good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington as president trump and joe biden begin the final sprint to election day, after a combative but substantive debate on big issues. covid, national security, race, climate change, and how it all is affecting american families. the 11-day race for the white house is taking place under the darkening cloud of the pandemic, with a record number of daily positive cases hitting a level not seen since july. for the first time they were on the same stage thanks to kristen welker's skillful moderating. the candidates were forced to

confront sharp differences over handling of the crisis. >> we're learning to live with it. we have no choice. we can't lock ourselves up in a basement like joe does. >> he says, you know, we're learning to live with it. people are learning to die with it. you folks at home will have an empty chair at the kitchen table this morning. that man or wife going to bed tonight, reaching over to try to touch their -- out of habit, where their wife or husband was, is gone. learning to live with it? come on. >> among many fiery exchanges, this one over race in america. >> i am the least racist person, i can't even see the audience because it's so dark, but i don't care who's in the audience, i'm the least racist person in this room. >> abraham lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents in modern history. he pours fuel on every single

racist fire. >> and what the candidates would say to voters who didn't vote for them if they won. >> we are on the road to success. >> i represent all of you, whether you voted for me or against me and i'm going to make sure you're represented. >> joining me now, nbc's mike memoli covering the white house campaign and nbc white house correspondent geoff bennett. mike memoli, you were in nashville and went through the whole process. joe biden had by all accounts his best debate performance yet, you've been to all of them. did he give the president an opening by shorthanding a transition out of fossil fuels which could cost him texas? >> yeah, andrea, given how quickly the biden campaign and ultimately biden himself sought to clarify his position there, biden speaking to reporters on the tarmac before he flew home, making clear it's his position on winding down fossil fuel subsidies, subsidies to the oil companies, not ending the oil

industry completely. there was a recognition there that that was one misstep in what you say and what the biden campaign certainly feels was the best, when you consider 13 debates over the course of this 2020 campaign, we've seen all of them, ranging from the good, the bad, and the ugly, but biden bringing it when he needed to the most, in the final stretch. the issue they thought might have tripped them up last night, could have been a potential blind spot, was the attacks they were expecting on hunter biden, the biden campaign feeling that whole discussion fizzled and biden was able to return the conversation to a number of areas that are his strengths, talking about the idea that character is on the ballot, talking very clearly to working class, middle class americans who have suffered under the recession in this economy, and more than any other issue, andrea, as you know, the coronavirus, the issue that led the discussion last night. biden making the argument, as we expect. and that's why he very quickly is returning to that issue today

in whilmington, a speech on the need to keep the economy open but to do so safely as we continue to see cases spiking across the country. >> and geoff bennett, clearly the president was far more disciplined, he was taking that advice, for the most part obeying the time constraints that kristen enforced, but he still does not have a good answer on covid as he's heading to florida to meet with seniors today and trying to bring them back into his camp. >> yeah, he is, you're right about that, andrea. president trump, his campaign, feels he's won some style points last night, if not points on the substance, given the fact that the president's own facts took a hit right out of the gate. the president right now is trying to really keep that momentum going from last night's debate as his campaign sees it, heading to florida. he's got that event in the villages, then he's going to pensacola. the reason he's going to florida today is that he's really trying to shore up support among

seniors. older americans typically vote republican. back in 2016, donald trump bested hillary clinton by something like nine points. but there was this latest poll showing that joe biden right now is winning with americans age 65 and older. and joe biden, when he was in florida a couple of weeks ago, he had an event in pembroke pines and he said something that i think is really resonant and struck older americans in a visceral way. he said, think about it, when was the last time you've been able to hug your grandchildren? and for older americans who realize that time is finite, they i think have a different view of the president's handling of the pandemic. so president trump going to the villages, which by the way is the nation's largest retirement community, in large part because, as it's been put to me, as goes the villages, so goes florida. and if donald trump loses florida, he could very well lose the entire election because that would rob him of a path to get to those 270 electoral votes,

andrea. >> geoff bennett, mike memoli, thank you very much. mike, try to get some rest sometime, somewhere, sometime. joining me now, pbs news hour white house correspondent yamiche alcindor, nbc's jacob soboroff, author of "separated: inside an american tragedy," jim messina, manager of president obama's 2012 presidential campaign, and nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. welcome, all. yamiche, you've been on the firing line at white house news conferences. it's unimaginable, the pressure on kristen last night. president trump trying to attack biden through his son hunter, but to my eye, he never really explained to a general audience what those unsubstantiated charges were all about. unless you were in the fox bubble, as he is every day, he wasn't really explaining the substance behind it, that he alleges. and biden was just ready to pounce. let's listen. >> you were getting a lot of money from russia. they were paying you a lot of

