he 2016 senate races focusing on those that remain a tossup heading into a election day. we will take your calls and you host: good morning. it is saturday, november 5 2016. three days until election day. democratic nominee hillary clinton, republican nominee donald trump in the middle of a dizzying campaign blitz. in key battleground states and other regions where polls have tightened. the key issue for both, getting out the vote, especially key demographics like millennials and minority voters, including

those of the black community which leads us to the question for african-american viewers only -- are you planning to vote? between the ages of 18 and 29 can call -- and you can reach us on social media and twitter. and though facebook at facebook.com. african-american voters are key acid the candidates and make their final stumps through the states. the washington were polled reports -- report ports that they are across the country making stops in states where they'll polled have narrowed. the frenzied of final days include celebrity appearances.

jay-z had lined a get out the vote show with clinton in cleveland and stevie wonder played on her behalf in philadelphia and the endless ads airing in battleground states as both candidates make their pitches to voters, including those within the african-american community. a few more notes about that from a study with the joint center, some key findings about enthusiasm among black voters. some of those findings say despite polarizing views a record low approval numbers for each candidate most voters say they intended to vote regardless of their race or ethnicity and all levels of education and income in every region of the country and an overwhelming majority of black men and women saw the 2016 race as a high-stakes election.

more black women at an black man said they believed the election's outcome would be very important compared to past elections. we are asking all reviewers, do you plan to vote in this election? we have pamela from maryland. good morning, pamela. are you planning to vote or have you voted already? caller: i voted last saturday. host: what was the key issue for you as you went to the polls? caller: the key issue is that you need to vote. i think of all of the ancestors and folks who are no longer here with us cool fox and died and bled -- fought and died and bled for the opportunity to vote and some never got the chance to do so. that is the main issue. the other issue is that we just do not need to have this

divisiveness that the donald trump is espousing. everybody needs to vote. host: you are calling that are 50 and over line, have you usually voted? are you a usual voter? caller: i am a usual voter. i voted with -- during for obama when we all stood in line for i think at my polling place for six hours. i always vote. host: guest: -- host: michael is calling on our 30-49 line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: do you plan to vote or have you voted already? caller: voted already. host: what was your key motivator? caller: it is all about when we are outside of the

united states what brought us here is the american dream. how powerful america is and how it's leadership and the safety and the liberty, that is why we came here for. we are so passionate coming care about the economy -- here about the economy and the country. we have to candidates. one is preaching about how bad america is. one is preaching about how great an inspirational the country is going to get better. as are going to fix it. that gives me hope. -- as are going to fix it. people from different countries, we have hope. -- they are going to fix it. somebody said i am going to come in and fix it. the dream that brought you here

is not a dad. host: where did you immigrate from? caller: ghana. so -- go ahead. host: go ahead and finish your thought. caller: back home, there is a saying that if you have your door open, your whole door is open and you go out and tell people there is no security, i am weak, you invite criminals to come to your home and robbing you. if you say hey, i have security. we are protected, no one comes to that house in tries to rob you. that is what the donald trump is preaching about how weak america is an talking about terrorism. he is inviting them. he is saying there is no army,

it is not strong. that is so dangerous. i cannot believe why people are voting for him. i know people from africa and i seem to this election -- i am a first time voter, i know thousands of first-time voters, november 8, the people will roll. host: let's take a look at what the donald trump said on the campaign trail in his pitch to african-american voters specifically. donald trump: you are living in poverty. your schools are no good. you have no jobs. 58% of your youth are unemployed. what the hell do you have to lose? [applause] donald trump: after the end of 4 years, i guarantee you that i will get over 95% of the

african-american vote. i promise you. [applause] donald trump: i will reduce, i will reduce for the intercede is -- i will produce for the inter-cities and the african-americans. the african-americans will not produce. all they have done is taken advantage of your vote. once the election is over, they go back to their palaces in washington. they do nothing for you. caller: from new york. do you plan to vote or have you already? caller: i plan to vote. from what i heard from donald trump. do we have jobs? no. do not tell us our votes do not

work to our advantage. democrats are playing a game. they know they need our vote to do the same thing. death of black american president do anything for black america -- did the black america president do anything for black america? no. there's no reason we should vote for democrats. what donald trump is trying to do -- saying we have to vote for hillary clinton but cut she is the one who will save us, it is in our children's interest does not going to work. host: what is the top issue for you in making your decision who to vote for? caller: it is economy interest and our children's interest and safety. tell me what hillary has done except that this guy is a dangerous a man. who is dangerous?

she is dangerous. we do not know what is happening tomorrow. when it comes to national security, i feel more donald trump than her. host: let's look at hillary clinton's ad. >> donald trump mocks the african-american community. >> african-americans are living in a hail. you walk down the street and get shot. >> listen to how he talked to us. >> i have a great relationship with the blacksburg. look at my african-american over here. >> president obama has been the most ignorant president in our history. >> wallowed donald trump spent his career demeaning our community, hillary clinton has been fighting for us. >> we cannot get to where we need to be unless we move forward and stand up against prejudice and paranoia.

i believe we are stronger together. >> it is almost time to vote in pennsylvania, find out where to vote. that is iwillvote.com. host: that is a radio ad running in pennsylvania. omar is calling from los angeles. good morning, omar. caller: good morning. first of all, i wanted to say thank you for allowing me to get my call in. i have been trying for many months. unfortunate -- forcefully, it my patience has paid off. in regard to the last caller, i have -- i happen to be a black american of panamanian dissent and it does not sit well with me

how all of these guys say president obama is this and that. when an president is elected to the united states, he is not the president only of the blacks. he is the president of every body who lives in the country. i believe all of the good things that have started to happen for black people is a very positive. i think we should all move forward and make this country go forward rather than going backward. host: i take it you plan to vote in this election, what is the top issue for you? what does the issue that is driving the most? caller: they issue that is driving the me most when i go to the polls, i am looking for a person that has the knowledge of how to conduct themselves in how business is done. i do not want to elect someone

who just figure that the speak about anybody and any race and domain people. that is totally unacceptable in this country. this is a country built on immigrants. -- demean people. how do we look down at other people? this is not right. this is one nation under god. what happened to that? host: william's column from chicago. good morning, william. -- william is calling from chicago. do you plan on voting? caller: actually, i have already voted. absentee ballot. host: what was driving -- what was your key issue? caller: two reasons. i first voted when kerry ran in 2000 fun -- 2004. it is personal and it is also --

and the issue of accountability. i vote for my maternal grandmother who lived in the delta during jim crow. i vote for her as well. on the issue of accountability, i do not believe donald trump is the person who needs to lead this country. when donald trump put all blacks in a box, saying we are poor and we need his "white savior" to liberate us i am a doctoral student. i am doing fine. host: are you -- are your friends, colleagues, family members, are they as motivated as you to vote? more of an urgency or less? caller: well -- my family has

always voted. we have always been active in the voting process. granted, it is a very important election, it is very common for us to vote. our family has history in mississippi and louisiana. host: tony is calling from california on our millennial line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. host: do you plan to vote or have you voted already? caller: i plan to vote, but i am confused. [indiscernible] a president has to behave in a way that trump is not. the fbi -- there's a price for

everything in america. the fbi guy took a few millions of dollars about the e-mail about hillary even though he did it before. i want to know if it is true. and if you take money from the fbi to do that, the fbi took money from him to do that? host: i do not have the information about that. you are in florida. according to the new york times in florida that extended early voting what some voters waiting in line for hours, the african-american electorate that has gone to the polls has decreased since 2012 to 15%. do you mothercare friends, family members, juicy less of the desire to vote this year

than in the pat -- do you see less of a desire to vote than in the past? caller: [indiscernible] i want to vote. donald trump only focuses on business. if he gets into the white house -- [indiscernible] host: harrisburg, pennsylvania on our 50 and over line. good morning. caller: good morning. well, i am going to vote and i always do vote. i do not want a crook in the white house that thinks there is one set of rules for her and another for everyone else. and i am totally disgusted and i think the donald trump is by far the best candidate and he will

help the black people instead of the democrats. every time they get elected, a come in and get the vote and leave and nothing gets done. actually, i'm voting for the future generations. i am not voting for myself. i am almost ready to retire. host: have you voted more republican for most of your life or is this a switch you are making? caller: i have been growing up as a democrat. voted democrat no matter what that is how i was brought up. host: and this year, your motivated primarily to vote against hillary clinton or is there something about donald trump's message that true you? caller: we have the same of birth i am against her. host: in recent days, barack

obama has stepped up his campaign on hillary clinton's behalf. -- will the same birthday, i am against her. -- we have the same birthday, i am against her. host: obama touted his administration's policies on race relations while continuing the fight against incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders. and community relations key to enhancing the lives of african americans. obama said while clinton what further build on the aims, donald trump would seek to undermine them. he said the good news is hillary clinton has signed up for all of these.

crystal is calling for philadelphia. good morning, crystal. caller: good morning. host: have you voted or do you plan to vote? caller: i definitely plan on voting. it is imperative that we get out here and make our voices heard. i cannot vote for a nominee who just -- his temperament is beyond crazy. i have never heard any of the rhetoric i have heard before. 20 years ago, my mother used to try to get me to sit down and watch the debates and oliver that. i was not interested. i do not care. -- debates and listen. i've been working the past year or, i have had nothing but time but to analyze these candidates. although hillary has her faults with the fbi and all of that, i

still believe she is the better candidate. host: let me ask you about this. the argument that donald trump and republicans make that democrats have taken the african-american vote for granted? caller: i would not say that. i have not been working in the past year. i am not as destined to as he would -- destitute as he would put out the african-americans are. i am still doing well. it is nonsense to me. i do not see him doing anything more for african-american people. the way he even speaks about us is horrifying. it is horrible. host: larry is calling from detroit, michigan, where hillary clinton spoke yesterday. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. it is interesting that the vote

has come down to african-americans, other individuals who have been most deprived by government and all of this resources. it has come down to us. the establishment has been unable to stop donald trump. the fact that this man is even in the race. the fact that they hillary clinton continues to not to be -- to go unchecked. it is very interesting that to those individuals who are most a product, -- most deprived, most underrepresented, it has come down to us now to make that deciding vote. i am wondering if they will get enough. after this critical point, not having the amount of people register in order to vote and did then going to those different states where you have voter disenfranchisement depression all over the country. we have not cap would those top -- tackled those types of issues

and the candidates have not addressed at those pretty host: a little bit from hillary clinton's speech yesterday. michigan live, hillary clinton focus on criticizing donald trump's records and comments against women and various minority groups and she focus on african-americans arguing trump 's view is limited to crime and poverty and does not know the strength of black churches and activism. clinton says if he does not respect of americans now, how can we expect him to serve all americans in the future. do you think this match it will encourage more black people in michigan to vote? caller: i really don't. i do not think either one of the candidates have properly addressed the issues that are facing african-americans all over this country. i do not believe they have been held accountable to do so and to

the media has forced their hand. i do not think black leadership has forced our interests or the black agenda on either candidate. what we have, we have to choose between the lesser of 2 easels. i have not made up my mind on who i will vote. i am not favoring the main candidates. host: in other headlines -- a judge ruled a restraining order against the trump campaign over voter harassment. a report that says a judge in cleveland issued a temporary restraining order against donald trump's campaign and the gop political operative preventing them from harassing or intimidating ohio voters. the u.s. district judge ruled in a lawsuit filed by the ohio democratic party that anyone who engages in intimidation or harassment and side or near ohio polling places would face contempt of court charges.

