comfortable with certain information. i had a comical exchange with a reader by e-mail maybe a month or so ago. it was a standard complaint like how come the washington post zver covers x, y, and negative story about hillary clinton. i decided -- he was very polite. he was really upset with our coverage. i thought i would pull his leg and i wrote back and said do you read us in print or online? i told them he should talk to his mailman why he is cutting out all those stories out of his newspaper or maybe use a different web browser online. [laughter] i sent him a list of a dozen or so stories that addressed the topics he said we never covered. i thought he would not respond or he would be angry because i

have poked fun at him. instead, he was like wow, thank you. i totally missed the stories. i usually just read whatever his source was. i thought i was messing around but he was genuinely serious and sometimes i fall into the trap thatjournalist of assuming people don't necessarily mean what they say. when they say you never cover something, i say that's not really true but you are venting. in this case anyway, he was serious. he genuinely thought because he had probably been told by breitbart or another source that we are totally ignoring the stories. he was genuinely unaware that we were covering the stories and when i pointed it out, he was happy to find out about it. i wish i could have that type of constructive conversation with everyone of our readers. more wouldt i hope take the attitude he did which

is to be willing to accept information from a source they don't normally rely on. >> the prerequisite or civility at least in my estimation is earnestness. earnestnessdamental of purpose whether it's backyard barbecues that legislators used to have when gerrymandering was not out of control and they went back to the district every weekend or every few days. that earnestness is the foundation on which we can have civil society. the way that this is most relatable to what you were about your father the american historian, this is definitely a house of cards election and its most cynical and violent way. i yearn for the west wing. [laughter]

the speechwriter was a consultant to the west wing and that was my formal education. that was a profile in courage, not cowardice and a profile of our highest ideals and not the sewer. >> we will leave it at that. we have run out of time and i want to thank our panel for this fascinating conversation. i want to thank franklin pierce university for support of your program and i thank you for your you questions. [applause] host: caller: >> there is more information about the curriculum and we have a 13 page teacher guide from franklin pierce university. thank you very much for joining us. [applause] [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]

thehis discussion on campaign 2016 coverage anytime on c-span.org. wmur tv in manchester is talking

about an event we will bring to you in the hour. donald trump will be addressing supporters. the trip is his second to the state in less than two weeks. he has visited new hampshire 8 sincees -- eight times february. it is apparent that donald trump is pushing hard to win new hampshire's numeral or electoral votes. donald trump's son visited on tuesday. we will have the rally when it starts live on c-span. that, some of today's "washington journal" looking at ohio. host: joining us from cleveland is henry gomez, the chief political reporter for cleveland.com, here to look at the battleground state of ohio .nd tell us who the voters are

to get the latest on polling and other news from the race. good morning. guest: good morning. timesohio has gone five to democrats and five times republicans in presidential races since 1940. where are the battle lines in the state? guest: there are a number of battle lines. this year they are different than past cycles. it is a closely divided state. five and five. this year the battlegrounds are different within the battleground. you are seeing donald trump spend time in eastern and southeastern ohio, which is filled with working-class voters that he has tailored his campaign to. it is one of the areas in the state that supplies one of the lowest proportions of the state-wide vote, but one where he could flip democratic counties and peel away the margins that democrats have

traditionally stored there. he could do well state-wide. the counties at where hillary clinton and donald trump won their primaries according to cleveland.com, many counties to the east and south -- who do you think might win the edge in the different counties? counties in northeastern slice. area isgstown overwhelmingly democratic and has been for years. with whited working-class voters, blue-collar workers who have become frustrated with foreign trade deals. donald trump please w -- plays well there.

south of those counties along the ohio river, these counties were democratic until the last 2 presidential elections. they treated red with john mccain and mitt romney. donald trump plays even better there than those candidates. are there enough votes to flip ohio back to republicans? senses that hillary clinton will do better in suburban counties, like delaware county north of columbus. it is overwhelmingly republican, but filled with suburban families, higher educated families, the kind of moderate republicans that may have voted for mitt romney but are uneasy voting for donald trump host:. henry gomez,g with the chief political reporter from cleveland.com as we speak on the battleground state of ohio.

dollars from ohio can join our discussion at (202) 748-8000. all others can call (202) 748-8001. can you explain early voting in ohio? guest: sure. there are three weeks of early voting in ohio, different from 4 years ago when there was a 4th week. you could also register to vote and vote at the same time, it was called golden week. there were court challenges. democratic and republican groups were campaigning to uphold the week. it went away this year. vote is quite a bit of the already in. you can vote from home by mail board ofperson to the elections to vote withing set hours. the board of elections in all of

the 88 counties are opened the last two weekends of the campaign. the democrats are excited about that. they engineer a certain point of the turnout operation of around those days. host: turning to the senate race in ohio, that is also highly contested in addition to the presidential where senator rob portman is going against former governor strickland. tell us where that race stands. guest: this has been a bit of the disappointment if you are hoping for a close and exciting race. muchor portman has pretty put this away. it would be a colossal surprise if former governor strickland was able to come back and win. he has not been able to raise money. he has not been an energetic campaigner. he has made a lot of gaffes on

the campaign trail. dumped a lothers of money in ohio early to define ted strickland early. they brought up the bad economy during his term as governor. they reinforced negative feelings about strickland working for a liberal think tank in washington after he was governor. they buried strickland and a hole. portman is leading by double digits in every poll i've seen. an outstanding campaign as a ticket splitting republican. you cannot say enough about the hast campaign that portman run and the comparatively poor campaign that strickland has run. host: focusing on the heroin epidemic in the state. [video clip] >> i am the president of the fraternal order of police in ohio. we need a senator to have our

fax. the fob endorses rob portman. he has always stood strong for law enforcement. no elected official is doing more to fight back against the heroin epidemic than rob portman. support rob portman. he is on our side. >> rob portman, endorsed by the fraternal order of police. >> i'm rob portman and i approve this message. host: we have a caller from carolina., north you are on with henry gomez of cleveland.. caller: good morning. ahead, bill. in ohio andew up lived in youngstown for 30 years on the north side. youngstown, like many other towns, was an industrial powerhouse. a great place to live. i called it mini-detroit.

it is a crying shame when i retired, fortunately my house wasn't my biggest asset or i would never have it able to get out. you practically had to give your house away. i was up there a month ago the first time i have gone to my neighborhood in 10 years. i hate to say it, but i felt i .eeded a gun in my lap it is disgusting the way things have gone in this country. you can blame companies, politicians, plenty of blame to go around. what has happened is a disgrace. host: let's let henry gomez respond. is that issue resonating in the campaign? guest: i grew up in youngstown myself. i grew up in boardman. i go back often because my family lives there. i don't feel unsafe around the city, but it has seen better

times. i think youngstown has been on the rebound. law and order plays into trump: 's campaign theme. his targeting people that do not deal safe in cities like youngstown and cleveland. the other side would say that he is driving stereotypes. it is a theme that has resonated with some voters and donald trump is heading on that. -- is hitting on that. host: 11 days to go before election day. we have a line for ohio residents, (202) 748-8000. all others can call (202) 748-8001. we saw an ad from senator portman. let's look at an ad from former governor ted strickland. [video clip] president obama: ted strickland. love this man. it was the first of his family

to go to college. a minister, a public servant, as governor he froze public college tuition. even though he took office a year before the recession, by the time he left ohio was the fifth fastest growing economy in america. ted delivered. >> i am ted strickland and i approve this message. host: rescinded his endorsement --donald trump according to becoming the latest republican to do so in the release of the 2000 five video showing donald and sexuallyvulgar aggressive comments. he said he will be voting for indiana governor mike pence. how has that worked out. how has the top of the ticket affected the senate race? guest: not as much as democrats

hopped. strickland has a two-pronged approach, president obama supports me and senator portman supported donald trump. he did not want to resent his support. he was one of the last in that batch of republican senators to revoke their endorsement after "the access hollywood" tape came out. when he was up for endorsement interview you can see that he struggled with that decision. he felt he needed to support the voters of his party who had nominated donald trump. it was a decision he didn't take lightly, even though everything that comes out of donald trump's mouth rob portman has disagreed with. when donald trump makes comments about women or minorities, the to robhing they say portman is do you agree?

rob portman and other republicans have been put in a tough position, but it has not hurt rob portman. he is on the top of the ticket because has been able to bring democrats to his coalition. it has not been a problem for him. host: you are on with henry gomez of cleveland.com. good morning. caller: good morning. comment.ike to make a the people of ohio, i have been to ohio two or three times. i want everyone to look at 2008 when president barack obama took over. that they cut down on ours because the economy was too bad. restaurants were not hiring. there is no employment. today, we can talk about the economy growing and moving fast.

the majority of people in ohio are about to vote for donald trump, taking us back to pre-2008. i am suggesting people look at the record of donald trump. the current governor of ohio is on top of the ticket. a democrat will vote for him. i cannot imagine myself voting for donald trump, who has not held office before. just a businessman. he cannot even releases taxes. host: let's let henry gomez respond. guest: you brought up governor john kasich who ran for the republican nomination and did not win. out thate been polls said if john kasich were at the top of the republican ticket they would beat hillary clinton by 12 points. that is not what happened. john kasich's message has been

the unemployment rate has been dropping. jobs have come back over the past 8 years. president obama wants credit for that. republican governor kasich wants credit for that. is that not the terms on which the race is being fought? the segment of the population that feels they are untrue lloyd, under -- they are underemployed, underpaid looking for prosperity. that is who donald trump has been playing to. host: you are on with henry gomez of cleveland.com. caller: my question is equal to the last call. i've been living in ohio for 18 years. this election is a paradox. i am more of an independent. donald trump, it is shocking.

in ohio governor kasich was a republican, but a reasonable man. popular in ohio. openly criticize donald trump -- how come he is a popular governor who won twice, but trump is winning? the same people who like kasich are voting for trump? n. not, he should go dow happening.ow this is guest: it is fascinating you have these diametrically opposed republicans both popular in ohio

. john kasich won the republican primary. here.t donald trump think donald trump is appealing to a lot of first-time voters or people that have not 4ted in the last 2, 3, elections. people that have been disaffected from their party. that is why he has built a coalition in spite of governor kasich and not having governor kasich's support. host: we're talking with henry cleveland.com. henry, we will be talking to the chairman of the republican and democratic parties in ohio. can you give us an idea of the

ground game and how each party is doing? guest: there is no contest. hillary clinton has the superior ground game in ohio. when the polls showed donald trump with a slight edge, that is one thing to keep in mind. on election day and leading up to election day, hillary clinton and the democrats are more better organized to mobilize voters. since june the have had over 100 democratic staffers working almost in perfect harmony to elect a democratic ticket this fall. conversely, donald trump, and this is almost directly attributable to the fact governor kasich doesn't support him, has had a hard time building his ground game. kasich controls the ohio republican party and that network of party insiders and activists. they have been reluctant to take spots in the trump campaign. it took a while for trump to

announce campaign infrastructure in ohio. he and his ohio campaign renter has feuded openly with the chairman of the republican party in ohio. the rnc has had trouble finding staffers that want to work on the ground in ohio for donald trump. they have even through 2 communication directors in ohio. they both quit because of trump. the first that he did not want to work to elect someone like donald trump. the second had a blowout with the ohio campaign manager. that matters. you don't see it in the polls, but it matters when it comes to getting absentee ballots in the hands of voters come in making sure they are returned, making sure people get out for early voting, and making sure those who have not done so before election day get out on election day. hillary clinton will have all of the advantages and it comes to that. host: good morning, benjamin.