money. and they probably still are. but now, with what came out today, it's even worse. all of the emails, the emails, the horrible emails of the kind of money you were raking in, you and your family. >> i have not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever, ever. number one. number two, this is a president -- i have released all of my tax returns, 22 years, go look at them, 20 years of my tax returns. you have not released a single, solitary year of your tax return. what are you hiding? >> yamiche, by biden pivoting to taxes, he immediately put the president on the defensive, explaining the tax issue, or trying to, and they got away from the hunter issue, at least for then. >> that's right. first, i think it's important to say that kristen welker did such a great job moderating the debate, it was more controlled, it was more substantive. it was both men being able to make their points, interrupt

each other at times but stick to the issues. what we saw in president trump was someone trying to launch this attack about hunter biden and corruption. there was in fact a press conference with a business associate of hunter biden before the debate and there was a leadup saying president trump was going to make this a central part of his prosecution of joe biden but when it came to the actual debate it didn't hit that much, and that's because president trump in some places was all over the place in terms of the way he was talking about joe biden. he made the point consistently that he believes joe biden is corrupt, that he believes there is foreign interference in the way that he came in front of the office in being vice president. but when you saw joe biden pivot to taxes, we saw president trump have to say something that we were kind of surprised to see at the news hour, which is president trump admitting, yeah, i did have a bank account in china, i did have business dealings in china. that was something not readily available, "the new york times" broke that story and then president trump had to concede it. so what we saw the president do there was really be on the

defense, especially also when it came to the coronavirus. he had to start saying things like, we're rounding the corner, you're starting to see spikes go down in different states like florida and arizona. we now know, andrea, that that's just not true. so i think the president was on defense in a number of places. >> jacob, the really extraordinary moment which could be the potentially most damaging politically for the president, especially with those suburban women, was when he talked about the issue of the separated children, when kristen asked him about more than 500 children, as you've been reporting, still not with their parents from that policy at the border. let's watch. >> they got separated from their parents. and it makes us a laughingstock and violates every notion of who we are as a nation. >> let me ask you -- >> kristen, they did it. we changed the policy. >> your response to that. >> who built the cages, joe? who built the cages, joe?

>> let's talk about what we're talking about. what happened? parents, their kids were ripped from their arms and separated. and now they cannot find over 500 sets of those parents and those kids are alone. nowhere to go. nowhere to go. it's criminal. it's criminal. >> they brought reporters and everything. they are so well-taken-care-of. they were in facilities that were so clean. jak jacob, you are one of those reporters that went down there. well-taken-care-of? this was a less on in empathy and it could not have been more profoundly delivered by joe biden. >> what the president said, andrea, was preposterous. can i just echo you and also yamiche to say, kristen just did an extraordinary job in particular on this issue, which we have not heard in any of the

presidential debates or vice presidential debate or really on the campaign trail thus far, probably the signature issue, and definitely the signature retreat when it comes to donald trump's presidency, walking away from the separation of 5,500 children. the idea that they were well-taken-care-of, it couldn't be further from the truth. as you said, i was one of the journalists who saw the children, in cages, after being taken from the arms of their parents. i will never forget seeing it with my own eyes for the rest of my life. but physicians for human rights actually probably describes it more concisely. they call it torture and say it meets the u.n. definition of torture. the american academy of pediatrics says it was government sanctioned child abuse and the president of the united states defines that as

well-taken-care-of. >> jim messina, republicans are seizing on the comments about transitioning away from fossil fuels. take a look. >> would you close down -- >> i will transition away from oil, yes. >> that's a big statement. >> that is a big statement. >> why would you do that? >> because the oil industry pollutes significantly. >> i see. >> what's the political impact of that? because i could counter argue that it could be helpful among millenials and young people who care about hearing a candidate at a national debate for the first time talk about transitioning out of fossil fuels and getting to renewables. >> andrea, i agree with you, i don't think it's a moment that the republicans needed to have. let's be clear about this debate last night. you had incumbent president down in the polls in every single battleground state. he had to have a game changing moment. and i'm sorry, but there was