the lawsuit claimed that the ohio gop, the truck campaign operative roger stone and his political action committee were conspiring to suppress minorities in urban areas from casting ballots on tuesday. talking to african-american viewers today, asking are you planning on voting? those in the millennial under 29 can . -- can call (202) 748-8000. order (202) 748-8001. or (202) 748-8002. good morning ron. caller: good morning. host: have you voted or do you plan on voting? caller: i plan on voting. host: who do you support? caller: i support donald trump. i support donald trump because

when he had his speech and said what in the hell do you have to lose, i had any pins in it. my ap -- epiphany. -- my epiphany was at that blacks have voted for the democrats since 1965 and they never do anything for us. obama, the clintons, go to the black church, hold hands we shall overcome, nothing gets done until 4 years later and they say the same thing. my biggest problem is, my biggest mistake in life was supporting obama in 2008. that's the biggest regret because obama did absolutely nothing for the black community. host: what was it that you hoped the president would have done that he did not do? caller: i hope he would've

addressed the prison complex the private prisons, the way the blacks are being incarcerated over minor crimes area the way white photos get away with it. black folks will suffer the brunt. -- the way white folks get away with. there are two justices in the united states of america -- there is white justice and black justice. white folks get away with it like of the white boys who raped the girl and get one year, one day in jail. black folks rate -- allegedly rate of girl -- rape, allegedly rape a girl and get 25 years. obama has been a fraud. he cares nothing about black folks. he is a charlatan. i hope black people will wake up and see democrats do nothing for

black folks. nothing at all but to go to the church every 4 years and say, we shall overcome and do nothing for us. host: left at a look at another hillary clinton ad featuring president obama and outreach to african-americans. >> the progress we have made is at stake in this election. my name of may not be on the ballot but our progress is on the ballot. tolerance is on the ballot. democracy is on the ballot. justice is on the ballot. good schools are on the ballot. mass incarceration is on the ballot right now. there's only one candidate who will advance those things and there's another whole is -- whose defining principle is opposition to all that we have done.

there is no such thing as a vote because it matters, it all of that are's. after we achieved a record turnout, i will consider a personal insult, an insult to my looks the if this community -- to my legacy if this community lets down its guard. you what to give me a good sendoff -- go vote. host: james is on the line from brooklyn, new york. james president obama's pitch said it will be a insult to his legacy to not support hillary clinton, is that convincing for you -- is that a visit for you? caller: yeah, yeah -- no, no. i think president obama is going

the right way but i think are of votes are being neglected. -- our votes are being neglected. i see democrats being the best of both evils. i believe that -- i actually like -- our votes as a community has been portrayed as, yeah, we are the month georgie -- majority. we are the ones that gets the president office but nothing really gets done. they do good speeches and promote everything, but nothing really comes forth. as the united states as a whole i believe hillary clinton would be the best choice for that. host: connie's calling from north carolina. good morning. do you plan to vote this

election season? caller: i'm voting on tuesday. host: who do plan on supporting? caller: hillary. i have to vote for hillary. she has done so much for everyone over so many years and even before she was first lady and when her husband was president, she is done so much not only for the african-american community or every child. i know different people who do not have insurance for their children and she passed the care act. in north carolina, they keep cutting off medicaid and people cannot sign up for medicaid. all of these laws, get these things repeal. it held up the whole north carolina. host: secretary clinton has faced criticism in the black

community for her past support for the federal crime bill that led to over incarceration of black people in the united states. as well as her use of the term "super predator" do those factors weigh against your support for her? caller: no, we on the state level -- we are going to go back to home to do nothing, we need to keep voting and vote to be state senators out of here that are not doing anything for us. you know, we need to stay on the state level and get these governors and senators who is not doing anything for us, no way, out of their. host: a little bit more from the study that was -- and study from the joint center for political and economic studies.

it said among black voters who intend to support the democratic nominee, majority of older voters describe your choice as a vote for clinton. younger black voters were more likely to describe their choice as a vote against trump. let's take a look at emory university's, one of the authors of one of the studies. she was on this program thursday morning talking about the study of african american turnout in this election cycle. guest: looking at the turn a of millennial voters, especially those age 18 to 29, they were far more likely that to say they definitely planned on voting. they 29, they were far more expressed much more uncertainty saying they may vote or they probably not. the democrats, if they want to win, need to target that demographic. one of the differences we saw is at their differences in how younger and older voters

perceive their vote for clinton if they decided to support her. older voters use their vote as a positive vote for hillary clinton. younger voters were voting against donald trump. what we would ask is whether going against donald trump is a strong enough motivation? the substantive issues that have come up, part of the reason why hillary clinton is doing relatively poorly among young african-american voters in terms of enthusiasm is that she had admissions and the 1990's with supporting policies that young black voters would contribute to the rise of the prison industrial complex in the united states. she may not have done enough to convince african-americans -- is really going to take these issues to heart and being a champion and not a typical politician go-round because she need their votes and will it ignore them until the next election. host: lorraine is calling from

syracuse, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. host: are you planning on voting? guest -- caller: i am. i am supporting hillary. what i want to tell that last caller that said barack obama has not done nothing for the black community, barack obama has done a lot for all communities. but, just imagine congress and the senate and john boehner and all of them, if they had worked with him from the beginning instead of our and not to work with him, all of his issues saying they would not work with him at all, he would've gotten a lot of things done. how can they just sit up there and say obama has not done anything? she has done a lot. -- he has done a lot.

as they are always blaming democrats not doing this, the republicans have not done a damn thing either. host: daniel is calling in from wisconsin. 50 and over line. good morning. good morning, daniel. caller: good morning. host: do you plan to vote? caller: yes, i do. host: what is the main motivating factor for you as you decide who to vote for for president and the other races? caller: i do not think the democrats have done anything for the african-americans. this is the same party that was proslavery, pro-jim crow, pro-ku klux klan, pro-school segregation. they even -- they use black

people the same way as in slavery. went from the slavery plantation to the ghetto plantation. i think donald trump will do more for blacks than any other -- then most of the -- most of the -- host: have you always voted or in recent election supported republicans or have you supported democrats as well in the past? caller: in the beginning, i was a democrat. i guess it was -- i woke up. i found out that democrats -- they are using black people to get in office.

like obama's policies. [indiscernible] he gave obama $200,000 and now he is making millions of dollars on his stupid telethon. the whole thing is a sham. more black people dying in chicago, obama's so-called hometown, then any other place in the world. 8000 people dead, what is he doing? host: gainesville, georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. host: do you plan on voting this year? caller: i am definitely voting independent. i am amazed that, we, as americans, continue to look at blacks and whites in terms of voting. i am american.

yes, i voted democrat and it helped me at that time. now, as we look at this, and it keeps dividing in terms of race obama is the president of america. and as a black man, i am proud he is the president. but i am american, i voted for him not because of the color of his skin but what he could do for america. if we continue to look at race and forget what the bible says we are going to have problems. i am decided to vote independent this time and go that route. host: let me ask you this, you said you are proud of the president what you are voting independent. is it because of what the candidates have said or not said causey to vote for an independent candidate? caller: based on what they have said. i am exhausted with the race issue.

being an interracial relationship, it is amazing that -- just the fact that this can divide the country continuously forever. we continue to fall and both parties seem to harp on that. it is very upsetting. i have decided to escape from the democratic party as well as the republican and give the independent candidate a chance. host: hampton, virginia. that is, do you plan to vote this year? caller: i've already voted absentee valid -- ballot. host: what was the biggest issue for you when you cast your vote for the president and other offices? caller: the overall health of the country. i am a military guy. i think that hillary clinton

would be more stable for our country and i really do not trust donald trump at all. host: how enthusiastic are members of your family, your friends or other people? we have been reading reports about how african-americans are down over the last two elections. is there less enthusiasm? caller: to be honest, yeah, there is. a lot my friends family, a lot of them do not necessarily -- they are not necessarily enthusiastic about voting for hillary, but a lot are. when you have the chiswick to her in donald trump, that is the way it is going. -- when you have the choice between her and dump truck, that is way it is going. he has been so disrespectful of african-americans. he has the rhetoric, i do not read -- recognize that. not the people that i know.

host: ok. more reaction from a former spokeswoman for dr. ben carson former gop candidate. she weighed in on the issue of african-american turnout being down in a tweet saying -- bobby is on the line from north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. host: who are you supporting or do you plan to vote? caller: i voted already. i voted for hillary. over donald trump. host: -- caller: vote for somebody like donald trump who does not earn any respect. i think he is a big problem for

america. host: was your vote mostly against donald trump and not for hillary clinton or are you motivated to vote for hillary clinton? caller: let me put it this way -- the republicans, the obstructionist party who tried to bring the government down who is stopping everything. though ku klux klan supports donald trump. it is astonishing how we have so many blacks supporting donald trump. i think hillary clinton will make a fine president and i support her 100%. host: ok. tyrone is calling from philadelphia. good morning. caller: good morning. host: do you plan on voting this your? caller: yes on tuesday.

i am supporting hillary clinton. here we are with the party that has killed the 1964 voting rights act. dealing with citizens united, people of our race are going backwards in reference to being able to get a job. $7.25 is no wages a family can live on that yet we do not have the understanding of what they are about? in 2016, we do not have an understanding of what the republicans are about? every single ring obama tried to do, our people have to recognize it was called up in the senate, caught up in the congress. they were not going to put to the agenda through. as a result of that, suppress

your people. yes, you are upset because you're not getting anything out of voting. you cannot get it because he is only one man trying to get things through. look at clinton. -- flint. there is no money there for your people and you want to talk about trump? when he calls you ignorant. he calls your president ignorant, a man out of harvard the biggest white institution in the land. host: why do you think voter turnout among african-americans so far is lower and what can be done to make more people participate? caller: here is why the vote is low -- our people have for not seen or be able to feel any type of recovery. however, however, we have to remember that in the only way

you get the recovery is that we have to take the house seats the local senate seats, the state senate because they have the system locked in on you. we have to break the system lose. we do not put democrats in the state senate, then all your election laws are going down. your money is getting tied in. this is orchestrated. we have to be smarter than this. we are too smart of a race of people for this. host: but tricia is calling from st. louis, missouri. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. host: do you plan to vote to this year? caller: yes, plan to vote. host: who are you supporting? caller: i am supporting hillary. host: what is the main issue for you? the biggest factor in your support for secretary clinton? caller: the main support is she

was in government for 30 years she married bill, she was doing stuff area she was the first lady. she was secretary of state. and i know she will definitely do what she says she is going to do. and move the country forward in the right direction. host: are you concerned about the lack of excitement among younger voters to get out and vote regardless of who they are supporting? caller: yes, i am. i have come across a lot of young voters. i have been talking to them and i got them to go to the polls. there's a lot you have to know about hillary, about the e-mails

and benghazi. that was kind of getting to them. that is why they did not trust her. they feel like she will be locked up and somebody said she -- somebody will shoot her. and their minds, they think she is going to go to the chamber or something. that is not true. i have voted for obama twice. i had a lot of people saying, we are going to vote for hillary. i talked them to vote for hillary. i am trying to energize the young folks, the old folks, all count. trump is not fit to be president.

