captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: just four days until the elections. new job numbers signal a strong economy, as voters head to the polls. it's friday. mark shields and david brooks examine how both parties are tryi to bolster their bases. plus, cheese, beer and kambucha. jeffrey brown visits a festival in wisconsin aimed to bridge the rural/urban divide, and celebrate all things fermented. >> the idea of fmentation 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. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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weekend before the midterm elections, and the verbal combat um heating up tonight between president trand his predecessor. in miami this afternoon, former president obama rallier democrats in florida's governor d senate races. without naming mr. trump, he urged voters to reject political division >> i'm hopeful that we will cut through the lies, block out the noise, and remembewe are and who we are called to be. i'm hopeful that out of this political darkness, i see a great awakening of citizenship all across the country. >> woodruff: later, president 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 abouth. telling the tr lie after lie, broken promise

after broken promise, that's what he did. unlike president obama, we live 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. "cording to cohen, mr. trump responded,at's because black people are too stupid to vote for me." iohen has pleaded guilty to campaign financetions, and is now cooperating with federal prosecutors. the president appeared to backtrack today on suggesting that u.s. soldiers migot migrants who throw rocks at them. instead,e said rock-throwers will be locked up for a long time. later, halso said he hopes asere will be no more shooting. the f.b.i.ecovered a second apparent pipe bomb addressed to billionaire tom

steyer. officials say it is similar to others allegedly mailed to top democrats and crics 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 miami. the u.s. economy turned in a brong performance last month, the last numbeore 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 ince 2009. and, unemployment held at 3.7%, a figure that white house economist kevin hassett welcomed. >> there's a big increasing labor force participation, and since president trump was elected, 1.3 million people who e,were out of the labor foho were disconnected from work, ifd, you know, a satisfying productiveoccupation, have reconnected and gotten jobs.

>> woodruff: separately, the u.s. trade deficit expanded in september for the fourth straight month. it was fueled by a record imbance with china. we will take a closer look at all this after the news summary. this was theinal day of the funerals for victims of the synagogue massacre in pittsburgh. in all, 11 people were kled by a gunman last saturday. the oldest, 97-year-old rose mallinger, was laid to rest today. new warnings today from the united nations, on fame conditions in yemen. the u.n. population fund said some two million yemeni mothers face starvation. and in new york, secretary- general antonio guterres said that yemen is standing at a precipice. >> yemen today stands on the precipice. on the humanitarian side, the situation is desperate. we must do all we can to prevent the already dire conditis from deteriorating into the worst

famine we have seen in decades. but on the politice, there are signs of hope, and we must do all we can to maximize the chances fosuccess. >> woodruff: earlier this week, the united states also called for a halt to the fighting in almen. it pits a sunni ion led by saudi arabia against shiite rebels aligned with iran.ba in this country, drug overdose deaths rose to an all-time high in 2017, driven by the opioid crisis. the drug enforcement agency oreports 72,000 people di overdoses last year, about 200 a day. and that is nearly twice the numbers of traffic fatalaties and gun each year. the u.s. supreme court late today refuseto delay a trial over adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census. n states and cities are challenging the decision to include the question for the first time since 1950. the trial is now set to begin monday. and on wall street, the rally

ended as tech ares slumped. the dow jones industrial average lost 110 points to close at 25,270.th nasdaq fell 77, and the s&p 500 slipped 17. ant all three indexes still gained more % for the week. for the s&p and the nasdaq, it s the best week since may. still to come on the newshour: we look at the latest jobs report, which shows average 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. >> woodruff: as we just heard, the monthly jobs reporcame