just no game changing moment. people think it was the oil comments, they clearly haven't to talked to swing voters. i want to go back to your earlier point. i was watching focus groups with these swing voters, these undecided voters, and they were in tears when joe biden was talking about ripping their kids away from them. and this immigration moment was the one moment in the debate where you could see the swing voters start to kind of rethink about their vote. and you just don't see people crying in presidential debates, except sometimes in boredom. last night you saw two leaders. you saw kristen welker be the best debate moderator that i can remember, and you saw joe biden understand exactly what he had to do. donald trump did not have the moment he had to have just 11 days before this election. >> and speaking of kristen's control, michael, your thoughts about restoring the legitimacy of the debate process, which for a lot of us is very important, important for the american voters, because of her impact. let me play one clip.

>> any country that interferes with us will in fact pay a price because they're affecting our sovereignty. >> president trump, same question to you. let me ask the question. you'll have two minutes to respond. >> millions of people would be dead right now. >> okay. president trump, that's 30 seconds, thank you. vice president biden, to you. >> you never asked that question. and by the way, so far, i respect very much the way you're handling this, i have to say. but somebody should ask the question. >> that was amazing, given that he had been attacking her on the campaign trail for days before this all started. just -- and you know a lot from behind the scenes, the aplomb, the poise that she exhibited and kept them to answer their questions. >> it was unbelievable. kristen is all of our friend and hero and last night she set i think an absolute standard for history of how you moderate a presidential debate. last night was one of the best debates i think we've ever seen

in american history. and the credit goes a lot to the moderator for keeping it so much on track and showing us new sides of these two guys that we haven't seen before. >> and michael, i want to ask you about unexpected occurrences that are entirely within the president's reach, being the president and having the command of all that. as we speak, he's in the oval office announcing a peace agreement, a recognition agreement between sudan and israel, part of that accord, a followup that was logically expected after taking sudan off the terror list for the first time in decades. this is the kind of thing he can do. he's going to florida today. this is the kind of thing that he has control over, as well as that last-minute, almost half-baked, by a lot of critical accounts, intelligence announcement late the other night. >> right. yeah, you've got a president who

signaled he's more than willing to use and abuse the powers of the presidency to get him reelected. he's never going to have another audience, most likely, like the one he had last night until the election occurs 11 days from now. that is all over. so given donald trump and what he has said and the way he's acted for 3 1/2 years, there's every possibility that he might once again politically use the department of state, the secretary of state, as we've discussed, he spoke at a political convention, that doesn't normally happen. in public he's been talking about the fact that he's pressuring the attorney general to indict barack obama or joe biden, that needless to say he feels would help him and also his abuse of the department of defense, especially last summer in lafayette square. so you've got a president with all sorts of power. most presidents are restrained about that. but can you imagine that donald trump has 11 days ahead, he thinks he's behind, he thinks he's in danger of losing the

presidency for a second term, and he would not try something like that? we've got to keep our eyes open every single minute. >> michael beschloss, yamiche alcindor, jacob soboroff, jim messina, thank you all so much. our road warriors are rounding up, they're back, rounding up reaction to last night's debate by voters in key states. what it might mean 11 days from now. first of all, nine states are seeing an increase in covid cases. why does the president keep saying the nation is turning the corner? we'll have a fact check coming up next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. a mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ (music) hi, i'm dorothy hamill. even as i look toward 65, one thing hasn't changed

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president trump last night painting a rosy picture when predicting the development of a covid-19 vaccine. he said last night at the debate, it's coming soon. >> we have a vaccine that's coming. it's ready. it's going to be announced within weeks and it's going to

be delivered. we have, uh, operation warp speed which is the military is going to distribute the vaccine. >> let me follow up with you, because this is new information. you have said a vaccine is coming soon, within weeks now. your own officials say it could take well into 2021 at the earliest for enough americans to get vaccinated and even then, they say, the country will be wearing masks and distancing into 2022. is your timeline realistic? >> no, i think my timeline's going to be more accurate. >> joining me now is dr. kavita patel, former health policy director for the obama white house. could you fact check the president on the arrival of a vaccine? >> yeah, the president does clearly need to be fact checked, andrea. yesterday the food and drug administration actually held a public advisory meeting where they reviewed the process. simply put, data needs to be evaluated and monitored, private companies need to apply to the fda. the fda is under a lot of pressure to make sure the bar is

