal right that we have, and it is properly enshrined in the constitution. it never occurred to me that a three-minute background check to try to prevent somebody who has no legal right to a firearm -- that that in any way infringes on second amendment rights. so i got together with joe manchin, after what was probably the most painful meeting i ever had, when i sat down with the families of sandy hook, the parents whose little babies were just massacred. those families -- they weren't

asking us to ban all categories -- whole categories of guns or do anything unreasonable. they said, can't we make progress on a background check? joe manchin and i put together a bill. we have three votes on that bill. i still support that and i intend to reintroduce that, because we ought to be able to keep firearms out of the people who had no legal right to it. but katie mcginty is to the point of politicizing everything and hyper politics. that drives people apart and prevents us from finding common ground. jim: mr. toomey, perhaps because a woman is running for president, has a long-standing issue of profound importance become a more visible issue of this campaign -- equal pay for women. thub.com, to walle pennsylvania is now the fourth worst state in the country when it comes to gender pay equity. and the world economic forum places the united states 28th in

the world. there is something called the paycheck fairness act. it would require businesses to explain why wage gaps exist between their male and female employees and impose tougher penalties against employers for wage discrimination. five times you have voted to reject the paycheck fairness act. are we to think that accurately describes how you feel about a woman's right to make as much money as a man? mr. toomey: i have grown up and been blessed to have a family full of strong women, my mother, my sisters, my wife, who had a wonderful career before we got married, and i have a 16-year-old daughter. you better believe i want her to have every opportunity and to be compensated as well as my sons might be someday. the fact is, though, the legislation you alluded to was ruled by even "the washington post" editorial page -- no conservative page -- as a boondoggle for trial lawyers, not as something that would actually make progress. i have supported legislation that makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of

the gender of a worker. i voted for legislation that makes it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers who share information about their pay. and i feel very strongly that women ought to get every opportunity and the same level of compensation as men. but i will tell you also -- jim: thank you. we are going to move on. i'm sorry. ms. mcginty. ms. mcginty: thanks. i believe this country was founded on a basic bargain -- you work hard, you get ahead. the truth is that families, women and families, are working as hard as they know how, two jobs, three jobs, but they aren't keeping up with the cost of childcare, the cost of college, and just basic needs that every family has. i believe we need to honor hard work and, yes, i'm for increasing the minimum wage and enabling families to provide for themselves. and i'm for ensuring that a woman doing the same job as a man is able to bring home that same paycheck. these are critical issues, and i do disagree with senator toomey.

you know, it's not enough to have platitudes or say that i think highly of women. families need income so that they can support themselves, and the senator has voted against equal pay. he's voted against increasing the minimum wage. he agrees with donald trump that the problem in this country is people are making too much. that's not what i see out there. he's voted many times against college affordability as well. this is help that families need, and i will fight for those families. jim: ms. mcginty, your opponents claim that you were handpicked to run for the senate by the democratic machine in washington and will be a rubber stamp for the democratic leadership and hillary clinton, should she be elected president. i think we all agree that voters like an independent voice. can you tell us about one issue where you disagree with your party or your potential president? ms. mcginty: thanks, jim. i do stand with secretary clinton, because she is focused on standing up for families and rebuilding the middle class.

i think it would be helpful at this late date in the election if senator toomey would similarly let voters know whether he is voting for donald trump or not. jim: we will get to that, ms. mcginty, but i'm asking you about an issue that you disagree. ms. mcginty: i have one litmus test in serving the people of this commonwealth -- any issue, any idea, does it serve our interests as a state and the families working hard in this state? i will tell you, there are some issues that i disagree with secretary clinton on. for example, i agree that it was wrong to set up guantanamo bay. we know that has been a tool that has been used against us by terrorists, as general petraeus and others have said. but i cannot today say we should close guantanamo bay, because i'm concerned we would have those who would return to the battlefield against us. but i know this -- secretary clinton will fight for working families, and that's what i'm going to do as well.

