captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. ys the newshour tonight: just four ntil the elections. myw job numbers signal a strong ecoas voters head to the polls. it's friday. srk shields and david bro examine how both parties are trying to bolster their bases. plus, cheese, beer and kambucha. vaffrey brown visits a fes in wisconsin aimed to bridge thrural/urban divide, and celebrate all things fermented. >> thedea of fermentation as a metaphor-- i mean, that it's controlled rot. things break down, inevitably, but in the right circumstances, they then turn into deliciou products. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

pr major funding for the pbs newshour has beeided by: ♪ ♪ ving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.r >> consullular understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wirele-b plan. our u.ed customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your ngphone, nothing more, not less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

>> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on th frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. anbsby contributions to your station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: it is the final

weekend before the midterm elections, and the verbal combat pr heating up tonight between ident trump and his predecessor. miami this afternoon, former president obama rallied for democrats in florida's governor and senate races. without naming mr. tmp, he urged voters to reject t litical division. >> i'm hopeful t will cut through the lies, block out the noise, and remember who we are and who we are cal be. i'm hopel that out of this political darkne, i see a great awakening of citizenship all across the country. >> woodruff: later, present trump rejected the obama criticism, as he campaigned in huntington, west virginia. >> i heard president obama speak today. i was in the plane, i had nothing else to do. and i heard him talk about telling the truth. lie after lie, broken promise

after broken promise, that's what he did. unlike president obama, we liv by a different motto. it's called promises made, promises kept. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the president's former lawyer, michael cohen, says mr. trump repeatedly used racist language. in a "vanity fair" interview, he recalls watching a campaign rally on tv, and noting the crowd was mostly white. according to cohen, mr. trump responded, "that's because black peop vote for me."id to fhen has pleaded guilty to campaiance violations, and s. now cooperating with federal prosecut the president appeared to iecktrack today on suggesting that u.s. so might shoot migrants who throw rocks at them. instead, he said rock-throwers will be locked up fong time. later, he also said he hopes e ere will be no more shooting. b.i. has recovered a second apparent pipe bomb addressed to billionaire tom

steyer. officials say it is similar to others allegedly mailed to top democrs and critics of president trump. the man accused of sending the packages, cesar sayoc, agreed today to be transferred to new york to stand trial. he appeared briefly in court in mmi. the u.s. economy turned in a strong performance last month, the last numbers before the election. the labor department says employers added a net 250,000 jobs, more than expected. average pay rose 3.1% over the last 12 months, the most since 2009. and, unemployment held at 3.7%, a figure that white house economist kevin hassett helcomed. >>'s a big increasing labor force participation, and since president trump was elected, 1.3 million people who were out of the labor force, who were disconnected from work, and, you know, a satisfying productive life occupation, have reconnected and gotn jobs

>> woodruff: separately, the ins. trade deficit expande september for the fourth straight month. it was fueled by a record imbalance with china. we will take a closer look a t all this aft news summary. this was the final day of the manerals for victims of the synagoguacre in pittsburgh. in all, 11 people were killed by a gunman last saturd. the oldest, 97-year-old rose mallinger, was laid to rest today. from thengs tod united nations, on famine conditions in yemen. the u.n. population fund sai some two million yemeni mothers face starvation. and in new york, secretary- general antonio guterres sai that yemen is standing at a precice. >> yemen today stands on the precipice. on the humanitarian side, the situation is desperate. we must do all we can to prevent the already re conditions from deteriorating into the worst

famine we have seen in decades. but onolitical side, there are signs of hope, and we must do all we can to maximize the chances for success. >> woodruff: earlier this week, the united states also called for a halt to the fighting i yemen. a pits a sunni coalition led by saudi arabinst shiite rebels aligned with iran. back in this country, drug overdose deaths rose to an all-time high in 2017, driven by the opioid crisis. the drug enforcement agency preports 72,0ple died of overdoses last year, about 200 a iy. and thnearly twice the numbers of traffic fatalities and gun deaths each year. the u.s. supreme court late alday refused to delay a t over adding a citizenship itestion to the 2020 census. a dozen states ands are challenging the decision to include the question for the e 1950.ime si the trial is now set to begin monday. and on wall street, the rally

d as tech shares slumped the dow jones industrial average lost 110 points to close at 25,270. the nasdaq fell 77, and the s&p 500 slipd 17. but all three indexes still gained more than 2% for the week. for the s&p and the nasdaq, it was the best week since may. still to come on the nr: we look at the latest jobs report, which shows avere earnings up 3%. what a new round of economic sanctions could mean for iran. unpacking the latest polls, ahead of the midterm elections. and, much more. f: >> woodrs we just heard,