high for safety, which all means, andrea, that even if there were a vaccine approved, it would likely be a very narrow approval for a very limited population. health care workers, maybe nursing home residents and other vulnerable people. and that the united states and most americans will not see a vaccine at least until late spring, early summer. and the military, by the way, found yesterday's announcement, quote unquote, of the military being ready to distribute in seconds, a surprise. and many were kind of concerned that this is setting up the military to somehow take the fall for being the bad guys and not being able to get a vaccine out. candidly, it will not be ready until next year. >> and the president said about the pandemic, dr. patel, we are -- again he said this, that we're rounding the corner, it's going away. let's listen to what else he had to say. >> there is a spike. there was a spike in florida. and it's now gone. there was a very big spike in texas. it's now gone. there was a very big spike in

arizona. it's now gone. and there are some spikes and surges in other places. they will soon be gone. >> but dr. patel, he's saying this as we have 39 states with double digit increases in covid-19 cases. we had a record high number of daily new coronavirus cases just yesterday, with more than 77,000. and the covid tracking project did a snapshot of this third surge indicating it's not like there will be an epicenter, but it's going to be everywhere. >> yeah, that's correct. >> we can show the final map. >> yeah, no, the map is really disheartening, because we're now seeing 60 to 70,000 new cases a day, approximating a thousand deaths a day. we're going in the wrong direction. states like texas, by the way, are reopening covid units. so any improvements that they had made recently are now being reversed in a majority of the country. in utah, one of the largest

hospital centers was closed to trauma because they were so full of covid cases and other hospitalizations. andrea, simple fact across the united states, it's quite the opposite. we're heading into a much more concerning situation, not turning the corner or improving. >> voters say health care is the top issue. that is the issue that certainly drove voters in 2018. here is what the president had to say and former vice president joe biden about the health care and obamacare issue. >> what i would like to do is a much better health care, much better. we'll always protect people with preexisting. so i would like to terminate obamacare, come up with a brand-new beautiful health care. >> he's been talking about this for a long time. no, he's never come up with a plan. i guess we'll get the preexisting condition plan at the same time we get the infrastructure plan. >> i mean, they're in court, the supreme court, on november 10, the week after the election, trying to kill obamacare. and you can't just come up with a new health care plan

overnight. he's been promising it now for four years. >> yeah, absolutely, andrea. look, i worked on the affordable care act ten years ago. the simple fact is that barack obama advocating for health care helped to take us from 51 million americans being uninsured down to a record number of only 19 million people that lacked health care. and then when donald trump took over, his reversal and introducing these junk plans that offer no health care to people and taking away the individual mandate, andrea, the simple fact is more americans lack health insurance than they did four years ago. there has been no replacement. and honestly, creating the fearmongering over, quote, bidencare, that there will be a public takeover of all health insurance, is also a lie. all that vice president biden is talking about is giving americans an option that could actually be cheaper in order to be able to make it affordable for every american to have health care. >> dr. kavita patel, as always,

thank you so much. coming up next hour, dr. anthony fauci joining chuck todd on "meet the press daily" right here on msnbc. did the final debate change any minds? swing state voters weighing in. one thing was clear. the winner was kristen welker. >> i thought that the moderator did a phenomenal job. i don't know where she's been. we needed her at all three debates. ded her at all three debates. [ thunder rumbles ] [ engine rumbling ] [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know there's a 30-minute limit, right?

tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive.

such as high blood pressure,ve pdiabetes, and asthma.s this administration and senate republicans want to overturn laws requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. they're rushing a lifetime appointment to the supreme court

to change the law through the courts. 70% of americans want to keep protections for pre-existing conditions in place. tell our leaders in washingtn to stop playing games with our healthcare. now for reaction to the debate from voters in key areas of two all-important swing states, pennsylvania and wisconsin. our continuing county to county reporter dasha burns in western p.a. shaquille brewster is in milwaukee county, wisconsin. you're in a former democratic stronghold that's been red for the last three elections. what are people saying there today? >> reporter: yeah, andrea, this is an area you used to find a lot of blue collar democratic voters working in the steel mills. but that industry left, and left a lot of folks disillusioned. you see republicans have better and better margins here over the

