see you sunday night, 6:30 eastern, for "nbc nightly news." back here monday afternoon, 3:00 eastern time. up next, steve kornacki. >> thanks for that. good afternoon, everybody. i'm steve kornacki, live in new york. the countdown continues. 18 days now away from election day. topping our agenda right now, two candidates and two very different missions. hillary clinton trying to protect what has become a sizable lead. donald trump playing catchup. >> we have to work. you have to get everyone you know out there. >> trump speaking right now in pennsylvania. hillary clinton, meanwhile, she will be in ohio. later this hour, we're keeping a close eye on both of the events. also on the agenda, backstage with the candidates. what happened when trump and clinton were forced to talk with each other in private last night? >> mr. trump turned to secretary clinton and said, you know, you are one tough and talented

woman. he said, this has been a good experience and this whole campaign, as tough as it's been. she said, donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterwards. >> that is cardinal timothy dolan. he was with clinton and trump at the al smith dinner in new york last night. an event where they both tried to be funny with some very mixed results. we'll look at that. plus, chris christie implicated. for two and a half years, the author of the time for traffic e-mail in the bridgegate scandal has been silent. today, she took the stand with explosive allegations about what christie knew and when he knew it. full report on what bridget kelly is saying in federal court and what it could mean is ahead. we begin with the top story. we're standing by, waiting to hear from hillary clinton in ohio. as we mentioned, donald trump is spi speaking right now in johnstown,

pennsylvania. trump facing a decidedly uphill fight in pennsylvania. some say it is an impossible mission for him in pennsylvania. his debate performance on wednesday in that final showdown, well, that is unlikely to move the needle when it comes to the polls. we have new numbers to show you here. this is our nbc news/surveymonkey online poll. we asked, who won the third debate? 46% of those who watched it say they believe hillary clinton won it. 37% said trump won it. that was an improvement for trump from the other debates. still, hillary clinton, a plurality winner according to the poll. trump tweeting this afternoon, quote, the results are in on the final debate, and it is almost unanimous, i won. thank you. these are very exciting times. hillary clinton not missing an opportunity to hit back. she tweeted this in response to what trump put up. she said, where was this kind of comedy last night? of course, clinton referring to that al smith dinner in new york. both candidates attended, spoke at it last night. this is a traditional election

season event. it is supposed to be good natured. it is supposed to be fun. both candidates are supposed to make fun of themselves a little bit and gently make fun of each other. all of it for a good cause, to raise money for catholic charities. that is not quite how it played out last night. donald trump was first up. his jokes about his opponent were a little too harsh for the crowd. >> now, some of you haven't noticed, hillary isn't laughing as much as the rest of us. that's because she knows the jokes. and all of the jokes were given to her in advance of the dinner by donna brazile. >> for more, i want to bring in jacob rascon, on the ground in trump's rally in pennsylvania. he is in johnstown, what is he talking about there? >> doing what he's been doing the last few days.

he is hitting hillary clinton, using the lines he's been talking about in the debates. in fact, right now, he is talking about the debates. interestingly, talking about the polls. this is such a big issue. he started out, his rally here, talking about how new polls are coming out that are showing him ahead. the crowd goes wild. they eat this all up. he knows and his team must know how much he is down. he was down by double digits for a lot of the summer here in pennsylvania. thenstatistically tied with hillary clinton closer after the first debate. he's back where he started. almost double digits in some of the polls. he tells his supporters they're up and they believe him. they have such a hard time with this because they look at a rally like this, with thousands of people packed. there's so much energy here. they're interrupting him every minute. then, to understand that in most of the polls, he is way down, they have a really tough time

with that. >> jacob rascon in pennsylvania. thank you for that. turning to the clinton side of things. kristen welker is on a bus, on her way to cleveland. hillary clinton is going to be holding an event there. you can see she's on a bus that's moving. we got a lively shot there with kristen welker. kristen, the mood around the clinton campaign, what's the message they're trying to push? >> secretary clinton is going to be meeting with leaders from the black lives matter movement. trying to energize that key constituency. the key part of her base. today, the message in cleveland, and you're right, steve, we are on our way. a bumpy ride here. trying to keep it interesting for you guys. her message is going to be get out and vote. early voting started here last wednesday. based on our own analysis, the turnout has actually been quite strong. more heavy for the democrats so far. that's something that secretary clinton will undoubtedly use to rally the crowds. i spoke to one of her campaign