caller: good morning. how are you? host: i'm good. you are on with henry gomez. caller: in 2012 in the election, the secretary of state of ohio was at the center are of great controversy for a number of reasons. primarily for backing away from his order that would have banned counties from planning for early voting after being summoned to court a federal judge. he was resentful after the election. he felt he should have been allowed to do this. now, since then he seems to have i wonder whatdown. your perspective is on his role and intentions in pulling such a maneuver in 2016. i know he made statements

against trump, but it is hard to know what is happening underneath the scenes. after 2012 was attempted to be done covertly. you seem very plugged in. i'm interested in your thoughts. guest: great question. chafing byn has been losing some of the high profile court battles over access to early voting. i think while he still holds true to his belief that it was already easy to vote early in ohio and expansive come you have not seen him push as much this cycle because he lost early battles, and have lost a couple this year that were not as high profile. above this is that john to step wants to run for governor in 2018. it will be competitive between taylor for, mary the republican nomination. he wants this to be a smooth

election. it is his interest to preside over a smooth election because that is another notch in his belt if he does run for governor in 2018. host: looking at the spending and ohio, democrat hillary clinton and the democratic party innt $4.5 million on ads ohio. nearly twice the $2.3 million that donald trump and the republicans will spend. is that disparity making a difference? guest: i think it is making some of the difference. i think it is keeping this race close. you are not seeing donald trump or hillary clinton run away with it in the polls. she needs the ads because donald trump has the advantage demographically. host: good morning, teresa. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. my comment is that i am disappointed in rob portman. i voted for. i am an independent. i cannot believe it took him that long to come up with walking away from trump. the man has not been forthright ohio in thatrs of respect. on the earlier comment, a lot of the blue counties in ohio have been taken off of the election rolls to be counted as absentee ballots after the election because it was decided that was with thent to deal voters of ohio. i think mr. husted will have trouble becoming the governor of ohio. people are finding out their votes will not count because

they have not voted in the last 6-years -- host: let's get an update on that. ohio voters improperly removed s can vote in the november election. ohio voters who were improperly removed after not casting a ballot for several years will vote in the member -- in the november general election. it was ruled that ohio's practice of occasionally ofceling after six years inactivity was illegal. the district court mandated that voters purged since january 1, 2011 will be able to cast provisional ballots. tell us about that and how that affects absentee voting. guest: that was one case that i alluded to with the last caller about how john husted has lost a couple of battles this

year. the republicans in the state, including the secretary of state , are not administering fair elections. this has been some thing husted has been consistent on, and it has been up to the courts to decide. i'm not that convinced it is having a big effect on early voting. but it is something we have not seen measurable data on. with henryre on gomez. caller: i would not vote for rob portman. i cannot wait until we go back -- host: are you there? go ahead. caller: i said i cannot wait until sunday we get rid of our governor. to go back to a democratic governor. i live in gerard ohio.

the roads staying. there's nothing that holes in the road. i hear that john kasich has been so wonderful for ohio. we would not have collective bargaining. he tried to take that away. we voted that down. i cannot see what john kasich has done. my husband works in pittsburgh and was laid off as an electrical engineer and cannot find a job in ohio. i live in ohio, he lives in pittsburgh. rob portman and republican governors, and republican people like kelly ayotte, they go out and tell you they are for social security. for all these programs. when they go back to congress they vote against everything. host: let's let henry gomez respond. how are they resonating? ureen brings up a

good point about how john kasich reasonable guy for everyone, but some are still angry about what he did his first term in office like going after collective bargaining. ohio will return that at the ballot box in 2011. since then kasich has moved to the middle and armed out and identity -- and carved out an identity as a pragmatic governor. the issues rod up is what you hear from democratic voters that are unhappy with leadership in ohio. that is a ted strickland and hillary clinton voter most likely. the feeling that republicans have not made things as well as they could be. host: in addition to the spending advantage democrats have over republicans, it seems democrats have been sending high-profile surrogates to stump

in ohio. are among ad jay z never-ending parade of presidential surrogates. days left to election day. president -- vice president joe biden with a visit as well as -z hosting a-- jay concert there despite being from brooklyn. guest: it is such a more extended battleground map. has always been hugely important to the electoral college. statess a sense that like north carolina, pennsylvania, arizona, utah, and georgia are more important than ohio. we are not used to that, we think we are so important everyone should hear all the time.

hillary clinton, her most able resource is her time. her campaign has mobilized a lot of celebrities and high-profile democrats to barnstorm the state for her when she is not here. the strategy is not to get a headline on cleveland.com, the we cover those events when they are warranted, but to get headlines in the youngstown indicator or small newspapers who -- the cast of the west wing shows up in your small town, that is a big deal. something they will be talking about for a long time. that is the strategy. you might bring someone to an event that might not know to a political event otherwise. more motivated to vote or knock on doors. that plays into the ground game that we talked about earlier. david.ood morning, caller: how're you doing? mr. gomez brought up a good

point and drew a parallel to north carolina. , like hillarys clinton is connecting with a of v, more diverse group the talkingome of hasts that mr. trump seasoned our great country with have not been so welcoming. he is losing the womenfolk, and that is a very important vote. when they get behind that oftain, they will think those things. if we are breaking down the demographics of the voters, it is very imbalanced when you look at the inconsistencies here the history of the republican party has almost been hijacked by

donald trump. they will have to rebuild, because it is going to fall apart. host: that is a lot to unpack. let's let henry gomez take a shot at it. guest: those are good and fair points and observations, especially how the republican party will have a lot of soul-searching to do. he said the same thing for years a cand ended up with fully different candidate that did not for soul republican autopsy. when donald trump is at his best is when he has a focused message, that people are frustrated they are not making asugh money or as employed they should be. when he sticks to that, it is a message that resonates. of taking on minorities, talking crudely about women, that is not helpful.

that is the conflict. those are the headlines hurting him and preventing him from expanding his base beyond the 35% to 40% of americans that are tapped into that sort of anger right now. host: the demographics of ohio, statewide offices are held by republicans at the moment. republicans have a 6-1 majority on the ohio supreme court. immigrants and republicans -- democrats and republicans each hold one senate seat. it is still strongly republican. donald trump is averaging only a one point lead over hillary clinton. what is the difference between voters who like electing republicans -- why isn't he doing better? guest: the statewide office holders that you mentioned are elected and off years. the electorate is different.

when we have a national election the full weight of the party machinery is theoretically behind you. democrats sued up well in ohio. i think the fact that you have democrats on the ground for months is showing up in hillary clinton's poll numbers are just been on tv. her people have been knocking on doors. that is showing up. we may talk to the ohio democratic party chairman about this later, but they have been in the dumps for a long time. ted strickland is the only democratic governor in 30 years and he only served one term. avatar time recruiting good candidates for statewide office. they are still reeling from a disaster. they are having a tough time recruiting candidates for the next election in 2018. host: steve from columbus, ohio. caller: good morning.

if the president of the united states during the inauguration has to swear to uphold the many of the things donald trump has said throughout his campaign have made me question if he would uphold the constitution. is, how could we ever consider electing such a person? host: go-ahead, henry. well, there is 40% to 45% of people considering electing him. he has his weaknesses, sure. i'm not the best person to answer that here you have to talk to voters. they feel that donald trump gets them. they recognize there are things about him that are undesirable. he says things that are mean and

inappropriate. they are voting for him despite that because he feels he will a wayup the system in that hillary clinton one. more mainstream republicans, their issue is the supreme court. they feel they have a 75% to 85% of donald trump taking conservative justices. with hillary clinton, they feel that chance is 0%. that is the thought process from republicans i talked to. host: bob from tennessee. caller: yes, ma'am. thank you for taking my call. we are tired of what has been going on is why we are voting for on is why we are voting for trump. where -- we are tired of the liberalism, murder, lawlessness, the coverups. can i say one last thing? democrat christians, why won't

you get on the right side of god and support not murdering those babies? citing with the devil, evilness. host: how are social issues like that playing? guest: not big. you hear the abortion issue mentioned by a lot of main who areepublicans worried about the makeup of the supreme court. donald trump is not -- that is off-color to me. donald trump at the convention in cleveland talked about supporting lgbtq issues and people. has not done a lot to back that up with policy announcements, but donald trump is not that strident in social issues. he talked openly about being pro-choice. that is not to me what is

factoring into the trump coalition. the henry gomez, the chief political reporter from cleveland.com. can you talk about the urban versus rural divide in the state. 9lf of the voters are in counties. the other half are spread out over the remaining 79 counties. how is that playing out in the senate and presidential race? guest: we talk about there being for or five ohios. you have the northeast, eastern ohio, southwest, central, northwest. majormpaign has one front, the big cities. there is also the big media markets. hillary clinton is in columbus and cleveland and cincinnati. those are the three major urban areas that will drive the lion's

share of the vote come election day. donald trump and mike pence have had a different strategy. they're hitting the big cities for the media coverage, but last night donald trump campaigned in geneva, ohio. that is about one hour east of cleveland. no presidential candidate has visited since jfk in 1960. it is a small county. byma won it for years ago double digits. it is so small that of donald trump flipped that it would not be a difference maker. visited ashland. that is deep republican territory. that must have been making sure you get out the vote. they are focusing more on traditional republican base areas wheree-collar

they could chip away at margins. hillary clinton is focusing on urban areas that will drive the lion's share of the vote. host: st. joseph, missouri. caller: i'm going to say that i'm sick of the marxist democrats and their mouthpieces in the media. ns, i thought for this country. my brothers and sisters hot in the military and we are constantly being disrespected and put down because we dare to fight for what this country is all about. all you guys care about is the thugs from the black lives movement who think they are entitled to commit crimes against anyone no matter what race they are. murdert to promote the of unborn children for the most god-awful reasons. -- i'ming to s event

going to say even if trump loses, i and others will never surrender to marxist democrats. thrown away greed, corruption, and evil. henry, is that the sentiment on the ground in ohio? guest: not so much. i've read stories of trump supporters at rallies expressing thoughts similar to that. that is the question if voters will accept the results of the election. those claims are being fanned by donald trump himself the nuvasive if he will accept the results of the election. it is unfortunate and dangerous rhetoric. i am saddened to hear some of the hatefulness in his remarks. i'm proud of my country, too. i am a journalist. i work every day and of proud of what i do.

it is sad to hear that discourse, but we are hearing a lot in this election. host: later, we will have the state republican chairman on. before he comes on, how has the d histe between burgess an announcement that he is supporting donald trump, splitting from his previous support for governor kasich, how has that resonated? guest: from an organization standpoint, it has not been helpful. a lot of the rank and file republicans have agreed to support donald trump. there was unhappiness that he was taking a public stand, not against donald trump, but saying he agreed with donald trump. he would advise donald trump not to have too much of a harsh rhetoric when he comes to ohio.