with lots of good news today, just four days before the election, and building again on eight-plus consecutive years of job growth. amna nawaz gets me quick takeaways about the larger picture. >> nawaz: judy, some of the better news: a quarter of a million new jobs we added. the wage boost-- 3%, year over year-- is the best since 2009. and the official unemploymentin rate itself reat its lowest rate in decades. but, there are still concerns over trade and tariffs, anthe stock market has been especially volatile throughout october. the dow jones indusaverage has given back all of its gains for the year. for more, let's bring in heather long. she's an economics correspondent for the "washington post," and joins me now. welcome to the "ne thour". >> grebe here. let's dig into this now. the report is a snapshot if time, what really matters are the underlying trends. so what are you seeing here? whatre the trends behind these numbers? >> these are great numbers that we've seen today. it's obviously been 97 straighob months of gains in the united states. that's never happened before, that kind of a record. so this has been going on for a while.

it's not like it just started in totober of this year, but it is unusuae seeing such strong job gains this late if an economic cycle. so this far along. and i was particularly pleased to see that the job gains were across the board. every major sector of the economy is adding jobs and manufacturing and a mber of blue collar jobs we're seeing the fastest job gain since 1984. so we are seeing some especially strong numbers right now. >> reporter: that wage growth, being the best since 2009, a rot s people are looking at that. what dat mean? market gains finally making their way down to the average workers and will that growth continue?ea >> that's a question. this is the first number we've seen above 3% since 2009, s o it'sgoing 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 in rising costs of gas and rent is

more like .8 to 1al% re growth gained. so we want to keep seeing that number go higher. an important point is the latist unemployment was this low back in 2000, wage gains were 2.5 to 4%, so we've got more room to run. >> reporter: youentioned the volatility we saw last month, really big swings in oober in the markets. what was feeding that and can we expect more this month? >> some of that we saw again today as the markets were upand then down, and that's from this debate about is thech u.s.-a 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 fiscal stimulus, that's all pushed profits igerbut a lot of people say is it really going to keep going in 2019 and 2020 or are we going to start sliding down posbly into a recession?

nobody quite knows that right now. there's a huge debate going on and that's why you're seeing the volatility in the >> reporter: are we going to see another interest rate hike from the fed before the end of the year? >> after today's jobs report, it's a certaint aost a certainty, never can sa100% certain, but unless something crazy happens the interest rates are going nierg decber and probably next year. >> reporter: heather long of "the washington post." thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the trump administration 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 sin withdrawing from the hean nuclear deal. >> schifrin: judy,.s. will re-impose a massive set nc sations that had been relieved under that nuclear deal in

prchange for a freeze on iran's nuclearam. the sanctions target more than 700 entities, and the heart of iran's economy. they prohibit the sale of iranian oil, which accounts for the vast majority of the country's revenue. they target iranian financial institutions, including its central bank. target state-run ports and shipping firms. the man helping lead iran policy is brian hook, special advisor to the secretary of state and special representative for iran. i spoke with him earlieroday. well, the purpose of reimposing the sanctions under the prior administration is to deny iran the revenue it uses to destabilize the middle east and proliferate missiles and commit acts of cyberterrorism. there's a range of threats to peace and security irats pres we're going to have to go after the money if we get to the threats. the other purpose of the sanctions is tout susht pressure on this regime if they

eecide to come back to th negotiating table so we can get a new and better deal. >> reporter: the saons lay out a desired goal to get iranian oiexports to zero. you've laid out eight exceptions. turkey, iraqwin firmed, other ,ountries,, italy, india, japan south korea, if iran acts positively, would you consider giving more excepthiions? >> i our goal is to deny iran the revenue it needs% 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 market. the challenge we've had is ensuring that as we advance our national securesy object with iran that we don't inadvertently increase the price of oilin i going forward, next year, we anticipate a much betterupplied owl market and that will help us accelerate i think the path to zero. o>> reporter: you meanu

expect not to give any exceptions beyond the next six months. >> we are not lookingo give any exceptions or waivers to our sanctions regime. >> reporter: one of the criticisms of the sanctions is they are self-defeating, that you are disempowering an iranian people who want to work with you and encouraging thedea among iranians that diplomacy with the west doesn't work mbut whght work is regional proxies and the use of the very actions that you are trying to prevent. >> i think the historical record esn't quite support that as recently as three or four years ago, when the prior administration entered into talks, the only reason the regime came to the table was because they had been under multi-lateral and un sanctions for many years. this is a regime that over its 39 year history oy 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 is humanitarian goods.

