>> dickerson: welcome back the "face the nation." i'm john dickerson. we have more battleground tracker numbers. in pennsylvania, hillary clinton holds an eight-point lead over donald trump,0. north carolina shows a tight race, clinton leads trump there 48% to 45%. it's also a three-point margin in colorado where hillary clinton is at 42% and trump is at 39%. and in arizona, a republican-leaning state where clinton is doing well, trump leads by just 2 points, 44% to 42%. we continue with the mastermind behind the battleground tracker along with our friends at u governor, that's cbs news director of election anthony salvanto. all right, anthony, inside those states, what are you seeing in terms of turnout for beth sides? >> okay. the first thing you want to look at is the party split, how many democrats there are for hillary clinton, how many republicans

there are for donald trump. because on the latter, donald trump has lagged among republicans relative to how hillary clinton is doing with democrats throughout this campaign. that's still the case. so he's still not getting that full support from republicans, and she is getting close to 9 in 10 democrats, and that's adding up to effectively the difference in a lot of these states. that's sort of mixed in there with a little bit of a growing gender gap. i keep my eye on that. the difference between how men vote and how women vote. more women leaning toward hillary clinton, more men going toward donald trump. >> dickerson: so in pennsylvania, our finding is that 78% of the republicans are behind donald trump. would that explain why he's down eight points in pennsylvania? >> it does. and that sounds like a lot and it feels like a lot, but it's not enough. what that tells you... >> dickerson: 78% is not enough? >> 78% is not enough. a typical republican will get close to 90%. even when you heard governor pence talk about republicans needing to come home, that's what he's talking about.

they're probably seeing the same things in their data. there are a lot of republicans for donald trump, but not enough to make up the difference numerically. >> christa: so he's having huge rallies, but he needs more than the big rally groups. >> dickerson: let me ask you now about in terms of changing the dynamic of the race. there's a lot of voting that's already taken place as we talked about with governor pence, 21 million people. does that make it harder to shift things now? >> it does. 21 million people have already cast ballots. of course, those votes are in the bank. places like north carolina, and at least on party registration, it's not a perfect measure and doesn't mean we know how you vote, but party registration, democrats are outpacing republicans. that tells you now hillary clinton doesn't have as far to go from here to election day, and donald trump needs to change minds, but get consistent turnout from here to election day or even on election day. that makes it a little bit harder. >> dickerson: anthony, thank you so much. joining us now is clinton campaign senior strategist joel

benenson. joel, for the last four months clinton ally, people in the clinton campaign have told us that the f.b.i. director made his determination about the clinton server, and they've been using him to prove that that story is over and done. with now it seems like the clinton campaign is really going after the f.b.i. director. are people going to believe it, that switch in position? >> well, i think you had an intervening event here, john. the f.b.i. director took an unprecedented action that we've seen in the last 24 to 48 hours. a former law enforcement official, both democratic and republican, having served in the administrations of prlts from either party, have said this is contrary to policy at the department of justice, the statement he put out on friday, and it's unprecedented. you don't take actions within 60 days of an election. he did that. now we need to get to the facts. and i think in fairness you can't compare what happened in june after a long and thorough

investigation versus a statement that he put out, unprecedented, told his own employees in a letter, i didn't want to create any misleading impression here, but that's exactly what he did some the bottom line is we need to know the facts. we've called on him to release any information he has right away. but now it turns out, i think there's another news report that says he actually has no information, which makes this all very curious and very questionable, and i think that's why you see law enforcement and hear law enforcement professionals questioning what he did. >> dickerson: you know, it seems that the strategy here from the clinton campaign is to basically keep raising questions about him, keep pointing out that there's been criticism of him. that's something donald trump has been doing for the last four months. is that really the conversation you want to have going into the closing end of this election? >> well, no. in fact, we're going to have a closing election about what kind of country we're going to be. we're going to answer questions when they come up as you just poised them to me, but i think what vote rergs talking about and thinking about now, and i

think anthony just mentioned this, is what of these two candidates is going to make this the kind of country we want to be, one where the economy works for people like them, not just those at the top, a person who really has the steadiness and what it takes to be commander-in-chief and n a challenging world, someone who knows how to work with our allies as opposed to donald trump, who has threatened to abandon our nato allies and called for more countries to have nuclear weapons. i think at the end of the day, that's what you're going to see. the other thing that's important, and i think anthony touched on this a moment ago, john, is we are seeing record turnout in the early vote. he mentioned north carolina. mecklenburg county yesterday alone compared to four years ago the same day, the saturday nine days out from the election, the number of voters was up 16% over what president obama turned out in 2012, and he carried that county by 34 points. >> dickerson: joe, let me ask you one more question, you mentioned that this is unprecedented, what the f.b.i. director did, but isn't that essentially the result of the