trump has lawsuits. you cannot handle your own business pretty he is a businessman. he is not a politician. he is asking folks to make him president of america no. he is not fit to do that. host: dewayne is calling from portland. do you plan a vote? caller: absolutely, i'm going to be voting. i am not voting for hillary clinton or donald trump. i do not think either will do anything for the black community. i do not think hillary has done anything for the black community. she knows how to pander for the black community. a falling out over welfare because hillary advocated welfare repeal which it was a used black images, racist imagery that came out of the reagan administration of black

women driving and x like that happened to -- in cadillacs to repeal. she has advocated for mass incarceration. she has not done anything for the black community what she knows how to pander to get the black vote. trump has trafficked the same racist imagery that hillary used in the 1990's to help to get rid of welfare, which basically has always just helped mainly helped white women with children. but she is ideologically against that. she is also with the super predator comment, she helped to create the situation we have in the country with a mass incarceration of black people, reinflate met a black keep -- re-enslavement of black people. host: president obama has been campaigning heavily on clinton's

behalf saying she is the candidate who will further his policies and more polarized than she is pretty is that persuasive to you? caller: i do not want to this to be a referendum of president obama, but he is not done very much to help the black community either why there is precipitous economic decline of the community under his leadership. he supports economics and made a point of not being the president of the black community but of the whole country. i do not naturally know him done a great job of that. the middle class has been in a precipitate is decline and black people, the canary in the coal mine suffered worse underneath him for the past eight years because of the economic policies he supports. jill stein represents the middle class in this country and the poor. she is the only person on the

ballot worthy of my vote. i would really encourage black people to vote for jill stein because jill stein, the green party candidate will present the middle class. she is the only person who will. host: some other headlines today. chris christie's allies were convicted and the lane closing scandal yesterday. the times report of federal jury convicted 2 former allies of chris christie of all charges stemming from a scheme to close access lines at the george washington bridge to punish a new jersey mayor who declined to address the governor's reelection.

host: up next -- we have bristol, virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. host: are you voting this year? caller: yes and i am going to vote for hillary clinton. [indiscernible] i think hillary -- we have supreme court that for decades and for people who do not like hillary clinton i can understand that. the supreme court is the most important thing i think people should start thinking about. host: what is it -- let me ask you this. there is a pending nominee from president obama for the supreme court to fill the vacancy.

do you think the senate should move the nomination of before the end of this year? caller: yes. i do not think they should do anything now because hillary is going to win. i would like for hillary to choose somebody she is comfortable with. host: ok. tyrone is calling from north carolina on our millennial line. caller: good morning. i would like to have a few minutes to say this. from day one, the republicans told president obama they would stop everything he did and a half. they have disrespected him, the first family every day of his presidency was on fox news. president obama has done everything he could do on his -- by himself.

donald trump has been very, very nasty. what president obama said last night, if he had said what the donald trump has said, as they would disqualify him from running. white have they not -- why have they not disqualified him? book of his republican. he said blacks are lazy. the news media is covering for donald trump. -- because he is republican. everything obama tried to do, they have stopped it. he would not be president if -- host: you seem like you're more mobile -- more motivated to vote against donald than for secretary clinton. is there an excitement around her campaign or call turned a few are by mr. trump? caller: i am turned off by trump.

he has been nasty. you do not want to donald trump in the white house. why will he not show his taxes? this man has said everything he could say and people are still supporting this man. he is evil. please, people, look at what did they have done to obama. please vote for hillary. host: ok. good morning. caller: hi, how are you? i am calling in -- i am calling in as an african-american over 50 years of age. i have already enthusiastically voted for hillary. i just wanted to say that president obama is not just the president for black americans. he is the president for all americans. we need to try to come together. hillary's slogan is perfect. we are all stronger together.

and for black people who have problems voting for hillary especially you millennials, i know i have one. he is still living in my home. that is perfectly fine. i wanted to say to you guys -- you have to do your research. you just cannot go with the media today. go and read some of her books. this is a woman who could have taken her degree and gone to wall street immediately. she did not. she went to work for the children's defense fund. she is not preying on americans to enrich herself. you have somebody like donald trump who hires paul work -- coworkers and higher them for dollars an hour -- hire them for

$4. what makes you think he will put you to work? you have donald trump saying various things i will not repeat them all. we all heard it down. who wants a reference -- a president to represent us in this manner? i do not. this woman is of integrity. has it she made mistakes? absolutely. the super predator comment that everybody keeps bringing up, this was back during the time when i was pretty involved in politics myself. i was not running for office but i participated. there were people in the black caucus who said our young youth were super predators. they may not be super today, but not all of them, please hear me out -- i am not painting african-americans, which i am one, as a predator.

there are people who still prey on their own. it is happening right here in georgia. i beg you -- not just the tweets, read a newspaper. get off of facebook. host: ok. we have charles from dallas. are you going to vote this year? caller: i am. thank you for c-span. thank you for taking my call and thank you for c-span. i caution people to really take a step back and understand how dangerous the rhetoric and the tone of this campaign is taking. trump's candidacy is taking a political temper tantrum from the republicans. and to be honest, i look at both parties as really kind of one party when it comes to the

overall masses of the people in america. and one of the things that drives the rhetoric, drives the division is if you are one party and your main objective is power and money, the one thing if you are a man cheating on a woman, your worst nightmare is for those two women to get together and actually talk to each other. so if democrats, liberals, republicans actually got together and talked to each other, the one thing they would find out is they have both been lied to. they would find out they have a lot more in common than they have not in common. host: that will have to be the last word. coming up, we have new employment numbers which were released yesterday by the bureau and labor and statistics. the unemployment rate fell to 4.9%. tim mullaney will join us to go

through those numbers and what it means for an upcoming fed decision. later, the battle for the senate with james arkin of realclear politics. we will be right back. >> we have a special webpage at c-span.org to help you follow the supreme court. go to c-span.org and select supreme court or the right-hand top of the page. once on the page, you will see four of the most recent oral arguments heard this term. click view all to see all the oral arguments covered by c-span2 at you can find recent appearances by many of the supreme court justices or watch justices in their own words including one-on-one interviews in the past few months with justices. there is also a calendar for this term, a list of all current justices, with links to see all

their appearances on c-span, as well as many other supreme court videos available on demand. follow the supreme court at c-span.org. >> i think most of us, when we think of winston churchill, we think of the older man sending young men into war. but no one knew better, and few new as well, the realities of war, the tear and devastation. he said to his mother after his second war you cannot build it. he absolutely knew the disaster that that war was. >> sunday night on q&a, and talk about the early military career of winston churchill. her book is "hero of the empire." >> he says, give me a regiment. i want to go and fight.

so he goes with a regiment on the day blood torilla fell to the british, and he takes over the prison and freeze the men who were then his fellow prisoners. he puts into prison his former jailers, and he watches as the flag was poor down and the union jack was wasted in its place. >> sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on q&a. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from new york is tim mullaney from thestreet.com. he is here to help us look at the jobs numbers released yesterday and tell us what they mean ahead of tuesday's elections. thank you so much for joining us tim. give us the highlights of what yesterday's jobs numbers tell you about the economy and the strength of the job market. guest: it tells you it is an

economy that is sort of simmering, bubbling along nicely. we had 73 consecutive months of positive job growth the largest streak since they have been keeping those records, longer than ronald reagan or bill clinton's expansions. we are continuing a trend that has seen us recover pretty much all the wages lost during the financial panic in his aftermath after 2008. people are basically back to about where they were in the really good times of the internet bubble. consumer balance sheets are in better shape. there is less debt. payments are much easier to make. and jobs are plenty plentiful. although hiring has slowed in the last few months, the consensus is not that there are fewer jobs out there. another survey shows more jobs

out there, but there are fewer workers now, so employers are having trouble making the match. host: in your story about the latest job numbers and thestreet.com you point out that the last jobs report before the election is, as you put it pretty darn good. you said the details of where the good news lies. a big jump in wages brought year-over-year gains to a healthy 2.8%. an upward revision of $44,000 in the hiring pace of the prior two months more than makes up the initial estimate of october hiring that falls about 14,000 short of the median forecast of economists surveyed. you also point out that it can be seen as a sharp rebuke to donald trump's attempt to paint the economy in dire straits. but seeing that the election is just in three days how much of an impact he you expect these

numbers to have on the race? guest: i do not expect a strong impact. as you know, most people have made up their minds. i have been listening to a show here in new york this morning and the thing that struck me was the high percentage of people calling in who had already voted. clearly, it will not affect them. i think people make decisions about economics based on their gut instinct. one month's will not change that much. but the picture is that people are fairly comfortable with the economy. consumer confidence is close to where it was during ronald reagan's administration. we see surveys of a time about 60%, 70% of the people thinking the country is on the wrong track. but talking about economics, you really do not get that same picture. host: we're talking to him the lenny, economics columnist for thestreet.com.

unemployed callers 202-748-8000. unemployed and looking for a job, 202-748-8001. those who are employed and stopped looking for a job 202-748-8002. in all others can call 202-748-8003. tim, a little bit more from the wall street journal about these numbers and how they might affect the race. the journal reports that the jobs report is the last major reading on the health of the u.s. economy he for election day , but the candidate -- before election day. hillary clinton called the report "good news" at an appearance in pittsburgh adding "our economy is poised to really take off and thrive." donald trump told a rally in new hampshire that the jobs report was "terrible," pointing to last

month's rise in the number of people not in the workforce. he called the employment rate a phony number. what is your reaction to the candidates'take on the numbers? guest: donald trump has been lying about the unemployment rate for as long as he has been running for president and then some. he comes up with a fantastical number of 40% and implement rate, because he says 40% of the people are not participating in the workforce, and that is a nonsense number. you get retirees, housewives, students. all of this has always been about the baby boom. participation rate, 62.8% and it has come down from 66.4% in 2007, and it is simple. the baby boom started in 1940 six, right, so there have been

three big drops in participation. one in 2008, 1 and 2011, 1 in 2013. in 2008, the first year of the baby boom turned 62 and reality will for social security. naturally, you saw people retire. in 2011, they turned 65, the normal retirement age. 2013, the 1946 babies turned 67 when you could get higher social security. you can see this of the other end of the spectrum, too. the workforce participation rate, which he says is so low even though it is actually higher than most other developed nations, never hit 60% until february of 1959. what happened -- february of 1969 and that is when the baby boom started to graduate from college. now these folks are retiring,

and the labor force participation rate is coming down. what do you want, mr. trump? do you want these folks to be too broke to retire? host: we are talking to tim mullaney, economics columnist at thestreet.com. we have a call from hattiesburg mississippi, on our unemployed line. good morning it you are on with tim mullaney. caller: good morning. hi. i was listening to your unemployment rates and how they have fallen to like 4.6%. we talk about economics and how it affects the ordinary american. we have to realize that all of the economic policies that try to be put forth -- it is not our president, the president of the

united states, i don't care who it is, really has no control if congress does not pass things to help our economy. so if you are fighting against the president and not actually putting forth policies then our economics will remain the way they are. the jobs will not be there because you will not pass policies that will create jobs in america. so we blame the president for everything because we do not understand how thislk our country, actually functions. host: let's give tim mullaney a chance to respond. guest: i did not hear a question, but i agree with the argument you made. the thing i would point out is that there was a brief window into thousand eight were actually a lot did get done -- and 2008 were a lot did get

done. and in 2011, there was a good deal done to cut spending and tried to reduce the deficit. barack obama inherited an avalanche. between the time he was elected in the time he was inaugurated, the country lost 2.2 million jobs. a few months later, it had lost about another 3 million private sector jobs. since then, it has gained 15.5 million, partly because of the stimulus, partly because of low interest rates, partly because of policymaking generally. and also things out there and the country basically the economy healing itself to some degree eventually, and it always does the thing that people talk about is how slowly it has come back in terms of employment -- how slowly it has come back. in terms of employment, i would say it has come all the way back. the economy is close to full employment. the real thing is, do you make

enough money of that job to pay your bills and make a living? you talk about getting this down to the level of ordinary people. i think we're also just about there. there is a survey we follow that shows incomes at 99.2% of their internet web boom period pies. part of that is driven by the fact that gas prices have come down so much that people have a pocketbook affect from that. some of the economic models of the election point to low gas prices and some housing appreciation another real-world pocket bit -- pocketbook issue that affects voters. that is another reason clinton has an advantage in this election. it is said that clinton will win with the same coalition of votes that president obama did in 2012. host: a report from today's

washington post about the jobs number's points out the strongest rise was the substantial rise in hourly wages, which indicates growth has helped absorb slack in the labor market and that employers are competing more to hire and retain workers. average salaries rose 2.8% in october from the year earlier the fastest growth since 2009. the labor secretary said workers helped bake the pie of prosperity for business. do you agree? guest: yeah, there was a time, especially in the immediate aftermath of 2008 and all that followed where wages kept going down. median household income adjusted for inflation the 50th percentile, the ordinary people, that did not bottom out until