a european official i talked to said you made an exction of humanitarian goods in name only because attend of the day les medicine is getting in and prices are going up. so you say you're not trying to impoles pain on the iranian people but the criticism is you >> we've made it clr clear to banks all over the world tota faci food, medicine and medical devices into iran. the problem is iranian banks not in compliance with financial standards. they're dark banks, dirty banks. >>. >> reporter but that is because of what you're doing. the actions you'rtaking mean less food and medicine -- >> no, that's not true. this has created a sphadges sector where you can't follow the money causing 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 iranian people. >> reporter: i'm going to show you a tweet the ident sent out today. the tweet is "sanctions are coming." usis is an obvio reference to winter is coming from the hbo

show "game of thrones." 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 stated policy is not regime chang >> it's very clear that sanctions are coming and they are going to beim rosed monday. these were sanctions that were lifted for the last few yearsdu. ng that period the iranian regime used the sanctions relief it was given and spit in syria and lebanon, yemen and iraq, and that has greatly destabilized the region. >> reporter: so the connotation to have the tweet, wint is coming, is there will be pain coming and it's a war to .he death >> well, this is very much focused on the iranian regime which is an outlaw regime that spends most to have the money not on its own people but on violent misadventures around the middle east. so the message the president was ying to convey to the regime is that we are serious about denying them the revenue they need to fund extremism around

the middle east. >> reporter: brian hook, u.s. special representative for ira m thank you vech. >> thanks, nick. w schifrin: for a different perspectivturn to trita parisa, founder and former president of national iranian american council, a non-ofit organization dedicated to improving u.s.-iran relations. y 's now an adjunct professor at georgetown universd the d thor of "losing an enemy: obama, iran e triumph of diplomacy." thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: rejbrt heard from n hook se depending the tweet that the president sent out and saying that,ssegard 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, wee always seen that sanctions chnd to hit the population mu more so than the government. there was a running joke in the u.s. government during the iraq sanctions in whichkeptics inside the government were saying the last chicken sandwich in baghdad will be eaten by

saddam hussein. we cananction everything but the last person we will reach is the government itself and that has clerly been thparent in iran as well. we saw duringa the obam sanctions the population was suffering, medicine in particular, and the reason is by sanctioninvethe banks, eif medicine is exempted, if no bank isilling to handle the transactions, the iranians can't buy evenmple medicines, that won't be reaching them.e >> reporter: .s. says imposing pain on the iranian regime as the sanctions do couln get back to the negotiating table. what's wrong with that? >> there is an interesting premise of this and brian was seeing this is what got obama succeeding getting t iranians come to the table. that's actually a false reading of what actually happened. the obama administration put in place very, very tough sanctions, b the sanctions did not bring about the breakthrough in the negotiations. wh happened was, in secre

negotiations in the country of omar, the united states reached the conclusion the united states couldn't bring irani to be more compliant p. had -- obama realized sanction would id more to military confrontation. >> reporter: iran has the largest missile ballistic -- ballistic missile program in the middle east, uses proxies over the region. what's wrong or is it important to try to change that behavior? >> certainly, and there's a way to do , called negotiations. it was a nuclear deal ofat starteaddressing the most important and pressing conflict itween the united states and iran, and thedea on all sides was if both sides live up to this end of their bargain and start buildin a little bit of a