people and trump other republican actors were not happy that burgess was going public with that. what it did was create more dramatic headlines for the trump campaign. i don't know what they thought was helpful about going public with the feud they were having. it promoted an ongoing storyline that they are disorganized. that establishment politicians do not like them. it feeds into the narrative the has been rigged against them. it is about the system and the people. i don't think that republican headlines are helpful. host: you are on with henry gomez of cleveland.com. to say that calling

donald trump is only for donald trump. donald trump has no plan or agenda to do anything for the american people. even if he proposes something, he is so terribly disliked by both parties that nothing he proposes has a chance of getting through. he -- all he is doing right now is just telling us what is wrong with the system. host: let's give henry gomez a chance to respond. guest: that is certainly one sentiment we hear from people that are not supporting donald trump. if he gets elected president, the electoral forecast is not looking good. if he is and he is working with a republican congress, if donald trump wins it is safe to say

that he is working with a republican congress because of down ballot implications, that he will be able to enact a lot of things he wants to do. a lot of the things republicans will be uncomfortable with like lobbying and campaign reform. host: from dayton, ohio. good morning, don. you are on with henry gomez. we only have a few seconds. caller: i am a veteran, also. i heard the last caller. afford america can't trump. he has a contract on black americans, not just america. sorry about that, trumpers/ guest: we deal with a lot of that, as i said. been impressed with the back-and-forth of the callers, most of them were polite, and

expresses in their diversity of opinions. host: henry gomez, chief political reporter of cleveland.com. we appreciate you joining us. to takespan we are set you live to manchester, new hampshire by donald trump rally. when donald trump comes out we will take you there live on c-span. back to our preview of ohio from "washington journal." host: joining us from cincinnati is david pepper, the chairman of the ohio democratic party here to continue our discussion about the battleground state in ohio and how the presidential race and senate race is playing out. good morning. guest: thank you for having me. race, whypresidential hasn't hillary clinton been able

to get more of a separation from republican donald trump in your view? ohio. my view is it is we are always close. that is not a surprise. that is what we prepare for. the last cycles have been consistent. we are demographically very tight. most people, at this point, are sticking with their party. it is a close race. ohio by four points or five point you just routed your opponent. it is not surprising that it is so close. host: how is it different from other rust belt states where hillary clinton has taken the lead in polling? guest: if you look around, i do not want to claim to be an expert on every state, but the polling in pennsylvania looks like you normally have a bigger democratic margin.

michigan, a-- little bigger. indiana is going the other way. most are mostly in line. a few more swing states, we are seeing great searches for democrats in arizona and georgia. but the most part, a lot of the states are in line. you expect ohio to be close. ohio is all about the ground game. who is more organized, registered more voters, will get them out here that is how you win ohio, knowing all the way through it will be close. what we're seeing is consistent with that. host: early voting is underway in ohio. what have you learned from the early voting numbers? guest: we feel pretty good. things are pretty much online versus 2012.

is sadly thee republicans successfully got rid of one week of early voting. we sued them to stop that. it was clear they were doing it to target democratic african-american voters. because of the for-four type in the supreme court, we could have our case heard there. despite the elimination of that week, we are seeing day today dayer returns -- day to returns higher. we are seeing the numbers from some parts of the state. articulately, we are excited we have the worst weekend of in person early voting this coming weekend. then we have another weekend where we see a surge in early voting. one worry in the donald trump campaign in ohio is that some of the suburban republican counties have never warmed up, not in the

way they warmed up to mitt romney. you have to win those counties by big margins to win ohio. warren county near cincinnati, democratic votes are up 50% or 60%. republicans have not surged as much. you are seeing that in the big republican counties he has to win. a lot of that are probably independent republican women that are not impressed with what he has said. host: we are talking with david pepper as we continue our discussion about the battleground state of ohio. we have a line for ohio residents specifically, (202) 748-8000. all others can call (202) 748-8001. you are on with david pepper.

good morning. caller: good morning. i am born and raised in toledo, ohio, 73-years. i was one of the people that were taken off of the polls. they put a number of for us to check. i was taken off the polls. i was concerned about the district lines. in toledo, when they redistricted come they split us into two or three districts. those are my comments. host: go ahead, you can respond. guest: thank you. i appreciate her bringing up those issues. we had a secretary of state dedicated to making voting harder in ohio. it is as badly gerrymandered as any state. we are a 50-50 state, but it is almost guaranteed that we have a 12-4 congressional majority for republicans.

counties have been split into multiple pieces your districts are absurd when you look at the shape and lack of competitiveness. we had good candidates challenging republicans in gerrymandered districts, but it is an uphill battle. and others led a process to gerrymander ohio worse than anytime in ohio's history. it is an insult to democracy. to same topic, we have gone court and succeeded in showing that the secretary of state, to her point, for the past six years he has been purging registered voters from the voting rolls in ohio. almost 2 million people were purged. some of those people had passed away or moved. many others were purged because they had voted infrequently. he purged many people because

they had not loaded in recent recent- not voted in years. it was rolled that by doing so he violated federal law for years. we were in the process in the summer of trying to reregister the voters. many of them found out in other ways. we also won in court a way for the voters to vote provisionally if they have not left their county. they would be fully restored, but the court went as far as it was comfortable. we have seen attacks on voting rights in the last six years. i have met women across the state, and men, who, like the color, have been upset to learn the secretary of state decided he could proactively knock them off the voting rolls. we are working hard to make sure they vote. host: chairman -- guest: there might be some votes lost for this reason.

host: sorry for interrupting. more from a story that we cited earlier that says the ruling, heer the ruling on friday directed the board of election not to reject absentee ballot requests because someone was not registered to vote as they awaited further guidance. under the resolution, purged voters will not be able to vote absentee by mail and must cast an provisional ballot in person. how big an impact will that have on absentee voting? guest: i just got word this morning before coming on of several military voters overseas who jon husted purged. these people serving our country, they are out of the country and cannot vote. he purged them. that his, he found

process violated federal law. jon husted stonewalled for weeks the negotiation. a lot of this has only been resolved in the last couple of weeks, leaving some voters, like ,he overseas military voters their votes will not count. how wrong is that? he has a lot of answering to do. i don't want voters to be confused. vote early in person. vote on election day. if you were perched, -- if you were purged, you get to vote provisionally. the court ordered your vote should count. some groups took jon husted to court. after a long battle they showed he violated federal law. the bad news is he fought so long and it was late in the

game. there are questions being answered. the bottom line is no one should not show up. go to the polls. if you were purged, as long as you in the county you were originally in, your vote should count and you will get yourself back registered. is terrible and has left a lot of people with questions, like the color. unfortunately, to have 2 members of the military overseas to be told that jon husted thinks they should not be voters and they were purged. because they cannot vote in person, they cannot vote at all. that is wrong. that is part of the problem when you have people that have dedicated more to make voting harder. host: where talking with david pepper. next, jim from ohio. good morning. caller: glad to hear from you.

i am glad i was able to get through. i am 68 years old. i have been politically alert my entire life. never so much as i am now. this is insanity. i talked to people all the time. the main reason a seem to support donald trump is because he is not a politician. i said, really? this guy is the problem we have with our politicians. rich, powerful businessmen controlling the political process. the last thing we need is more powerful, rich money in the political system. this is a trojan horse if i ever saw one. he is a con man. he wants control of washington, d.c. to eliminate the hassle of dealing with politicians. he can control everything with more force at the top. he is very vague on anything he says. he tells stories that offend

people. he acts like a spoiled, childish, rich brat. host: is this a sentiment you are hearing in the buckeye state? guest: i appreciate his comments. i think donald trump is a deeply troubling candidate for frankly let alonel office, the presidency of the united states for some of the reasons that were explained. it is hard to know where to start. the idea of him being in charge of the nuclear arsenal is one of the scariest things i can imagine. his record in business, if he ran the country like his business -- the way he treated workers, sent jobs overseas, not the business model, i would not want him in charge of a legitimate business, let alone the country.

i think he has been deceitful. he started by saying that wages are too high. he is trying to change that. i would not trust his new answer. even today, he has been telling supporters -- and he has raised a lot of money from every day ohio residents and americans because he said he would double or triple every contribution. he has not matched it. even in the current campaign he is scamming people. he has not matched a dollar. i think hillary clinton is more prepared to be president here to i think she will bring the country together. she has the experience to lead in tough times. she knows what it takes to build a strong economy, starting with a strong middle class. not with trickle-down economics. donald trump would take tax cuts at the top that have always failed the country. it never works. look at the bush recession.

donald trump would put that on steroids. even if you forget the crazy things he has been saying, the policies would not move us in the right directions for those reasons and many more. hillary clinton is the person that will lead us in the right direction. host: there are 28 counties in ohio where hillary clinton and their trump won respective primaries. where does hillary clinton need to do well in order to win the state? guest: thank you for your the most basic way you win ohio is re-energize the obama coalition that won for him. hamilton county, frankly county, cuyahoga county, akron, youngstown, dayton, you have to do very well in those counties. you have to build up big numbers.

we are seeing that. i mentioned franklin county, the second biggest city. we are seeing early voting through the roof. 40% ahead of where it was four years ago. for every 1200 democrats who show it to vote in franklin county, we are seeing 300 republicans. we are running the big numbers. we are expecting big numbers from in person early voting like cuyahoga county. you have to do very well in those big counties. this where i think henry clinton has a chance to do better than reconstitute the obama coalition, i mentioned before warren county. there is delaware county. ed befe warren county. there is delaware county. large republican suburban counties. if you are republican, you have to run up the score by a huge amount to overcome how we will doing the counties i named.

they are now warm got to donald trump. he will certainly win them but now it is looking like he is struggling to connect with a lot of the voters, particularly women, independent women, republican women, who for obvious rim and -- reasons are not impressed about what he said about women. he fails to run the big numbers in those counties, if we lower the margin of victory versus how rummy or mccain did, that is the other way we win. we reconstitute the obama coalition. more votes andy these suburban areas than we have in the past. clears hillary clinton's path. host: a lot of callers waiting to ask questions including anthony from troy, ohio. good morning. caller: i have a comment and a glad-- i'mat

you're leading the party. doing a great job. i have been present each of the last as a credentialed poll observable in montgomery county. i can report firsthand seeing lots of folks, eager folks, many of them democrats to bring miami county home for hillary. aboutly, i wanted to talk -- two years from now, who do you believe are going to be the democrats? i assume yourself. tim ryan that will be challenging a very fractured republican party. i know that john houston is fighting to run for statewide office again, maybe a higher office. we have an opportunity, finally, to really put forth our great candidates like yourself and control sotatewide we can redraw those horrible

lines which you were speaking of theier and get rid of gerrymander of the republicans though we have to have people in control. maybe turner as well some good think about that on november 9 and do a good job across these counties. host: let's give david pepper a chance to respond. you proves he ran a four ohio auditor and attorney general. might there be more runs in your future? 2018. not in i am chair through 2018. i will be working hard to make sure we win, but i will not be the candidate. i will be the one hopefully putting together the infrastructure. i really appreciate the work in montgomery county. john today, we will have lewis in dayton as part of an early vote rally. we're honored he is coming. i think it is around 2:00.

in dayton. governor strickland and some others. 2018 is very important. our party has been rebuilding to build not just for 2016, but 2018. country, our democratic parties have gotten energized for the presidential election, but two years later, we had little infrastructure. building for 2018. we think the republican candidates, and we talked about one. that was literally spent their time doing things like suppressing the vote, attacking voters, going after planned parenthood. all of these really bad things. normally, they have gone to court and lost. it is not an impressive group run for the republican side. here are some of the names of people thinking about running in ohio. some of them cannot think about

it because of their are in other jobs. tim ryan. who did great work on around auto recovery. richard, the former attorney general. he cannot be political right now but his name is coming up. a former treasurer. he ran a really good rates. -- race. even jay williams, a former mayor. he is thinking of coming back. we have great candidates down ticket for secretary of state, attorney general. inwill have a good team 2018. our goal is to take everything we built in this election and preserve is so we have an infrastructure to get the vote out. will be important getting sherrod brown reelected. we will win the senate this year and we will have to preserve to measure we reelect our great senator. host: market is calling.