the monthly jobs report came e th lots of good news today, just four days befe election, and building again on eight-plus consecutive years of job growth. amna naz gets some quick takeaways about the larger picture. >> nawaz: judy, some othe better news: a quarter of a million new jobs were added. the wage boost-- 3%, year over 00year-- is the best since and the official unemployment rate itself remains at its lowe rate in decades. but, there are still concerns over trade and tariffs, and the stock market has been especially volatile throughout october. the dow jones industrial average has given back all of its gains for the year.le for mores bring in heather long. she's an economics correspondent for the "washington post," and joins me now. welcome to the "newshour". >> great to be here. let's dig into this now. the report is a snapshot if time, what really matters are the underlying nds. so what are you seeing here? what are the trends behind these numbers? >> these are great numbers that we've en today. it's obviously been 97 straight months of job gains in the atited states. never happened before, that kind of a record. so this has been going on for a

while. it's not like it just started if octobethis year, but it is tnusual to be seeing such strong job gains this if an economic cycle. so this far along and i was particularly pleased to see that the job gains were across the boardjo every sector of the economy is adding jobs and manufacturing and a number of tlue collar jobs we're seeing the fast job gain since 1984. so we are seeing some especially strong numbers right now. >> reporter: that wage growth, beinsithe bese 2009, a rot of people are looking at that. what does that mean? market gains finally making their way down to the average workers and will that growth continue? >> that's a great question. this is the first number we've seen above 3% since 2009, so it's going in the right direction, and all economists, many i talk to, think it's going to keep going up, so that's good. costs are also rising, so the real number, after you factor ts rising cof gas and rent is

more like .8 to 1% al growth gained. so we want to keep seeing that number go hier. an important point is the la st time unemployment was this low backn 2000, wage gains were 2.5 to 4%, so we've got more room to r:run. >> reporou mentioned the volatility we saw last month, really big swings iner octobn the markets. weat was feeding that and can expect more this month? >> some of that we saw again today as the markets were up and then down, and that's from this debate about is the u.s.-china trade war going to keep escalating. but the real question the investors are asking is the economy peaking right now. we've had the substantial tax cut, deregulation, extra fiscalt stimulus, all pushed profits iger, but a lot of people say is it really going to keep going in 2019 and 2020 or are we going to start sliding down possibly into a recession?

nobody quite knows that right now. there's a huge date going on and that's why you're seeing the n the markets. >> reporter: are we going to see another interest rate hike yeom the fed before the end of th? >> after today's jobs report, it's a certainty or almost a certainty, never can say 100% certtn, but unless somehing crazy happens the interest rates are going nierg december and probably next year. >> reporter: heatr long of "the washington post." thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the trump administrati has made countering iran one of its top foreign policy priorities. and, as nick schifrin reports, next monday morning, the u.s. will take its most aggressive step since withdrawing from the iran nuclear deal. >> schifrin: judy, the u.s. will re-impose a ssive set of sanctions that had been relieved under that nuclear deal in

exchange for a freeze on iran's nuclear program. the sanctions target more than 700 entities, and the heart of eyan's economy. oihibit the sale of irania which accounts for the vast majority of the country's revenue. they target iranian financial institutions, including its central bank. and they target state-run ports and shipping firms. the man helping leadpolicy is brian hook, special advisor to the secretary of state and raecial representative for i spoke with h earlier today. well, the purpose of reimposing the sanctions under the prior administration is deny iran the revenue it uses to destabilize the middle east and proliferate missiles and commit acts of cyberterrorism. aere's a range of th to peace and security iran presents. we're going to have to go after the money we get to the threats. the other purpose of the sanctions is to put ht pressure on this regime if they

decide to come back to the negotiating table so we can get tnew and better deal. >> reporte sanctions lay out a desired goal to get iraniaoil exports to zero. you've laid out eight exceptions. turkey, iraqwin firmed, other countries,, italy, india, japan, south korea, if iran acts positively, would you consider giving more eeptions? >> i think our goal is to deny iran the revenue it needs 80% of its tax revenues come from the export of oil. our goal is to get the inport of iranian oil to zero as quickly as possible. we have an adequately supplied oil marke et. allenge we've had is ensuring that as we advance our natial security objectives with iran that we don't inadvertently increase the price i think going forward, next year, we anticipate a much better supplied owl m and that will help us accelerate i think the path to zero.u >> reporter: ean you

expect not to give any exceptions beyond the next six months. >> we are not looking to give any exceptions or wairs to our sanctions regime. >> reporter: one of the criticisms of the sanctions is they are self-defeating, that you isepowering an iranian people who want to work with you and encouraging ton idea iranians that diplomacy with the west doesn't workbut what might work is regional proxies and the use of the veryctions that you are trying to prevent. >> i think the historical record doesn't quite support that. as recently as threefo or raars ago, when the prior adminion entered into talks, the only reason the regime came to the table was because they had been under multi-lateral and unilateral sanctions for many years. this is a regime that over its 39 year histry only comes to the negotiating table when there is pressure. we believe we have calibrated this in the right way to achieve our diplomatic goals. >> reporter: one criticism i humanitarian goods.