2011. you saw mitt romney trying to exploit that in 2012. all begins in that have been in the last two years. people continue to work hard, go to work every day, and try to raise the productivity, how much stuff they make in every hour of work to her there have been some problems in productivity growth, mostly related to low corporate investment in new equipment. but it took a while for things to get down to you and me and it is partly in the form of higher wages and especially in the form of lower interest rates and lower gasoline prices. it is really helping people stretch a buck. host: a call from florida unemployed and looking for a job call. you are on with tim mullaney. caller: good morning, sir. thank you for answering our

questions. a couple minutes ago, you said president obama inherited all of these problems. if i remember right, he asked us to put him in there because he had a fix for these problems. and then you said about 2008 congress and 2011 congress policies, you skipped over 2009 and 2010 when democrats have the house and the senate in the presidency, and basically what they did is the car fix which really did not fix the carmakers. it short of the unions. -- it shored up the unions. guest: if they had not done that, gm and chrysler would have gone out of business. i will also point out that in 2008 2009, the yearly rate of car sales fell to about 9 million. it is now 17 million.

i have an anecdote that will resonate. i bought a car in the fourth quarter of 2008. the dealership was not far from my house in new jersey where i looked at a car i eventually did not buy. i said, i need to do more research on the internet. by the time ago to the door, the price fell $5,000. that is how desperate they were in the fourth quarter 2008. the car i eventually bought was a three-year-old bmw that retail for $40,000, and i got it for $22,000. car dealers were desperate. if you could buy a car in 2008 2009, you were king of the world. 2009 yes, the stimulus passed and worked in the short term. in 2010, the affordable care act was signed in march. i know we have heard seven years

of the job killing affordable care act. but you heard me talk about the longest streak ever of consecutive months of job creation. that streak began the very month of the affordable care act was signed. so as far as 2000 9, 2010, i hope i answered that part of your question. i heard another part coming up and i apologize for interrupting you. host: how do you expect these numbers to affect the decision by the fed whether to raise interest rates? guest: i think it confirms the way the fed was leaning, leaning towards raising in december. there is a group at the fed called the federal open market committee, and between meetings, members go out and give speeches to various banking groups. and you have a pretty good sense of who is where. and the people who matter the most, chair janet yellen, vice

chair stanley fischer, bill daley, president of the new york fed, they have all pretty much indicated that december is it. they wanted to see confirmation that they were not wrong in what they thought was going on, which was a trend rate of about 160,000 jobs a month and a gradual reduction in the unemployment rate and a gradual improvement in wages indicating that the economy has enough strength to sustain an extra quarter point in interest rates. we sell 161,000 new jobs yesterday and strong growth in wages. those two things appeared to be exactly what the fed's central members have told us they are looking for before they raise interest rates. i would expect them to raise rates at the meeting in december. host: we're talking with tim mullaney, economics columnist at thestreet.com.

a call from new york city on our employed line. good morning. caller: good morning. it is a pleasure to hear this gentleman shut down the naysayer, the gentleman before me. how dangerous do you think that these people have to dispel the idea that the economy is tanking, everything that come up with the numbers, everything is a lie -- it is said the most dangerous thing in this world is ignorance. and these people that want to stay in a bubble, how much damage do you think they are doing to this country by wanting to live like that? guest: that is sort of outside my expertise.

i have the same concerns about the sort of issues people express from both sides of the aisle. i think i am going to pass on that one. friend me on facebook. i talked about this all the time with my friends. but with the public, i just cannot want to go there. host: you point out that health care companies added 30,000 jobs part of broader strength in the service industry. construction, these added about 11,000 jobs, and homebuilders added about 2600. are these the key industries driving these numbers and what industries follow behind? guest: there is an ongoing concern about manufacturing. the events in china have hurt exports pretty hard, and a lot of manufacturing jobs show up in the export data. and a lot of oil drilling equipment shows up in the manufacturing data.

obviously, with the lower price of oil, people are drilling fewer wells. that is an area of concern. what we have been looking for to tip the economy to the next place is an overall tightening in the unemployment rate to give you more leverage when you negotiate for a job and say i do not want to work for $800 a week , i would like $900, whatever the numbers are. there are a few key industries. we would like to see construction doing better. obviously, construction and home building and all that is where the problem started in 2007. lost 2 million jobs and change in about a year and a half. what you need for that -- the beauty of that is every time you

build a house, you create about four jobs a year. home building is still less than half -- so if i could pick one industry, it would be housing construction. a caller called with her son living in her basement, and that is a story happening all over america. household for mission got really low after 2008. it is just starting to pick up now. when people feel confident about jobs, especially at the young end of the spectrum, they moved out of mom's basement and buy an apartment or house. maybe they need to renovate one or more of the rooms, and they need to put furniture in it. that is where it comes from. when i look at these things, i look at the overall number first. and the first two industry numbers i look at our manufacturing and construction. host: ok. bernard is coming in from carvel louisiana them on the

line for unemployed. you are on with tim mullaney. caller: good morning. how are you doing this morning? i have three things to say. first of all you are a very attractive young woman. i just want to say that but the first thing i want to say is that the democratic party started the ku klux klan. if anybody vote for partial-birth abortion, they are voting for satan. host: ok, but we are talking about the jobs numbers. do you have a question about that? caller: but you are dealing with partial-birth abortion, so how can you say you are a true christian if you vote for hillary clinton who supports it? host: ok. next, clearances calling in from germantown, maryland, good morning. caller: hello.

yeah i think what we are experiencing is the end of what was a fabricated process with the stimuli, which is, you know, the economy, just another bubble created, just like the housing market. just like anything, i think the chicken has come home to roost. i would ask, you know, if policy -- i was a small business owner once before, and it was very difficult to start with unemployment insurance and all the regulations involved in just starting a business. do you think that reduction in policy or all these regulations for small businesses which are usually the engine of employment for most of america would improve the housing numbers -- not the housing numbers, the unemployment numbers to get real growth, rather then fabricated

growth or temporary growth due to stimulus? guest: first of all, i think we are well past the point where there was an artificial boost from the stimulus. that was designed to help get us through 2010 and 2011, and it kind of did that, so everything else slowly took root. as for the question about regulatory relief, look, president obama had a key aide whose job was to look at the cost benefit analysis of different regulations and whether we would be better off without any of them. i think the real answer to your question is that each regulation is factually specific, and each regulation has costs and benefits. it is not for me as one citizen among 318 million to say that

this regulation is worth its cost or not. i think that is what we're going to do on tuesday. the biggest regulations in this election are not really the ones that affect the small businesses that you mentioned sir. big regulatory plans on the agenda are what is going to happen in president obama's clean power plan, which secretary clinton favors and mr. trump does not, which would reduce emissions and force a number of coal-fired electricity plants out of business, in favor of wind and solar and natural gas. that is designed to combat climate change. and the other one is the future of the dodd frank financial regulation bill, which the republicans would like to

radically scale back or repeal entirely and which secretary clinton would keep more or less intact. as far as the paperwork burden on small businesses, i think that will go out with the bureaucracy. it is not my sense that what happens on tuesday is going to turn on that in a dramatic way one way or the other. host: a call from youngstown ohio, on our retired line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? i had a specific question. could you give us the latest statistics on the unemployment rate for black people in america, specifically the demographic, black males between 18 and 25?

how are we doing in that area? guest: i have to confess that i did not look at that yesterday. black unemployment has run several percentage points higher than white unemployment throughout this recovery. i have been -- i began covering macroeconomics in 2011, and it has been going on for a longer time than the last few years, this spread between caucasian and african-american unemployment. but i do not want to get past what i actually know about it. the youth black unemployment rate is higher still. on youth employment generally because i just did a presentation on election for my son's high school, there is a huge, huge delta in wages and outcomes and everything based on educational attainment. so if you are an african-american

parent of a 16-year-old young man or young woman who is going into the workforce, my advice to you would be the same no matter what color you were, make sure your child stays in school as long as possible because the wage returns from a college degree are not only 30 times the average burden of student loans, but they are bigger than they have ever been. the difference of a million dollars over a lifetime. host: tim mullaney, economic reporter. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you. host: with only a few days until the election, we will look at some of the top senate races across the nation with james arkin of realclear politics. stay tuned. ♪

announcer: every weekend booktv brings you 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors. booktv as live today at 11:00 a.m. eastern and gridlock p.m. eastern from the texas book festival in downtown austin. it is one of the largest and most prestigious literary festivals in the country. alberto gonzales will be there with his book, a story of service and sacrifice in war and peace. and lawrence wright with his book, "the terror years." jane alexander, author of "wild

things, wild places." and stanford university professor jeff chang with his book "we gon' be alright." this month in-depth brings you a special edition on the first ladies of the white house. william seale, author of "the white house." and "the keys to a successful presidency." we are taking your phone calls and tweets from noon until 3:00 p.m. edward connor weighs in on expanding the middle class in his book "the upside of inequality, how good intentions undermine the middle class."