you are on with david pepper. caller: good morning and thanks for the opportunity. , would like to ask mr. pepper why hillary and robbie luke is letting the nra for the last two months run these blistering ads? they are nothing but lies. that is why she is down in the polls. she had about a six lead until they started running these ads. she willfigure out why not run in added defending blisteringinst these nra allies. sherrod blistering nra allies. sherrod brown gets elected in ohio, he defeated incumbent and held off a very popular josh mandel because when the nra starts on their lies, he is on tv kicking them in the face. if hillary would run in nra ad

look in the camera, tell suburban women she does not want to take guns, nobody is taking any law-abiding citizens' guns, she was again for-seven points. host: let's let david respond. caller: thank you for your question. i am not seeing those ads. i know they are out there. we have seen it from donald trump. hillary lies to the national audience bison saying she will get rid of the second amendment. i can just made it clear she supports the second amendment. she supports universal background checks. getting guns out of the hands of terrorists on the no-fly list. you are right. they are false attacks. they are scare tactics. i cannot speak to their communication strategy. in the last couple of days in some really seeing powerful advertising from the clinton campaign.

where the voices morgan freeman and it is really powerful. the ad from dr. khan about his son and his family is powerful. i am not sure about what they are doing in response to that. one thing i would say i, i do not think she is down in the polls. i think it is pretty much tied. that is what you would expect here. in a tight situation, the winner is the better ground again. we have a robust ground game. we have thousands of volunteers. we have been building our ground game since last october. we started building it before we knew who would win the pf a you gwill pe. you will probably talk about this, he is had a terrible relation with governor kasich. he of the republican party have been in public feuds for months.

when i looked at truck headquarters, -- trump headquarters, some of them looked lifeless. you name it. whether registering voters and getting our voters activated. they have really been doing nothing. they have rallies. i do not think they register voters and rallies. there are 800,000 newly registered ohioans. they are mostly young and from big cities. you are starting to see the organizational mismatch play out in terms of registration and other outputs for host: chairman pepper, to the senate race that is going on but wayne rob portman -- between rob portman and history live. -- ted strickland. rates has beener affecting the campaign and

senator portman has been trying to use that. in a tweet he said insurance premiums on exchange have nearly doubled since the president's health law took effect. kate upton about this in a issues are affecting the senate race? -- it washink ohio talked about. -- can you talk about how this and other issues are affecting the senate race? 800,000 newlyave people insured. if portman is attacking the affordable care act, he is attacking governor kasich who did medicare expansion. one of the reasons rates will not go up here at high were they did medicare expansion, governor kasich did the right thing. children are almost entirely insured in ohio thanks to the affordable care act. it may make for good talking points at republican dinners, but the truth is in ohio, the

affordable care act has been very successful in the recent story about the hikes, they need to be soft. wrote they will not affect because the governor did expansion which protects against increase from us everybody. -- and you do that and nothing happens, like we have a vacancy on the supreme court, most ohio have to go to work everyday and do their job, and people like rob portman refuse to do their job and won't have a hearing for nominee.ident's disrespectful for the president and the process, the onstitution and their oath to uphold the constitution. so the affordable care act is a

people example, if rolled up their sleeves and decided, let's keep the -- you know, it's greatly increased coverage all over this country, difference, but there are issues with cost, common-sense solutions to solve them. if people would put party aside and take those up, we could solve it. nothing, but obstruction of senate in the house for years, as mitch mcconnell said, doing everything to stop the president every turn. because of that, we're not solving problems and i think people could solve if they wanted to. as far as the senate race, this perfect example of citizens united. rob portman is basically more outside money than any senator in the country, the tab is at $60 more, the koch brothers spent more than any other state. caller's evious question, the nra spent more ted strickland than any candidate in the country combined. rob portman, because of outside

on his behalf went from significant deficit to a lead, ut it is a perfect example of how we have to get rid of citizens united because this is a campaign of billionaires from outside ohio senate seat for someone who wasn't that well known going into the race there ted ill a path for strickland. we have to lift turnout and people need to, democrats need consolidate around ted strickland, he fought as hard as nyone could of during a recession he didn't cause. it was caused from wall street and washington. brothers tried to blame the recession on him, like it columbus.n one poll has him within 8 to 10 can lift turnout higher through the ground game, there is a path for him to win. reason he's behind is because citizens united allowed the koch brothers to

buy -- good morning, dominic. caller: good morning. calling to give a general statement. i'm a millennial and ohio obviously, and i think it is completely unfortunate the to choose we have from in the first place and our at all.s -- candidates and i think that ultimately it's america to tant for kind of realize where this country is going. because she lary has experience, she has a plan support er policies, i her in that aspect and i don't has ve that donald trump given any affirmation to any sort of plan or direction he's going to go. very open-minded person and just the things he's said and he really hasn't said has really just really pointed toward hillary. i just hope that people realize

she is for the betterment of our country and i believe trump will put us back. think about that, so that was what i had to say. thank you. thank you. little piece of trivia, bell highest point in ohio, thank you for your call from there. resort down the street o. her point, two things. one, i think for millennials tis clear hillary clinton is starting to pull away with millennials. this is important. think we want a country millennials are excited about the direction it is moving in. hope is they themselves start to get involved the last couple weeks. group of people registered newly in ohio over he last eight months were millennials, people under 30. we're glad to see that. around they are rallying hillary clinton because she's the one who will deal with ollege affordability and a lot of important issues like equal

pay to social issues like, you know, equality, sexual orientation, you name it, she's line with where donald trump would take the country. think about it for a moment, his education is trump university, essentially was a scam. he wants to make strong education from pre-k to college and also make it affordable. let me say one other things, though, one of the biggest concerns about this election, motivates me everyday. millennials, people who are older like myself, we think this is the abnormal election we've ever seen. and i keep saying millennials first-time voters this, is not normal. you normally never see a troubling and disturbing and mason-in-lawing donald trump. millennials have said, mr. pepper, for us, it is normal. people who are 18 have watched people attack citizenship since they were about 12 years old.

this ave seen so much of dark and divisive stuff for a number of years. is if we don't win his election decisively, the terrible precedent will start to become normal in politics. most importantis for me in this election, make sure there is such a clear ohio, by having blue blue georgia, closer blue texas raceszona, let's win some people don't think we will win o we can show that in fact the american people don't consider what donald trump has been doing ormal, millennials will see this is not how our elections normally look. y hope is if we win in the right way november 8, we can show that what donald trump did touch with both republicans, independents and emocrats across the country hopefully in the future next time someone like donald trump even has the backbone to say, we will not do

we did in, last time that, his name was donald trump and it was a disaster at the ballot box. y hope is to get this place back to normal so that young people, like millennials and younger, actually see a politics that is better in the future than the one they are see thanksgiving year. host: talking to chairman david pepper, as we continue our look battleground state of ohio. we have a line just for ohio residents, please call 202-748-8000 and all other call 202-748-8001. getting to the issue of according to the "washington post" today, paul kane writes democrats made an early decision to hold on to most of their campaign cash for final weeks of the campaign in many senate races across the hoping liberal super pac allies would help out whenever and wherever they could. republicans calculated that

given the headwind their ncumbence with donald trump emergence as presidential nominee, they needed to drain heir party's treasury earlier than usual, that crucial decision leaves state gop remarkably reliant on late cash from republican-leaning super pacs law they cannot coordinate with. seen this ve you influx of outside spending? does the democratic party have funds left to combat that? yeah. we near good shape, we raise money very early as a party. we were able to build a ground game, even before the primary was over, as i explained. have the resources, it will take to deliver victory. i mentioned oint, it earlier, the outside spending brotherss like the koch and others has been out of control and it is, you know, our pushing hard to

to have ted strickland come back and win. ohio is the best case stud tow united. of citizens our candidate was better known, very well respected, then the incumbent, rob portman. ted strickland was up six or ine points and citizens united allowed koch brothers to say a year and a half ago, we like rob and what he's done for us, trade deals and other things hat are against what most ohio citizens believe in. but they were able to decide, e're going to park tens of millions in the state of ohio and basically buy a senate seat. voters, but for ourselves and the politicians we believe in. essentially a year and a half, running attackads against ted strickland, blaming him for the recession, a ridiculous claim. that has been the most important factor in the senate race. starting to say,

there was microtargeting done by that.ortman this, and none of that made much of a difference, the big difference s the outside millions of dollars that groups from out of ohio have been spending in ohio the messaging e and create a false narrative and very obvious to any ohio voters. it's had an impact and my hope election, we actually have some real reform, away andns united goes we don't have a situation where senate seats reflect more what utside billionaires want than what the citizens of the state want. host: debra from milford center, ohio. good morning, debra. caller: good morning. couple comments and a couple questions. talk about trump university, clinton t the university? what about clinton foundation? i'm a democrat and yes, you have plenty of money. what about the lawsuit fraud for that has been set

ohio?to go to court in i want to know why the democrats nominated a criminal? ahead, david pepper. guest: obviously i don't agree with those statements, i her passion, but guess is undation, i what she's referring to. i think the clinton foundation around amazing things the world for years. procter and i, gamble, clinton foundation family necessary america from thirst, to the tune f millions of people were helped. it's done amazing things. will inton had said they disassociate from it when clinton wins. when people compare trump and the clinton foundation tis not apples to apples comparison. a scam.iversity was

trump university took to rehard-working americans deliver a false product. it told them they would have a help them and ld clearly didn't. the trump foundation looks to be using money raised through -- pretend to be charity things like, you know, portraits of donald trump, company lawsuits his got into, giving out political contributions in florida, for to an attorney general who was looking into trump university. apples.is not apples to one of the first callers said, ou look closely over the 40 years or 50 years of trump be nothing business, you have a lot of pattern, false promises, a lot of deeds that most business leaders would never do, and then a lot, so nconsistent with current rhetoric, his people have been talking about steel workers, but china to d steel from build his buildings.

he talks about work going polish , he brought in workers illegal to build newdation of trump tower in york city. he brought in foreign workers and broke the law there. status for them to pay them less. donald trump has spent years money by doing, either getting real close to the cases crossing it. i think that is one reason why in the end, hillary clinton of democrats, se she will win because a lot of independents and a lot of taken a look at what he's had to say and taking theok at what he's done and idea that he would be in the white house, i think scares a lot of people. think that despite what the caller said, comparison is a very good one. look at e the issue, hillary clinton's 30 years of public service versus donald business years of practices, it is not even close. host: rick, another caller from

calling. you are on with david pepper, chairman.c state party caller: speaking to me? host: go ahead, rick, go ahead. caller: okay, thank you. resident ofhe proud ohio, as you know, the first and state of tol of the ohio. travel on a regular basis through a few counties in the southern part of ohio. to you, be familiar athens, hinton, ross, high tlt claremont, brown, etc, i see predominantly signs for the yards.p in i see very, very few signs for if we just ton, so went by sign count, it would ppear that trump would be winning those counties. no doubt about it, we have two most of us just are troubled with nmy case, i'm of g to vote for the lesser

two evils, i don't think he is a lot tanding candidate, of baggage, same as hillary does. again, it is lesser of two evils for me. so one, i'd like for you to comment upon what your reading the southern counties as opposed to big three metropolis columbus and cleveland. econd comment, just observation, i'm suppose someone would say i'm revolutionary and pick up my musket, i don't even own a gun. i cannot help but wonder if our founding fathers were able to be esurrected and one of them was to run in this election, if they upon as a " looked "nutcase," respectfully. host: i want to give david a quickly. respond go ahead, david. guest: thank you for the question. you see anecdotal,

some places with a lot of trump yard signs. i drive around the state and the counties that the gentleman mentioned, i have great of people ith a lot in the counties. a lot of trump signs, a lot of reflects gns, different county parties and a lot of people with both signs to hear not surprised what he's saying about sort of where the signs are. counter and ant to i respect the caller's call and his opinion, like i do all your callers. i don't think there is a choice of lesser of two evils, i elieve hillary clinton is a wonderful candidate. not everyone agrees with that, i don't agree with that framing. more prepared to be president in history than hillary clinton, despite a lot attacks over 30 or 40 years, she stuck with it, done great public service all the way through, and i think donald trump is honestly, some won't least hear this, qualified and competent person we've ever seen run for era.dent in the modern

the idea, almost everyday, whether it is his strange with putin, the fact he dismisses intelligence of him key giving information as to whether or not to do things, such as go to war, dismisses them out right. someone i think is nowhere near caliber of someone who should be anywhere near the white house. bill -- weville to leave it there, david pepper, chairman of the ohio democratic party. thank you for joining us chaffetz,r to jason the chairman of the house oversight committee tweeting a short while ago the fbi director's informed me the fbi has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear to be ,ertinent to the investigation the cases reopened.