a european official i talked to said you made anxception of humanitarian goods in name only because attend of the day ess medicine is getting in and prices are going up. so you say you're not ying to impoles pain on the iranian people but the criticism is you e. >> we've made it clr clear to banks all over the world to facilitate food, medicine and dical devices into iran. the problem is iranian banks are not in compliance with fincial standards. they're dark banks, dirty banks. >>.ep >>rter: but that is because of what you're doing. the actions you're taking mean less food and medicine -- >> no,hat's not true. this has created a sphadges sector where you can't followca the moneing banks around the world to avoid iranian banks. but we are doing everything we can to make clear that we want humanitarian goods to get to the irann people. >> reporter: i'm going to show you a tweet the president sent out today. the twee"sanctions are coming." this is an obvious reference to winter is cong from the hbo

show "ga is it cavalier to use a meme that essentially says that you are going to undergo pain and there's going to be a war, given that your statied policy s not regime change? >> it's very clear that sanctions are cming and they are going to be reimposed monday. thre sanctions that were lifted for the last few years. during that period the iransen regimethe sanctions relief it was given and spent it in syria andebanon, yemen and iraq, and that has greatly destabilized the region. >> reporter: so the connotation to have the tweet, winter is coming, is there will be pain cominr and it's a the death. >> well, this is very much fosed on the iranian regime which is an outlaw regime that onends most to have the money noits own people but on violent misadventures around the middle east. m so tsage the president was trying to convey to the regime e that we are sous about denying them the revenue they need to fund extremism around

the middle east. >> reporter: brian hook, u.s. special representative for iran, thank you very much. >> thanks, nick. >> schifrin: for a different perspective, we turn to trita parisa, founder and former esident of national iranian american council, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving u.s.-iran lations. he's now an adjunct professor at georgetown university and the author of "losing an enemy: obama, iran and the triumph of diplomacy." thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: rejust heard from brian hook se depending the tweet that the presidnt sent out and saying that, regardless of the humanitarian aspect, we are focused on punishing the regime and not the people and if there is blowback on the people, that's regime's fault and not the u.s.'s. >> in the history of sanctions, we've always en that sanctions tend to hit the population much more so than the government. there was a running joke in theg u.ernment during the iraq sanctions in which skeptics inside the government were saying the last chicken sandwich in baghdad will be eaten by

saddam hussein. we can sanction evething but the last person we will reach is the government itself and that has clearly been te parent in iran as well. we saw during thobama sanctions the population was suffering, medicine in particular, and the reason is by sanctioning the banks, even ifdi ne is exempted, if no bank is willing to handle the transactions, the iranians can't buy even simple medicines, that won't be reaching them. >> reporter: the u.s. says imposing pain on the iranian regime as the sanctions do could get iran back to the negotiating table. reat's wrong with that? >> ts an interesting premise of this and brian wass seeing t what got obama succeeding getting the iranians come to the table. that's actually a false reading of what actuay happened. the obama administration put in place very, very tough nsnctions, but the sanctid not bring about the breakthrough i the negotiations. what happened wasecret

negotiations in the country of omar, the united states reachsi the conc the united states couldn't bring iranians to be more compliant p. had -- obama realized sanction would id to military confrontation. >> reporter: iran has the largest missile ballistic -- ballistic missile program in the middle east, uses proxies all over the region. what's wrong or is it important to try to change that behavior? >> certainly, and there's a way to do so, called negotiations. it was a nuclear deal that poarted off addressing the most ant and pressing conflict between the united states and iran, and the idea on all sides was if both sides live up to this end of their bargain and cart building a little bit of a

trust, then start addressing he's other issues, and there are plenty of issues from syr to yemento others, and human rights. but in 40 years, the ustnited es has only been successful in changing a core security policy of iran through negotiations. everythi else it has tried from sanctions to pressure to cyberwars warfare not worked. pe trump administration has chosetven track record of failure instead of building on the track record that actually has had some success. >> reporter: quickly in the thme we have left, the trump administration say iran needs to change all of its behavior and that only pain via sanctions will get them there or lly, youy can actua know, get them to the negotiating table or some kind of capitulation. is that possib? >> i don't think so. first thought we have to keep in mind, the iranis are at the negotiating table. the chinese, russians, europeans are all at the negotiating table. it's the united states under the