>> do i think that the difference in the tax rate in california, two points or three points different from get is, that is small in comparison to all the other things that are amplifying the payoff and risk-taking. announcer: go to booktv.org for the complete schedule. election night on c-span, watch the results and be part of a national conversation about the outcome. the on location at the hillary clinton and donald trump election night headquarters. watch victory and concession speeches in key senate and house races. watch live on c-span on demand at c-span.org, or listen to our live coverage using the free c-span radio app. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is james arkin, a congressional reporter

for realclear politics. he is joining us to discuss the latest in the 2016 senate races focusing on those that remain a tossup. good morning. thank you for having me. host: what are some of the states that you think are tossups? guest: there are six or maybe seven states. indiana, missouri, a couple of red states currently in the hands of republicans will be close races. new hampshire, pennsylvania, some of the battlegrounds in the presidential race. north carolina along the same lines in nevada. those are the races that are the closest. wisconsin is becoming a little closer down the stretch. seven states, if they go either way, it will be tight one way or another. host: you write about these races. the publicans are confident they

will hold onto seat in order and ohio. -- florida and ohio. trying to keep the race competitive, while democrats believe they will win races against incumbents and illinois and wisconsin. the latter contest has narrowed recently. democrats outside groups added $2 million to bolster former senator russ feingold who is running against senator ron johnson. that means six races will likely decide the senate majority. indiana, missouri, nevada, pennsylvania, and hampshire. leading into the last few weeks, it appears the democrats had the advantage in these tossup races. as that changed? guest: a little bit. their advantage as narrowed a little bit as the polls in the presidential race have tightened. there are so many different ways for them to win the majority.

the advantage is still to them. they need for seats if hillary clinton wins the white house to get the majority. they are secure in illinois and is constant. that means two. they would only have to win two of those other races whereas republicans would need to carry nearly every single one to keep the majority. they have a little bit of a natch, but democrats have narrowed. host: democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independent voters can call (202) 748-8002. and those supporting party candidates, (202) 748-8003. what is the most surprising race in your opinion right now? what is surprising to still be this close this late in the game? guest: probably missouri.

if you look across the map, a lot of these are competitive states in the presidential race. a lot of them are tied to how well the presidential candidates do. missouri is not that. donald trump will win missouri. clinton not competing there. you have roy blunt running against cancer. -- kander. he is going to be able to need to win a lot of donald trump voters if he is going to win. he is running on an anti-washington, anti-incumbent message. he is trying to appeal to donald trump voters. if he is able to pull some donald trump voters, he has a shot. that is the most surprising race. host: john as calling in from philadelphia on the democratic line. you are on with james arkin.

caller: this is maybe a little early to ask this, but the obvious question in my mind is what effect has the james comey letter had on the races? the senate races. guest: the effect from the fbi letter from director james comey is that things have narrowed a little bit. i don't think it has changed the trajectory of any race one way or another. most of the people in both parties that i have talked to think it has had an effect on the margins. some hillary clinton supporters and those you were thinking about supporting a democratic candidate may be rethinking. it is maybe having a little bit of an effect on the margins with some voters, but in races that are 50-50, that can be a big deal. if you pull just 1% or two, or

if you hear republicans making the argument about needing a check on every once in because of him and things like that, they can be convinced. it is giving republicans a shot in the arm. they are able to go on offense in the final week. it has not had a major impact on any of these races. host: that caller lives in pennsylvania where one of the closed senate races is between pat toomey and katie mcginty. let's take a look at ads from those candidates. [video clip] >> this man, and he illegal immigrants is arrested for aggravated assault federal authorities detain him. as a century city, philadelphia refuses. the unthinkable happens. >> accused of raping a 13-year-old or under child. >> katie mcginty still refuses

to and philadelphia being a designated sanctuary city. >> imagine the bank forces you out. no warning or hearing. a lending practice so outrageous most states have banned it. if it was owned by pat toomey, it was business as usual. forcing 21 small business owners out of their homes. now he is using his power in the senate to help himself, getting rid of rules that protect us. pat toomey, out for himself. not us. host: talk a little bit more about this race in pennsylvania. what is the latest? guest: right now the desk katie mcginty is up by about three percentage points. that is a little larger lead that she has had. it has been the for the most part.

it seems like she has a little bit of a n edge. a lot of times we think these races are about hillary clinton and donald trump, but those advertisements are a snapshot of what the parties think are the key messages. republicans are attacking on the so-called sanctuary cities. they think that is an effective message because it is a position she has taken. democrats think attacking senator toomey for his ties to wall street will be effective this year. this is still not connect. -- neck and neck. katie mcginty seems like she is ahead in the polls. it is a 50-50 tossup right now. it is still close. host: on the republican line from arkansas. caller: good morning.

what you'll find in the last few days is what you have found since the obamacare premiums went up substantially. you will find that illinois and wisconsin, definitely illinois is gone. wisconsin, ron johnson still has a chance. ron johnson has been a very good senator. however, wisconsin is looking for a win because they just had their tails be in the last few years and the governor. the rest will go republican. the wind will stay at their back. there is one crucial thing i have only heard mentioned for about 10 seconds. i'm really surprised because this could change the entire direction of the presidential election and the down ballot elections. in the year 2000, hillary

clinton in an effort to win the new york state senate election, there were about 24 puerto rican nationalist that have been convicted of bombing places all over the northeast and united states, they were in prison for life, and she had eric holder go along and pardon these lifelong criminals. people who committed murder. the only reason they did that was yet the puerto rican vote. host: let's give james arkin a chance to reply. guest: i don't know the details of this case he was talking about. he hit on what other interesting thing, just what he said about obamacare premiums. republicans think if you combine what they're talking about in terms of james comey's letter and the e-mails related to

hillary clinton potentially republicans take the rise in obamacare premiums give them a chance to go on offense. in some states like missouri and arizona where the race is not quite as tight, and north carolina, republicans think that attacks on obamacare and democratic support for it will be particularly effective down the stretch. wisconsin is another one. republicans think there is some momentum there. they think obamacare attacks will be effective on that. it is just another thing republicans think gives them a chance to go on offense in the final week of the election. host: a little bit more about that race in wisconsin from 538. this is the most intriguing contest in this group is in wisconsin. republican senator ron johnson had been left for dead with a

brief exception at the beginning of october, only good news for russ feingold. then a funny thing happened. democratic and republican organizations started investing a lot of money into the state. the question is why? clearly they knew what they were doing. feingold is only up by one percentage point. tell us about what is happening in wisconsin. guest: exactly what they said. this was basically thought to be a win for the democrats at the beginning of the cycle. it flew under the radar. there were so many other competitive races. ron johnson has run a very careful campaign. he has been running positive ads. it is an interesting dynamic where the incumbent is the one that needs to increases name id.

russ feingold was a senator for 18 years. the polls have been up and down. you saw russ feingold of a couple of digits, and you have seen them closer. things have gotten closer and closer. the real key is to look at what the outside groups are doing. you have a bunch of republican groups jumping in the last couple of weeks i think that if they make a real investment they can push this thing over. democrats answered with a couple of million dollars of advertisement. if you talk to democrats, they are confident in russ feingold. they think that this is a wasted effort by republicans down the stretch. they think this is a race that favors feingold. if you look at our average, it still favors feingold. this would give republicans a huge boost. it would be much more difficult

for democrats to find a path to the majority if they lose wisconsin. host: tony, you are on the democratic line with james arkin. caller: good morning. here we go again right? toomey and mcginty in pennsylvania. here we go again. here we go again with everytime around election time, something happens. i don't know if mr. arkin is aware of what is going on in pennsylvania. here we go again. donald trump wants to throw up election fraud. you understand? here we go again. host: let's let james arkin have a chance to respond.

guest: he brought up in an sourcing thing about the transit strike. it could be a concern for democrats because pennsylvania does not have early voting except for certain absentee ballots. you need a massive get out the vote operation to make sure voters show up on election day. any factor that depresses turnout in the philadelphia area that is key for democrats could be problematic in a race like the senate race that is expected to be very close. i think it probably has less of a chance to hurt you clinton because she has more of a lead in pennsylvania. anything that could depress turnout just a little bit for democrats is something that is troubling. host: the race in new hampshire between maggie hassan and incumbent republican senator kelly ayotte. let's look at a couple of ads in

that race from governor hassan and senator ayotte. >> kelly ayotte supported donald trump through all of it. even calling him a role model. now she claims the opposite. a political calculation. what else has she done to get reelected? she voted with the koch brothers 90% of the time. special interests like the koch brothers spend millions to enrich themselves. >> i am maggie hassan and i approve this message. >> the into hillary clinton is back on. >> emails discovered. >> hillary clinton's campaign fighting a firestorm. >> i support another clinton for the presidency. >> this is a real bombshell. >> do you think she is honest? >> reopening an investigation that was closed. >> do you think she is

trustworthy? host: the presidential race weighing heavily on that race there. guest: the presidential race is looming large. for the most part, it has been on the republican side. kelly ayotte has had one of the more tortured past in terms of donald trump. she has said early on that she would support but not endorsing. she said her vote for him did not necessarily me an endorsement. she had a moment in the debate where she said that donald trump was a role model for children. she later had a statement walking that back, saying that neither presidential candidate was a role model. and then we had the access hollywood tape that caused such a stir in the presidential race, and kelly ayotte withdrew her support. she has had a lot of trouble figuring out the right answer to those questions about donald trump.

democrats think that has hurt her in the state. they think that gives them an opportunity. as you saw in the advertisements , they think they are able to hit maggie hassan in terms of hillary clinton. she is not overwhelmingly popular. her favorability is underwater in the same way that donald trump says, maybe not the same degree. her likability numbers are low. they think are not answering right away whether she thinks she is honest and trustworthy they think that is beneficial. they have had around for months now. especially because the polls are tightening. it seems like you clinton run away in new hampshire. now things are closer. it seems like donald trump could even when the state. if that happens, it will be really hard for governor hassan to outpace hillary clinton and when the election if donald trump wins. host: we have bill from

connecticut on the democratic line. you are on with james arkin realclear politics. caller: good morning. thank you c-span, or what you do. my question is, connecticut, i don't think there is much in the senatorial race. the whole air of uncooperative this between parties, do you see that being resolved with this election? do you see same old, same old? there is a lot of contentiousness in this election. it is disturbing to see the path we are going. what is your opinion? guest: i see a lot of signs that the contentiousness between the parties is going to continue after the election. republicans think hillary clinton's bad favorability numbers means that even if she wins the election, which she is

favorite to do right now, they argue it would not be a mandate for her. it would be a referendum on donald trump. republicans say that gives them the ability to be a block on her agenda and trying to implement the things she wants to do. if donald trump wins the election, i think you are going to see much of the same thing from democrats. republicans are likely to hold onto the house of representatives. even if republicans win the majority of the senate, it will be a narrow majority. if democrats win, it will be a narrow majority. neither party will have a filibuster proof majority. that will make things hard in congress for whomever is president. you have republicans are talking, a few of them, about continuing their blockade of the supreme court in not allowing hillary clinton to appoint justices, saying it would not be a problem for the supreme court to remain with eight justices.

john mccain, ted cruz. a few others. those are clear signs that no matter what happens in this election, things are probably destined to continue to be divisive. host: we are continuing our discussion with james arkin of real their politics about the senate races. the senate races happening now. democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8002. -- republicans (202) 748-8001. independents can call (202) 748-8002. those supporting third parties can call (202) 748-8003. anna on our democratic line from texas. caller: good morning. if we do not change these republican senate seats, we are going to have the same gridlock that we have had with president

obama. mitch mcconnell said this is his waterloo. i'm going to take from donald trump. what do we have to lose? we have a lot to lose. the supreme court. the affordable care act. we have a lot. our children's future are at stake. we have to make some crucial changes. i don't care who you like or what you don't like, if you don't vote for your state local, and national and change some of these people, we are always going to have gridlock. we need to make a change right now because our children's future -- i have five grandchildren in college. i am retired. i got a job to help my kids support them. ayotte and ron johnson those

two need to go. we cannot continue this. host: let me ask james arkin, how much of these issues gridlock and other things weighing on voters as they consider these senate races? guest: i think it weighs on democratic voters a lot. you have seen an argument from democrats running saying that republicans have tried to block president obama's agenda consistently come which clearly i think republicans would argue they have. you see republicans concerned about what is happening at the top of the ticket talking about being a check and balance on the potential hillary clinton administration. it is an argument saying you might vote for hillary clinton but support republican senators because we do not want one-party rule in washington. democrats see that as republicans saying, we will

continue the gridlock and continue to block the democratic agenda. it is a real concern on both sides. it is a matter of which side condenses -- convinces voters of their argument more and gets them out to the polls. who is able to use that effectively. host: let's go back to the race in missouri. you write on real kill politics -- realclear politics, democrats have been confident about this race. the secretary of state jason kander, a 35-year-old afghanistan war veteran announced his candidacy in early 2015. they have relentlessly attacked senator roy blunt criticizing that they are insiders. the incumbent campaign has pushed back on attacks, but some republicans think they have impacted the race because roy blunt did not prepare early enough for a competitive race.