jim: mr. toomey, you've been taking a little heat for refusing to say if you will vote for donald trump for president. i know you have been waiting for this debate. [laughter] jim: in fact, i know you've been waiting for this moment to say whether or not you will vote for the nominee of your party. so, is it yea or nay? mr. toomey: unlike katie mcginty, i am not a hyper partisan, reflexive ideologue. who thinks he has to give blind obedience to his party's nominee. katie mcginty does that. i don't. there are a lot of things that concern me a great deal about donald trump, and i've been very public about it. i have criticized him repeatedly, publicly, because i think he has said some terrible things. i think he has taken some badly flawed positions. and i acknowledge that the nominee of my party is flawed. katie mcginty is blindly obedient to hillary clinton. she can't acknowledge a single flaw in what is, on the democratic side, the most badly flawed candidate in decades.

acknowledge the dishonesty we see from hillary clinton on a regular basis. maybe that is because katie mcginty began a campaign with a lie about her background, coming -- claiming she was the first in her family to go to college, when she knew her older brother had gone to college and come back to temple for a graduate degree before she ever graduated from high school. so maybe it's katie mcginty's problem with the truth that allows her to overlook hillary clinton's chronic lies. jim: so, i guess that means you have not been waiting for this debate. [laughter] mr. toomey: that's exactly right. ms. mcginty: i'd like to follow-up if i might. jim: in one second, i will let you. senator toomey, you know there are detractors of yours who will say that you are not completely disavowing trump because you need his supporters to win this election. what do you say to that accusation? mr. toomey: i have refused to endorse donald trump. katie mcginty says that was supporting donald trump. that doesn't make any sense.

look, the dilemma is this, jim -- donald trump is a badly flawed candidate, as i said. but if he were president, he would probably sign a bill repealing obamacare, which we badly need. he would probably sign a bill that would restore sanctions on iran, which we badly need. so there is this dilemma. now, if hillary clinton is the president, we will have a doubling down on all the failed policies that have endangered us around the world, that have weakened our economy and that katie mcginty supports. i am like a lot of pennsylvanians i know, because i talk to them on a regular basis, -- who feelel like, stuck, who feel like, i can't believe in a country of 300 million people, we've got these two choices, and katie mcginty can't acknowledge a single flaw in the nominee of her party. jim: i'm not going to badger you to say something that you are not going to say. but don't you think your constituents, the people of pennsylvania, deserve to know if you are going to support the

nominee of your party? mr. toomey: i don't think my constituents care that much how one person is going to vote. they are going to make their own decision all across the commonwealth about whom they're going to support and whom they are not going to support. i think they care much more about whether i've got policies that are going to help grow this economy, whether i've got policies that are going to help keep us safe. that's the contrast on which they will make their decision. jim: you wanted to say something? ms. mcginty: i do. the senator is in a class of his own on this issue. he's the only person running for united states senate in the entire country who has not leveled with his constituents. and here's what i want to share with people here. in philadelphia, the senator will say he has differences and disagreements with donald trump, but in other parts of the state, jim, what we hear from the senator is how excited he will be to confirm president trump's supreme court nominees. we hear -- in other parts of the state, we hear the senator saying that he thinks donald trump has put forward incredibly constructive ideas. senator, in politics, the definition of courage and character is doing what's right even if it costs you votes.

senator, you have failed that test. mr. toomey: someone should tell katie this is televised statewide, katie. i'm sorry if you didn't know that. [applause] [laughter] jim: let's move on. mr. toomey, the first american has been killed in the campaign to recapture mosul from isis. last february, you appeared to object to president obama's guarantee that the war against isis would never require american boots on the ground beyond our current advisory role. you said this, quote, "we have to recognize that the u.s. military has capabilities that no one else on the planet has , and, if we're going to be successful in this, it's going to take american presence." in your estimation, sir, will it be necessary to send ground forces to fight isis? and if a vote in the senate were to come up to that effect, would you vote yes? mr. toomey: i don't it's going to take, and i don't think it would be a good idea to launch a large-scale invasionary force.

i think we do need men and women who have the capabilities the iraqis don't have. should havey never been pulled out of iraq, and then we might not be in this situation. we need people who can help with logistics, air traffic control, medicine, technology the iraqis simply don't have. we must defeat isis. an even bigger threat from this is the rise of iran, the hegemony of iran and the middle east, which is a direct result of president obama's very mistaken policy. this iran nuclear deal, which endangers all of us unbelievably and that katie mcginty fully supports -- what iran poses now is a very serious, nuclear armed, ballistic missile capable, regional threat that runs from afghanistan to the mediterranean. jim: we will talk about that. mr. toomey: isis is a very -- i hope we will. it is very important. jim: what i want to know is, do you believe that americans should be deployed to the front lines to fight isis at some point in time?