trump administration that is not at the negotiating table. the other countries of the p ueus 51 have continued the deal, conttheir conversations. it's the united states that's not at the table and signals there isn't mucsicerity behind the talk about diplomasy. this policy whether by design or unintentional is far more likely to lead to a crisis or war of choice. >> reporter: trita paria, former president of the national iranian-american council, thank you. >> thank you so ch for having me. >> reporter: thank you. u woodruff: with just a few dail the midterm elections, the most recent pbs newshour-npr-marist poll showed democratic congressional candidates with a nine-point advantage over republicans. so just how much attention to give polls became a point of

contention after the 2016 presidential election. in 2016, national polls showed hillary clinton beating donald trump by a little more thants three po she won the popular vote by about two points. hree key states that put trump over the top in the chectoral college: pennsylvania, wisconsin and an-- polls showed clinton winning by beeen four and six points. thump won all three by les 1%. so to plore how polling has changed in the past two years, i'm joined by: menico montanaro, who is the lead political editor for npr. and, patrick murray, the director of the monmouth university polling institute. and we welcome both of you back to the "newshour". so, domenico, it to look back for just a moment, looking e were6, a lot of peo very quick to criticize the polls and say they were all wrong. sau were talking to us today and ng, no, as we just pointed out, it wasn't the national polls, it's what happened in the states. at do you mean by that?

>> well, there's a couple of different things at are going on here. i mean, the fact of the matter is you have a lot of nationenal organizations who are still pretty flush with cash, who are able to pay for pretty good polling across all of the states, right, and yohave, like, a good representative sample of what's happening, but when it comes to the states and congressional districts and the amount of money that can be spent by local tenvis stations, local newspapers, those are drying upand being more difficult to be able to pay for good polling, and i think we saw that with wisconsin and michigan, particular, in 2016, where you didn't have that many polls. and, ankly, i'll just say, i think people should pump the brakes on what they think the expectation should be on tuesday becaoe, you know, when you lok at the states, you know, we have dozens of less polls thn whad in 2014 and 2010. >> woodruff: and i want to ask you about that and turn to you

quickly patrick about is question of what went wrong in 2016. is there somethin that happened two years ago that we should be factor in today? >> right. judy, as you mentioned, it was thstate polls where we saw the problem, not erin evstate but the states that matter. so there were some states where the polls wereat accurbut not the ones up for grabs, the pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan, those types of states. what we saw is education was this a factor in breaking education two years ago, meaning your education level determined whether you would vote democrat or republican in a way we hadn'n efore and polls hadn't made a lot of corrections in the past because itidn't party much. that factor added a couple of point of error to the poll. other factors, we weren't exactly sure who was going to vote in that raece, somlinton voters at the polls did not show op. some trumprs who were not polled at all because they didn't want to talk about ths election. so that's the challenge in 2018.

i remember we fixed the demographics but the other parts mee tough. >> so co -- patrick, you're the one that speandz lot of time looking at the polls -- but, domenico, are things being done differently now to avoid this kind of thing happen g >> i'm glad you have patrick on because, to be honest, one of the innovations i really appreciated in reading monmouth polls is how transparent theg polls been. they released various models of what rious races would look like based on various different shapes oatthe electif they were to turn out to be that way, which is not something we had seen before. we've seen news organizations that help conduct polling, ke the "new york times" doing their live polls -- i think maybe they do too many of them, to be honest -- but showing people if a transparent way how polling works and that these things are not as specific as people try to

make tem out to be. >> woodruff: right. you know airings 6-point lead is not realy a 6-point lead, it's 3 to 9 points with margin of error, generally. >> woodruff: patrick, are you doing thinfegs dirently this time? lessons learned? >> exactly. tre of the innovations we uced at monmouth is looking at the way turnout can be different. we can't predict turnout. we don't know who's going to vote on electionday but we n tell you what it looks like if different types of voters came out and we're trying to convey that level of uncertainty. we have a general sense of t what's goihappen in terms of ups or downs. the democrats are doing much better than theyhave before, we just don't know how many of those seats they're going to win. what we can do and polling should be doing is telling you why, what's the mood to have the electorate, what are the issues that are important, wh are the democrats doing better and ge away from predicting the margin. >> woodruff: get away from the horse rae. under two minutes left.

i want to ask both of you, what should we busting and believing and focusing on in today's polls and what should we be less confident about, domenico? >> i'm reallyglad, first of all, some places have gotten away from the recasting needles, because that was a little misleading. you had feeble refreshing, sang hillary clinton haa 60% chance of winning, that means she's definitely going to win. , that means if that election was one three times, she would win two of the thr. that's different than saying she has a 65-35 lead. i'm glad that was done away . with i think overall people should watchtrends. when you look at trends in our pollg of president trump's approval rate, it has not budged since he was inaugurated. it essentially moved 3 to 6 points from thehigh 30s the mid 40s and this election is essentially baked in.