officials who said also expect her to talk a little bit about the debate. we might see a few barbs about that. then she's going to return to her closing message. we've sort of seen her start to lay that out. she did get to that a little in the third and final debate. that message is that she will be a unifying leader. so critical, of course, because the country is so divided right now. of course, you have donald trump saying that the entire system is rigged. that's a critical part. the campaign believes, trying to lay the groundwork, if she does win, for making sure trump supporters, undecided voters ultimately get on board with her. or at least believe that the election results with valid. so that is the strategy. secretary clinton a little bit from an hour from now will be taking the stage in cleveland. again, the focus on early voting. that was a key part of the obama strategy back in 2012. it clearly worked for him and the clinton campaign trying to

replicate that, steve. >> kristen welker on that bus in ohio. thanks for that. kristen talks about hillary clinton being in ohio today. we know why she is there. polls show pretty much a dead even race in the state. clinton has a chance there. trump does, as well. trump meanwhile in pennsylvania today in the polls look a little different there. let me show you what i mean. here's the most recent poll from pennsylvania. six point lead for hillary clinton. actually, when you look at some of the other numbers we've seen out of pennsylvania, this probably counts as good news for donald trump. there have been polls that put him back further than six points there. this is a state no republican has won since 1988. it's one the trump campaign was talking up at the start of this campaign as a blue state they could flip. really, he has not led in the polls this entire race in pennsylvania. very hard to see at this point how he could turn around and win it. we can show you why. pennsylvania is really sort of the tale of two different states. two different parts of the state. right now, we say donald trump

is in johnstown, pennsylvania, southwest pennsylvania. this area we've got shaded in right here. we see in the most recent poll, donald trump is running up the score in southwest pennsylvania. this is why his campaign thought at the beginning of this race they would have a shot to flip pennsylvania. they said, blue collar, white voters, we talk about the class divide among white voters that has been driving this race. donald trump doing well with white voters without college degrees. blue collar white voters. this is an area ripe with blue collar white voters. this number would suggest he is doing better than mitt romney did four years ago in this part of the state. this is why the trump people were thinking, hey, maybe we could flip pennsylvania. maybe we could finally do it. but the problem they're discovering is the message that works in this part of the state, the message that works with blue collar voters, the style that seems to work is having a very different effect when it comes to suburban white voters. talking more economically

upscale voters here. these are the suburban counties outside of philadelphia. look at this, hillary clinton leading by 26 points here. to put this in some perspective, this same area, the suburban counties of pennsylvania, four years ago, mitt romney only lost in them by nine points to president obama. fast forward to four years later. the gap is 26 in the most recent poll. it went from 9 to 26. donald trump -- and this ising all across the country -- donald trump is losing historic ground for a republican candidate when it comes to suburban white voters. he is doing better than republicans usually do with blue collar whites. any gain he's making up there in pennsylvania and elsewhere is more than offset with the losses among suburban white voters. that's why pennsylvania is such an uphill climb for donald trump. he is there today. he's there right now. he's trying to make it work.

somewhere else donald trump was today, north carolina. it's one that mitts ago. here's a bit of what trump said earlier today. >> we have a president, all he wants to do is campaign. his wife, all she wants to do is campaign. i see how much his wife likes hillary. wasn't she the one that originally started the statement, if you can't take care of your home, right, you can't take care of the white house or the country? where is that? i don't hear that. i don't hear that. she's the one that started that. i said, we can't say that. it's too vicious. can you believe it? i said that. we can't say it. they said, well, michelle obama said it. >> donald trump down there in north carolina today. for more, let's bring in a republican strategist and former press secretary for ben carson. and msnbc political analyst and

national affairs correspondent. donald trump bringing michelle obama up. michelle obama has been taking a public role in the clinton campaign. >> very. >> he's trying to rely on the old feelings from 2008, trying to bring those up. michelle obama, what that really speaks to, as become a weapon for the clinton campaign. >> she's a weapon and a most popular political figure. all the surrogates, some also very popular, elizabeth warren, michelle obama is the top. if he wants to worsen his problems with women generally, and worsen them with black women, which they can't get worse, she'll probably get 96% of the black female vote, this is a good strategy. if he is trying to appeal to women and narrow the gender gap, this is terrible. michelle obama doesn't just speak to black women. obviously, she was in new hampshire for the campaign. she was in arizona. she's speaking for all women. she's doing an amazing job. she expressed the revulsion a lot of us heard listening to the