trust, then we can start addressing he's other issues,e and there enty of issues from syria to yemen to others, and human ights. but in 40 years, the united states has only been successful in changing a core security policy of iran through negotiations. everything else it has tried from sanctions to pressure to cyberwar warfare has not worked. the trump administration has choseton proven track record of ing one instead of build the track record that actually has had some success. >> reporter: quickly in the time we have left, the trump adnistration says that ir needs to change all of its behavior and that only pain a sanctions will get them there or that they can actually, you know, get them to the negotiating table or some kind of capitulation. ishat possible? >> i don't think so. first thought we have to keep in mind, the iranians are at e 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 plus 51 have continued th deal, continued their conversations. it's the united states that's not at the table and signals there isn't much sinceri 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 parisa, former president of the national iranian-american council, thank you. >> thank you so much for hang me. >> reporter: thank you. >> woodruf with just a few days until the midterm elections, the most recent pbs newshour-npr-marist howed democratic congressional candidates with a nine-point advantage over republicans. po just how much attention to give polls became t of

contention after the 2016 presidential election. 6, national polls showed hillary clinton beating donald trump by a little more than three points. she won the popular vote by about two points. but in three key sumtes that put over the top in the electoral college: pennsylvania, lssconsin and michigan-- p showed clinton winning by between four a six points. trump won all three by less than 1%. so to explore how polling has changed in the pt two years, onm joined by: domeniconaro, 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, i want to look back for just a oment, looking at 2016, a lot of people were very quick to criticize the polls and say they were all wrong. , u were talking to us today and saying, we just pointed out, it wasn't the national polls, it's what happened in the stu es. what do an by that?

>> well, there's a couple of different things that are go on here. i mean, the fact of the matter is you have a lot of natiozal news orgaons who are still pretty flush with cash, who are able to pay for pretty good lling across all of t states, right, and you have, like, a good representative sale of what's happening, but when it comes to the states andg ssional districts and the amount of money that can be spent by local television stations, local newspapers, those are drying up and being more difficult to be able to pay for good pog, and i think we saw that with wisconsin and michigan, in particular, in 2016, where you didn't havethat many polls. and, frankly, i'll just say, i think people should pump the brakes on what they think the expectation should be on tuesday when you lookno at the states, you know, we have dozens of less polls thadwe ha in 2014 and 2010. >> woodruff: and i want to ask you about that and turn to you

quickly patrick about this question of what went wrong in 2016. is there something else that happened two years ago that we shld be factor in today? >> right. judy, as you mentioned, it was the state polls where we saw the problem, not in every state the states that matter. so there were some states where the polls wereccurate bunot the ones up for grabs, the pennsylvania, wisconn, and michigan, those types of states. what we saw is eduction wa such a factor in breaking this education two years ago, meaning your education levedetermined whether you would vote democrat dr republican in a way we hadn't seen before olls hadn't made a lot of corrections in the past becase it didparty much. that factor added a couple of point of error to the polls. other factors, we weren't exactly sure who was going to vote in that racesome clinton voters at the polls did not show up. some trump voters who were not polled at all cause they didn't want to talk about this election. so that's the challenge in018.

i remember we fixed the demographics but the other parts are tough. >> so domenico -- patrick, you're the one that speandz lot of time looking at the polls -- but, domenico, are things being done differently now to avoidth kind of thing happening again? es i'm glad you have patrick on because, to be h one of the innovations i really appreciated in reading monmouth polls is how transparent the polling has been. they released various models of what variouss ra would look like based on various different shapes of thehlectorate ifey were to turn out to be that way, which is not something we had seen before. ws organizations that help conduct polling, like the "new york times" doing their live polls -- i think maybe they do too many of them, to be honest -- but showing people if ingransparent way how poll works and that these things are not as specific as people try to

make th out tobe. >> woodruff: right. you know airings 6-point lead is not realla 6-point lead, it's 3 to 9 points with margins of error, generally. >> woodruff: patrick, are you doing things differently this time? lessons learned? >> exactly. moe of the innovations we introduced amouth is looking at the way turnout can be different. we can't predicturnout. we don't know who's going to vote on election day but w can tell you what it looks like if different types of voters came out and we're trying to convey that level of uncertainty. we havea general sense of what's going to happen in terms of ups or downs.at the demoare doing much better than they have before, we sest don't know how many of thoss 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, why are the democrats doing better and ge t awrom predicting the margin. >> woodruff: get away from the horse race. under two minutes left.