let's look at a couple of as from that state. >> we have a family business just like roy blunt. his wife and three of his children are all lobbyists. he does not see what is wrong with that. >> i don't understand why that is a question. >> and his $1.6 million washington mansion. he does not even live in missouri. >> i approve this message because we will not change washington until we change our senator. >> jason kander lies about roy blunt because jason kander is too liberal for missouri. roy blunt has never taken a at the race for senate. here's the truth. jason kander has taken millions from lobbyists and special interests. jason kander's wife was listed

as a lobbyist. now he lies about that too. another line liberal politician. host: a quick take on this race. guest: it is helpful when the advertisements make the arguments both parties are trying to make. jason kander trying to attack roy blunt for his family members being lobbyists. he says he is gone washington who is an insider and cares more about what is happening here than what is happening in missouri. it is an effective message. these are similar attacks that he faced in roy blunt in 2010. they are more impactful this year. jason kander is the right voice for democrats to make those claims your roy blunt is trying to say he is too liberal for missouri. it is still a red state. it is a republican state. all roy blunt needs to do is

paul roy blunt needs to do is bring republicans home. jason kantor will have to bring some voters to his side. you see clearly the arguments he is trying to make. can kander get enough republicans to support the democrat? right now the polls show he is doing that pretty well so far. host: richard is calling in from azeri. -- from missouri. on our independent line. good morning richard. caller: it's nice to follow those commetns. my comment is an article about roy blunt. he said he would never vote to reduce drug prices for senior citizens on medicare. also he's against -- i think it

is time to vote him out. i'm concerned about him and his family being lobbyists. he'll vote the way they want to. it's time to get him out of office. thanks a lot. guest: you hear right there that is the type of voter that jason kander is happy to hear from. an independent voter, i believe. that's the criticism that roy blunt will vote the way lobbyists want him to. and jason kander represents fresh blood. it's -- thse race is a referendum on roy blunt, jason kander has a really good shot. host: in all these races, how long are the coattails of donald trump? or has donald trump proven to be more of a hindrance than help? guest: he has been a hindrance to certain republicans running a purple states like new

hampshire, pennsylvania. if only those republican senators, senator ayotte and toomey have shown an ability to run ahead of donald trump. they're able to separate themselves. there were some polls that show that voters show that they believe their senators to be different kind of republicans spend donald trump. there is only so many swing voters you can get an ticket splitters you can get. so donald trump is losing the states by significant margins it makes things difficult for republicans. not to mention he had a number of controversies in his campaign. the access hollywood video. it forces republicans to answer for the presidential candidate. it makes the conversation about donald trump. and that's just not something republicans want. they have shown an ability to outrun him in the polls. he's losing these states narrowly.

republicans are in a pretty good position to pull off wins. it is a question of what the margin is. if the margin is really large and makes things tougher these republicans. host: another close race in indiana. the democrats got a boost on their chances to take back the senate when indiana's evan b bayh decided to enter the race over the summer. donald trump's running mate is the governor of indiana, mike pence. how much if at all, has his presence at the top of the ticket changed this race, affected this race in indiana? guest: it is interesting. i do not think that governor pence's position of the top of the ticket has had a major impact. this race is an interesting one because it is one that democrats at the beginning of the cycle probably consider they would not have a good shot there. it is a republican state. probably going to vote for donald trump. then evan bayh jumped in the

race and the summer. two term governor, his father was a senator. the name is known universally. democrats flipped that as a state that they have a good shot of winning. republicans feel very confident because they have picked up a giant opposition research book and thrown it at evan bayh. they talked about him meeting with groups that he ended up taking positions with after he left the senate. they talked about his work for a law firm. hiws work for a law firm that did lobbying after he left the senate. they made an argument that he abandons indiana after he left the saidenate. they claim he does not even live in indiana. there has been a lot of questions about how much time he spends in his condo in indianapolis. we saw polling with a

double-digit lead when he jumped in the race. we had the first public paul yesterday showing tom young -- the public poll showing young ahead of evan bayh. can they get the attacks to stick. it seems like they have done it. it is still a 50-50 race but republicans feel really confident in indiana. host: we are breaking down the key senate races with james a rkin. we have anne on our democratic line. caller: good morning. i would like to ask the gentleman to do some thinking about we really are against longterm. i do not believe it is about cricket -- coorooked hillary as this trump man says.

i do not believe that the republicans are interested in. anything except the u.s. supreme court when we really should be thinking about the real problem and that is the connections between trump and the russians. and turkey, he's in turkey. he is all over the place. what is the real thing? we can't trust the fbi. the national security -- we need national security or someone else to investigate what is really going on with america. we're going to be taken over by the communist party. host: let's give james a chance to respond to that. are these some of the concerns you see resonating and senate races? guest: when you hear democrats attack republicans for their links to donald trump, those are exactly the concerns they raise. she raises an interesting point

when she mentioned the supreme court. when you talk about the senate races, you hear a lot of republican senators say the supreme court, it is not just the presidency, the senate, the supreme court is at stake. i talked earlier about the check and balance arguments some republicans are making. and you hear a lot of them say republican senate will get supreme court justices in a very different way than a democratic senate would. they think that is an argument that will really convince a lot of voters who might be on the fence, even some of the voters who do not support donald trump. i'll use missouri. i was covering senator blunt and jason kander at an event. he made a specific pitch. he said i might be the 51st republican vote in the senate. when it comes to the spring court, republicans are going to look at the justices in a different way than democrats. he needs republicans to support him overwhelmingly if he is going to be able to win. he can't lose any republican

voters and they think the supreme court is the ultimate argument. they think that is what the voters care about. they're using that message overwhelming. host: one of the most vulnerable and republican incumbents in one of the 8 races in senator mark kirk, a republican in illinois, being challenged by congresswoman tammy duckworth. give us the highlights of that race. guest: this is the race that democrats feel extra me confident in. we have not seen outside groups spend any money. that is the clear signal that neither party thinks this is a competitive race. for center kir - -for senator kirk illinois is a blue state. it's going to vote for hillary clinton probably by an overwhelming margin. it represents a really tall order for republicans to be able to win the state in a presidential year. senator kirk won his first election in 2010.

2016 is a different electorate. senator kirk is the only type of republican who could win in that state. but he has not been disciplined in his message. he has made some mistakes. he made comments during a debate about tammy duckworth's family history, her background. that was seen as an inappropriate joke. he had a couple of groups actually, a group pull an endorsement. it was an uphill climb from the beginning and then senator kirk has not run the best campaign. overall, that means it is a very difficult race. host: christie from springfield, tennessee, from our republican line. caller: good morning. i meant to ask, how do we know what polls are accurate and why? also in my state of tennessee we do not let people vote if they have a felony record.

i wanted to get your thoughts on that and i will hang up and let you answer. guest: the question on the polls is an interesting one, because we won't really know until election day which polls are accurate and not. i'll give a shout out to real clear politics. that is why averages are so important. you can take a number of polls and outliers, and average them together and you will get a little better of a snapshot. we've seen problems in the past. the 2010 nevada senate race is a clear example of this. the polls showed harry reid in a very tiny race - tight race. then he ran away by six points. harry reid has made this point very clear. he does not think much of public polling data. i think right now one of the things about polls was there has been a lot of volatility. especially in states like pennsylvania, things have gone back and forth. we have seen social polls

showing katie mcginty up double digits and some showing pat toomey up double-deckers. keep an eye on the averages. and know for the most part, not every single poll is going to be accurate but for the most part they give a good snapshot of where the rice is. -- race is. it is possible some of these polls are going to miss the mark. host: tim on our democratic line. caller: good morning. with respect to the close senate races but also to ohio, because i live in ohio, has the second amendment proven to be an issue or not? if it has, which party does it hurt? >>guest: the second amendment is important in some races. we have seen democrats this year a little more than they've been willing to in the past run on a

platform of gun control. they think politically this has become an easier issue. in years past, you with the democrats not wanted to talk about gun control. it wasn't a convincing political issue for them. and that has changed now. meanwhile, republicans are running same as they ever have. they want second amendment voters on their side. they don't support gun control measures. it's sort of the starkest contrast that you are going to see in terms of an issue. i don't know if it's an issue more than any other year but i think on control measures are always going to be a big issue in senate races. host: francis from selma alabama. caller: yes good morning. thank you for taking my call. also, i would like to appeal to the people of alabama that we need to make a choice and a change in our senate.

shelby has been in office for more than 30 years. he started as a democrat. he has since changed his party. and has always done nothing for our community here in selma. i hear people talking about the voting rights was given to him. many of us in selma alabama are still paying the price for the sacrifices we made to get that law changed. -- running as a democrat is someone we need to look at closely. he's 48 years old. shelby is 82. we always complain about age. we want another strom thurmond on our hands? i would ask people to please vote for the democrat ticket this time. we need a change in our nation. thank you. host: do you have a comment to that? guest: i think alabama is a good example where we look at the

tight senate races and you forget there are a lot of races that aren't competitive. richard shelby was worried about the primary. as soon as he won the primary, his path to reelection was pretty set. the polarization in states like alabama make these races impossible for the other party. host: let's talk about another close race, north carolina. according to usa republican senator richard burr slim the over democratic challenger deborah ross. has flipped since early fall. burr had a lead of four percentage lease but that has fallen to less than two points as of november 2. give us the highlights of that race. guest: this is another race where democrats weren't necessarily, they did not think it was going to be a top-tier race. now you have the former state lawmaker running. i think she has run a much better campaign than democrats

expected. she has been aggressive in terms of getting out doing the leg work. and richard burr is sort of payment for not wanting to get his campaign started until after labor day. he's since become very aggressive. he is all over the place. but this is one that i think snuck up on richard burr. you have a lot of people in washington who are frustrated with the way he ran his campaign. our average still has him with a little bit of an end to now, but they think they have a lot of material that they have been able to hit deborah ross with. she used to lobby for the aclu. and has some controversial positions that republicans have run a lot of are advertisements on. so they still feel fairly confident about this. again, this is another race where the presidential -- if hillary clinton maintains her lead in north carolina that she has had in the polls, it is going to be difficult for richard burr to win. if donald trump wins, it, i

think richard burr is probably pretty sae. it is a 50-50 race. host: kimberly is calling from washington pennsylvania, on our republican line. you are on with james arkin. caller: hi, james. good morning kevin. -- kimberly. i'm a republican. i am voting straight republican. i know the supreme court is very important. i also disagree with third term abortions. that is the same as murder. i would like to make a common to all the people calling in talking about trump and russia. mr. trump is a very successful businessman. he had his ups and downs like everybody else, but he has great relations with people around the world. and he is not a politician. thank you. guest: that's exactly the type of voter when we're talking

about the pennsylvania senate race that is so important to pat toomey. donald trump has had his problems in this state, but he -- he would appealed to pennsylvania voter and a particular way the republicans in the past maybe haven't. that is exactly the type of voter that pat toomey wants to hear from. straight republican ricket. -- he needs ticket. -- state republican ticket. host: in nevada, folks are vying to fill the seat of harry reid. we have joe heck versus democrat catherine cortez masto. guest: this is the only race that republicans have a chance to fill this seat held by democrats. again, the implications of that are enormous for them. if they're able to flip the seat it gives them a much bigger buffer. a large hispanic population.