years. but in 2016 donald trump ran away with it, he won by 19 points. one issue he's done well on here that came up in a big way last night is natural gas and fracking. this is an area where a lot of folks have connected the economic resurge surgsurge ency local businesses. katy is a mom here in beaver county who worked in oil and natural gas for ten years. take a listen to what she thought about last night. >> to hear him voice his opinions on the energy industry and how he wants to be zero emissions, umm, all i can -- all i can think about is that is going to cost the taxpayers and that is going to hit home harder for the middle class. he wasn't, umm, being as honest

as he says he's being. >> reporter: andrea, i also spoke to some biden supporters who do like his energy policy. but even they say he needs to be much clearer about his plan and hammer home that he is not planning to ban fracking, andrea. >> dasha burns, we know that's going to be a hot button issue the last 11 days. shaq brewster in wisconsin, with the coronavirus surge, how are people reacting there to the debate? >> reporter: andrea, the coronavirus is definitely an issue that is front and center here in wisconsin. and that was especially the case with the debate. but that's something that comes up in any conversation i have with voters about the election. this week we're seeing record number of detecaths, record num of hospitalizations, record number of new cases. it's something people have their eye on and they are being affected by in their daily lives. hybrid learning. a field hospital was just built down the road in this town. we're in the milwaukee suburbs right now.

listen to my conversation with jessica who is a voter here. this is a milwaukee suburb that is a lighter blue area of the county. listen to what she told me about what she thought of last night's debate. >> the country is just ready to move forward. you know, get things done and just have some decency in the administration. to get healthy, our numbers here in wisconsin are really, really high, it makes it scary. i own a small business, so just having that in the back of my mind all the time about the numbers and people being afraid coming in. i want people to feel safe. i think the way things were handled with coronavirus, it's not there. >> reporter: and jessica told me it was just this morning when she cast her ballot, returned her absentee ballot to the town clerk here in the state of wisconsin. more than 1.2 peopmillion peopl have already voted, about 40% of the total number in 2016. so this election is well under way. it will be interesting to see

how much the debate can make an impact with so many people already having their say, andrea. >> shaq brewster and dasha burns, thanks to both. let's talk about the talk. the candidates had very different answers about a fear unique to african-american families in this country. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. c. what are you doing?

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in mass incarceration of black and brown communities. the shame is on all of us. i'm working to right the wrongs of injustice.

ending cash bail. ending the war on drugs. decriminalizing sex work, and passing major sentencing reform legislation. but until we reimagine community safety and end police brutality, we must keep working to reform our racist criminal justice system that's shameful to us all.

kristen welker asked the candidates directly about the reality that black famous face, one that is rarely discussed in national politics, the talk. it's a conversation black parents have to prepare their children to interact with police. >> mr. vice president, in the next two minutes i want you to speak directly to these families. do you understand why these parents fear for their children? >> i never had to tell my daughter if she's pulled over, make sure she puts -- for a traffic stop, put both hands on

the top of the wheel and don't reach for the glove box because someone may shoot you. a black parent, no matter how wealthy or poor they are, has to teach their child, when you walk down the street, don't have a hoodie on when you go across the street. >> nobody has done more for the black community than donald trump. and if you look, with the exception of abraham lincoln, possible exception, but the exception of abraham lincoln, nobody has done what i've done. >> joining me now, joel payne, former senior aide for the hillary clinton 2016 campaign, and the host of the podcast "here comes the payne." former republican congressman david jolly who is no longer affiliated with the republican party. and victoria did i francesco di francesco soto. >> i thought it was one of

kristen's best questions that she asked last night and it revealed so much about the candidates. president trump talks transactionally about all politics, including people from underrepresented communities. what he hasn't done is extend dignity and humanity to so many african-americans who have seen how he's governed and how he's divided the country. so to hear joe biden talking in very personal terms about how he understand that split reality for african-americans, to hear president trump list off accomplishments as if that is all of what political representation is, i thought that was very striking. i think that demonstrates the type of moral leadership you get with each person. joe biden would lead with that understanding of the split reality for african-americans. donald trump would continue to lead by talking about transactions without talking about respect.