i want ask both of you, what should we be trusting and believing and focusi on in today's polls and what should we be less confint about, domenico? >> i'm really glad, firs all, some places have gotten away from the forecasting needles, because that was a .ttle misleadi you had feeble refreshing, saying hillary clinton has a 60% chance of winning, that means she's definitely going to win. no, that means if that election was one three times, she would win two of the three. that's different than saying she has a 65-35 lead i'm glad that was done away . with i think overall people should wah trends. when you look at trends in our polling of president trump's approval rate, it has not budged since he was inaugurated. o essentially moved 3 points from the high 30s to the mid 40s and this election essentially baked in.

>> woodruff: finally, patrick murray, what advice do you have for all of us who look at polls? >> look past theorse rac look to the issue questions, try to find out if there's a story being told, that's what we're trying to do. in this race, one of the stories we're seeing is there are different isss playing out in different regions of the kingtry, so when we're l 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. >> woodruff: andit may wa us all away. y,patrick murraomenico 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 til. for analysis on that and more, d 's shields and brooks time. that's syndicalumnist mark shields, and "new york times"

columnist david brooks. hello to both of you. so, david, the president, we ouve been talking about it all weekon the trail, every day in a way presenting a darker and darker picture of at's going to happen if the migrants come across the border, if we t too many immigrants in, if this happens or that happens. is this a successful strategy on his part? >>eah, 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 bottom of the skill set. he might have a better story to tell, you may not like me, but i gave you this good economy. 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 republican party, building a wall, keeping immigrants out anda message

build on quite a lot of bigotry. >> woodruff: mark, what do you see? >> jy, th earlier segment with heather long in "the washington post" summed up the campaign and the the total disconnect. oodruff: in the economy. it's remarkable. 250,000 jobs, biggest ,ear-to-year increase in wage it's just good news, you think they would be humming happy days are here again, instead the president is out there saying i'm mad as hl and i'm not taking it anymore. it is a disconnect,nd i think at political level it's pretty obvious it's ad- rstate strategy to save the senate. that's what it is. they've basically given up on the suburbs, i think it's fair to say. kf you're barbara comstoc sitting here in neighboring northern virginia in faaxirf county, i mean, this is not what you want to hear. i mean, you've got a great economy, just a remarkle

economy, 97 consecutive months, you would have to include barusk obama, obv, 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. >> woodruff: thoseish david, you finished with thed bigotry. what kind of long-lasting damage is done now. >> i don't think "wave" is the apght word ause ) because it implies movement. i think the two partiesare entrenching. people in rural america like republicans, people in urban america really like democrats and in the last thres there's been not much change in the polls but entrenchment is there and people are much more dirmly anchored in their positions hat tends to

produce a democratic house. the trgedy 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. en this campaign really sows racial divisions in a pretty naked way, and if it pays offif anhe republicans somehow keep the house, lthat's justike a permission slip to a lot of pretty bad behavior, i think. >> woodruff: you mentioned wave, i think patrick and domenico were saying a small wave in the northeast, a different wave in the midwest and different parts to have the country. >> is this a meteorological show? (laughter) >> woodruff: mark, you both referred to this. the president, there was an ad put out by the white house this week showin g a mannvicted of murder and they were comparing