they are talking about a letter by james comey to the relevant chairman on capitol hill saying that in connection with an unrelated case, the fbi has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation, writing to inform you that the investigation team briefed me on this yesterday and i agreed that the fbi should take appropriate toestigative steps designed allow investors to review these e-mails. reasonse one of the that all caps appearance in manchester, new hampshire is delayed just a bit. he was set to start at noon, here we are in 1:30 on the east coast. we will have you live for you here on c-span once it starts. -- more of a look at ohio is a battleground state. oining frus columbus, hio, is matt borges, the chairman of the ohio republican party. he's here as we wrap up our look the battleground state of

ohio and how the presidential there are nate race playing out. chairman borges, thank you for us.ing guest: good morning, how are you? host: i'm good. donald trump was back in ohio yesterday. we saw some of his remarks just notes ine hit the right his visit there? guest: he had big crowds, big trying to finish strong. we're in the middle of early voting in ohio, thanks to we have n leadership, early voting in the state. every single democrat in the voted against e the creation of early voting, when it was created in ohio. for e have the opportunity folks to vote early and many, many thousands of votes are being cast everyday. so, it is everyday is election day and so on any given day, you're talking to people making up their minds and is ing their votes, so it important to spend a lot of time here, as the candidate has. each candidate has, not just mr.

governor pence safe after d he was their plane had skidded off the last night in a scary accident, everyone seems to be okay from that experience. spending time in ohio, as you well know, no republican has to the white house without carrying ohio. t is critical this year to put ohio in that electoral math. we want to put a republican back in the white house. said you yourself have will be voting for donald trump, but you had a break from the in the past, according to the washington examiner, it from the ere cut off trump campaign after previously criticizing the billionaire's amid the release of an audio tape where trump made sexually explicit comments about women. i spoke with mr. trump on he's disappointed

in matt's duplicity said the ohio or of trump's campaign operation in a letter, gop official, he also aid that you have need for publicity. how is your relationship with now?trump campaign stand guest: it's no different. i didn't spend five seconds some staffert what put in a letter. we've been working for four of 2012, appointment in that campaign and the failure to deliver aign ohio. we've been working at the state 2013, was ot there in honored to be elected chairman and got to work on doing the things we needed to do to carry ohio in the next presidential cycle. we're prepared to do that, million new registered republicans in this state, working hard to make sure we improve our performance in the period, mitt romney won election day in ohio in

2012, but because of the disadvantage in the early voting period, barack obama won ohio's 18 electoral votes. was disappointing to us, all the things we've done, all and money we had raised, the plans and coordination that has gone into sure we deliver electoral changed ne of that because of the musings of a staffer. i could care less about it and we'll continue to do the job the ohio republican party has to do. host: has the party been able to oordinate with mr. trump's operation there in ohio? guest: look, we never broke tride, even more of their campaign staff moved into our building. they had campaign staff work nothing our headquarters, more moved in since. topic ort of nonsensical to even cover, you know, i look

t it this way, i have a five year old, i'm used to tantrums, her anyway and we move on and that is exactly what we're sure that we king carry ohio, not just for our deliverand make sure we ohio's 18 electoral votes, but also we have a republican for the united states senate, best senator in the united states in rob portman, win, we've been helping and we endorsed a year and a half ago, we've been him and his -- best campaign in the country. e need to make sure that we contribute our republican to a republican majority in the united states senate. going to do our share, win up and down the ballot this year. party is strong, continues to be as strong as its ever been and we're the type of want on your side helping you get across the line. matt borges, to chairman of the ohio republican

party. we have a line just for ohio.nts of 202-748-80 202-748-8000, if you live in the state. people in all other regions, call 202-748-8001. beverly is calling from toledo, ohio. you are on with matt borges. good morning. caller: good morning. trump like to know how ould keep his business and our country's interests separate on day?iven they have to create a whole new can h board as far as i tell which calls are coming in or him for business and then our line would be for country? guest: thank you, beverly. i appreciate the question. i think mr. trump addressed that early in his campaign. he will turn over the operation his business to his children,

who along the campaign trail, a chance nd we've had to hear from all impressive ndividuals and he would turn that operation over to them. you can contrast that to what clintons.ith the look at the clinton fund and the ay they had dealings with the secretary of state and department of state when hillary clinton was secretary of state. revelations coming out with shady figures, guys like doug making sure that decisions of the department of state were who made to favor people would pay bill clinton money to his ve speeches for for-profit business and of course making sure decisions that would ade benefit contributions directly to the clinton global fund. being rewarded with government jobs and appointments. was appointed who to an economic position for northern ireland. i mean these people just have no

takes tanding of what it to separate their business from their government service. hey think it all is just there to enrich them and this is how we clintons have been since were introduced to them 25 years ago this, is what americans are could d tired of, why i ot possibly abide a clinton victory this year and putting them back in the white house. i don't want anything to do with that, it is why i came out on sunday and said in fact that i'm to cast a vote on election day for donald trump. host: talk about the ground ame, a report from the hill says that hillary clinton's built ntial campaign has a field team in swing states across the country larger than a giving huge ade advantage over republican donald trump on election day, what is looking liked game in the buckeye state? guest: we've been fortune aught have investment and input

from day 1 and earlier really we've ever had before. rnc staffers d 50 on the ground early on, we months ago a few and continue to add that, since then, this program was about up full time volunteers and others and so there -- just had past saturday we thousands of people across the state, hundreds here in columbus get the message out, knock on doors, rob portman's campaign broke what we is single-day record of voter contact in the state for 161,000 voters actually contacted, over 5 million voter contacts for the entire year. again, it is something ohio republicans do "extreme well.ver"ly effectively we don't rely on one campaign to put infrastructure in place. victory programs have opinion strong and well run and very proud of the work that is and we'll continue to

execute those programs and run through the tape, run through finish line and i have always said, i hope the democrats believe they have a advantage over us out there in the field because as long as they believe that and as long as complaisant, we will do what we need to do to contact voters and continue to win as we do very, very well in ohio. ohio, on o from lema, the line with matt borges. good morning. caller: hi. matt. guest: hi, >> we take you live to new hampshire for live coverage of donald trump. god bless the usa ♪ donald trump: thank you.

thank you very much. we love new hampshire. i can tell you this. with a veryen critical breaking news announcement. [applause] the fbi -- [laughter] [laughter] [applause] a letter: i just sent to congress informing them they have just discovered new e-mails pertaining to the former secretary of state, hillary clinton's investigation. [applause]

>> [chanting] her up!p -- lock mr. trump: and they are reopening the case into her criminal and illegal conduct that threatens the security of the united states of america. hillary clinton's corruption is on a scale we have never seen before. must not let her take her criminal scheme into the oval office. i have great respect for the fact that the fbi and the department of justice are not

willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistakes that they made. this was a grave miscarriage of people that the american fully understood. that iterybody's hope is about to be corrected. [applause] mr. trump: so that is a big announcement that i heard 10 minutes ago. and i guess, obviously, most of you folks have heard about it. in all fairness, for all the people who have suffered for doing so much less, including just recently, four-star general

james cartwright, general petraeus, and many others, perhaps finally, justice will be done. [applause] mr. trump: with that being said, the rest of my speech is going to be so boring. [laughter] mr. trump: should i even make this speech? we will talk about voters. right? we will talk about trade. we will bring back our jobs, we will strengthen our military. and let's get going, ok? [applause] mr. trump: how to check -- i

want to thank general flynn. thank you for being here. just before general flynn was going up, we heard this news. i said general, get up there and keep them busy. we want to digest what just happened here. thank you, general. in 11 days, we're going to win new hampshire. [applause] mr. trump: the state of my first victory. and we are going to win back the white house. 75% of the american people think our country is on the wrong track, and we're going to fix it. we are to get our country back on the right track, and very, very quickly. -- realins begins change begins with repealing and replacing obamacare.

forget how big news that is. we can't lose track. it's a disaster, just like everything else in this administration. it has just been announced that americans are going to experience another massive double-digit hike in obamacare premiums. a 116% premium hike to our very good friends in the great state of arizona. even bill clinton admitted obamacare is the craziest thing in the world, where people wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. in minnesota, where the premium increase will be almost 60%, the democratic governor said the affordable care act is no longer affordable. gruber, the architect , admitted it was

all a fraud. he said it was passed because of the stupidity of the american voter. we are doing a lot of good work, aren'twe are doing a lot of goo, aren't we? we are catching all of these people. we are doing a good job. jonathan gruber, there's another. we didn't forget. i never forgot jonathan gruber. i said if we do this, i'm going to run, and people forget. i said i'm never going to forget jonathan gruber. the architect of obamacare, what he said. we didn't forget. can you imagine? it's a little more than a week before the election, we didn't forget the name jonathan gruber. but the only real stupidity is that shown by politicians to pass this monstrosity over the fears -- serious objections of certain politicians and the american voters. job killing obamacare is just one more way the system is

rigged. but with what i have just , it might previously not be as rigged as i thought. right? right? , i think they are going to write -- right the ship. they're going to save their great reputation by doing so. hillary clinton wants to double down on obamacare, destroying american health care forever. she wants to expand obamacare and make it even more expensive. i will repeal and replace obamacare. and we will replace expensivemuch less plan, and a plan that is much, much better.

year, hillary clinton declared obamacare is one of the greatest accomplishments of president obama, the democratic party, and our country. that's turned out to be wrong. do they do anything right? we don't win anymore, i mean, you're going to have such a good time starting in 17. we're going to start winning again. we're going to start winning again. out -- i've turned been saying this from before it passed. obamacare is a catastrophe. beyond imagination. insurers are leaving, doctors are quitting, companies are fleeing. ,orkers hours are being cut part-time jobs are all over the place. it was beautiful full-time jobs you used to have don't exist. and deductibles are through the roof. you don't get to use it. if we don't get rid of

obamacare, we have no choice. if we don't get rid of it, our health care system is gone forever. we will never have another chance. and by the way, if we don't win this election, you're never going to have another chance either. that i can tell you. it's never going to happen again. repealing obamacare is one of the single most important reasons we must win on november 8. meansal change also getting rid of the corruption in washington, and again, maybe that's happened. wow. it's a big day. think of it. won my first primary in new hampshire, and i'm getting here is the news this morning is -- this is bigger than watergate. this is bigger. in my opinion. this is bigger than watergate.