donald trump has had his struggles with hispanics. joe heck, the candidate, has done a great job of reaching out to the hispanic community ina in a way some republicans have not republicans are confident in his ability. but there is high democratic turnout. high hispanic turnout in that race, it is going to be tough. catherine cortez masto could be the first latina senator if she wins. harry reid, we know about his ability to turn out voters. so, i ithink democrats feel confident about that one but it will be a very big state for republicans to be able to win. host: david is calling in from crab orchard, west virginia. on our independent line. caller: good morning. everybody is complaining about the republican senate blocking the supreme court justices. is anybody really out there think that if donald trump wins and the democrats take over the senate, that they will sing kumbayah and nominate his

supreme court nominees? are they going to block them just like the republicans are right now. also remember back when president obama and hillary clinton was running for president, they promised all these things they were going to do, fix immigration. they were going to make the rich pay to include bill clinton. he said he could pay more. they had two years, almost four years, filibuster proof. and and none of these promises they promised, both of them, got done. host: let's give james arkin a chance to respond. guest: he brought up an interesting point in the supreme court in the beginning. i think you will probably see a lot of democratic opposition if donald trump is elected isand is able to nominated supreme court justice. the differences we have not seen any democratic senators saying that they would not support any

justice and we try to keep the the seat open. we have seen republican say that. you have had a number of senators on either side of the aisle that are willing to give the president the right to nominate their justices. and evaluate them based on their judicial careers and not necessarily on ideology. of course, you're always going to have senators on both sides of the aisle who are going to not support a nominee of the other party for ideological reasons. but i think there is more concerned on the democratic side that republicans would be willing to put blank it down for hillary clinton supreme court nominee. host: from winchester, virginia, on our republican line. good morning. caller: yes good morning. i'm 70 years old, believe it or not. and i've never voted in my life. in any election. but i have registered to vote and i plan on voting for donald trump. simple because we need an outsider in washington.

the senate, the house, the whole establishment down there it's al l about the money. they don't worry about health care. they do not have to worry about what their social security is going to be or how much obamacare is going to go up in their favor. host: let me also point out that if hillary clinton wins the presidency, there will be a senate special election in virginia. how do you expect that sentiment to play out if tim kaine's seat is vacated? guest: it is a question i wrote about a couple weeks ago. first off, you will have the democratic governor of virginia place someone in the seat and then there will be a special election in november of next year. a couple of factors. first off, if the senate is 50-50, this is going to loom very large. if republicans can fill the se

at, they could rob hillary clinton of a senate majority within the first year of for term. the other thing is that when you look at the republican primary for who would probably be running for the seat, the list is very large. there are a lot of republicans in virginia who are looking at it, who people in the state believe would give consideration to it. i think you have seen some of those republicans who are very supportive of donald trump and other republicans who have been outspoken against donald trump. so we talk a lot about the republican party needing to decide what direction it was to go after this election. and i think you could see that battle play out in a very specific way in a primary for that virginia special election. it is going to be really interesting. host: james arkin, congressional reporter for real clear politics. thank you for joining us today. along with the many state and house races, 12 governorship are up for grabs this year. for our last segment, we want to know from you whether you're

going to reelect your governor. even if your governor is not on the ballot this year, let us know how you feel, how they have done so far. democrats can call -- but first, this week's newsmakers interviewed officials who oversee voting. the chairman of the election assistance commission and the president of the national association of secretary of state. they talked about whether next tuesday's election can be rigged. >> is it even possible and if you wanted to rig an election, how would you do it? >> a lot of us are scratching our heads to see what this really even implies. we're trying to think of every scenario we can that would mean, i think there is some sense that

there are lots of illegal aliens voting. i think that is a subtext. again, that is kind of hard to imagine how that would happen, given the not only, there has been a long fight over voter i.d. requirements. and what it comes down to is a lot of us feel that making sure that every eligible citizen can vote is the most important goal that we all share. and so, it is how you get there that i guess is the question. and so, that is behind all the fights over what we need to identify someone as a voter. but, you know, barring something like that, and that -- and on a grand scale is hard to imagine. >> rigging an election is something a lot of folks have talked about in terms of people casting votes who should not be casting votes or suppressing the vote by preventing people from casting their ballots. but one of the things i want to

ensure with this is that if the way that these scenarios are being described, you would need an army of tens of thousands if not millions of people to pull off the rigging of the election. the machines are not hooked up to the internet. they are secured by poll workers. they have the eac has guidelines on securing voting equipment. we want to ensure that if you have any sort of suspicion that those things are taking place you need to report those because it is still a felony to commit voter fraud. it is still a felony to suppress people's votes. we want to ensure -- that's something that local law enforcement would participate in or the department of justice. there are a number of advocacy groups you can call to express your opinion if you feel that the vote is being rigged.

>> "washington journal" continues. host:we're now talking with our viewers about gubernatorial elections. there are 12 governors up for reelection. we want to know if who you are supporting in those races or in states that do not have an election, how you think your governor is doing. before we get to your calls, we will get an update on these races for governor from kyle kondik. he is from the sabatos crystal ball, the managing editor. from the university of virginia center for politics. good morning. so give us a sense as to what we might wsee? are we going to see a democrat or republican raise in the gubernatorial races. mr. kondik: the republicans control 31 of the 50 governorship. the democrats control 18.

there was one independent, bill walker of alaska. so the republicans are overextended on the gubernatorial map but not on this particular gubernatorial map. there are a dozen governorships up this year. one of them is a special election in oregon. but the democrats actually control a majority of the governorships elected on this year's presidential year map. they are largely playing defense. so it is possible to republicans will actually come out with more governorships than they already have because a lot of the governorships are in states that democrats control the that donald trump will win quite comfortably. host: so there are a high number of tossups this year. what are the races you are keeping the closest i on? -- eye on? mr. kondik: of the 12 rraces,

you could describe seven of them as highly competitive. most of them are open seats. one of those is montana. governor steve bullock a democrat, running for a second term. a small favorite. incumbents have a fairly significant advantage in gubernatorial races but montana is going to vote for trump and that could help the republican candidate, a businessman. then you have open seats in missiouri in indiana in west virginia in new hampshire and in vermont. firman, of course is going to vote democratic for president by a lot -- vermont is going to vote democratic. it may be that shell scott is the small favorite to win that governorship -- phil scott. vermont, many may not remember this but vermont was, one of the most republican states in the

union for more than a century. now it's the home of bernie sanders and this kind of very liberal state. but they've had republican governors as recently as they elected one in the 2008 election. vermont and new hampshire elect governors every two years as opposed to every four years. you could have a situation where vermont votes heavily for clinton and elects a moderate republican governor. the flipside of that is west virginia, another small state. west virginia used to be really democratic. now it's very republican at the presidential level. it is possible that west virginia may stick with its democratic roots and elect jim justice, running as a nonpartisan business leader. in a close race with republican bill cole. vermont and west virginia, to me, are two of the most interesting races because they're going to vote really

heavily one way or the other for president and yet the losing presidential party may very well capture the governorship. then i think the biggest race on the whole map is north carolina. , north carolina is just the largest state that has a governors race this year. you have one of the few incumbents running in cap mccrory, the republican. kin d of a controversial governor. attorney general roy cooper is running against him. that arrace looks close. although cooper has led and polls by only by a little bit. if there is a marquee race this year it is probably north carolina. host: a lot of these races that are close in the governorship are also battleground presidential states. we have, north carolina, as you were mentioning. how is the presidential race affecting these gubernatorial candidates?

mr. kondik: i do not think there is going to be a whole lot of daylight between the presidential results and the gubernatorial results in those states and the senate results because new hampshire and north carolina are two of the states that have a highly competitive presidential, senate and governor's race this year. so i don't expect there to be a whole lot of ticket splitting in either state, between those three top tier races. and particularly new hampshire just in talking to some sources even though new hampshire seems to have close the presidential race a lot of folks seem to think it could be a straight ticket state. you either have trump winning the state with republican chris sununu or senator kelly ayotte winning reelection. or you have clinton winning the state, and current governor maggie hassan winning the senate seat. both new hampshire and north

carolina highly competitive for president, governor and senate. host: kyle kondik of the university of virginia center for politics, managing editor of the crystal ball, which we reporters rely on heavily. thank you for joining us today. we are continuing our discussion with viewers abou governors races that are going on. twho you are voting for and whether you like the job your current governor is doing. first we have ivan calling in from texas on our republican line. good morning. caller: i'm not worried about texas. texas is republican. i lived in louisiana years ago and it was so sad that governor edwards had to go to jail. he had -- he was for the people. it is time for the people to stand up. not a money thing and washington, d.c., because it is out of hand.

hillary clinton has taken foreign money and we have got refugees coming into our country and we need to stop this. we do not have no jobs for the people here. more people from overseas and refugees and we have got to pay for all that. what are we going to do in this country? where is it going? it's sad. i love my country. i loved living in louisiana. it's sad. host: talk about your governor. what do you think about governor greg abbott? he ranks number six in the most popular governors and the country according to a ranking by morning consult. do you like the job he has been doing? caller: yes he is doing a fair job he needs to step it up a little bit. for these refugees coming into this country and blocking them from coming into here, because we cannot afford it. we can't afford health care with obamacare. they're robbing us.

texas is not as high as other countries, other states of the united states. it is so sad we have to pay so much money in america. we're a strong country. used to be. my old school, i'm crying for america. this red white and blue, this is our american country. what happened? host: up next we have josephine calling and from morgantown, west virginia, on our democratic line. who are you supporting in that race? caller: bill cole. host: tell us why. caller: pardon me? host: tell us, what is the reason for your support? caller: because i do not like the one we have now what he is doing. my incident when i went to vote for bill cole. i went to the election, i went down. i voted for trump. and at the end of my thing, you

go back and new check, it showed that i did not vote for trump. that i voted for the lady. i canceled that out. i voted for trump again. it came out again, i did not vote for trump. so, i voted again. on the third time, i got the vote for trump. now, they say that the election isn't rigged? why did i have to vote three times. host: did you report your problem to election officials? caller: she just said, just do it again. they tell me the elections are not rigged? give me a break lady. thank you. host: calling in from new york on our independent line. good morning charlie. caller: hi i'm a progressive bernie sanders/ralph nader type

progressive. cuomo, over here, our governor he has been mixed. he started going in the progressive direction when he came to fracking. but usually he's playing politics. i like to see real people in office. i like to see people with the fire in the belly. one thing good about cuomo he's not touching social security ,unlike trump. he wants to privatize social security. if you want to keep social security, i would not vote for trump. host: a note from that morning consult, ranking of governors governor andrew cuomo of new york with a 62% approval rating. the ninth highest of all the governors in the country. calling in from yonkers, new york on our independent line. caller: third party. host: so, first, tell us what

you think about governor cuomo. caller: i think he has a mixed record, because he did favor fracking stopping fracking, but he had a lot of pressure to do so. he was one of the early states and he supported gay. marriage in terms of our children getting in the poor district, there have been laws and they still are not getting th support they neede in education. also um, we have a lot of corrupt politicians. in this state, we have a lot of people who are politicians getting indicted, both republicans and democrats. some serving time. i don't know what that says about him, if anything. i want to point out one interesting thing. even though he is a popular governor in the primary he had

an opponent who got 33% of the vote in the democratic primary. her name is -- she's a law professor. she's running in the 19th congressional district. i hope people support her because she is going to shakeup congress, which need so much. she's a real progressive and she came in that high against cu omo. please support her, also. host: ok, let's take a look at one of the closely contested gubernatorial races out of north carolina. let's look at a recent debate between coven governor patrick cori and roy cooper. >> i stopped researchers of-- restrictions from being done. if i had put more restrictions the courts would have challenge the current law. i refused to do that. so yes there is no phone call needed 72 hours versus 24 hours. in doing that, i stopped much