him to the migrant coming acrose border. today the president himself f eeted the photograph of himsd talked about sanctions are coming and people made comparison to "game of thrones," the popul tv series. what are we seeing here? >> i think the historical guide here, judy, f republicans, i think they ought to pause before they plunge into the abyss. two different states, cafornia and texas, and republicans in texas, certainly under george w. bush as governor, even rick herry, were welcoming and reout to immigrants, said we share your values, we welcome you. george bush got 45% of hispanic vote in texasngwhen runnor governor. in california, by contrast, in 1994, governor pete wilson in a tough reelection race decideto ban any public services including public schools from

the children of undocumented immigrants, and it passed. it got pete wilson reel ctand made hispanics permanently into a democratic constituency and made california permanently into a blue state. if you're interested in republicans doinwell, you could look at the texas example and say that's worked. but,rubviously, donaldp has chosen a different course and republicans are following him quite loyally. >> if i d make one moral point. there are a lot of ways to be racist. n use a racial slur. you can say something derogatoryy but another to take a very unrepresentative, extreme sample in one racial group and pretend they are the typical and that's exactly whatthis addid and that's a straight-up racist aneuver, and this weird thing is -- weird an understatement -- is there really wasn't an ad release ford the public, it's video ad released so people like mwould

complain about it and say, look, the media is comaining, remember how much you hate the media people? so it's designed to yank our chain. we're put in a position ofng sawhat's unacceptable is sun acceptable or we allow it to pass. so we're in a no-lose position. either way trump gets to say you're against those people, those people hate me, you're on my side. >> woodruff: and reorces the point the president is making. mark, all this on the heels of a series of pipe bombs mailed to peopleho were critical to the president, democrats. other mailed to tom steyer, another one who called for the impeachment of president trump. and then the shooting in pittsburgh at the synagogue, and we heard the president abtalk t how that slowed his momentum. we've come to a moment where i think a lot of people are asking is this the way it's going to

be, where weust -- where people feel released to do more erd more acts of violence, that is something out there that condones or supports that? >> i certainlypray not. i don't think there is any argument. whatever donald trump does well, he does not o the job of consoler in chief,of uniter. it is not only bothersome in charlottesville being a perfe example, i mean, pittsburgh, the one saving grace was he didn't say anything when he went to pittsburgh publicly.th and k it's fair to say, judy, without being harshly partisan that donald trump, that there's ampelepr 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 anyting 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 complthaind 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 bcialakdown and social isolation, you have a tinderbox. you have a lot of lonely young men. th guy in pittsburgh hao friends in high school, a few friends in adulthood.ve said he in his own world, sitting in his car smoking, listening to his radio. sometimes pele make a desperate bid going from insignificance to infamy bsoy dointhing big and they sometimes the it by killing inno wnts. thn you throw extremism on to that tinderbox, you're going to wind up with a lot of this. so it's those two things, i think, that he created the

massive shootings sometimes against innocent school kids, sometimes against innocent worshipers of the synagogues so it toth those elements, but we have a lot of both those elements. ve a lot of isolation and extremism. >> woodruff: so as we come wn to not evfour days, mark, until election day, is there a message, a clear message from democ do they need to be united in a message? what are we hearing? >> well,the democrats hav essentially been -- ae going to be a check, a balance restored, are goin a check on donald trump, obviously emphasize healthcare and the republicans voting 54 times to repeal theac affordable carand saying, well, but we want to preserve the prix -- pre-existing condition. there isn't rcan overang democratic message. i think the democrats in the face to have he caravan have nst had a coherent or united

message tor for it. i think at some point they have oo say cert that -- they have t assert that illegal immigration is illegal and, while we recognize the suffering of people, that this can't be accepted and the only answer is awt just they're a thousand miley and it's going to be a month before they get here, i think that's been a lack of the democratic policy. rd woodruff: sending troops to the and ending illegal what do you hear? >> we afford diversity. someone should say we're for diversity and believe it's good for the country. i wish moreemocrats would do that or republicans. the key word is unraveling. there is a sense on both the democratic and republican side is somethings unraveling and they tell radically different stories. from republican side, immigration is closing, social untravelling.