>> the topic of immigration came up, thankfully, and we've discussed the separation of children, which was a profound empathy gap between the two candidates. catch and release, he then went on to characterize the people who came back to the united states for their court dates. this way. >> when you say they come back, they don't come back, joe, they never come back. only the really -- i hate to say this, but those with the lowest iq, they might come back. >> that was kind of a stunning moment. victoria, how did that strike you? >> uh, very profoundly. very profoundly in the way that president trump continues to villainize the immigrant community from being stupid and ignorant to rapists and criminals, right? but really the factual base to what's going on is completely

missing. what they're talking about here is that when somebody is appearappear appearry apprehended, you could be let out on bail. you could be let out to be with family members and depending on the status of your situation, you know, you may have an ankle monitor, or you just may be tracked with the family or loved ones that you're staying with. and the fact is that for many of these people who are eager to plead their case, who are eager to gain citizenship, they will come back. not all of them. but a majority of them. and in addition to that, it is so important to also look at the fiscal note. because the republican party is very conscious of that. the apprehension of large scale that we're seeing right now in terms of immigration is incredibly costly. there are much smarter and effective ways to do that. that's what the research has clearly shown.

trying to oversimplify this situation of immigrant detention and catch and release, it really misses the complexity of the broken immigration system we have before us. >> david jolly, you knowing florida so well, the president going to florida today, going to the villages, senior citizens, such an important group. he was again very cavalier about the coronavirus last night, saying that there are some spikes, but not addressing the surge that we're now seeing in 39 states, quote, saying they will soon be gone. as he heads to florida, how is that a message for the people in the villages? >> it's not an effective one, andrea. and i think today or yesterday we had more cases than any day since july, suggesting coronavirus is as real as ever and as dangerous as ever. what i'm taking by, and how trump responded to the issue of coronavirus, his willingness to ignore the question of children separated from families, his willingness to just ignore the question about the talk, and

instead self-congratulate himself, if you take the entire trump narrative right now, in contrast to joe biden, what is fascinating to me is that there is not a single part of donald trump's closing message that is trying to identify new voters. he's simply speak to go ting toe voters he's always had. and we know statistically that's never been more than 50% of the country. in contrast, joe biden is trying to pick up new voters in his closing message. the notion that he may be a democratic presidential candidate but he will be an american president to all people, a willingness to listen, to reach across the aisle. what joe biden is doing is expanding his coalition down the stretch, where donald trump is just sticking with what he knows. and it's a losing formula. >> and another example, you know, to joel, was the way he talked -- he really didn't address the question in the climate -- the climate change

question, about the racial disparities and the way poor people, people, brown and black people, people without assets, are exposed to toxic waste and are -- look at flint, michigan, and have the most exposure to these poisons. >> you bring up flint, michigan. look at what happened 15 years ago in new orleans with katrina. environmental justice is a real thing. i think it's smart for joe biden to be speaking about it. obviously you have to balance it with economic interests and business interests. but i think joe biden is reflecting not just democrats, but a lot of americans are starting to see the climate change discussed and moved into. so i think you can have a smart conversation about how to have an all of the above energy policy that includes fracking but that's also sensitive to the specific needs of different communities who have been under the bootstraps of really bad environmental policies that create injustices in their communities. >> and he spoke as a child of

the oil slicks on the windshields in the morning in delaware, i know that area very well, and the cancer rates among people there. david, if you're a republican, you're concerned about the risk to republican senators who have been seeing the tea leaves with john cornyn, things he has had to say. how does this debate come across? is it reassuring to them that it was more of a normal debate? >> no, it's not. because you have a president who continues to pursue a campaign of divisiveness, and on the other side, one of inclusivity. i think the downballot races are very informative right now, address. it's hard to see a world on november 3 where democrats pick up arizona, colorado, maine, north carolina, perhaps south carolina, montana, alaska, and yet donald trump beats joe biden. the averages among those downballot races suggest that democrats are heading to a very good night on november 3. >> we'll have to leave it there. 11 days to go.

joel payne, victoria di francesco soto, david jolly, thank you very much. where things stand as candidates head down the final stretch. steve kornacki is back at the big board for us. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ndrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

i can't do another four years of this. i can't. there's never been more divisiveness in this country. it's frightening and sad. that was trump's whole thing, you know, take the politics out of it and run it like one of his businesses. i know people were looking for that kind of change, but it's not working. you know, we've only gotten more in debt, we have this virus now out of control, people out of work, no healthcare. how is that helping people? we need someone that knows what they're doing, and i think it's biden. i know he will listen to the experts.