more extreme legislation proposed by the senate as you well know. and i threatened to veto. as roy knows you have to make compromises and the compromise was a 24 hour phone call versus a 72 hour phone call. had i not done that, the senate and the house would have had enough of those to override any veto with much stricter restrictions similar to texas. i'll tell you what i am proud of i also enforce existing laws. we had an abortion clinic in charlotte that was treated women like they were going to a meat market as opposed to seeing a physician with a very serious operation. a very serious procedure were there not even mobbing the floor in between abortions. it was revolting. thank god my secretary said that is on acceptable we need to shut it down. we have reopened them because we did not put further the

restrictions have to do with the actual medical care of women. i don't know where the attorney general was during the 14 years this clinic was opened but it is on acceptable to have women treated that way in our clinics that are elga. legal. >> at this very debate in 2012 when you ask governor mccoury if he would support new restrictions, he said no. not only the restrictions you have discussed so far. he also signed legislation that requires women's ultrasounds to be sent to state government bureaucrats. now, regardless of how you feel about this issue or this policy, to have a woman's ultrasound sent to bureaucrats is wrong. it is a restriction. it shows you whether you can trust governor mccoury. and i do not think you can. this is one of the many issues

where he has said one thing and he has done another. host: we have a lot of campaign related events today. coming up this morning at 10 a.m. donald trump will have a campaign rally in tampa florida. covered right here on c-span. right after this program. he will be campaigning in tampa days before the election. later on, tim kaine will be in fort myers florida, where he will be campaigning with stops including fort myers in florida today. at 4 p.m. you can watch it on c-span, c-span.or gand c-span radio. hillary clinton will hold a rally in philadelphia. she will have a get out the about -- get out the vote there which includes a performance by singer katy perry. our live coverage begins around 8 p.m. eastern. remember on election night to tune into c-span beginning at 8 p.m. for coverage of all the

returns. you can also watch that on c-span.org as well as on c-span radio via our radio app. roger calling him from virginia on our democratic line as we continue our conversation about governors. how do you think governor mcauliffe is doing a virginia? caller: i think he is doing a fine job. he is trying real hard to get stuff done in this state. he recently got past, can you hear me? host: yes. go ahead, roger. caller: oh, ok. he is trying to get past the people with nonviolent gun offenses to give our rights back to us. us people of virginia. now in congress, we're waiting on them to act. the party of nothing. the party of no has done nothing for the last 8 years. i don't understand why this

country would want to give them a president. they haven't earned it. they don't deserve it. i have one thing to say about donald trump if i may. donald trump has been campaigning for over a year now about bringing jobs back to america. he hasn't got one job back. he is not shut down one facility in china and brought them to america. i wish they would ask him a question, when is he going to do it? host: in one of the other contested races for governor is taking place in missouri. let's take a look at a recent debate in that race. [video clip] >> i have a policy like that in my office, if it is not passed by the legislation, i will continue governor nixon is --

executive order in favor of nondiscrimination. i believe missouri should protect religious leaders from having to participate in ceremonies against that faith. beyond that, i do not think our state should fly a flag of discrimination over the business community. states that have engaged in this like indiana, south carolina have seen not only a national approbation placed upon them but have also seen hundreds of millions of dollars of economic decline. convention business that has left, headquarters that have left. i believe economic growth in the future of this country is correlated with cultural openness and economic decline is correlated with stagnation and prejudice. >> look, i served in the u.s. navy seal in the military in which we were able to protect everybody's religious freedoms while at the same time ensuring nondescript nation. it was pretty common sense -- while at the same time ensuring

nondiscrimination. no priest or rabbi should be forced of riches of it in a a ceremony they do not agree with. we do have to have leaders in missouri standing up for people who need protection. my opponent was one of only four senators who voted against the bill that would have protected the primacy of -- so they could maintain their privacy and not be found by their abusers. one of only four senators who voted for a bill that would have made rape victims pay for their own rape kits. we need to have leaders that will stand up and protect people. chris, i think you should explain to the women and families of missouri, why you believe a woman who has been raped has to pay for her own rape kit. host: anita calling and from st. louis, missouri, on our independent line.

are you supporting erick wright and, chris koster or someone else in the governor's race? caller: we onoy ly have chris koster and eric brighton. i will support chris costa because eric brighton has refused to show his taxes. and i think donald trump has started a a trend here, that i feel is going to be a bad one for the people of the united states. you think that people ought to take a look at things written by david johnson or kirk eichenwald and take a look at how donald trump actually has interests in russia has interests in iran and south korea and argentina, and that donald trump is only going to make donald trump richer again.

host: let me ask you this about the governor's race there. it seems that guns has been a big issue in that state, with the democrat chris koster making clear to prospective voters according to the associated press that he supports a bill that illuminates training requirements to carry concealed weapons of. is gun control a major issue for you in your decision of who to support? caller: no it isn't. because of the state of missouri gun control is something that you are not going to win on. but at least maybe we could get the people to wake up in terms of the nondisclosure of taxes. i don't know. i sure hope so. i feel very much like some of the other people who have called in today what direction is our country heading? i think that, again the gun

control thing is probably a local issue because of what is occurring locally in their own vicinity. the problem with missouri is that we have two big cities, st. louis, kansas city where it would behoove us not to have a lot of guns, but then we have this big expensive rural area w here by the time anybody gets the them, whether it is fire departments, police, they need to be able to take care of themselves. so, i wish it could be done more locally so that it would -- suit the needs of the people. but i see no reason why background checks should not be performed so that we can at least do some of the things that hillary clinton has fostered t

hat don't have people who should not be handling guns handling them. host: we are talking about governors and governors races throughout the united states. democrats can call 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. independents 202-748-8002. and third party candidates 202-748-8003. we want to hear your views about the governor's races and how your governors are doing. more from the morning consult in terms of the least popular governors in the united states. sam brownback of kansas tops that list with a 71% disapproval rating. dan malloy of connecticut below him with 70%. governor chris christie, heading up republican presidential candidate donald trump's

transition team comes in at 68%. followed by rick snyder of michigan and bruce rauner of illinois. from bowie, maryland on our democratic line. how do you think your governor is doing in maryland? caller: i think that our governor here is doing, i would say half-and-half ok? i will never give anybody 100% because no one is perfect. but my thought is not so much for maryland. it's for the country. we have let one manjust tear down our democracy. he has said things that is not all about what democracy is about. so when we look at democracy we need to look at our governing body.

which they say washington is broken. yes, washington is broken, because we had a republican house and senate that refused to do anything. so, we say now with things that are going on in the world, if you see something, say something. well, how come our republicans are not saying something? we're going to try to elect a man who doctors have said that he has a mental problem. host: let's get this back to the gubernatorial discussion. your governor in maryland, larry hogan, a republican came in after a democrat, martin o'malley the former democratic presidential candidate. have you seen changes and you think that sweeting leadership--

switching leadership at the top in maryland is important? caller: well, i tell you what, i personally have not seen a lot of changes. what i do know that our educational system needs to be worked on. across the state. we need to have a better educational system, not only in maryland but across the country. because after all, our children are the ones that are being hurty by the systems we have in place now. we see they are not all working. we have one section may be that has a better system as far as education goes of the students, and then we have another area where it's doing poorly. host: paul is calling in from north miami beach on our republican line.

how do think rick scott is doing and would you reelect him? caller: i would. i think rick scott has been a great governor for florida. and the florida economy has not been phenomenal but i do not think it is all his fault. and i would definitely reelect rick scott. again, if i had an opportunity. i'm actually in the debbie wasserman schultz area. we're actually all voting for joke health because of what she has done -- for joe kauffman because of what she had done during the election for-- to b ernie. i really felt betrayed. this is an american, and the insider activities, one of the biggest things that really bothers me more than anything, actually, is the demonstrations

to pay supporters during trump rallies. demonstrators were getting piad to -- p aid to do violence. i felt that was something that really hurt our democracy. free speech. caller: host: we are talking about governors race host: across the country, asking you, would you reelect your governor and who you are supporting and contested races? in one contested race according to "the l.a. times," it writes after trailing by nine points in late august, governor mccrory has fallen into a statistical dead heat with attorney general roy cooper. according to a poll conducted in october, mccorroy remains so unpopular that democrats have tied their opponents to mccrory

in negative ads." up next, we have angela calling them from clayton, north carolina on our democratic line. who are you supporting in this year's race? caller: i'm supporting cooper. mccorrory i do not believe he can take us to the next level. i feel like he failed us as being a state employee. he said if he had the money, he would make sure that he take care of us. he hasn't done good by our teachers, hasn't been good by our employees of the state of the government. he has tried to privatize a lot of our government. and employees, he had money to get us a riase. -- us a raise. he never did. he said he would give us money if he had it, but he gave it to his cabinet and never gave anything to the state employees. i feel like he failed us in a lot of ways. i think cooper can bring a new

set of eyes to the state government and to north carolina. host: a programming note, this weekend our c-span cities tour takes booktv an american history tv to tucson, arizona where we talk with local nonfiction authors. today around 6:00 p.m., all of our programs will air together in one time bloc. leo barron talks about the battle of the bulge and the role it played in world war ii. >> the germans thought the americans were going to land -- he was the fake commander of first u.s. army group, all part of this deception when he was not landing at calais. when we finally got to the continent after the allied landings, it was as the commander of the u.s. third a rmy. and he took off like a rocket.

after the allies broke through the german cordon in normandy, he raced across f rance. he completely kept the germans off balance. if it was in for the fact that he ran out of gas, he probably would have raced all the way to berlin. host: that is this weekend on c-span. you can catch that check c-span.org/cities tour for more information. up next, we have patrick calling them from old orchard beach maine, on our independent line. what you think of you governor's performancer there? caller: really do not likecaller: i it. i have children. we see cuts across the board in schooling. he has privatized a lot of maine's guaranteed money like or

alcohol. he's outright racist. he has condemned one of donald trump's statement and that was about rigged elections. not anything else. glad he can't run again. host: he is listed number five in the least popular governors according to that morning consult survey in maine. up next, we have vera, calling in from staten island, new york, on our republican line. good morning. caller: how are you? host: i'm good. what do you think about governor cuomo's performance and your? caller: governor cuomo, he's out of total control. i waxs s a democrat, but trust me, i changed completely over to republican because when all of the -- murder rates and things going on, governor cuomo, we only see the officials when it is time for reelection for how about that?

then they cmome out of the woodwork. they can't oppose anything we have put on the board. it is all about them. and hillary clinton is a lost cause. they take the money and use it for themselves. we have murder rates. the young people on drugs out of control. what are they doing? they sit back and wait for every election and then they come out of the woodwork. and tell us what they have done but there is no proof. host: matt from whittier, north carolina, on our independent line. who will you support in the governor's race there? caller: i wil support roy cooper, i already voted forl him. mccrory has basically done nothing for the people of north carolina. this was the first year i ever paid income tax for the state because of the flat tax.

all the mccrory cronies are doing as much as they can to hurt people in north carolina and line their pockets. the duke power thing, it is sad. mccrory has been a very sad governor me. host: ok, and lorraine is telling from caliph tornier -- california on our democratic line. what do you think of governor brown's performance? caller: i'm not really familiar with the political climate more than everything that has been going on this year.