tonight on "kqed newsroom,n voti today in california on june 5th. it's the warriors and cavs again for the fourth consecutive year in the nba finals. ns> plus a star-studded comedy festival returo the bay area. from dozens of performers to interactive exhibits. welcome to "kqed newsroom," i'm thuy vu. a new poll out on the governor's race shows san diego republican john cox adncing to second place among likely voters. emocratic lieutenant governor avin newsom remains in the lead, according to the poll.

a crowded o field congressional candidates in california and the state's top two primary system could handicap democrats' efforts to challenge republican incumbents. joining now are wilson walsh consultant sean walsh. reporter marreese is an lagos. and christine mai e ke. welc all of you. sean, how significant are these latest poll numbers showing republican john cox in second plagues in t place in the governor's race? >> incredibly significant, not just for california but . national cox in second place may actually mean the republican turnout for the congressional sea that nancy pelosi is counting on, those five seats in california to turn the house, goes out the 'swindow. so i really, really important. >> how did this happen? did trump's endorsement play a g role? >> i think it helped. cox has beenti g support from republican establishment

folks for the last few months. he did succeed in getting, you know, support from kevin mccarthy who is thel hope house speaker. he's been working very hard to get a lot of endorsements. and i think a couple of tweets from trump i going to help, especially in a race where you have travis allen, state assembly men who are not well-knownat ide. >> and christine, you're in california. you've been covering the congressional raises. sean alluded to this, if sean cox is in the top t two,t could bring out more gop voters. what are some of the most competitive and interesting congressional raises that we shunuld be looking at in and down the road in november? >> yeah, absolutely, ink that sean definitely touched on something that has been ant isse trepublicans are concerned thout in california, and that is, you know, whis overwhelming level of energyde thcratic side, what can republicans do to ensure their voters turn out in june and

november to miake sure they maintain this edge that they usually have inidterm years. and so having a republican candidate at the top of the ticket in california in the governor's race could be a major key toh sustaining level of enthusiasm and therefore helping repubcans really maintain that edge in turnout that they usually do have. so i th mnk that it wilke it tougher for democrats for sure. if it's john cox and gavin newsom in the governor's race in the fall. >> mae democrats have it very clear the road to retaking the house needs to run through careifornia. what some of the most competitive raises that you're seeing that we should keep an n?e >> yeah, absolutely. nationwide, democrats need to win about two dozen house seats to flip control of the house. hey have targeted seven in california and three others actually for the full field that they're looking at as ten. and seven of those districts are districts where there's a

republican member of congress yet hillary clinton won in 2016. one of the epicenters of that activity right now is orcoge ty where there are four congressional seats there that are held byl repans that are really competitive in their and two of those actually belong to congressman ed "roseanne" and congressman darrell issa, both of whom have announced they're not going to be running again, they're actually retiring. oftenats are much easier to win than those who run against incumbents. i would say that orange county, the 39th disict, the 49th district there, are open seats. the ,th rohrabacher's district in the 48th, are major ones to watch. >> that's important too, because orange couy is hanging. you know, if you look at somef thesedistricts, tom mcclintock near sacramento, those are still red.ty but orange county has been becoming more diverse, a younger population. and so a lot of people i talk to

whrs study these num say that even if republicans can win in those districts this year, it's goibe a tough road in 2020 and 2022, which may be why "roseanne" a royce and issa are stepping down. >> there aredvthreetages that are coming to light. the unemployment number is out , tod3.2%, rock bottom. 200,000 plus job >> the biggest number of gains since february. >> it is. the cotry is feeling it and california is feeling it. number two, the democrats ran everybody including the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maken maker in these races, they tend to cancel each other out. there are so many democrats that are so disparate, they'll split the vote. republicans are feeling good about that. gavinneom's efforts to get

john cox as his running mate have had significantaci the business community did a poll or a survey where that figured t if there was not a republican on the top of the ticket, that the high propensi of republican voters coming out in the fall election would fall about 55%. if there's a republican at the topf the icket, it's 85%. those numbers, with the multiple democrats running in those races, make the diffence. >> christine, you're in southern california. how big an issue is immigration and will that issue drive additional gopmembers, g voters to the polls, especially when you have all this debate no over california's sanctuary laws and there is a bit of resistancming from a lot of the cities and counties in southern california? >> yeah, i thmmkration is always an interesting and crucial issue in califoia, and pecially southern california. it's also a very big issue for cenlial valley repns who kind of have taken a different

road on that issue and they really have to walk that fine line because so many of their constituents are immigrants, kids of immigrants. that beingsaid, i think that a lot of the focus recently on the sanctuary state policy and thei locals opposing sanctuary state policy in california has really been on the republican side in terms of a base motivator. there's been a ver real political calculation that republican voters in orange county and san diego county, that these folks really disagree with this idea of the sanctuary state policy and therefore a lot of the republican ccididates, esly in the primary, incumbents as well as challengers, ve really stepped up and taken a strong stance supporting the opposition to same thi sanctuary state olicy, essentially. the things one strategists have cautioned about is that immigration in general can be an emotional issue. and that type of issue as well

as taking otrong stance sanctuary policy may motivate democratic voters. >> immigration can use the undoing of a republican, too. look at gornor pete wilson and prop 187. >>ration and illegal immigration. with democrats there is a belief that yes, we favor legal immigration, but uncontrolled, unregulgred illegal imion is a problem. i will tell you, this is an issue across the country. sanctuary cities and sanctuary state factors into other states. in t last 42 midterm elections, the party that was not in power gained seats only twice in 80 years has at happened, where that trend didn't happen. that may affect this year, with the economy and these issues driving voters. and not just republicans but democrats. it's a fundamental fairness issue. >> i disagree a little bit. i think sanctuary state is a great issue for republicans in other states to run on, in some

districtst's a good issut divides people. but if you go out and talk to voters in big cities, their concerns are around housing and homelessness, quality of life issues. i think immigration of course for a subset is an issue. t if we talk about the governor's race statewide, i think that willmovate the republican base. but john cox will run into trouble in the general election when he'sod trying to getate voters. >> let's talk about the race beween dianne feinstein and kevin de leon. most legal experts think dianne feinstein will definitely come occupan out the winner. how has kevin de leon changed the tenor of this ce? >> i think she's been pushed to the left, although she would dispute that. she's come out in favor ofr reational marijuana and medical marijuana. she's really i think moved to the left o some of these issues

that previously she's been a more moderate democrat. so i think the recent poll friday morning is interesting, she's only at 36%. that's only 6 percentage points more than where gavin newsom iso ing. she's been in office 25 years. she's well-known. the question is can kevin de leon get into the top two. i don't think he can win against her. t will make it a different race and keep pushing dianne ffeinstein towards the >> christine, from your vantage point at "the los angeles times," how is the senate race playing out? >> i think that it is really notable that she is polling at that low of a number, having been in anoffice, incumbent for so long. one thing you're going to have to watch is that dianne feinstein has a lot of money in if the bank, almost $7 million difference between her and kevin de leo she's already spent a lot of that money and still has so much

more in the bank. kevin de leon has struggled with fundraising, which is essential in a statewide race to get your message out. we'll have to wah thatnto november if he makes it into the top two. >> there were some internuting bers out this week showing the republican party is sort of now a third party in there are more independent voters than republican voters. how do you expect- what do you anticipate this, what effect h wive on the june election and further in november? >> we're number the, we try harder. >> i wish you luck. >> there's been arend line, we've been analyzing this, it seems to have happened twoars soon than what the actual projected timeline. it's not just a republican phenomenon. you're seeing democrats going into this category as well.ty >> no p preference. >> no part preference. the issue is, i think there are still underlying substantive policy issues that peopl align to. they just don't want to align with party labels. the democrats are goin ato face

thwell. so the real interesting thing ve is, s poysnor is insuranceis cooner with no party preference. he was a republican in the past. if he can breakthrough, because normally look at people look at the ballot designation and vote on that, might s a crack in the dam where other people can run as an mpp. >> other moderate republicans who are frustrated with the trump message and what we're eing from theepublican party are really hoping that poysnor does open new path in california. independent voters, what's teresting is they're not third party voters. they generally go democratic or republican, they just don't want to be aligned with either party, which of course makes it harder for political consultants like john to do their >> money in the bank, they need us more. >> quick comment? >> yes, i think tat marissa is right, it really makes of campaigns and local consultants a lot harder.

not only are youhot sure the message is to go to certain voters. you're also not sure in terms of get out the vote. if you have a democrat on your walk list and you're walking through precincts an neighborhoods, you can say this persons probably somebody tha supports 24 and we'll target them to get out to the lls. as larger chunk of these folks fall into the nonaffiliated category, it makes these campaigns harder. >> a lot to watch between now and tuesday. maria, sean, andstine, thank you so all of you. >> thank you so much. turning now to sports. last night the golden state warriors beat the cleveland cavaliers inovertime in game 1 of the nba finals. thursday's game delivered high drama with golden state winning 124-114.c veland's lebron james carried his team with 51 points. cavs were close to winning but for a few epic is that enough to help the

warriors clinch their third championship? 95.7 the game co-ht vante hill, and reporter for cleveland.com, joe varten. so nice to have you both here. you must be a little tired after, wow,t w a game last night. >> it was a wow time at oracle arena for sure. i didn't get home 'til late. but it was worth it. i'm still trying to comprehend what happened. >> prior to game one, some people thought, yet another final matchup between the warriors and cavs, i four years a row, boring. did last night's game shatter that, joe? >> yeah, i think so. i think what you saw is not only a cavs team, but someemotions, these two teams have fought for titles for three straight years. this is the fourth year. you've got draymond mocking the cavs lebron and steph -- >> trading words.

>> this is somethingt's been going on and on. the more you put these two teams into a room together, the tenser it's going to be. >> the game itself wasn't boring, by all accouass it one of the most exciting game one of the finals. but is the matchup itself exciting enough? some sports fans haveen griping, four years of this, it's taken all the excitement out of basketball. yeah, no, i think you have one of the greatest teams of all time in theolden state warriors. and what they've done over the last four years. and on the other side you have y.e of the greatest players in nba hist how can you be border? you have lebron james trying to conquer this team for l ars. the golden state warriorsch kno other, they like each other. some of the cavaliers fe they should have won because of the injuries. and the warriorseel they should have won because nick adala started getting ithobbled.

s not a boring matchup. you have the storylines, the star po and leading into game one, i kind of wanted to see the boston celtics, but once the ball was tipped, i was like, okay, these teams hate each oheer and drama reflects that. >> how does lebron james -- like what's the dynamic of that as he approaches the season? >> i think both he a his eammates understand the dynamic. in the first three matchups, lebron had a running might in kyrie irving who is as good as they come, and he's no longer with the owcavs. they're set up to play entirely through lebn and through his role players to play their roles some . for the most part in game one you had players playing wll defensively, moving the ball, rebounding. those are the kinds of thin that he needs his teammates to do. they only had two other players score at least ten points.

they probably need one or two more to start windowing games. >> if you're coach steve kerr, what changes would you make to slow down i lebron james future games? >> you may need to start sending more double teams at lebron james. he's such a good passer, you poison. pick your i think you have to live with what lebron james is shooting. he did make three three pointers last night. much hooting the ball so better. here it is, year 15, and you've seen it, his shot is so good. you can't really stop him. you only hope he has a cold night. they also need andre gedala, he's out with soreness, he's out for game numbertw he defends lebron james long, he can move his feet,he's smart. the warriors without andre gedala will struggle to slow down lebron james. >> joe, is there a perfect team formeebron what would that look like?

>> he's always wanted to be on teams werehooters are placed around him. to a large degree he's had that in cleveland. what no one envisioned was kevin durant joining a warriors team already built to win titles. these two teams were supposed to duke it out. no one saw durant ming, that sort of changed the dynamic. what lebron has this year around him is not ideal, just because he doesn't have that other playmaker. and you could even argue there are fewer shooters on the team this year. but lebron has been so good, and the other guys have done just enough to get them back to this point. >> so what's at stake now? there are some individual legacies at stak forng james, for curry, for durant? >> i think lebron's legacy is pretty well set in stone.go he's three titles. he won one in cleveland. he played well this ar when it looked like the team may retreat. so i think his legacy is there. steph is looking for a finals mvp, i think.

>>gh >> and the same goes for durant. i think durant, durant i don't believe will reach lebron's level in terms of legacy but he will be a multi-time champion, a former mvp. it should be all rosy. >> i agree with joe.as lebron jameseen an underdog in all but one or two nba finals. nobody expects the cavaliers to make this a series. by him taking the cavaliers team to the finals is an accomplish. they lose their first game to indiana,et blown south, play a boston team, they were tough. they had the home court advantage and lebron james goes to the parquet floor and wins game number 7 in boston. i agree with joe, lebron's legacy is submitt. kevin durant needs to win another ring. last year everybody said the warriors, it's just an unfair advantage, nobody had time to prepare for them. kevin durant and steph curry

need this more. >> i'm going to ask this to both you guys, 30 seconds each. who do you think is going to win the series and why? joe. >> i thinkt will be the warriors, just because they are the wossible matchup for the cavs. everything that the warriorswe are things that the cavs have been struggling with all season. right. warriors in 5. lebron jes will win a game probably in cleveland. they just have too much talent. they're deeper than the clevelands. cavalie it will be a fun five-game series but i have the warriors winning the championship. >> good stuff. thanks so much, you guys, fun to have you on. >> good to be here. >> goodh to be e. comedy cenal's colossal cluster fest kicks off this weekend in san francisco. the three-day festival will feature performances from more