mr. toomey: as i said, i think it is the american contribution on the ground should be that of special ops, sophisticated -- jim: only? mr. toomey: i think it is leadership. i think the bulk of the ground forces need to come from the kurdish fighters, sunni arab states that will be absolutely necessary to secure the peace afterwards. american can -- america can provide leadership and technologically sophisticated capabilities that others don't have. ms. mcginty: it's imperative that we defeat and destroy isis. i believe that means our airstrikes supporting local troops, not our combat troops. i think it means, second, that we have to cut off the financial lifeblood of isis, including their access to oil assets. third, we have to take them on in cyberspace as well. what's very troubling to me about senator toomey's record is that he hasn't shown up for many of the key hearings and meetings. in fact, the senator has missed some 90% of the key committee

hearings and meetings on our critical national security issues. and when the senator has shown up, his votes have been in the direction that takes down our security instead of enhances our security. for example, the senator voting against legislation that moved forward in closing some loopholes in our visa waiver program -- critical legislation. the sender -- senator voted against not once, but twice the decision that would close a loophole that allows terrorists to buy guns in our country. jim: thank you. a question for you on the economy. there is a frightening prospect for something called a new normal in the economy. a federal reserve economist just a week ago said that the long-term economic growth in this country could actually settle at 1.5% for years to come. a new normal. that would mean slower economic growth, fewer jobs, workers'

wages and living standards would increase more slowly or even fall in absolute terms. should you be elected, what would your specific blueprint be for fighting the new normal? ms. mcginty: i think we need to ensure that people have training and -- job-training and apprenticeship programs, skills development, so we can put people back to work in jobs like rebuilding our infrastructure. it's part of the reason, though, that we do need to pay people a decent wage and enable people to fully engage in the workforce by helping them with the cost of childcare, for example. that's why senator toomey's proposal to hold back economic growth -- but i will tell you, we know small businesses are the engine of economic growth and job creation. that's why learning that senator toomey had launched a bank, his bank has foreclosed in such a predatory behavior against small businesses right here in pennsylvania, killing jobs,

hurting those businesses, that senator toomey's own bank's practices are literally considered illegal and predatory and --in 30-plus states. that is a track record of the senator working for himself and his own profitability, but he has certainly hurt those small businesses that were creating good jobs. jim: mr. toomey? mr. toomey: i want to talk about the small business background that i have with my family and how we get this economy going, but i can't let pass -- jim: we will have an opportunity -- mr. toomey: i'm going to respond, because she just raised this, jim, and said something of shocking hypocrisy. she was referring to a legal device called a confession of judgment. she has scripted ads that have gone on tv, attacking me because of a bank using this. those ads were taken down today because they are so blatantly dishonest. they are off the air across the state because of the lies. but it's worse. it is worse because -- the fact is, when katie mcginty was the secretary of the dep, she,

through the dep, used the exact same device on their own credit extension. [laughter] mr. toomey: so she has the nerve to attack me for what a bank did, a bank that i was an investor in, when she was using the exact same device herself. this is what people are disgusted about with politics, when people like katie mcginty will be so hypocritical and just won't tell the truth. let me get back to the economic issue. jim: you've run out of time now, sir. [laughter] [applause] jim: hopefully there will be an opportunity later in the debate. mr. toomey: maybe katie will respond. jim: here's the problem. i want to ask a question about your role as a member of the banking committee and your equity in the bank, and i wanted to ask a question about your experience with nrc energy and some of the charges that have been leveled against you. you have taken time away from an opportunity to answer that question, and now you don't have

time to answer the question about the economy. so maybe you will figure out a way to put that in later in the debate. mr. toomey, in june of this year, the pennsylvania house approved a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy instead of the current 24. opponents of the bill say it is necessary to prevent fetuses from feeling pain during a bortion. opponents say it is an effort by an 82% legislative body to limit a woman's right to abortion. what do you say? mr. toomey: here's what i say, this is a really tough issue, and there are good people on both sides of this issue, good people that i'm very close to on both sides of this issue.