unprecedented acts that hillary clinton took by having an off-the-book server, by deleting e-mails based on whatever e-mails she decided would be delete, isn't she and isn't this an unprecedented moment because we're in an unprecedented case where the secretary of state had her own hope serve center. >> look, she's addressed. this director comey addressed it after a thorough investigation in june. what happened on friday, we don't even know if it has any relevance. that's why we're saying, let's see the facts here. the action he took was unprecedented. he put out a statement to congress, which he has no obligation whatsoever to do so, and probably no requirement under any circumstances. but then he said in a letter to his own employees, we have to avoid creating a misleading impression. we now know he has no facts, and he made a public statement about a potential inquiry. he has no information. he should put out all 2 facts he has, clarify. this and i think that's totally reasonable under the

circumstances and the critique he's getting from other law enforcement professionals. >> dickerson: joel benenson, we're out of time. thanks so much for being with us. we'll be right back with our panel.ck b st onto the shag carpeting... ...and his pants ignited into flames, causing him to stop, drop and roll. luckily jack recently had geico help him with renters insurance. because all his belongings went up in flames. jack got full replacement and now has new pants he ordered from banana republic. visit geico.com and see how affordable renters insurance can be.

>> dickerson: we're back now with our politics panel. susan page is u.s.a. today's washington bureau chief, ben domenech is the publisher of "the federalist." amy walter is the editor of the "cook political report" and patrick healy covers politics

for "the new york times." susan page, what's the real fallout of this disclosure from friday, or do we know? >> we don't know for sure. we'll know as more polling goes on. i think it does do a couple things. i think it helps donald trump consolidate support among republicans who have been reluck tan the support him. i think it's hard for hillary clinton to deliver some voters who probably were going to vote for her and it's enthusiastic. and it's a lifeline to senate candidates like pat toomey and kelly aidea and marco rubio who have been in danger but now are in a stronger position to argue voters ought to reelect them. >> dickerson: what do you make the clinton response to this? it was to go right at comey and to keep it up. >> they're on war footing. that's what the last nine days could be like. they were going to hope it would be trump and fitness they would be talking about most. now they have to deal with headlines and clinton and f.b.i. that's not what they want. they have few targets, john. they can't go after really huma abedin and anthony weiner. they decided they can't throw her under the bus.

comey is who they have. but it creates such awkwardness. this is president obama's f.b.i. director. it gets back into loretta lynch and the bill clinton meeting like you brought up. so whether they can move undecided voters in places like north carolina and florida when the last week is all the people are talking about is trump is able to make that case, it's going to be a really big challenge for them. >> dickerson: and we see what governor pence is doing, what donald trump is doing, which is using this as a magnet to attach all kinds of other things, the revelations this week about bill clinton and his foundation and using that to enrich himself, the general, as donald trump said, the general drama that surrounds the clintons, and if there is this fight between the clinton campaign and the director of the f.b.i., isn't that playing out the drama right in front of voters as they are... >> it is. certainly talking to a lot of republicans, particularly in the

senate to susan page's point this week. i was hearing that line from "die hard" over and over. you ask for the miracle, i give you the f.b.i. i think in in case, what it does is it forces a situation where the clinton campaign had wanted to focus in these final days on trying to expand the map, on trying to increase a potential likelihood of winning the senate. i think it prevents them from doing that. it gives a lot of momentum i think for republicans and for people like mike pence to make the case, come back home. you have to stop the clinton machine. you don't want to relive the '90s scandals all over again. that puts the clinton campaign in a difficult position. they're still the odds-on-favorite to win. they may be stumbling toward the end here. >> dickerson: the alternative argument, any republican if donald trump is having trouble, any republican who thinks they can't and the number of times this week in talking to republican strategists. the number of times they brought up that overheard video of donald trump talking about sexual abuse, that's the thing that's hurting republicans

getting to yes about donald trump. is this really going to interrupted that is the question? is hillary clinton's problem going to help them get over their problems and worries about donald trump? >> so there's been a remarkable consistency in the pattern of this race from the very beginning, which is when the spotlight is on one candidate, it benefits the other candidate. when we're talking about donald trump, hillary clinton poll numbers go up. when we talk about hillary clinton, his numbers get better. hillary clinton, of course, was doing great when we were focusing not just on the tape, but i would argue the real slide for donald trump began after the first debate and when he got into the fight with miss universe. i think that really cemented where the focus was, which was about temperament. i hear this over and over again who are conflicted between someone they don't trust and somebody's whose temperament they don't like and the temperament piece is a bigger determine unanimous. i don't know this changes to trust. i'm going to go back to trust. i don't trust her and i'm going to vote for him. the temperament piece still seems a bigger challenge for

trump than trust does for hillary clinton. the other question is whether or not this focus on comey is not just to try to, because they don't have anything else to do, but to try to help shore up their own flagging base, right? have a bad guy, which is james comey and the f.b.i. to, get their base all fired up. see, they're trying to steal it from hillary clinton. they're trying to still it at the last minute. >> dickerson: they're all but saying the word ribbed. >> the great irony is all these editorial boards were saying that criticizing james comey is undermining the rule of law, et cetera, et cetera. this time the rule of law, the clinton campaign has turned it around on him. i understand to the point about 2 inability of them to find somebody else to point to. the real problem is abadin testified in june she had turned over all the devices. she was not aware that these e-mails were on this device. and it's one of these situations where they can't find someone else. they have to have comey.

>> dickerson: there's such awkwardness within the campaign. >> this is hillary clinton's closest aide. it's not as if they can put her on the 2 hot seat and sort of grill her. but their bigger advantage is that hillary clinton's operation has built a real ground game, states like florida and north carolina, which they feel like they have to win, and now they need to clarify the message to energize those people and get them out. frankly, if they can't do it with trump and fitness, comey may be in defending our girl, as michelle obama said, may be really the hope they have. >> of course, they have a reasonably good case against the f.b.i. director. they have people serving republican justice departments saying this is inappropriate what he's done. it's a violation of guidelines. but the clinton campaign's problem is that the reason they're in this fix is because hillary clinton inexplicably chose to have a private e-mail server and that bill clinton went to loretta lynch when their planes were intersecting on a

tarmac and head made it impossie for her to stop him, which he might have been able to do. if that meeting hadn't taken place, she wouldn't have recused herself. and we know she was a posed to... >> that race was already... we were already seeing signs of tightening in these battleground states and nationally before we had this f.b.i. investigation. the spotlight was no longer on donald trump. the debates were in the rear-view mirror. he hadn't gone on to twitter to attack anybody. the focus was on the clinton foundation and obamacare. >> dickerson: what did you make of the race tightening then? did you feel like that was... >> i felt like that was real, but i felt like it was driven mostly by your last point, the news about obamacare premium, which affect so many people across the country. i think that's the sort of thing that matters even more to voters than some of these e-mail issues. but we have to keep in mind, so many millions of people have already voted at this stage. early voting starts so early this year that a lot of people have already cast their ballots

and it remains to be seen whether that can make any difference on the presidential level. that being said, i do think it could be a situation where the final story lines of this campaign today is could the republicans do better when it comes to the senate as opposed to expectation ?oos. >> he's going to be in michigan next week, new mexico, wisconsin. he's got other states to worry about. how do you read those trips? >> well, what's really interesting about where we're seeing this map shake out in a police like north carolina, which was a real push for the democrats in 2012, obviously obama didn't carry it after he carried it in 2008. she seems to be doing well. she's struggling in the rust belt straits. not struggling. she's ahead but not by the margins obama was. the challenge for donald trump has always been, if he's going to win this thing, he has to get into 240ez so-called blue-ball states where -- but wall states where the democrats haven't lost for years and years an years

because he's going to lose a place like north carolina. he could lose in a state like florida. because arizona is in play. you have to go to where the most opportune environment. is and that's where w white, working-class voters. it may not working, but at this point it's likely his only shot. >> it's a danger, though, because kellyanne conway, donald trump's campaign manager is a pollster. last night she made the case that michigan and new mexico, they have seen some change in their numbers, some reason to give them hope. i said, you know, kellyanne, don't you need to be on the air in states like florida and pennsylvania and north carolina in a bigger way where you really need to win, and she said, well mr. trump wants to go to these places. mr. trump thinks we can still win with the voters that amy was just talking about. it goes back to the danger at the beginning of this campaign, which is that you have an outsider what -- who so believes in his own ability to win over

the people. he sees the adulation at these rallies. he thinks he can win anywhere and he needs to be focused on the state he has to win. >> christa: a week left. thanks to all of you. we'll be back in a moment with more of our interview with vice president joe biden.