hillary deleted 30,000 e-mails after receiving a congressional subpoena. there were more serious things done, but that was so obvious. subpoena, she bleaches and the leads 30,000 e-mails. -- and deletes 30,000 e-mails. it's not about the sale of uranium that nobody knows what it means. i know what it means. to russia. then she talks to me about russia. 20% of the uranium in our country to russia. deletion of, the 33,000 e-mails, that is so out there. after receiving a subpoena from the united states government, she lied to congress, she lied 13 phones, she made

disappear, some with a hammer. gave more thanw $675,000 to the wife of the fbi, andrector of the the man who was overseeing the investigation into hillary's server. right now, that takes care of itself. i'm very proud that the fbi was willing to do this. [applause] just yesterday, we learned that bill clinton's right-hand man just for clinton foundation donors and other donors to funnel as much a $65 million in personal profit to bill and hillary clinton. this man explained that the cozy between the

consulting firm, the foundation in clinton's personal income had bill and hillary enrich themselves and obtained in-kind services, including personal , hospitality relations, and the like. the same to -- same people were laundering -- lobbying hillary clinton at the same time. these people are seriously corrupt. terrible conflict. hillary's pay for play included defense contracts. take raytheon, they hired three lobbyists that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for hillary's last campaign. for herraising money campaign. and by the way, 50 to one in ads. in florida, we are winning. ohio, were winning.

iowa, we're winning. doing great in new hampshire. i think we are going to have a tremendous victory in pennsylvania. we better have a great victory in new hampshire, please. ok? [applause] fact, when this news of the fbi's investigation, when it just happened a little while ago, they said mr. trump, i think they would understand. we could skip your speech in new hampshire. this is so big. i said i don't have the courage to skip the speech. believe me. i don't have the courage. i'm not skipping enhancer. i never will. we had the big rallies and they said the big rallies will never work in new hampshire.

to sit down and have dinner with everybody. i said that's a lot of dinners. they don't expect that. , i would have a lot of small meetings, people would talk in new hampshire with any other place taught me about drugs flowing into this country. and your police departments, so great. they told me. i went to some and became friendly with them. i never knew, honestly, i never knew it was so bad. i said to the people of new hampshire, because more than any other place, you look at the beautiful little roadways and lakes and streams and everything is so beautiful. the trees, and you say how could they have a drug problem here? i would sit down with groups and say what's your biggest problem? i figured there was a maybe the veterans, which are suffering greatly in this area. and we will solve that problem. but it was always heroin.

i said heroin? i learned so much. i said to the people of new hampshire if i win, which i did win new hampshire. , if i go i also said all the way, we are going to stop the inflow of drugs into new hampshire and into our country. 100%. and i gave the people of enhancer my pledge. more than anybody else in this case. because they really, about what's happening with the world of drugs pouring in. hard to believe, it's just so strange when you look and see the beauty of this place, then you see that heroin and drugs are your number one problem. by far. anyway, within months, these sealed over $26 billion in foreign arms deals, including over $19 billion in

qatar,some people say which happened to offer bill clinton $1 million as a birthday gift for some face time. the lobbyists, one of whom was the sister-in-law to hillary clinton's current campaign chair, received hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. the contractor got billions of dollars in contracts, and hillary clinton got her campaign cash and money for her foundation. i am putting up your medicine ultimately. today i wrote another check for $10 million, i'm spending money like crazy. have close toy war over $100 million of my money spent on the campaign. but there's something nice about that. unless i lose, in which case they would say what is that all about, right? but we're going to do is right for you, not what's right for

some contributor or special interest. hillary put the office of the secretary of state up for sale. and if she ever got the chance, believe me, she would put the office -- you know what office am talking about, the office, call the oval office, for sale. contract with the american voter which will end the corruption and give government back to our great people. want the entire corrupt washington establishment to hear and heed the words i'm about to say. i have never loved this expression, but it's become the hottest six. if we win in november, we are going to washington, d.c., when we win, ok.

and we are going to drain the small. -- the swamp. at the core of my contract is my plan to bring back our jobs. you have been suffering with the jobs. the jobs have gone like candy being taken from the baby. new growth numbers just released but the average growth rate for this year at a disastrous 1.5%. to 7% or 8%, gdp , it's a natural -- national catastrophe. last quarter, we were at 1%. our job numbers last week were horrible. they were anemic, as this person goes. anemic was the word they used. obama is the first president in modern history not to have a single year up 3% growth.

it's hard because we are a large country. well india is a much larger country, they are at 8%. china is at 7%. and china is not happy. 1%, and we just keep going along. just keep going along, losing our jobs to mexico and every other place. 47 million americans are on food stamps and 45 million people -- this is our country, are living in poverty. meanwhile, our trade deficit with the world is now nearly $800 billion a year. you say who negotiates these contracts? true, obama. it's true. instead of campaigning for hillary clinton, he ought to be in the white house, in the oval office, negotiating trade deals.

beating isis. taking care of our veterans, which he does not do. we are living through the greatest jobs theft in the history of the world. they are deal signed by bill clinton and supported strongly by hillary. we have lost 17 thousand factories since china entered the world's great organization, another bill and hillary disaster. the trump administration will ,mmediately begin negotiating and we will start the negotiations so fast. we will start and if we don't get the deal we want, we will terminate nafta and get a much,

much better trade deal. i won't go into the details, but they are under a different tax system. under a bad system, and we are under our system. the day the deal was signed, it deal, with ustive having a massive, 17% at least disadvantage. so, it's complicated, i am not going to bore you with it, but we have been dealing with a defective deal for year, and we are going to renegotiate it. to fire theirants workers and go to mexico and then ship their product back we will united states,

charge them a tax of 35%. when you think these companies, which right now are negotiating to leave new hampshire, ohio, all of our great places, great states, and right now as we are talking, they are negotiating deals. mexico is the eighth wonder of the world, what happening in mexico. what about us? it's going to be the other way around. but there will be consequences. realize theyn they have to pay attacks to come through the border, because it will be a strong border, with products, they are going to say we are not going to move. very simple. the politicians are controlled

by the people who give them campaign contributions and probably other things. does anybody know what i mean by that? stand up to chinese currency manipulation, and we will stop the transportation -- stop the transpacific partnership. we will become a rich nation , but to be a rich nation, we must also be a safe nation. hillary clinton unleashed isis onto the world, and it has now spread into our country. there are right now one thousand open isis investigations in the united states, more than at any time that we have ever had. now, hillary wants to increase by 500 50% the massive number of syrian refugees flowing into our country, that's over the obama numbers, and those are thousands

and thousands. willmp administration suspend the syrian refugee program. with safeelp them havens and will get other countries like the gulf states -- who have nothing but money -- we have $20 trillion in debt. we will get them to pay. they have to do their share. that you know why? we can't let people into this country that we don't know about. we don't know. let me say this as clearly as i can. if i am elected president, i am -- g to keep [applause] when. we love new hampshire. i love this place. i love this place. , you know we are

leading in florida, we are leading in all these places. we are down in new hampshire. i don't think so. these polls, these polls, these are called early polls, you know what that is. she comes up here with four people and is like, we have a wonderful crowd. i don't think so. i think we are winning new hampshire. ok, so we will change it. , in i am elected president am going to keep radical islamic of oursts the hell out country. a trump administration will also the defense borders of

the united states. boy, you people have great energy. well, let's face it. you have been waiting a long time for the right person. you do have energy. [crowd chanting "trump!"] a lot of the different places, reports are coming out, they hate to write it, you know, the -- they are the worst. they are so dishonest. they are so dishonest, folks. reports coming out of the early voting states, people are voting who have never voted.

they had never seen anybody who was going to bring back jobs and not let companies leave us in fire everybody and move. and then let product pour into our country with no tax. no, go ahead. fire all our people. move to mexico. make the products. your air conditioner carrier is a good example. they are leaving. they are probably not leaving, but they are probably all about to change their minds. how stupid is this? how stupid. i am a free trader. but these lines in florida are four blocks long. they were never like that. they have never seen anything like it. congressman said we have never seen anything like it. people are coming out who hadn't voted in years. literally, hadn't voted in years.

electionn the laxity -- in the last election, they didn't want to pull you. there are people in texas who hadn't voted in years, people that had never even voted, great americans, who just never saw somebody they wanted to vote for. they are coming out with the hat, thert, the buttons all over the place. now, who knows? they may have all the trump stuff and you never know. maybe they are voting for cricket hillary clinton, but i don't think so, right? i don't think so. history has taught us that we don't think so, so i think we are doing great. and yet, on the border, we have build the we will wall, and mexico is going to pay .or it we've got to stop the drugs.

my pledge to everybody, but in particular to new hampshire, because i know what you are going through with the drugs. i know what your incredible law-enforcement, police, and fire department -- believe me, they are not spoken about. and how about when they are shooting during fires, shooting at the firemen. this is a new phenomenon. they are shooting bullets at firemen going to fires and fighting fires. a divided country and we are going to make our country love again. we are going to make it like this room. countless americans who have died in recent years would not be alive today if not for the open border policy of this administration. this includes incredible americans like 21-year-old tara. you have seen her story. you have read about it. the man who killed her and heard federal custody and then was

released into the united states community under the policies of this white house. he was released again and again after crime after crime and now is at large. sarah graduated from college just the day before with a 4.0 , top in heraverage class, she was violently, violently killed. outstanding individual. i know her parents. also, a convenience store clerk in mesa, arizona. by a gang member previously convicted of burglary who had also been released from federal custody. so many people, please, please, don't release him.

he is violent. and he shot a man through the head. i man gunned down in the sanctuary city of san francisco by an illegal immigrant. and this person was deported five times. now he has a good lawyer and the case will go on, and on, and on. shot in the back while standing with her father, great parents, great brother. then there is the case of 90-year-old girl who was brutally beaten and left to bleed to death in his home -- brutally beaten and left to bleed to death in his home. the perpetrators were criminals with records a mile long that did not meet the obama administration's criteria for removal. people beg that they be removed from the country, but our

geniuses wouldn't listen. california, a 64-year-old was sexually assaulted and been to death -- beaten to death with a hammer. been arrested on multiple occasions. people beg, please the port him. -- please do port him. there are thousands of cases like this. when i'm president, it will end. not only will the borders keep out the criminals, they will keep out the drugs that are our youth. by the way, there are people in new hampshire who are not our

youth who have a tremendous problem. we are going to try everything we can to get them on-addicted. -- un-addicted. the newd when i won hampshire primary, we will stop your from pouring into community, and i guarantee you we will. you will be so proud of your president. you will be so proud of your community. have an amazing movement going on, and the movement like they have never seen before. a movement that hopefully won't be stopped. a movement that the biggest people in the world, the media, the biggest, have said they have never seen anything like it before.

every crowd, every auditorium. the other night we had a situation, we had thousands and thousands of people, and i said to the fire marshal, isn't it possible to let more in? man?d could we let the they said we can't. worried about a stampede. it's a stampede of love. it's true. because there were so many people. they said we have security guards but they are not nearly as strong as 45,000 people come charging. we have something going on that's so special, so special. to reduce your taxes, simplify your taxes.

we are going to make your businesses welcome in our country. we are going to reduce taxes for middle income people, the forgotten men and women. returns.implify your the only company that won't like us is h&r block. we will simplify your taxes. and your businesses, we will take your taxes from 35 percent, one of the highest in the world, and we will make them the lowest. tremendous amounts of regulation are killing small business and big business.

taxre going to have a friendly country again. it's going to mean jobs, expansion, growing. we are going to create the border, stop the drugs, have people come into our country -- we want people to come into our country, but they have to come in legally. we are going to streamline the process. we want them to come in legally. and we want merit. we want wonderful people that love our country. they want to get out and do a great job. we want to have them also come in based on merit. a word you don't hear anymore. too bad.