media is causing cultural unraveling, unraveling between men, women, gender roles. dhere is a sense of norms that run raveling unity that's unraveling. it's not about the election but existetial angst and fear tha something is happening in our society. so yes, about healthcare and immigration, but there's a much teper sense of anxiety that i think this is wha election is really about. >> woodruff: which raises questions about what the results are. how does that shift? >> it's going to be areagning election. at the end of this election, you will see groups who have never voted democratic before voting overwhelmingly democratic including suburban and high education voters and people wh voted democratic all their lives, have gone to the tsimp . >> 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. >> woodruff: a major legal case about college admissions wrapped up today in boston. 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 ng ways of "rethinking college." >> bm: the case alleges that highly qualified asian american alicants are being denied admission because harvard o using other, non-academic measurestentionally keep their numbers down. this trial has certainly shed some unflattering light on the inner workings of harvard's admissions processbut it's also worrying many supporters of sefirmative action. that's beche case is being

shepherded by a man named edward ble, a well-known conservat legal activist who's twice before brought major cases to eliminate affirmative action in education. for more on this case, i'm teined now by kirk carapezza, an education repat our sister station wgbh in boston.'s een following this very closely. kirk, welcome to the d ewshour". >> g be here. >> reporter: the group representingichese asian-am students allege harvard is intentionally discriminating against them. le bitu tell us a lit more in what is their argument? >> the grorvup argues d's is systematically rating these students lower on personal scores. in their closing arguments today the plaintiffs' lawyers said harvard is stereotyping asian-american, describing them as quiet, math or science oriented, book smart. they are accusing athem of ral balancing which the supreme court ruled is illega you

can't use quotas in college admission. >> reporter: they're basially arguing that if you took those racial considerations out of it, thatiehese highly qualid students would be getting into harvard at higher rates tha they are now, is that right? >> that's right, this group hired an economist, duke economis he looked at six years of harvard's admissions tabase and found asian-american are being discriminated against. he alson-ound afrimericans and hispanics are punch more ikely to be admitted if you do not considhe personal scores. efurthed that as racial preferences. >> reporter: as i mentioned in the introduction thatthe tri has shed some somewhat unsavory lit on the inner workings of harvard's admissions process. cayou tell us a little bit about what was discovered? >> right, this trial lastee theks and what struck me most is how complicated the

process is and how many layers there are and honyw maactors harvard said it considers when deciding which students to admit and which not to admit. in this case, shows the legacy preferences, tipping the scales for students, thsons and daughters of alumni, people who give money to harvard. i think, from a p.o. perspective, harvard, of course, dn't wish -- it's process was being, you know, splashed across the newspapers here. but i think it's also eye lening for a rot of peto see how much careful consideration they take when deciding which students to admit. >> reporter: what was virvard's rebuttal to this? they're sly being accused day in, day out of racial bias, what's been the overarching thrust ofheir defense? >> harvard says the data speaks for themselves. harvard says asian-american now make up about 22% of aditted

.s.dents, that is 6% of the u population. harvard is saying that they want to build a sever 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 backgrounds. so they point to a decion in 1978 where is t supreme court pointed to harvard as the model in higher education when considering race and race can be one factor among omany decide which students to admit. >> reporter: edward blum is this man who has brought many cases that very overtly try to chip away affie action in education. let's say he wins this case. what's your sense ahat the impact on affirmative action more broadly could be? >> a lot of people inigher ed, a lot of leaders think this is a backdoor tact on the cooperation

cooperation -- in the consideration of race. one leader said this case goes to the heart of who were as a society and we're debating the hat attitudes higher education institutions can use when a class. the trial ended today, the judge is expected to make a ruling early next year. whoever loses, they're expected appeal this ca and many legal experts think it could ultimately reach the supreme court, and with justice kavanaugh and the court now leaning more conservative, a lot ofeople worry this could mark the end of affirmative action. >> reporcter: kirarapezza, 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" series. ♪ ♪ >> brown: it's calle "fermentation fest." a celebration of wisconsin rural life, and all things fermented. cheese and beer, of course. but also, bread. kombucha. and kefir. fermentation involves the chemical breakdown of vegetables, fruits and other organic material to extend their use and create new tas but this two-week gathering every fall, started seven years o by husband-and-wife te donna neuwirth and jay salinas, 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, at--