>> woodruff: finally, patrick murray, wh advice do you ha for all of us who look at polls? >> lk past the horse race, look to the issue questions, try to find out ify there's a st being told, that's what we're trying to do. in this race, one of thstories we're seeing is there are different issues playing out in different regions of the country, so when we're looking at the national blue wave, it's not a national wave, it's a northeastern wave and a midwestern wave and a western and a sun belt and, you know, all going to play out differently and polling can tell us that story. >> wdruff: and it may wash us all away. patrick murry, domenico montanaro, thank you both very much. we appreciate it. >> you're welcome as always. thank you. >> woodruff: so, it is the final friday before election day, and president trump continues firing up his base on the campaign trail. for analysis on that and more, 's's shields and brooks time. thyndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times"

columnist david brooks. hello to both of you. so, david, the president, we have been talking about it all weeks out on the trail, every day in a way presenting a darker and darker pictu of what's going to happen if the migrants come across the border, if we let too many immigrants in, if this happens or that happens. is this a successful strategy on his part? >> yeah, release ago pretty straight-up racist individual -- video ad. it's a surprising strategy. the guy is sitting on the best economy of a lifetime potentially. wages are going up at the bottm of the skill set. he might have a bettestory to tell, you may not like me, but i gave you this goodmycono but that's not what he's doing, he mentions economy but is closing on the immigration. h he says this is the heart and soul of the replican party, building a wall, keeping immigrants out and a message

build on quite a lot of bigotry. >> woodruff: mark, what do you see? >> judy, the earlier segment with heather long in "the washington post" summed up themp gn and the the total disconnect. r woodruff: in the economy. itmarkable. 250,000 jobs, biggest year-to-year increase in wes it's just good news, you think they would be humming happy days are here again, instead thet presid out there saying i'm mad as hell and i'm not taking it anymore. it is a disco at a political level it's pretty obvious it's a red-state strategy to save the senate. llat's what it is. they've basigiven up on the suburbs, i think it's fair to say. if you're barbara comstock sitting here in neighboring northern virginia in fairfax county, i mean, this is not what you want to hear. i mean, you've got a great economy, just a remarkable

economy, 97 consecutive months, you would have to incluobde bark a, obviously, in that, but of job growth. it's a boon. but he just avoids it and basically baits and plays to the darkest fears rather than the aspirations, hopes and inspiration of the american people. w woodruff: thoseish david, you finishh the word bigotry. what kind of long-lasting damage is done now. >> i don't thinkis "wave" the right word ( applause ) because it impli i think the two parties are entrenching. ople in rural america like republicans, people in urban lerica really like democrats and in tt three years there's been not much change in the polls but entrensment i there and people are much more pormly anchored in their tions and that tends to

produce a democratic housth. tragedy is it sows a very serious division in 23 states and it's a sense that you get two different electorates where it's not like they disagree on the issues, they're having two different conversations. so you have that kind of division. then this campaign really sows racial diviions in a pretty naked way, and if it pays of and if the republicans somehow keep the house, that's just like a permission slip to a lot of pretty bad behavior, i think. >> woodruff: you mentioned wave, i think patrick and domenico were saying a smallwa in the northeast, a different wave in the midwest and different parts to have the country. >> is this aeteorological show? (laughter) >> woodruff: mark, you botrr re to this. the president, there was an ad put out by the white house this week showing a man convicted of murder and they were comparing

him to the migrant comin the border. today the president himself tweeted the photograph o himself and talked about sanctions are coming and people made the comparison to "game of thrones," the popular tv series. what are we seeing here? >> i think the historical guide herejudy, for republicans, i think they ought to pause before they plunge into the abyss. tes, californiat and texas, and republicans in texas, certainly under george w. bush as governor, even rick perry, were welcoming and reached out to immigrants, said we share your values, we welcome you. george bush got 45% of hispanic vote in texas when running for governor. innialif by contrast, in 1994, governor pete wilson in a tough reelection race decided to ban any public services