that's what we need. i trust him 100% to get this under control. he has the capability to bring us back together. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message. he has the capability to bring us back together. before money, people tools, cattle, grain, even shells represented value. then currency came along. they made it out of copper, gold, silver, wampum. soon people decided to put all that value into a piece of paper, then proceeded to wave goodbye to value, printing unlimited amounts of money as they passed the buck to the future. that's why it's time for digital currency and your investment in the grayscale funds. go digital. go grayscale.

by millions of voters may have been the president's last chance to climb out of a polling hole he finds himself in with only is 1 days to go in the campaign. how much ground does he need to make up? for more on the state of the race let's go to steve kornacki at the big board. steve, let's go where things go in the homestretch in the swing states. >> yeah, a bunch of key numbers we can look at here, andrea. first of all, just look at how it's changed in the last week, the national race here, biden's lead nationally was basically 10 points. now that has come down to a little over 8, basically down about 2 points. so for trump it's a step in the right direction but he's probably got to get that significantly closer to put the electoral college in place. as you say, you had that debate last night. polls will come out in the next few days.

see if that eats into biden's lead from trump's standpoint at all. so that's one thing to watch, and let's take a look at the battleground states here. the first group these were the narrowest trump wins in 2016. three traditionally democratic states. you can see trump's margin. it was less than 1 point in each one of these states. what does the polling look like on average on these states right now? these are the swing states where biden has his biggest advantage right now. and the bottom line for trump and for biden, if trump loses wisconsin, loses pennsylvania and loses michigan, very likely he loses the presidency. that would certainly put him under 270 based on what he got in 2016. he'd need to start winning hillary clinton states at this point which doesn't seem plausible in a world like this. very likely trump has to win one of the three states you're looking at right now on this

screen. the second tier states trump won these by slightly larger margins, florida, arizona, north carolina. the polling here, again you see biden leads in these states but thiez are smaller biden leads. inside a 2, about 3, about 2 in florida. so trump very much in the game in all three of these states. trump very competitive. again, if he's losing ground in the first screen i showed you, if he's losing two of those states these really all become must-win states for the president, so keep that in mind. and the third tier, these are states trump won in 2016. in georgia by 5, ohio by 8, texas by 9, iowa by 9. what does it look like in these states right now? trump still up in texas very slightly, trump leading in ohio. biden actually up very slightly in georgia and iowa. and again, these are must-win states really from the

president's standpoint. he's got to find a way to get one of those first three, michigan, pennsylvania or wisconsin, and everything else i've shown you after that is pretty much must-win for trump. >> steve kornacki, so we have to see things happen in the next 11 days, which always can. that's why we have you. thank you so much. and before we go, a personal word about kristen welker. you all saw her poise, her confidence, her skill in asking questions last night and following up and keeping the debate on track. it would be difficult, though, to convey behind the scenes the thoughtful preparation, the depth of preparation backed up by an extraordinary nbc team that went into making the debate so successful. it's a lot of hard work, and despite the pressure of being on the biggest stage imaginable, kristen was not only fact checking until the very last minute, she remained unfailingly

thoughtful, cheerful and collegial to everyone around her, making it all appear effortless as she could. thank you for being with us. remember follow us online on facebook and twitter at mitchell reports. and chuck todd is up next with mtp daily with dr. anthony fauci. great timing. only on msnbc. fauci. great timing only on msnbc. did you know that your clothes can actually attract pet hair? with new bounce pet hair & lint guard, your clothes can repel pet hair. one bounce mega sheet has 3x the hair fighting ingredients of the leading dryer sheet. simply toss into the dryer to bounce out hair & lint. look how the shirt on the left attracts pet hair like a magnet! pet hair is no match for bounce. it's available in fresh scent & unscented. with bounce, you can love your pets, and lint roll less.

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>> yep, it's friday. the campaigns hit the trail after last night's final debate which finally gave voters some clarity on the differences between the two candidates. what it all means in the final stretch of the campaign with just 11 days to go. plus the u.s. sets the all-time record for single day covid cases as health officials brace for this dark chapter in the pandemic that many have warned about. dr. anthony fauci joins us live with what our country and our leaders need to do to turn it around. and in the battle for control of the senate democrats and republicans have georgia on their minds. we'll talk to one of the top candidates in one of the two races that maybe thought well beyond election night. welcome to