"access hollywood" tape, as well as hearing the complaints which echoed the tape from other women in the week. when she spoke about how she was sickened to her core, shaken to her core, with her voice trembling. she really catalyzed something for a lot of american women. it's very dangerous to take her on. >> and you were with ben carson in the primary campaign. ben carson, still a public supporter of donald trump. where have you landed on this? you are a republican, carson supporter. are you a trump supporter? >> i am supporting the republican nominee who happens to be donald trump. he was not my first choice obviously but he is my nominee so i am supporting him. i agree 100%. going after michelle obama is a failed strategy. he is the first lady and hugely popular. michelle obama and i have vastly different world views, but even i recognize that she is not someone that you want to attack on the campaign trail. not a winning strategy. >> we mentioned that al smith dinner in new york last night.

the idea both candidates supposed to show more of their humorous side. we can say it didn't necessarily go that well for donald trump. he was booed by the crowd. there was an interesting comment made by cardinal dolan. he organizes this. he was backstage with both kand it -- candidates beforehand. he said this was the exchange they had before the event. >> after a prayer, mr. trump turned to secretary clinton and said, you know, you are one tough and talented woman. he said, this has been a great -- a good experience. the whole campaign, as tough as it's been. she said to him, donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterwards. >> that jumps out at me. when donald trump was asked, say something nice about hillary clinton, that's what he said publicly. i think this is a window into how donald trump views this competition he's in. he sort of -- you throw everything at your opponent, i mean everything at your opponent. >> literally. >> if they prove they can take a

punch and punch back, he will respect you. >> i guess so. i thought the end of the second debate was one of his finest moments. if he said this to her last night, that is the donald trump we should be seeing more of. the gibes he took of her, now he thinks better of rosie o'donnell, not designed to appeal to women. people were cringing and booing when he called her corrupt. he doesn't -- i don't know what it is. i'm not a psychologist. he doesn't seem to have control -- enough control of himself to kind of pivot, as we used to say -- we don't say pivot anymore, do we -- pivot at least toward respecting her, which i think might sure him up a bit with the republican women who don't necessarily want to vote for a democrat but can't bring themselves to vote for donald trump. >> you've run a campaign against him, against donald trump. what is your read on him? i'm asking a psychological question here. what i think i'm hearing here is a philosophy from donald trump

of he views competition as something where if you have a potential weapon, you use it. there are no boundaries. this would be why he'd bring up former accusers of bill clinton, bring them to the debate hall, say the things about hillary clinton going to jail and, yet, at the end of the day, if you can fight back, maybe beat him, as hillary clinton is right now, he'll respect your toughness. do you think that is a fair read? >> i think that is a pretty fair read. i definitely believe he respects hillary clinton's toughness. even people like me who never in a million years would vote for clhillary clinton, i recognize r as a strong leader. she is a tough woman who has been in the game 30 years. i think for me the issue with donald trump is, you know -- i think after kellyanne conway came on, we saw the resurgence and he was on message. the fact he's said everything he's said that's been off color, but he's still in the game 18 days out, for me, this indicates that hillary clinton is clearly a failed -- i mean, she is a

very poor candidate, for him to be able to continue to be in the game at this stage. so for me, what i want to see donald trump do is, yes, hillary clinton is a formidable opponent, but she is an opponent with serious flaws. i would love for him to stay on message with issues and do a little less of the attacks. certainly stop attacking michelle obama. we will lose miserably with that. i think if he continues to point to hillary clinton's 30 years of failed policies, then we might have a chance. for us to say, i know we're talking a little about polls. no one does polls better than you, steve, but the issue is this. we have seen over the cycle of this campaign polls go up and down. so donald trump actually -- even though there are people who are riding him out, he still has a chance to win if he stays on message. >> all right. thank you both for the time. meanwhile, coming up, an attack on the internet. if you live on the east coast,