including public schools from the children of undocumented immigrants, and it passed it got pete wilson reelected and made hispanics permanently into mademocratic constituency and california permanently into a blue state. if you're interested in republicans doing well, you could look at the texas example and y that's worked. but, obviously, donald trump has chosen a different course and republicans are following him quite loyally. th if i could make one moral point. e are a lot of ways to be racist. you can use a racial sluyo can say something derogatory. but another way is to take a very unrepresentative, extreme sample in one racial group and pretend they a the typical and that's exactly what this add did and that's a straight-up racist maneuver, and this weird thing is -- weird is an understatement -- is theren really wasn't ad release ford the public, it's a video released so people like me would

complain about it and say, look, the media is complaining, remember how much you hate the media people? so it's designed to yank our chain. we're put in a position of saying what's unacceptable isab sun acce or we allow it to pass. so we're in a no-lose position. ther way trump gets to say you're against those people, those peoplhate me, you're on my side. >> woodruff: and reinforces the point the president making. mark, all this on the heels of a series of pipe bombs mailed to people who were critical to the president, democrats. another mailed to tom steyer, prother one who called for the impeachment ofident trump. and then the shooting in pittsburgh at the synagogue, and we heard the president talk about how that slowed shi momentum. we've come to a moment where i think a lot of people are askinw is this ty it's going to

op, where we just -- where feel released to do more and more acts of violence, that there is something out there that condones or supports that? >> certainly pray not. i don't think there is any argument. whatever donald trump does dll, s not do the job of consol in chief, of uniter. it is not only thersome in charlottesville being a perfect example, i man,pittsburgh, the one saving grace was he didn't say anything when he went to pittsburgh and i think it's fair to say, judy, without being harshly partisan that donald trump, that there's a teleprompter donald trump and an authentic donald trump that we see in tweets and public utterances and, you know, to see him winking and nodding, oh, i'm not saying anything bad at his rallies, oh, aren't i being a good boy, it was so

offensive, it was helsinki, it was charlottesville and pittsburgh, and they complained that the massacre of 11 americans because of their religion by a hate merchant was somehow an interruption is really insensitive. >> i would say when you have a lot of social breakdown and social isolation, you have a tinderbox. you have a lot of lonely young tsn. this guy in pirgh had no friends in high school, a few friends in adultho. id he lived in his own world, sitting in his car smoking,in listto his radio. sometimes people make a desperate bid going from insignificance to infamy by doing something big and they sometimes the it by killing then when you throw extremism on to that tinderbox, yore going to wind up with a lot of this. so it's those two things, i

think, that have createde massive shootings sometimes against innocent school kids, sometimes against innocent worshipers of the synagosogue. t takes both those elements, but we have a lot of both those elements. we have a lot of isolation and extremism. >> woodruff: so as we come mawn to not even four days, , until election day, is there a message, a clear message from demorats? do they need to be united in a message? what are we hearing? ra>> well, the dem have essentially been -- ae going to be a check, a balance restored, are going be a check on donald trump, obviously emphasize healthcare and the republicans voting 54 times o repeal the affordable care act and saying, -ll, but we wan to preserve the pr pre-existing condition. there isn't an ovrching democratic message. i think the democrats in the aace to have the caravan have

not ha coherent or united message to answer for it. i think at some point they have to say cert that -- they have to assert that illegal immigration iz illegal and, while we reco the suffering of people, that this can't be accepted and the only answer i not just they're a thousand miles away and it's going to be a month before they get here, i think that's been a lack of the democratic policy. >> woodruff: sending troops to yle border and ending illegal . what do you hear? >> we afford dsity. someone should say we're for diveity and believe it's good for the country. i wish more democrats would do that or republicans. the key word is unraveling. there is a sense on both the democratic and republican si s ething is unraveling and they tell radically different stories. from reblican side, immigration is closing, social

untravelling. media is causing cultural unraveling, unraveling between men, women, gender roles. raere is a sense of norms that ruling and unity that'sng unrave it's not about the election but existential angst and that something is happening in our society. so yes, about healthce and immigration, but there's a much ieper sense of anxiety that i think thwhat the election is really about. >> woodruff: which raises questions about at the results are. how does that shift? >> it's going to be arealigning election. at the end of this elti, you will see groups who have never voted democratic before voting overwhelmingly democratic including suburban and high education voters and people who voted democratic all their rumps, have gone to the t side. >> woodruff: we are so glad the two of you will be with us on election night all night long. mark shields, david brooks, thank you.