>> something that adds longer shelf life, dense nutrients, strong flavors, and in some 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 ainas are artists who first met in chicago. but 20 years ago, tired of city life, they packed their bags and bog,ht a farm outside reedsb a small community in sauk county. when you came out hereyou 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 beoducing so much food, they n to sell it to chicago families through subscriptions. at the same time, their artist friends from the city would visit and help with chores. w it the beginning of what grow into "fermentation fest," with a goal of helping bridge the rural/urban divide. i think underlying that

divide is a 80ep connection. of what any farmer grows goes to an urban consumer, and so urban people are involved in all the cisions made about 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 od for digestion. >> brown: there are classes and tastings. linda conroy showed me the benefits of fermented herbs. >> this is gen cabbage and caraway. >> brown: and tara whitsett, dubbed "the johnny applese of pickling" by the "new york times," introduced me to the wonders of sauerkraut. for five years, she's been traveling thu.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 wepat mccluskey has ofteomed artists onto h land. five years ago, it was peter krsko, an artist from e shington, d.c., who created a pilled "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. anstit was fun. atching how they think-- >> brown: how they think? >> yeah. they think way diffehan i do. >> maybe this wod be better if we shifted it back a little. >> brown: mccluskey was so inspired, he began 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. >> i brown: based on ta 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.>> think a big part of that divide is, you don't socialize wth each other. and don't come into contact with people in other bubble strengthen the divide. >> brown: the divisions here, as everywhere, are also political: this region split almost down the middle in 2016, with donald trump winning sauk county by just 100 votes. jay salinas said the election urde their work feel ever more

nt. >> it's something we've certainly become much more cognizant, after having woken in early november 2016, and see those electol maps. and see these islands of blue in seas of red. and so, regardless of what you noought of the outcome of the election, that ia healthy dynamic. >> brown: islands of blue being the urban-- >> yeah, exactly. and then the red being the productive farmland. >> brown: festival attendee mike st. john, who told us he votes mostly republican, says local culture has changed with the divisive politics. dy.nobody talks to any >> brown: nobody talks to anybody? >> yeah. an, 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 wisconsin field, blended it into

a strange soundscape he calls "nowhere radio." >> the idea is to have people collaborate with me on projects. ng everyone to be a part of this audio experi >> brown: somewhere in here: the sounds of pigs, someone reading a em about a failing famil farm... >> the lights went out on the farm for the last time tonight. >> if we train ourselv speak to each other, thiis a vehicle that could work for that. son an artwork actually change thing? perhaps, perhaps not. but the effort is there to give people voice, d i think that that's something that's needed. >> brown: a fine thought, in a county a country full of ferment. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in nowhere radio, north freedom, wiscoin.

>> woodruff: a reminder, with the midterm elections next tuesday, wll have special verage all that night. that's next tuesday night beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00acific. and we'll be back, right here, on monday th look at this weekend's last-minute campaign rallies.th 's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. make your plans to vote if you haven't already. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. h major funding for the pbs newsas been provided by: >> financial services firm raond james. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social trepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressi problems-- sklfoundation.org.

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

with tuesd's elections looming, immiation once again takes center stage while two high profile state measures on the gas tax and rent control face dim prospects. and how much responsibility should social media companies bear for anti-semitic content? and jose antonio vargas shares his aemoir on lyi hiding. newsroo to kqed we begin with a high stakes midterm elections. in the final days before voters head to the polls, president trump has made a number of immigration pronouncements in an effort to appeal to his