we are also going to, very importantly, appoint justices to the supreme court or you can be who will respect the constitution of the united states. we are going to save our second amendment. [applause] we are going to help bigley on education. we are going to go with choice. our military is depleted. we are going to rebuild our military. we are going to lead through strength. hopefully, we do not need to use

our military, but i will tell you this. we are getting rid of isis. we are getting rid of isis. we have no choice. not since medieval times have people seem -- chopping off of cages,drowning in burying in the sand, not since medieval times. the tenure ofring obama and hillary clinton. isis. she stands up and says what she says. she was there. it came out of the vacuum. we should never have gone into iraq, but once we did, we should've gone out the right way, not the wrong way, in the way they went out with so sad, so bad, including giving back ul, which nowmos they are fighting to take aback, and they should have used the element of surprise -- does

anyone agree? we never use the element of surprise anymore. give them plenty of time to get ready and then attack. and it turns out to be tough for them they ever thought. we are going to have a country you are going to be proud of again. we are going to have a president that hopefully you will be proud of. i am going to work so hard for every community. forll be working very hard the african-american community, the hispanic community, for every community. and we are going to have this divided nation come together, and i just want to say, we are going to make america strong again. we are going to make america -- it doesn't sound nice, but we have no choice -- wealthy again. we are going to make america great again. i want to thank everybody in new

hampshire. get out and vote. you are special people. you are very, very special people. god bless you and vote. thank you, new hampshire. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its

caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] announcer: donald trump's second trip to new hampshire in the last two weeks. has four electoral votes. recent polling giving hillary clinton a five-point lead as of now. by the way, president obama is in florida today campaigning for hillary clinton. oh we will have coverage this afternoon from orlando at 5:50 p.m. eastern.

this rally by donald trump coming just within the hour of the fbi in forming congress it is investigating whether there is classified information in new e-mails that have emerged. the fbi released this statement. reaction from speaker paul ryan in a tweet.

that's from house speaker paul ryan. live coverage on c-span will .ontinue in about 35 minutes supreme court justice elena kagan will be talking about her life, her career, and her journey to the nation's highest court. that is at 3:00. in the meantime, we will take you to a look at the battleground state of ohio from today's "washington journal." host: joining us now from cleveland is henry gomez, the chief political reporter for cleveland.com. he is here to help us take a look at the battleground state of ohio and tell us who the voters are and get the latest on polling and other news from there. good morning. thank you for joining us. guest: good morning. of course. -- ohioeveland has gone has gone five times to democrats

and where are the battle lines in the state? guest: there are a number of battle lines in the state and this year i think they are different than in past cycles. going 5-5.ided state year, theis battlegrounds are little bit different within the battlegrounds. you are seeing donald trump spend a lot of time in eastern and southeastern ohio, which is chock filled with the working-class voters that he has tailored his campaign to. it is one of the areas in the state that supplies one of the lowest portions of the statewide vote but one where he could clip democratic counties, peeling the margins that democrats have traditionally stored there. he could do very well statewide. host: taking a look at some of the counties where hillary clinton and donald trump won their primaries. according to cleveland.com, it shows many counties to the east

and south of the state. who do you think might win the edge in some of the different counties? guest: i think what we will be looking at closely on election night are two counties in the northeastern part of the eastern slice, mahoning county in trumbull county, the youngstown area and overwhelmingly democratic and it has been for years. filled with the white working-class voters, blue-collar workers, who have become pressured with foreign trade deals and donald trump plays well there. he may not win while in the county or trumbull county, but he will cut into the democrat margins and the question is how much? if you go south, along the ohio river, these are counties that were democratic until the last two presidential elections. they started trending red with john mccain and then mitt romney

. donald trump plays even better there than those candidates did. are there enough votes for him republican? back to i am not sure because the sense is hillary clinton will do better in suburban counties, such as delaware county, north of columbus. it is an overwhelmingly republican county but still with suburban families, highly educated families, a high-income families, the types of independent or moderate republicans that my devoted to mitt romney but are not voting for donald trump. dear speaking -- host: we are speaking with henry gomez from the chief political reporter for cleveland.com, as we focus on the battleground state of ohio. callers from ohio can join a discussion at (202)-748-8000. all others can call (202)-748-8001. early can you explain voting in ohio and how it works?

guest: sure. there are three weeks of early voting in ohio, a little different than four years ago, or there was a fourth week where you could register to vote and vote at the same time. they called the golden week, but it was subject to lots of court challenges for republican groups and in the credit groups are thatigning hard to uphold week and it went away this year. early voting has been going on since october 12. of the votete a bit already income a lot of ballot request out there and you can vote from home by mail, return by mail come or go in person to your county's board of elections to vote in person doing set hours. we are at the point now in the calendar where the board of elections and in each of ohio's 88 counties are opened the last two weekends of this campaign. the democrats are very excited about that because the engineer concern point of turnout operation around the dates. host: turning to the senate race

highly, also very contested in terms of presidential, worsening the rob portman is going against former -- wherestrickland governor rob portman is going against former governor strickland. where does the race stand? guest: kind of disappointment if you were hoping for a close race. the republican incumbent has put this one away, one of the most colossal surprises if former governor strickland could come back and win this. he has not been able to raise money, he has not been a very energetic campaigner. he has made a lot of gas on the campaign trail and when a senator portman's allies, a lot -- a lot of outside spending groups, they have dumped a lot of money. nationalght up the bad and state economy during strickland's time as governor.

they reinforced negative feelings about strickland going to work for a liberal ink tank in washington after he was governor. really, just buried strickland in the hole and has not been able to climb out of it. he is leading by double digits in every poll i have seen. to portman's credit, he has run an outstanding campaign and has ticket splitting democrats and you cannot say enough about the great campaign that rob portman has run an the comparatively poor campaign that strickland has run. host: let's take a look at one of the ads from rob portman's campaign, focusing on the heroin epidemic in the state. [video clip] >> i am j mcdonald, president of the police of ohio, winning the senator who will have our backs. after examining the candidate records, we endorse rob portman. he has always been strong for law enforcement and no elected official in america is doing more to fight back against the heroin epidemic. please join the law-enforcement in supporting rob portman.

he is on our side. >> rob portman, endorsed by the internal service of police -- fraternal order of police. host: we do have the caller, built from north carolina. you are on with henry gomez of cleveland.com. good morning. caller: good morning. how is everybody? host: we are good. go ahead, bill. caller: i grew up in hubbard, ohio, and i lived in youngstown for over 30 years on the north side. youngstown was an industrial powerhouse and a great place to live and it has just gone under the ways like to try. i call it many detroit. it is a crying shame. when i retired, fortunately, my house was not my biggest asset or never would have been able to get out because you practically have to give your house away.

i was up there about one month ago, the first time i have been in the old neighborhood in 10 years, and i hate to say it, i felt like i needed a gun in my lap. it is disgusting the way things have gone in this country. you can blame companies, unions, politicians. there is plenty of blame to go around. what has happened to many of the cities, including youngstown, is the biggest race. host: that's let henry gomez response of the that an issue resonating in the campaign? guest: i grew up in then spend myself, right outside, born and raised there, went to college there. i go back often because my family lives there. i do not feel unsafe when i'm around the city, but it certainly has seen better times. i think young's town is on the rebound, but law and order plays right into terms big campaign theme and he is targeting people that do you feel unsafe in inner cities like youngstown, cleveland.

i think he would tear from the other side that he feels he drives stereotypes in those cases, but it is a theme that has resonated and donald trump is sitting on that. host: we are speaking with henry gomez of cleveland.com, focusing on ohio. with 11 days to go before election day, we have aligned dedicated work ohio residents, (202)-748-8000. all others can call (202)-748-8001. from senator portman. let's take a look at an ad former governor ted strickland. [video clip] >> ted strickland! love this man. he is the first in his family to go to college, the minister and a public servant. when he was in congress, he fought for children's health insurance program, as governor, he froze public college tuition, and even though he took office

as governor about when you before the recession, ohio was the fifth fastest growing economy in america. ted delivered and when it matters most, he has your back. >> i am ted strickland and i approve this message. host: governor portman rescinded his endorsement of donald trump. heording to cleveland.com, rescinded his endorsement in the aftermath of the race of his 2005 video of donald trump making fogler and sexually aggressive comments. in a statement on his website, he said he will accept the voting for indiana governor mike pence. how has that worked out? how is the top of the ticket in general affected the senate race there? guest: not as much as democrats are hoping it would. has a two-pronged attack lately, president obama supports me and rob portman used to support donald trump. portman did not want to rescind his endorsement

of donald trump. he struggled and was one of the last in that batch of republican senators who about their endorsement after taxes hollywood tape came out. really talk to them a few weeks later for an endorsement interview, you could see that he struggled with the decision and he felt he needed to support the voters of his party led, needed donald trump for president. it was a decision he did not take lightly, even though just about every issue that comes out of donald trump spot, rob portman has is agreed with. when he made comments about women or minorities, the first to ask robters go is portman, do you agree with donald trump? and catholics a lot of -- and that puts a lot of republicans until positions. he has been able to bring some democrats into his coalition and is on top of the ticket. really, it has not been a problem. host: coleman called them from

windsor mill, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to make the comments. i will be brief. for the people of ohio, i have been maybe two times or three times. 2008 and had the economy was when president barack obama took over. was working and they cut back on hours because the economy was bad. restaurants were not hiring. there was no employment. today, we can talk about the economy is growing and moving past. [indiscernible] i am only suggesting that people look at their vote. i would not mind if the current

governor of ohio is on top of the ticket. i would vote for him, but i cannot imagine myself voting for a man like donald trump, who does not have any single office before. just as a businessman and he cannot even release his taxes. host: henry gomez let's let respond. -- let's let henry gomez respond. guest: you brought up kasich and who did not end up winning and there have been some polls out recently, and i saw one that showed that if john kasich at the top of the republican ticket right now, they would be be dean heller clinton by 12 points but that is not what happened. -- there would be beating hillary clinton by 12 points, but that is not what happened. unemployment rate has been dropping a jobs have come back over the last eight years. president obama wins credit, republican john kasich wants

credit for that, and that is not the race is which fat. it is spot on the segment of population that feels they are underemployed, underpaid, and they're looking for more prosperity. those at the voters that donald trump has been playing to effectively in many cases. is, calling from ohio. caller: my question is [indiscernible] i have been living in ohio for the last 18 years, so a long time, but this election is a paradox to me. i'm more of an independent, no question. it is shocking that trump would be there. my question is in ohio, governor kasich was a republican, a reasonable man who everybody sees him.

so hepopular in ohio, openly criticized donald trump and everything against them, so how come he is a popular governor? twice, he is popular, but trump is winning? so people who like kasich are voting for term? if not -- for trump? if not, then trump should go down. this isdering how happening. host: let's let henry gomez respond. guest: it is fascinating, isn't it? you have these two dynamically republicans, but popular in ohio, remember, john kasich be donald trump year. donald trump year. john kasich would probably win

ohio's electric boats over donald trump. i think donald trump is appealing to a lot of first-time voters are people who have not or four the last 2, 3 elections, appealing to democrats, independents, people disinfected from their own parties, so that is why he has been able to build a coalition in spite of governor kasich and not having governor kasich's support. host: we are talking with henry gomez of cleveland.com. he is a former staff reporter for cleveland business. later in the show, we would talk to the chairman of the republican and democratic parties in ohio. first, can you give us an idea about the ground game and how each party is doing? guest: there is really no contest. hillary clinton has the superior ground game in ohio. when the polls show us that donald trump has a slight edge,

that is one thing to keep in mind. the other is that on election day and in the early weeks of early voting, hillary clinton and the democrats are far better organized to mobilize voters through the process. at least since june, they have bad over 100 democratic staffers on the ground, working in harmony to elect the democratic ticket this fall. conversely, donald trump, and this is almost attributable to the fact that governor kasich does not support him, has had a hard time building his kasich controls the ohio republican party and that vast network of party insiders and activist and many of those people have been to take spots within the trump campaign. it's a cooperative on to announce the infrastructure in ohio. he and his ohio campaign manager have feuded openly with the chair the republican party, lots of tension there. national republican

committee, has had trouble finding staffers that would want to work on the ground in ohio. tore have been communications directors in ohio and both of them quit because of trump. the first one said that he did not want to work to elect someone like donald trump. the second kind a huge blowout , saidhe campaign manager that stuff matters. you do not seed in the polls they were looking at right now, but it absolutely matters when it comes to getting absentee ballots in the hands of voters in the future there returned to come sure people get up early voting at the election and making sure those people who have not done so before election get out on election day. democratston and the will have all the advantage when it comes to that. host: benjamin calling from washington, d.c., good morning.