anywhere east of the mississippi, you might have felt this one today. all sorts of major websites essentially shut down. we'll have the details on what happened and what it could mean for you. also, explosive testimony today in the so-called bridgegate trial. governor chris christie's former deputy chief of staff has broken two and a half years of silence and made some startling allegations about her former boss. exactly what she has to say is coming up. listen to me. i am captain of the track team, and if i'm late... she doesn't really think she's going to get out of here, does she? be nice. she's new. hello! is anyone there? rrr! wow. even from our standards, you look awful. oh, sweetie, what happened? girl: me? my friend becky got to talk to this super-cute boy, and i tried to act like i wasn't jealous, but i so totally was, and then, out of nowhere,

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cyber security has become a major underlying issue in the presidential race. hillary's e-mails, wikileaks, the russians, all sorts of

issues floating around out there. now this. today, you may have noticed this if you tried to log on to any of these sites and some other major international sites this morning. netflix, reddit, twitter, paypal. they were essentially shut down this morning in large parts of the country. we can show you on this map. look at the red areas here. this morning if you were trying to get on to some of the biggest sites on the internet, you couldn't. this is a major potential cyber attack playing out. a lot of details still unknown about this. people -- authorities starting to put it together. for more on what happened, what we know, what we still need to know, cnbc's ammon is here. what do we know about what happened today? >> hi, steve. this major internet disruption happened after 7:00 a.m. east coast time this morning. it was the first wave on a cyber attack on dine. dine is an internet service provider, hosting services to

corporate clients. that's the infrastructure that allows people to connect to specific websites. if you don't have that, you can't get on the website. that's why people have been seeing delays throughout the day. the first attack wave hit at 7:00 a.m. this morning. the second, after noon east coast time. i hung up the phone with the people at dyn and they tell me there is a third wave of the attack underway right now. the attack distributed denial of service attack. that's when computers all around the world are used to sound inbound traffic to dyn servers to slow them down and prevent them from doing what they have to do to keep the internet running. they call it a well-planned and sophisticated attack. they also tell me they're seeing something new in the world of cyber security today. they say this is one of the sources of this attack is what's source code, used in the internet of things. all the devices hooked up to the

internet, such as refrigerators and everything else you can think of that are being hooked up now to the internet. it's a new wave of technology. that is being used, as well now, as part of the cyber attack. a massive distributed denial of service attack on dyn coming from tens of millions of ip addresses. >> for people like me, not the most internet, online savvy, we hear about the hacked e-mails being a big thing in the presidential campaign. people getting hands on them who shouldn't have hands on them. these companies, if you are a consumer and using netflix, paypal, twitter, is there any potential anything you've shared with the companies, your information is at risk? >> this is a different attack. you think of one of them as a theft, where you're going in and stealing information out. this one is sort of the opposite. they're sending a lot of traffic in to try to shut dyn down, or at least slow it down, so it can't do what it needs to do throughout the day to keep the sites up and active on the internet. really what's happening here is

a sort of smothering type of attack. they're trying to slow down the ability of all of these companies to connect with their customers online. a different goal here. who is doing it and why is really the open question. i've been talking to folks at the department of homeland security today and also at u.s. intelligence agencies. u.s. government officials here are not really willing as of now to say who this is and what they're up to here. it's annoying for anybody up and down the east coast and later in the day on the west coast trying to do anything really on the internet throughout this afternoon. >> does this expose -- i mean, could this be the start of something we're going to be seeing a lot more of maybe? >> absolutely. we've seen a lot of these distributed denial of service attacks in the past already. the interesting piece here, this company, dyn, is relatively obscure. you have to be savvy to know it exists and know its role in providing internet access for all these companies. whoever is doing this is very, very smart, using cutting edge technology. dyn is calling this well-planned

and sophisticated. we're seeing it in three separate waves throughout the day. this is clearly a playbook being rolled out by somebody with ill intent and we're all feeling the brunt of it on the east coast of the united states today. >> planning to be watching some netflix or something tonight, you might want to make other plans just in case. >> no netflix and chill tonight. >> go see a movie at the theater maybe. >> right. >> thanks for explaining that. up next, we've been teasing this. stunning developments in the bridgegate trial in new jersey. after two and a half years of silence, jurors and the whole world finally hearing from governor christie's former deputy chief of staff, bridget kelly, what she's revealing about the plan to close the george washington bridge as political rretribution. >> no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its execution. and i am stunned by the abject

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welcome back. time for a check of the headlines at the half hour. donald trump is in pennsylvania for the second of three rallies he'll hold today. earlier, he was in north carolina. that's where he criticized first lady michelle obama. saying, quote, all she wants to do is campaign. trump says he'll have a packed schedule straight through election day. and he'll win if his supporters all come out to vote. hillary clinton is about to hold a rally in the buckeye state of ohio. early voting is underway and polls show pretty much a tied race between clinton and trump right now. clinton campaign says he'll meet with two black lives matter activists before her event shortly. highway traffic safety administration says 11 deaths in the u.s. have been linked to faulty air bags made by takata.

the latest was a california woman killed in a crash last month. 100 million air bags have been recalled worldwide because the balls inflate with too much force, causing metal to rupture and spray shrapnel in the vehicle. tough day for users of the websites like twitter, spotify, netflix and others. there was a cyber attack on the big internet provider. it is not clear who is behind this massive attack. people are pledging lots of green to restore a fair of famous red slippers. so far, the smithsonian institution raised $250,000 of the $300,000 it'll need if it wants to restore the ruby red slippers that helps dorothy return to kansas at the end of "wizard of oz." they've been displayed in washington since 1979.

pack to the political world and to what could be a bomb shell development in the so-called bridgegate trial in new jersey. bridget ann kelly, chris christie's former deputy chief of staff, took the stand in federal court and said she told the governor about plans to close the lanes on the george washington bridge a month before they actually were closed. in september of 2013. kelly and her fellow department bill baroni are orchestrated for the closings against a mayor who wouldn't re-endorse christie's election bid. christie denied any knowledge of the plan. let's get more from brian thompson, outside of the federal courthouse in newark where the trial is playing out. brian, people remember this. if they don't know the name bridget ann kelly, they remember the e-mail. time for traffic problems in fort lee. this looked like the smoking gun that implicates here.

she's telling a different story today. what did she say? >> she turned it back to the prosecution. first of all, she did say, yes, the governor said he was fine with the traffic study when she says she told him a month before it went down. it was david wildstein's idea, and he admitted to that. she said it was all his direction, as a matter of fact. then on that time for traffic problems e-mail that she sent to wildstein, saying, let's go with the project, well, she says she was parodying his words, words he used all the time. traffic problems. words he said would happen, that she said he did say there would be traffic problems during what he described as a legitimate traffic problem. those are the initial bombshells we heard from her. there was a lot more. how much time do you have for the rest of the story? >> tell us a little bit more. chris christie has denied any knowledge at any point trial to, what, january 2014, about any of

this? >> indeed, he has. then she said halfway through the shut down of the lanes, that week-long shut down in september, as you mentioned, she said that the governor was coming through the office after he'd been at a 9/11 ceremony in manhattan, and she said the governor said the mayor, he asked about it. i said, mayor of fort lee said the study was causing a traffic safety problem in fort lee. she said the governor said the port authority was handling it and the governor said it's all in wildstein's purview. he was told twice, a month before and during the week. of course, wildstein says the governor was told during the week. baroni said the governor was told during the week. he's denied it all. you want to hear about the water bottle incident, steve? that's the big one. >> what is the water bottle incident? >> well, we have some artwork, hopefully we can show that. she held up a water bottle, her water bottle on the stand, and then she described during that

week, when all of this was going on, when he was really pedal to the metal on the re-election bid, they were in seaside heights for the huge boardwalk fire happening. most people remember that. the governor, she says, told her, get a business round table together of these affected businesses. get my department heads down here in a couple days. let's have it all out with them. she did. and she briefed the governor before that actually happened on a saturday, two days after the fire happened. she told him that the business leaders were there, and he asked, well, how is this going to happen? she said, well, you're going to go in there and ask these questions and that questions. this is what she said in court. bridget kelly. he had a water bottle in his hand, and he said, what do you think i am, an f-word game show host? then she says he threw the water bottle and i moved out of the way. he hit my arm.

through all of this, steve, she was crying. she was crying elsewhere in this testimony, as well, on some other incidents. her attorney saying a big tough guy, right, crying? she says, yeah. all this time, her attorney says, she's been holding this inside of her. >> wow. for two and a half years. obviously, a lot of questions she raised on the stand today. chris christie will have to answer publicly. we'll be hearing a lot more about what went down today. brian thompson, we'll be talking to you again soon. thank you for taking time. >> sure. now to iraq and a reminder that isis is still a force to be reckoned with. today, isis fighters launching several attacks in and around kirkuk. that is about 100 miles from mosul. earlier this week, iraqi and kurdish forces launched an offensive to retake mosul that has been under isis control more than two years now. thousands of people have fled the city oz the operation moves forward.

richard engel has more from northern iraq. richard? >> the pentagon announced an american soldier has been killed in support of this mostly iraqi and kurdish push to drive isis from the city of mosul. so far, the pentagon hasn't identified the soldier, which unit he was from, where he is from, pending notification of his family. but this operation on the ground is moving more quickly than anticipated. >> reporter: isis today hit back with a sneak attack on a government complex in the city of kirkuk, where they exchanged fire with security forces. isis may be trying to slow down the assault on mosul. it doesn't seem to be working. iraqi troops said today they pushed within just four miles of the city. the isis capital in iraq. the biggest battle was for control of the town on mosul's doorstep. to reach the front, we climbed into an iraqi special forces old american humvee. shot up and nearly blown up, the

drive said, by an isis bomb. iraqi troops brought in their heaviest weapons. isis fought back with suicide bombers. but all this was mute to the iraqi soldiers ears. we'll win, god willing. the soldier said. isis does seem to be retreating from some of its positions. the soldiers showed up a tunnel and bunker complex they just discovered. >> very careful where you step. there is a concern these could be booby trapped. >> reporter: dozens of fighters could have stayed down here. the corridors stretch for half a mile. at the far end, isis headquarters. food still in the kitchen area. half made bombs. chemicals for more. on the wall, what has become one of the most infamous symbols anywhere, the isis logo. more often than not, when americans were standing in front of this, they were about to be

beheaded. isis brutally killed more iraqis. today, it was their turn to have isis on the run. reaching mosul, the isis stronghold, may just be the easy part. >> getting to mosul could be the easy part. the real battle is expected once iraqi troops reach the built up urban areas. today, the u.n. warned that isis gathered about 600 civilians families from the mosul area, brought them to isis locations to use as human shields. >> that was richard engel reporting from northerncoming r stirred controversy, suggesting he may not accept the election results on november 8th. how many of his voters are ready to follow his lead? that is next. before we get to that, we want to show you this. a special visitor, a surprise visitor, showed up in the white house briefing room today. >> mr. president -- >> i feel confident.

clayton kershaw is a great, great pitcher. >> bill murray, a big cubs fan, a chicago guy in the white house press briefing room. he's clearly looking forward to game six of the nlcs. the cubs with a chance to close out the dodgers and move on to the world series. fortunately for bill murray and all the cubs fans out there, a 3-2 cubs lead in the series. much more news straight ahead. scalpel. i have no idea what i'm doing. i'm just a tv doctor. i never went to college. (scream) i don't do blood. but now, thanks to cigna, i can do more than just look the part. is that a foot?

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because this is a friendly dinner for a good cause, donald, if you don't like what i am saying, feel free to stand up and shout "wrong" when i'm talking. come to think of it, it's amazing i'm up here after donald. i didn't think he'd be okay with a peaceful transition of power. >> that was one of hillary clinton's zingers from last night's al smith dinner in new york. with donald trump a few feet away listening in on that and

smile ag loning along. trump, of course, stirring controversy at the third and final debate, when he said, hey, a clear result, i'll accept, but i reserve my right to challenge it. it raisedhe question, how many of trump's voters and voters in general feel that way? how many feel he should be accepting the results? how many feel we should hold our judgment back? that brings us to the most important number of the day. 68. the question was asked in a morning political poll, the losing candidate in november should accept the results, 68% of americans say yeah. over 2/3 say yeah. the losing candidate no matter what, accept them. 14% says challenge the results. here is the interesting breakdown. when you look at hillary clinton's supporters, overwhelmfully, 90% say accept the results. part of it is she's not talking about challenging the results. probably also because she's leading in the polls.

they figure it'll be good news for her on november 8th. trump's voters, more of a split. 49%/24%. half of trump supporters in the poll, even thousawith their can losing in the polls and talking up the idea of voter fraud, talking up the idea of rigging, half the supporters are saying, if you loose the election, accept it. 1/4 are saying, challenge the results. the bottom line, for all the noise made around this issue, if this election ends up being as lopsided as the polls make it out to be, a 6, 7 or 8-point hillary clinton lead, it almost doesn't matter what donald trump says. the rest of the country looks like it is ready to move on after that. still, if it gets a little closer, that is something to keep an eye on. it is our most important number of the day today. 68. coming up, otherwise normal charity event, a great tradition in american presidential politics. we've been talking about it, the al smith dinner last night. it kind of went off the rails.

>> tonight, let's embrace the spirit of the evening. let's come together. remember what unites us and just rip on ted cruz. and you can't be our leader, if you don't lead. our next president needs to take action on social security, or future generations could lose up to $10,000 a year. we're working hard, what about you? hey candidates, do your jobs. keep social security strong.

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the al smith dinner last night in new york, it's supposed to be a fun spirited event. trump, he got booed though. hillary clinton's jokes, they had a sharp edge to them. i guess that's what you might expect from a campaign like

this. but maybe a silver lining here, new york cardinal timothy dolan says behind the scenes, before that event last night, a different scene played out. >> after the little prayer, mr. trump turned to secretary clinton and said, you know, you are one tough and talented woman. he said, this has been a great -- a good experience. this whole campaign, as tough as it's been. she said to him, donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterwards. >> for more, i want to bring in sam stein, msnbc contributor and senior politics editor at "huffington post." and megan from "bloomberg news." that's what he said in the second debate, saying something about hillary clinton. before this campaign, trump has nothing but nice things to say about the clintons for 15 years. part of me is wondering if this guy's code, all about toughness, proving you can take a punch, punch back, if there is some

scenario where donald trump decides he is done with politics and after the campaign, he's saying nice things about the clintons. >> i think he pulled out her chair, as well, to give her room to sit down. it is different behind the scenes. they come from this contentious, personal debate. again, it begs the question, i think some people will be thinking, how much of this is an act and how much of this is real politics? he can't have had a nastier, more brutal campaign session, particularly at the end of this. and behind the scenes, it seems they are both still, even at this point, have some sort of meeting -- if the polls keep turning the way they are, if we see the hillary clinton win that it looks like we're going to see, if there is a role for donald trump as a uniter of a party that, by all indications, he's taken a pledsledgehammer t >> if donald trump loses the election as the polls say, what would he even want after this? does he think he's going back to

being sort of a celebrity who is doing a reality show, who shows up on celebrity television events? is this the guy who thinks he's now the leader of the shadow republican government? do we have any sense what he wants if he loses? >> steve, are you asking me to put myself in the mind of donald trump? is that what you're -- >> take a guess for our entertainment. how about that? >> fair enough. well, one would assume, judging on the past 16 months, above else, what he wants is to be the center of discussion. he has been every day the past several months. if that is the motivation, you could see him doing a trump tv, rumored to be in the works. you can imagine him being politically involved, showing up at speeches. sarah palin is the model that everyone is pointing to. she had her own tv shows. she was a fox news commentator. i don't know if that's big enough for donald trump. but i would guess -- i don't think he's going to go quietly.

i think he'll stay involved. in what form that takes, i honestly don't think i or anyone else truly knows. >> no one knows. i can't read the guy ease mind. part of me wonders if he almost stumbled into this thing. if he got into the presidential race without a plan, you know. seems like he's been improvising so much. if is there a part of him anxious to be done with politics. >> here's the thing that is most interesting. the thing is hillary clinton brings up his business, you started with this loan. first debate and it's continued through. what i think he is also looking at, what has the impact been on the trump brand. his hotels, luxury properties. are people going to stop going to the hotels? is his real estate -- when he licenses out his brand, is that in jeopardy? there may be a part of him anxious to get out. keeping one eye on the thing most important to him, his image of himself as a successful billionaire and taking that forward. people talk about a tv network,

but what is most pressing on him is keeping the role, at least the perception of success. guess what? that is instrumental and always has been to his ability to drive this populous result. even though so many people come toward him because they're white collar, blue collar. they think he is an image of american success. if that falls apart, it is a different story for him. >> sam, that dinner, people who are watching it last night or have seen the clips today, there are examples in the past, gore and bush and obama and mccain, sort of coming together just for that one night in the campaign, seeming to put the differences asi aside. boy, the tension, the acccrimon between them, at least publicly, it was tough to miss. >> you're supposed to be self-deprecating in addition to roasting your competition. what happened last night was not that much self-deprecating material. the people that trump made fun of were clinton and his wife. it didn't go over too well. i don't know if his future lies in comedy.

maybe gets new comedy writers. but that was indicative of this campaign. everything this election touches goes to helli , including the a smith dinner, which is a fun event. >> thank you both for joining us. megahas the thrks market wr >> markets closing flat this friday afternoon. the dow down 17 points. the s&p up fractionally. nasdaq, up about 16 points. that's it from cnbc first in business worldwide. >> announcer: it's time for the your business entrepreneurs of the week. it may look like a scene from a reality tv show, but this group of recent college grads are venture for america fellows, sharing a house and incubating businesses that'll eventually open in cities like detroit in serious need of revitalization. watch "your business" sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. >> visit open forum.com for

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one of the biggest issues driving people to the voters in the tar heel state is something called hb-2. you may better know that as the bathroom law. it was passed this year, requires people to use the restroom that matches the gender on their birth certificate. controversy in north carolina playing out not just in the presidential race by down ballot. the governor is fighting for his political life. see the latest poll there. also the senate race, the republican incumbent is slightly ahead of his democratic challenger. that's one that the democrats badly one. two point lead for clinton. must-win state for trump. steve patterson has been talking to in person early voters. what are they telling you? >> lot of passion. lot of anger. a lot of motivation. we hit the early, in person booths as soon as they were open yesterday morning. it was like a beyonce concert. people were lined up around the

building at the polling place they were at about an hour before the polls opened. just about everybody we spoke to in line had a story or some motivation to be there that centered around hb-2. a lot of people feel it strips civil protections from the lgbt community. others were complaining about what it's done to business in the state, the black eye it's given this state's reputation across the country. want you to listen to what we heard from voters. check this out. >> it's the reason i'm here early in the morning. i want to make that difference. i see that in being out here and voting and seeing all these people out here and voting. it's why i'm here. i want to repeal hb-2. >> the economic impact has been devastatin devastating. when you lose the ncaa tournament, the acc championship and the all-star game. for all those reasons and the impact on the image of north carolina, the bill has been terrible. >> important to say we also

spoke to the state gop who said, look, they're upholding the law the way it has been since the invention of modern plumbing. both democrats and republicans seem to be coming out in force. the early numbers have them voting in the thousands. we expect a big turnout in november here in north carolina. big battleground state. back to you. >> that's going to do it for this hour. mtp daily starts right now. if it's friday, location, location, location. where donald trump is campaigning tells you a lot about where he thinks the election is going. tonight, the final day. can donald trump end this campaign season without taking other republicans with him? >> early voting is underway, so make sure you send in your ballot. we cannot take a chance of blowing it. we cannot take a chance. plus, how do you get booed at a charity