>> thank you. io woodruff: a major legal case about college admi wrapped up today in boston. it concerns whether harvard-- one of the most selective schools in the world-- is unfairly discriminating against asian american applicants. but as william brangham reports, many believe the case could also have implications for affirmative action nationwide. it is part of our ongoing look at ways of "rethinking college." >> brangham: the case alleges that highly qualified asian american applicants are being denied admission because harvard is using other, non-academic asures to intentionally keep their numbers down. this trialas certainly shed some unflattering light on the inner workings of harvard's admissions process, but it's also worrying many supporters of affirmative action. that's because the case is being

cepherded by a man named edward blum, a well-knoservative legal activist who's twice before brought major cases to eliminate affirmative acn.on in educat for more on this case, i'm joined now by kirk ccaapezza, an eon reporter at our sier station wgbh in bosto he's been following this very closely. kirk, welcome to the "newshour". >> good to be here. >> reporter: the group representing these asian-american students allege harvard is intentionally discriminating against them. can you tell us a little bit more in what is their argument? >> the group argues harvard's is systematically rating these students lower on naperso scores. in their closing arguments today the plainffs' lawyers said harvard is stereotyping asian-american, describing them as quiet, math or science oriented, book smart. they are cusing thof racial balancing which the supreme court ruleis illegal, you

can't use quotas in college admission. >> reporter: tlyy're basic arguing that if you took those racial ciderations out of it, that these highly qualified students would be getting into harvard at higher rates than they are now, is that right? >> that's right, this group hired an economist, duke economist, he looked x years of harvard's admissions database and found asian-american are being discriminated against. he also found african-americans and hispanics are punch more likely to be aitted if you do not consider the personal scores. efurthered that as racial preferences. >> reporter: as i mentioned in the introduction that thtrial has shed some somewhat unsavory light on the inr workings of lirvard's admissions process. can you tell us le bit about what was discovered? >> right, this tri three weeks and what struck me most is how complicated theow

process is andmany layers there are and how many factors harvard said it consids when deciding which students to admit and which not to admit. in this case, shows the legacy preferences, tipping the scales for udents, the sons d daughters of alumni, people who give money to harvard. i think, from a p.o. perspective, harvard, of course, didn't wish -- it's process was being, you know, splashed across the newspapers herthe. but k it's also eye opening for a rot of people to see how much careful consideration they take when deciding which students to admit. >> reporter: what was harvard's rebuttal to this? ey're obviously being accused day in, day out of racial bias, what's been the overarching thrust of their defense? >> harvard says the daa speaks for themselves. harvard says asianmerican now make up about 22% of admitted

students, that is 6% of the u.s. population. harvard is saying thatthey want to build a diverse class, that when they're educating future leader, they want to make sure there is a lot of diversity on campus so people are experiencing people from different backounds. so they point to a decision in 1978where is t supreme court pointed to harvard as the model in higher education when considering race and race can be one factor among many to decidet which studeno admit. >> reporter: edward blum is this man who has brought ny cases that very overtly try to chip away affirmative action in education. set's say he wins this case. what's youe about what the impact on affirmative action more broadly could be? >> a lot of people in higher ed, a lot of leaders think this is a backdoor tact on the cooperation

cooperatio-- in the consideration of race. one leader said this case goes to the heart oo whwe are as a society and we're debating the hat attitudes higher education institutions can use when building a class. the trial ended today, the judge is expected to makeul ag early next year. whoever loses, they're expected to appeal this case and many legal experts think it could ultimately reach the supreme court, ani with juce kavanaugh and the court now leaning more conservative, a lot ofwo peoplry this could mark the end of affirmative action. >> reporte kirk carapezza, wgbh news, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: finally tonight, an unusual food and arts festival aimed at bridging the urban/rural divide in central wisconsin. jeffrey brown reports from the

city of reedsburg. it's part of his "american creators" serie ♪ ♪ >> brown: it's called "fermentation fest." a celebration of wisconsin rural life, and all things fermented. cheese and beer, of course. but also, bread. kombucha. rmd kefir. fetation involves the chemical breakdown of vegetables, fruits andther organic material to extend their use and create new tastes. but this two-week gathering every fall, start seven years ago by husband-and-wife team donna neuwirth andalinas, also comes with a bigger idea. >> the idea of fermentation as a metaphor-- i mean, that it's controlled rot. things break down, inevitably, but in the right circumstances, they then turn into delicious products, that--