benjamin calling from washington, d.c., good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: i am good. you are on with henry gomez of cleveland.com. caller: henry, in 20 12 in the presidential election, the secretary of state of ohio, john has put, was really at the center of great controversy for a number of reasons. primarily for backing away from his order that would have banned counties of early voting after being summoned to court in front of a federal judge, and he was still resentful after the election. he felt that he should of been allowed to do this. seemed likehe has he is putting his head down. i'm wondering what your perspective is on his role and intentions and pulling a maneuver in 2016? i know he has made statements against trump, but it is hard to the what is happening since act in 2012 was attempted to be done covertly. you seem to be plugged in. i'm interested in your thoughts. guest: great question.

john has been fastened a little bit -- chase and a little bit from losing the high-profile court battles over access to early voting. while he still holds true to his belief that it was really easy to vote early in ohio and expensive, you have not seen him push as much this cycle because he has lost earlier battles and has lost a few more this year that were not as high profile. hovering above all of this is the john houston wants to run for governor in 2018 and it will be a competitive primary between him, mike to wine, and possibly john kasich lieutenant governor. i think he is keeping his head down, great way of putting it because he wants it to be a smooth election. it is in his best interest to preside over the new collection because it is another notch in his boat to sell to voters if he runs for governor in 2018. host: taking a look at the

spending that has been done in ohio. democrat hillary clinton and the democratic party has spent $4.5 million on ads in ohio this the 2.3arly twice million dollars that donald trump and the republicans will spend. is that disparity in the ads making a difference? guest: i think it is making some of a difference. i think it is what is keeping the race you are not seeing donald trump running away with in the polls and you have not seen hillary clinton runaway in the polls preaching needs to have those ads because trump does have advantages demographically in parts of the state. host: teresa from columbus, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. my comment is i'm very disappointed in rob portman and i voted for rob portman my entire voting life. i am an independent. i just cannot believe that it took him that long to come up

with walking away from trump. forthright not been with the voters of ohio in that respect and a quick comment on the earlier comment, i do not know if people are aware of this, but a lot of the blue counties in ohio have been taken off the election rolls to be counted as absentee ballots. heer the election because decided that is the way he wants to do with the voters of ohio. i think mr. husted will have quite the problem becoming governor after the election and once the people find out that their votes will not count because they have not voted in the last six years. host: let's get an update on that and then let henry gomez respond according to cleveland.com. ohio voters improperly removed can vote in november

lastly, ohiod voters that were removed from the rolls after not casting about for several years will be allowed to vote in the november general election. the federal appellate court ruled last month at the ohio's practice of occasionally canceling voter registrations after six years of inactivity was illegal. a u.s. district court issued a decision, mandating that voters purged since january 1, 2011, will be allowed to cast ballots. tell us a little bit about that and how that affects absentee voting. guest: i was one of the cases i alluded to with the last caller about how john husted has lost a couple battles and not as high profile. i think that is the one that the democrats argued this you, that the republicans, the state, including john husted, are not administering fair elections. this is something that husted consistent on.

i'm not convinced it is having a big effect on early voting but we have not seen any measurable data at this point. host: maureen is calling from gerard, ohio. caller: i would not vote for rob portman and i cannot wait until we go back [no audio] host: are you there? caller: yes. host: go ahead. caller: i cannot wait until some daily get read about governor and we go back to democratic governor perry i live in gerard, ohio. our roads stink. there is nothing but holes in the roads, and i hear on tv that john kasich has been so wonderful for the state of ohio. we would not have had collected bargaining. he tried to take that away a few

years ago and we voted that down. i cannot see what john kasich has done. my husband works in pittsburgh. he was laid off as an electrical engineer and cannot even find a job in ohio. i live in ohio. he lives in pittsburgh. it is rob portman and some of these republican governors and these republican people like to me oftte and pittsburgh, they go out and tell you they are for social security, all of these programs, and then when they go back to congress, they vote against everything. host: let's let henry gomez respond. how are they resonating? maur: marine brings up -- brings up a good point abouteen john kasich. brings up a good point about john kasich.

they talk about republican employees and republican employee unions, and the overturn that in 2011 and since then, kasich has moved to the middle and carved out an identity as a pragmatic governor perry as far as the issues brought up, yes, that is what you hear a lot, especially from democratic voters unhappy with the republican leadership's in ohio. that is the hillary clinton voted most likely. it is the feeling that the republicans controlling the state have not made things as well as they could. host: in addition to that spending advantage that democrats have over republicans, it seems that democrats have been sending high-profile surrogates to stump in ohio. according to cleveland.com, joe biden and jay-z arm of what they call a never-ending parade of presidential surrogates. it says that working at this time with 11 days left to election day, president joe

anen dropped in for unexpected visit, as well as jay-z will be hosting a concert, not the first time he has posted a concert there, despite that he is from brooklyn. what is it about the race that is drawing high-profile votes? it is such a more expanded battleground map this year. ohio, although it has been hugely important to the electoral college, there is a sense this you that states like north carolina, pennsylvania, possibly arizona, utah, georgia are more important than ohio is. we are not used to that. we always think we are so important and everybody should be here all the time. hillary clinton, in particular, her most viable resource is a time. her campaign is really mobilized, a lot of celebrities, high-profile democrats. the strategy there is not necessarily to get the headline

on cleveland.com, although he covered those offense when they are warranted, but to get headlines in the youngstown indicated there or some of the smaller town newspapers. that is a big deal, something the people in the town will be talking about for a long time. to me, that is the strategy there. you might bring someone out to an event that was not likely to go to an event otherwise. that person leaves the event more motivated to go vote, may be more voted -- more motivated to knock on doors and that feeds into the ground game we talked about earlier. host: david is calling in from north carolina. good one. caller: how are you doing today? mr. gomez drew a parallel to i frequenteda and ohio little bit, and our workers unions, like hillary clinton is a more diverse

group of voters and some of the talking points that mr. trump season the great country and has not been so upcoming, i mean, he will lose the women's vote, an important vote, although some women [indiscernible] when they get behind that curtain, they would think about those things. same for the latino vote. if we are breaking down the demographics of the voters, it is unbalanced. when you look at inconsistencies and the history of the republican party and how it has always been hijacked by donald trump, you know, they will have to rebuild because it will fall apart. host: that is a lot to unpack. but let henry gomez take a shot. guest: those are good and fair points and observations,

especially on how the republican party will have a lot of soul-searching to do after the election. we said the same thing for years ago and it was a different candidate, but one that did not the fill a whole lot of the gop part for 2012. it is interesting because when i covered donald trump events, when he is at this best is when he has a focus message, which is around the fact that people are frustrated that they're not making enough money, that they are not as employed as they should be and do not have the job that they want and nobody is looking out for them. when he sticks to that, it is the message that resonates. when he gets into these little sidebars by picking nonminorities, mexicans, talking crudely about women, that is not helpful and what the press writes about because that is the conflict. those of the headlines hurting him and preventing him from 35anding his base the on the percent to 40% of americans who are really tapped into that sort of anger right now. host: taking a look at more

demographics of ohio. all statewide offices are held by republicans at the moment. republicans also have the 6-1 majority on the ohio supreme court and democrats and republicans each hold one senate seat, but strongly republican. according to the latest real clear politics average, donald trump is averaging only at one lead over hillary clinton there. what this the difference between coders who like electing republicans? slicing up doing better? guest: -- why is he not doing better? guest: we are talking about different years, the midterm years and the electorate differs when you have a national election, the full weight of the party machinery the radically is wed up democrats who scre

elections in ohio comes to the fact that you have had democrats on ground or months is showing up with hillary clinton because her people have been in the field knocking on doors. that is showing up there. you may talk to david pepper, the chairman, later, but they have been down in the dumps for a long time. he is like the only democratic governor in 30 years in the state and only served one term. to have a tough time recruiting good candidates to run for statewide office. the gubernatorial government in 2014 was an epic disaster and they are still reeling from that. they're having a tough time recruiting candidates for 2018. host: steve calling from columbus, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question. if the president of the united states during the inauguration has to switch uphold the constitution -- has to swear to uphold the constitution, many of

the things donald trump has said throughout this campaign have made me question whether he would uphold the constitution, so my question is, how could we ever consider collecting such a person? -- electing such a person? host: go ahead, henry. guest: [laughter] therefore the present to 45% of the people shows they are considering electing him, despite his weaknesses, sure, but i am not the best person to answer that. you would have to go to rallies, evidence to talk to voters and they feel that donald trump gets them and they recognize aims about him the other undesirable and he says things that are mean and inappropriate, but they are still voting for him in spite of that because they feel he is going to shake up the system in a way that hillary clinton will not. and then you talk to other more mainstream

republicans, supporting donald trump and their issue is the supreme court. donald trump is unpredictable and they feel they have a 75% to 85% chance of donald trump picking conservative justices and with hillary clinton, they feel the chances 0%. that is the thought process i hear from republicans i talk to. host: bob is calling from tennessee. can one. caller: yes, ma'am, thank you for taking my call. what it is. we are tired of what has been going on. that is why we are voting for trump. we are tired of liberalism, murder, lawlessness, all of the coverups. can i say one last thing? democrat christians, why won't you get on the right side of god and support not murdering them babies? are sidinguals, you with the devil, evilness. host: how are social issues like

that playing in ohio in the presidential and senate races? not big. you hear the abortion issue mentioned by a lot of mainstream republicans that i mentioned previously, who are worried about the makeup of the supreme court, but donald trump is not oddking -- that is an caller because he is not speaking to that interest rate in cleveland, donald trump talked about supporting lgbtq issues and people. he is not than the lot to back that up in terms of policy announcement, but donald trump is not that tried into an it comes to social issues. he has talked openly about being pro-choice. that to me is not factoring into the trunk coalition. host: we are talking with henry gomez, the chief political reporter from cleveland.com. can you talk about the urban versus rural divide in the state?

about half of the voters in cal ceaseided nine and other hapless but that over counties.ing 79 how does that play out in the senate and presidential race now? guest: we talk about there being for our five ohio's -- four or five ohio's, the east, south west, andral, north the campaign is spot on the big also encompassed the big media markets. hillary clinton is expending a lot of time in columbus, cleveland and lesser in cincinnati because those are the three major urban areas that will drive the share of the democratic vote, election day. whereas donald trump and mike pence, their strategy has been different. they're hitting the big cities to get media coverage. last night, donald trump

campaigned in geneva, ohio, about one hour east of cleveland, but no presidential candidate has visited there since jfk in 1960. it is a small county. fou years ago by doubler digits. if donald trump would flick that, it would not necessarily be the difference maker. mike pence the other day ohio,gned in ashland, republican territory. must've been a visit to make sure you get out to vote because noald trump and mike pence passion is in the world of pain right now, so they are focusing on more traditional republican base areas or democratic -- or blue-collar areas where they can chip away and haley clinton is focused on the larger areas where they can drive the vote. host: