captioning sponsored by cbs >> brennan: i'm margaret brennan in washington and this week on "face the nation," the unprecedented challenges of 2020 are pplaying out on the campaign trail as the country faces yet another covid-19 crisis point. across the u.s., nearly 27 million people have already voted, despite the challenges of casting a ballot in a pandemic. in a bitterly divided country, it may be the only thing americans can agree on: the importance of voting in campaign 2020. with just 16 days left before election day, president trump hits rallies as usual, even in red-zone states with dangerously high number of

covid cases. >> president trump: if we win wisconsin, we win the whole ballgame. [applause and cheering] >> prime minister jean chretienk i'm doing here in a freezing night with 45° winds. >> brennan: and it's an all-out push for every voting group, particularly those where vice president biden is picking up support. >> president trump: suburban women, would you please like me. >> the only senior that donald trump cares about -- the only senior is senior donald trump. >> brennan: and a challenge to hold his temper when faced with republican attacks and allegations of wrong-doin wrong-doing. >> i know you would ask it, and i have no response. it is another smear campaign. it's right up your alley. >> brennan: we'll talk with tom perez, as well as former republican party chairman reince priebus. plus, we'll take a closer look at our election

security with admiral mike rogers. and we'll also hear from former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb about this surge of covid-19. and raphael bostic will join us to talk about those hardest hit by the pandemic. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ >> brennan: good morning, and welcome to pcoast to coast and around the world, the number of new coronavirus infections continues to rise. there are almost 40 million cases worldwide, more than eight million of them right here in the u.s. on friday there were 69,000 new reported cases. that's the highest since july. we just over two weeks until election day, americans are now able to vote in all 50 states, and they are going to the

polls in record numbers. we've got a lot to get to. we begin this morning with cbs news national correspondent mark strassmann in atlanta. >> reporter: covid america's third wave is so widespread, blindfolded you could throw darts at a map and probably hit a hot spot. like chicago and colorado and nashville. >> our key metrics are not going in the right direction. >> reporter: and ohio. >> this thing is roaring back. >> reporter: roaring by any measure into a public health crisis. 26 states are in the red zone for new infections. in all, 36 states have new cases trending up. five states have positivity rates higher than 20%. especially shocking, south dakota's rate, 36%, and iowa, just under 50%. madison, wisconsin, responded by opening a two-way drive through. on one side people pull in for a covid test. on the other, they get a

flu shot. >> we're trying to prevent a tri twindemic. >> reporter: p.p.e. is a must. in the houston area, election workers have their temperatures taken every day. >> voter voters are voting because it is their constitutional right to vote. we cannot prevent them from entering a voting center. >> reporter: early voters keep stampeding to the polls. from coast to coast, mass voters spent the day in line. in georgia, standing for more than 10 hours. pandemic or not, election experts predict americans may cast a record 150 million ballots. for all of the talk that a vaccine is imminent, covid america's next few months could be rough, with holiday weather and gatherings, the disease experts predict the viral spread could accelerate.

margaret, that new vaccine can't get here too soon. >> brennan: mark strassmann in atlanta, thank you. the recent spike in coronavirus cases is prompting new lockdowns throughout europe. cbs news senior foreign correspondent liz palmer is in london. >> reporter: good morning. the covid infection rate in brazil and india has actually been declining a little lately. but in europe, the virus is back with a vengeance. in paris and eight other french cities, police are enforcing a new curfew, checking that anyone on the street after 9:00 p.m. has good reason. and germany, where rigorous testing had kept infection rates low, is facing a covid surge, too. this is prorogue in june. they thought it was the

end of covid there, and they partied too soon there. and are now battling the worst outbreak per capita in europe. britain is also hard hit. it has imposed a patchwork of restrictions that includes no visiting anyone in another household, even family. in liverpool, the worst-hit area, hospitals are once again filling up, just as they did this spring. >> it is not winter. it is not even winter yet. >> reporter: to raise the country's battered morale, 94-year-old queen elizabeth appeared in public for the first time in seven months, unmasked, but in what must be the safest place in the realm, the military's biodefense lab. tests of the oxford vaccine are going incredibly well, says the project's director. and there was a ray of hope from kate bingham, head of britain's vaccine task force. >> i think we have a shot of seeing the two leading

candidates with efficacy of those this side of christmas. >> reporter: but in wuhan, china, they don't have to wait that long. doses of a chinese covid vaccine made by a state lab were offered to the public as an experiment for $60 a shot. it took only two and a half hours for supplies to run out. here in london, the deputy chief medical officer has said that the rollout of the vaccine could start in december, and already a training program for health workers to give the shot is in the works. margaret? >> brennan: liz, thanks. one campaign 2020 battleground state also has the distinction of being one of the hottest red zone states in this country. wisconsin saw a record 4,105 new cases on friday alone. president trump campaigned there on saturday. cbs news white house correspondent weijia jiang reports. >> reporter: president

trump drew thousands of supporters to a wisconsin airport hangar on saturday night. the state is grappling with grim covid highs, hospitalizations, and daily deaths. but the president claimed the end of the pandemic is near, praising his performance. >> president trump: we're rounding the corner. we've got the vaccines. but even without it, we're rounding the corner. >> reporter: even at contracting the coronavirus himself, he hosted rallies in seven states last week. the campaign tells cbs news it took strong precautions at all of them, but at each of them, few people wore masks as they stood shoulder to shoulder. >> i do not believe that the masks are going to do what they say it is going to do. i don't believe that it is the cure-all that we've all put it out there to be. i believe it is a symbol of fear. >> reporter: in michigan, the crowd repurposed a familiar champ after the president criticized gretchen whitmer's efforts to control the virus.

>> president trump: schools have to be open, right? [applause and cheering] [cheering] >> president trump: lock them all up. >> reporter: on twitter, whitmer wrote: "this is exactly the rhetoric that has put me, my family, and other government officials lives in danger." she was the target of an alleged kidnapping plot by a group that disagreed with lockdown measures. president trump is also pouring time and energy into the sunbelt states. >> president trump: we will have a red wave the likes of which they've never seen before. >> reporter: but republican senator ben sasse of nebraska warned constituents of a blue tsunami, blaming the president for a possible republican blood bath in the senate. president trump plans to make two to five campaign stops a day from now until november 3rd. according to a senior campaign official. today he will hold a rally

outside of reno, trying to flip this state he lost in 2016. margaret? >> brennan: weijia jiang in las vegas. we want to take a closer look at two states that went to president trump in 2016 but now are putting vice president joe biden in the lead. in the typically republican state of arizona, former vice president joe biden is three points ahead of the president. in wisconsin, mr. biden is at 51%, and mr. trump is at 46%. cbs news elections director, anthony salvanto, is in west chester county to tell us more. good morning. why is president trump trailing in these states? >> good morning, margaret. from the rust belt to the sunbelt, two states that could be pivotal, let me show you what is going on. first of all, views on how the candidates handled themselves personally, joe biden with a significant edge on the president

thre. always an important part of voters' calculus. let me show you this: such a big part of the president's base in wisconsin and other states has been that white non-college vote. he won them by a large gap in 2016. well, his margin with them this year is down. and in this case, in wisconsin, from 62% to 52%. you may say, he is still winning him. yes, he is. but for candidates it is about margins, about running up the score with groups that support you. joe biden cutting into those margins now. and then this, margaret, and it partly explains why: views that the president is mostly concerned about the wealthy and the elite as opposed to the middle class. now, neither candidate getting a majority saying they're concerned mostly with the middle class, but still an edge for biden there. and maybe the most important group of all as we head towards election night, millions of ballots are already coming in, people voting by mail