>> dickerson: word leaked that joe biden is a candidate for secretary of state if hillary clinton wins. biden signaled he's not interested. we want to conclude with the vice president's reflections on his 47 years in public service and what he plans to do next. what does it mean to be an obama whisperer? >> well, you know, i had the advantage, i think it's fair to say, of knowing an awful lot of the people we brought into the cabinet longer and better than barack. excuse me, than the president. and although they had enormous respect for the president, they weren't as used to dealing with him as i was. so i have... and he doesn't wear his feelings on his sleeve all the time. so... >> dickerson: you wear them on both sleeves. >> unfortunately.

the president kids. he says, joe and i, we make up for each other's shortings. he makes up for mine. he has very few. so i have his confidence. i am a close friend of his. he knows he can trust me 1,000%. >> dickerson: the number of lunches you will have with the president is doctrineling. >> yes. we're still going to hang out a little bit. >> john: you're going to hang out after it's over? >> yeah. >> dickerson: you might have longer lunches. >> yeah. >> dickerson: do you talk about the exit? >> we do. we talk a lot about what each of us are going to do and what we might be able to do together. the bottom line is both of us feel that there are the things that motivated us to get into politics and they're still the things that shape our lives and our interest and make us happy. so you're going to see the president deeply involved in a lot of the things he'll continue to be involved inch and i'm not going away. you know, everything from this issue of violence against women to income inequality to the

cancer moon shot. i'm going to devote the rest of my life to this. >> dickerson: what's it going to feel like? >> i don't know. i don't know. i must tell you, i... i know there's an awful lot that i have access to do. but i have never... from the time i've been 26, every morning i've gotten up, i have... somebody hands me a card that has my schedule on it, and, you know, i know what i'm about to do. i know what i want to work on, so it's going to be an adjustment. i honestly don't... i have enjoyed... i have been so proud of being involved in public service that i'm not sure exactly how i'm going to do it other than the structure of, you know, american political system. >> dickerson: you've been asked a thousand times if you regret deciding not to run. was there every a moment in the last year where you said, boy,

i'm glad i didn't run? >> well, i guess yes in that some of the vitriol that exists today, it's not some of the stuff. i just am glad my grandkids, how do you respond to a guy on stage when he... i mean, i'm just happy... let me put it another way. a woman who runs my office has a daughter that is in i think sixth grade. i called her on columbus day, which was a holiday to, check my schedule the next day, and i said, did you watch the debate, and her comment was, "my daughter had a girlfriend over from class. they were supposed to watch the debate. the first few minutes i had to turn it off. i didn't want my daughter seeing

this debate." the stuff of, you know... anyway, there are sometimes i'm... but look, i think i made the right decision. for my family and for me. and i think hillary's going to be a hell of a good president. >> dickerson: in 1972 when you announced you were running for the senate, this is what you said. >> god almighty, you did your homework. >> dickerson: >> we're divided people. we have too often allowed our differences to prevail among us. we have too often allowed ambitious men to play off those differences for pllg gain. we have too often retreated behind our differences when no one tried the lead us beyond them. it feels like you could give that speech today. >> i could, but i tried my best to lead us beyond them. i think for a significant period of our time we did. you know, history runs in cycles. you know, i say the young people out there, they said, well, why get involved now with the dysfunction in government. we were more divided

substantively when i ran and made that speech than today. the vietnam war, the women's movement, the civil rights movement was still not finished. the whole environmental movement. it divided families. it divided friends. those things. people didn't speak to one another over them. and yet my generation did, we did get involved. we did make a difference. we did change things in the '70s and the '80s. and it is... it moves and the abuse of power is always, always just right there and reached for by people who shouldn't be in power. and you need people to speak up to us. speak out against it. and that's what i have tried to do my whole career. i don't make myself out to be a hero. i don't think you'll find anybody in public life i dealt with that i have ever not tried to bridge differences with, not be honest with. >> dickerson: on your last day of office, what are you going to do? >> what am i going to do? >> i'm going to go home and begin to figure out what i do

for the rest of my life. and i think it's going to... i hope to be able to do the same things i'm doing now out of office. >> dickerson: mr. vice president, thanks very much. >> thank you, john. appreciate it. hey girlfriend, how's your cafe au lait? oh, it's actually... sfx: (short balloon squeal) it's ver... sfx: (balloon squeals) ok can we... sfx: (balloon squeals) i'm being so serious right now... i really want to know how your coffee is. it's... sfx: (balloon squeals) hahahaha, i had a 2nd balloon goodbye! oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasn't it? yeah.

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>> dickerson: that's it for us today. thanks for watching. until next week, for face the nation, i'm john dickerson. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org [ female announcer ] the following is

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