>> something that adds longer shelf life, dense nutrients, strong flavors, and e cases, altered states of consciousness. so, as the metaphor-- if we're in this time of rot, we can harvest it at just the right moment. >> brown: neuwirth and salinas are artists who first met in chicago. but 20 years ago, tired of city life, they packed their bags and bought a farm outside reedsburg, a small community in sauk county. when you came out here, did you know anything about farming? >> zero. >> brown: zero? >> we had one tomato plant on our fire escape in chicago, which never produced fruit. >> brown: soon, they were producing so much food, they migan to sell it to chicago es through subscriptions. at the same time, their artist viiends from the city would t and help with chores. it was the beginning of what would grow into "ferntation fest," with a goal of helping bridge the rural/urban divide. >> i think underlying that

divide is a deep connection. 80% of what any farmer grows goes to an urban consumer, and so urban people are involved in all the decisions made how land is used in this country. >> brown: the festival draws urban visitors to meet and mix with local farmers. >> we have carrot kraut with juniper berries in it, which is good for digestion. >> brown: there are classes and tastings. linda conroy showed me the benefits of fermented herbs. this is green cabbage a caraway. >> brown: and tara whitsett, dubbed "the jony appleseed of pickling" by the "new york times," introduced me to the wonders of sauerkraut. for five years, she's been aveling the u.s. in a tricked-out school bus she uses as a kitchen and lab. >> fermentation has been a revelation in my life. i just realized how disconnected i was from, like, the natural world and microbes and ecosystems. >> brown: in addition to food,

there's art, along a 50-mile driving tour past farms that play host to professional juried art installations. fourth generation dairy farmer y pat mccluss often welcomed artists onto his land. five years ago, it was peter krsko, an artist from washington, d.c., who created a piece called "tree from within." >> he used a bunch of brush and hollowed out the inside. i helped him haul almost all the brush to be used. and it was fun. just watching how they think-- >> brown: how they thi >> yeah. they think way different than i do. >> maybe this would be better if we shifted it back a little. >> brown: mccluskey was so inspired, heegan building his own sculptures. this year, it was a giant cow sphinx and pyramid, made from interconnecting hay bales: another metaphor. >> we do much the same thing here at our farm store. we have concerts and we get people from a lot of different

urban settings. and we try to build community that way. >> brown: based on the idea that there's a growing divide between the rural and the city? >> right. the disconnect is getting bigger and bigger. >> so this is the front door. it's been great to watch how people interact with this structure. >> brown: madison-based artist sarah fitzsimons constructed a ghost-like outline of a family farm on mccluskey land. exploring boundaries: indoor and outdoor, agriculture and art, rural and urban. >> i think a big part of that divide is, you don't socialize with each other. and if we don't come into contact with people in other bubbles, that's only going to strengthen the divide. >> brown: the divisions here, as everywhere, are also political: 20is region split almost down the middle i, with donald trump winning sauk county by just 100 votes. jay salinas said the election made their work feel ever more

urgent. >> it's something we've certainly become much more cognizant, after having woken in early november 2016, and see those electoral maps. and see these islands of blue in seas of red. and so, regardless of what you thought of the outcoon of the electhat is not a healthy dynamic. >> brown: islands of blue being the urban-- >> yeah, ectly. and then the red being the productive farmland. >> brown: festival attendee mike st. john, who told us heotes mostly republican, says local culture has changed with the divisive politics. >> nobody talks to anybody. >> brown: nobody talks to anybody? >> yeah. i mean, i'm often curious as to why a lot of people believe some things, but you can never talk to them and have a conversation about it because they'd go off the handle. >> brown: so, what does america today sound like? artist david sanchez burr took the cacophony and, here in a ngsconsin field, blended it into

a stsoundscape he calls "nowhere radio." >> the idea is to have people collaborate with me on projects. inviting everyone to be a part of this audio experience. >> brown: somewhere in here: the ngunds of pigs, someone reading a poem about a faiamily farm. >> the lights went out on the farm for the last time tonight. >> if we train ourselves to speak to each other, this is a vehicle that could work for that. can an artwork actually change something? perhaps, perhapsot. but the effort is there to give voice, and i think that that's something that's needed. >> brown: a fine thought, in a county and country full ferment. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in nowhere radio, north freem, wisconsin.

>> woodruff: a reminder, with the midterm elections next ltuesday, we'll have spec coverage all that night. that's next tuesday night beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00 pacific. and we'll be back, right here, on monday with a look at this weekend rallies.nute campaign that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. make your plans to vote if you haven't already. have a great weekend. orank you and good night. >> major funding fhe pbs newshour has been provided by: >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. d supporting social entrepreneurs their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more tn 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by wg media access group a

hello, eryone, and welcome to "amanpour & wco." heret's coming up. a gruesome new theory about what ppened to the body of the slain saudi journalist, jamal khashoi. i'll ask the vice chair of the enate intelligence committee, senator markwarner, about this and about government after the midterms. then, as president trump ratchets up his midterm rhetoric, we talto marcshort, his former director of legislative affairs. plus, is amerill rea as divided at is seems? republican congressman garrett graves tells our walter isaacson why cross-party cooperation might still beossible.