across the country. well, democrats tell us that they're supporting joe biden. they're casting their ballots early. and we see a big lead for joe biden among ballots that have already been cast in both arizona and wisconsin. i suspect when we get to election night, we may say that joe biden has a lead on ballots that have been cast already, and then it is a question of how many of the president's supporters will turn up on election day to try to put him over the top. >> brennan: anthony, the state of wisconsin has a serious coronavirus outbreak. is that impacting what voters are thinking? >> views on coronavirus have been very connected to votes in all of these states, margaret. views on who will handle the outbreak better, joe biden has an edge in both of these states. and then this: where it really connects to vote, you see arizona seniors, such an important part of the electorate there, well, a bulk of them feel that the president's

coronavirus policies have put seniors specifically more at risk. the thing here, margaret, is of these seniors, almost all of them? . , 95%, are votelin voting for joe bide. >> brennan: what are the closing arguments and how are voters responding? >> we asked people, what do you want politics in the next four years to be like? of the things they said, the folks who said they wanted it to be exciting, well, in these states the president has a slight lead. but for those who said they wanted politics in the next four years to be calm, joe biden has a large lead. the trouble for the president and the advantage for joe biden is that more people told us they wanted things to be calm. >> brennan: it is about tone there. anthony salvanto, thank you very much. joining us is cbs news political correspondent ed o'keefe. we caught him between

campaign travel and quarantine. good morning, ed. good to see you in person without the zoom screen. >> i know. >> brennan: good to have you back at the table. tell us about what we just heard there. when we look at joe biden's schedule, we didn't see him campaign yesterday. we will see him today. what is his strategy? because president trump clearly feels he needs to be out and very visible. >> at this point, the biden campaign doesn't feel that. he is in north carolina today. this is a state that the biden campaign believes and hopes they can take back. they look at the same kind of polling we do, state by state surveys. don't worry about national horse race numbers. they see single-digit advantages, as we do, for biden. they worry if they can't keep their base motivated, and cons vinsing people to show up, they are going to be in trouble. he will not be seen again after today until thursday night in nashville at that

next debate. they are going to keep him focused on that. that's a signal they believe this is a big opportunity for them to provide one last big contrast for the president and they have to prepare him for potential attacks. and they have raised more than $300 million in the month of september, and they've got more than $420 million in the bank, and that is going into advertising and direct targeting of their supporters through text messagmessaging and e-mail. $100 million in what they call voter education, compelling people to show up and vote. by the end of this election, they will have spent more than -- well, more than half -- more than $500 million. i can't do math this morning. that is a record amount. >> brennan: crazy amounts of money. >> never been done before. >> brennan: and we're also seeing that in the other races, not just the

presidential race. another key finding that anthony salvanto had in this battleground tracker had to do with the senate race in arizona. mark kelly, the democrat there, widening the lead against martha mcsally. this is john mccain's old seat. >> it is. >> brennan: what is happening in arizona? >> mark kelly, the former astronaut, is the one example across this country we have found where the presidential candidate may ride the coat tails of somebody further down the ballot. they are convinced they can win that race and take back that state for the first time since the 1990s. he raised more than $38 million in the third quarter. any other cycle, that would be a huge sum. astronomical, bust dwarfed by the $87 million raised in south carolina. and just because you raise

big money doesn't mean you win. >> brennan: and we will have much more to talk about ahead in the show about that race. i thought,"you know you. "face the nation" will be back in a minute. stay with us. joe biden will not raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000. biden will get rid of trump's tax giveaways for the super wealthy and make big corporations finally pay their fair share. biden will use those savings to help working families and seniors, investing in lowering health care costs, improving education, and protecting social security and medicare. biden's plan - corporations pay more, you benefit. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message.

balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. >> brennan: we want to turn to election security and admiral mike rogers. during the last election, he was the head of the national security agency and u.s. cyber command. good morning to you. this is -- >> good morning, margaret. >> brennan: this is the most-watched, potentially most complicated election in the midst of a pandemic. i know in 2016, after the fact, you said you wished more had been done in terms of direct public action before the election took place. what do you think about now? how secure are elections? >> so, i am very confident

that we're going to have an election that will allow us to vote as citizens, that will accurately reflect the results of that voting and will generate a set of results that we can believe in. i think a lot of work has been done. the biggest challenge to me, in some ways, is the context in which this election is occurring. we're a very polarized and divided nation right now, and we're in the middle of a significant health crisis. so i think there are a few things we need to be mindful of. the first is, the turnout will hit record levels. we need to be prepared for longer lines and a longer process. there is just a whole lot more voters. and, for example, trying to man polling centers in the midst of a pandemic, when historically many of the poll directors are longer, is a bit of a challenge. number two, we need to remember that elections are run on a state level. so the processes are different. what is legal and a structure in one state is

not the same in another. we need to recognize that and not think there is something wrong. number three, i think we need to be mindful it is unlikely that we're going to get a result when we go to bed the night of the election. it is very possible, but i think we need to be ready, given the amount of turnout, given the number of mail-in ballots. in some states, for example, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, you can't start counting mail-in ballots until the actual election day. so we need to be ready for a result that doesn't come out that same night. the last two points i would make: i think to remember that our system allows for legal challenges. legal challenges to process and legal challenges to outcome. that doesn't happen historically all that often, but it often happens at congressional and other levels. and lastly, remember, there is time built into this process. states do not actually have to complete the certification process until the middle of december. so let's just be calm.

let's participate but do it peacefully without violence, and then let's let this system play out as it has for almost two and a half centuries. >> brennan: it is important expectation setting that you just did there. i want to get to your old line of work and your expertise on the intelligence front because we know u.s. intelligence says right now russia is trying to manipulate the public, spread disinformation about the election specifically to hurt the democratic candidate. can russia at this point actually change the outcome of the election by altering votes? do they have that capabilitiy? >> do they have capeability? , yes. but we haven't seen anything that we're seeing in cyber the same level of activity we saw back in 2016. i think where the russians

are doubling down is a little less on cyber activity directed directly against voting infrastructure, think about voter registration, the actual machines we use to cast ballots, the computer systems we use to tablet voting ballots, i don't think you're seeing that same level of activity. what you're watching the russians do is really double down on the idea of using disinformation, via social media and other paths, to continue to polarize our nation to incite violence and hatred in an attempt to pull us apart. >> brennan: to that point, there has been a lot of speculation that this week some of the information about joe biden's son, hunter, that has circulated in tabloids and "the new york post", may be the result of a hack and dump, that it could have come from russian military hacking of a ukrainian gas company

where hunter biden served. do you see -- >> my view would be let's let it play out, let's get some factual information and let's see if this is accurate or not. >> brennan: it is being compared to the hack and dump operation that happened back in 2016, as you know. a lot of democrats alleging that it is that. when you say you see russia doing a disinformation and access -- spreading disinformation, is that the kind of thing you're talking about? >> it could be an element. when you look at disinformation compaigns, you see the russians using false identities, so you might think you're talking to a fellow american from the midwest when actually you're talking to a russian troll in st. petersburg. so using false identity,

using false information. attempting to manipulate images, the use of videos that are distorted to create an impression that is not based in fact. it prejudice their viewpoints and have gal galvanized them. >> brennan: what is the thing to watch on election night to know if our elections are secure or not? >> if you saw an effort on the part of a foreign entity to attachment to manipulate or deny our election processes, the things i would be looking for, number one, do you see widespread. i'm not just talking about one or two places. you see widespread challenges associated with voter registration polls. people show up, give their license, and it doesn't match. i would be looking for -- >> brennan: i will watch that. i've got to interrupt you. we'll be watching that. thank you for joining us. we'll be right back.

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>> brennan: americans are voting now or getting ready to vote in the next two weeks. for more information on how to vote in your state, go to cbs.com/how to vote. wwe will be right back. ♪ joe biden was raised with middle class values. joe doesn't need to be the center of attention. or see himself on tv. he has always focused on getting the job done. joe led us out of the 2008 recession, and increased health coverage for millions. as president, joe will focus on getting us out of our crises. he'll listen to experts,

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