than 70 comedians and musicians, including salt and peppa. festivalgoers will g a chance to take selfies at interactive exhibits including a south park themed county fair and a presidential library comprised of tweets. kqed ught up with "daily show correspondent roy wood jr. >> where are we today? >> this is the donald j. trump presidential twitter library. everybody at "the daily show," started ound and looking closer at the president's tweets over the last couple of years, everyone in o digital department started looking at ones. you start noticing certain patterns. there's a lot of tweets where he's arguing with celeinities, tryto end people's careers, a lot of contradictions, stuff about policy. when you start looking at all the president's work, you see, oh, this is an exhibit, you

know. arack obama is all about books. our president is all about twitter. we felt like the best way to ve people the experience of walking through the brain of our commander in chief is to just put it out on the wall. this is all the people he's al argued and td trash about. talked trash about jeb bush, about rob pattinson. somehow they still persevered. i'm not sure whether you leave this library feeling better about the country or more horrified. u should definitely fee something. >> earlier this week abc canceled "roseanne" after "roseanne" sent racist tweet about valerie jarrett, comparing her to an ape. what was your reaction? >> i was shocked abc made a decision to cancel "roseanne." i feel like the mistake we make as performers sometimes is f making jokes the stage. this goes for any comedian. i feel like the safest place, it you to say something that has some edge, that really was a joke, that you really didn't intend to be taken that way, the

fest place to say it is on the stage. twitter is a trap. you're at the mercy of other people's interpretations. you have no vocal inflection. it doesn't matter whether i agree with roseanne calling someone an ape. i don't agree with that. but the least safe place to do that is itter. twitter chews up careers. >> what will you tell your son when he's olderbout what it's like to be a black man in america? >> my son has to understand that being black is a gift and sometimes it's a burden. everybody goes have you had the big talk when are you going to have the talk. they're talking about the birds and the bees. to me the big talk is how to deal with the police. it's something i think about all the time. because, you know, being black is a job sometimes. and my son has to know he's on the clock 24/7. >> we heard about the ma ch for our lives in d.c.

but there was another march going down all the way out in l eelena helena, montana. people will taking a stance for the real victims of gun violence. guns. >> when the march for life was taking place,e you w a p pro-gun rally in montana. what did that teach you about pe gple who oppos restrictions? >> there are a lot of people who oppose gun restrictions who are levelheaded. everybody thinks just because someone wants the second amendment that they got eight guns and 12 boo bbo bazookas in their back pockets and they're all luneatics. there are aot of people who are pro gun, who in my opinion are out there. any time you tak a kid that got shot at at a high school and

think he's a paid actor, there's something wrong are you, leriod. peho will call a parkland kid a crisis actor overshadow the levelheaded people who say, let's tiptoe intolegislation, i'm open to legislation, let's figure out a way to this before it gets out of hand. it was dope to go to montana.at >> the tactic to tackle these issues through comedy, is there a risk of belittling the issue? >> we would never tell a joke about someone getting the joke is how do we keep this from happening and who are the people keeping this fppom ing again. i think that's where the humor is. and i think if we can la h abo, you're more willing to talk about it. if you're willing to talk about it, then you're closer to a solution. so i feel like the jokes have to happen. >> how do you dcide what stories to cover on "the daily

show"? >> that's a whole other world. if we can say something we believe is different from what other shows are saying, we'll say it. sometimesgut's about fng out what issues are important to us. there's issues where it may no be national news. i covered a story about some stuff that's happened on the mississippi river with a boondoggle with the army corps of engineers. not a big news story. but it's something that affected people. it's something that economically and environmentally was ruining e ountry. thankfully right before president obama got out of office, he changed i like to believe my story is the reason. your wecome,missouri. that's what i tell myself at night before i go to bed. >> roy, thank you so much, great talking with you, thank you. >> colonssal cluster fest standards friday in san francisco. kets are still available at clusterfest.com. always, find more of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu.

thanks for joining us.

robert: it's back on. president trump will head to singapore to meet with the north korean leader. i'mobt costa. we discuss the diplomatic drama and new tarif spark trailed tensions. president trump: i've never said it happens in one meeting. you're talking about years of hostility, years of problems. years of really hatred. and i told him tay, take your time. robert: a wee after canceling a summits with north korea, ouesident trump aes the meeting with kim jong-un is back on. president trump: we'll be meeting on june 12 in singapore. robert: both the presidentnd secret of state say they are confident talks with north korea ov nuclear weapo are m