showing their strategies. joe biden trying to expand his reach to georgia, which hasn't voted for a democratic president since 1992. and biden hoping for a boost from barack obama today, campaigning in florida moments from now for the second time in four days. president trump playing defense, trying to hold on to michigan and wisconsin where he eked out victories four years ago, with rallies today, and holding a rally today in omaha, nebraska, looking to secure an electoral vote. nbc correspondent kristen welker is in georgia. nbc's garrett haake is in florida. political reporter robert costa, and "the washington post's" phil rucker with us as well. the biden campaign thinks

there's a chance georgia will go blue for the first time since 1992, kristen. >> it would be remarkable, andrea, you're absolutely right. the biden campaign showing confidence heading into this final week and really going on offense. the fact that they are campaigning here in georgia which as you point out is a reliably red state. in terms of what we expect to hear from former vice president joe biden, he will be laying out his closing argument today, andrea. he's going to do it in warm spri springs, a place where former president roosevelt, fdr, went to heal from polio. i'm told biden will use that as a backdrop to the argument that he will help the economy heal from the pandemic, from the economic crisis, and will also cast himself as a unifying candidate. he'll use that to contrast himself against president trump. and then his second stop is going to be here in atlanta. it's going to be a drive-in rally. we've seen so many of those

where of course people honk instead of cheer. this really underscores where the biden campaign feels it stands right now. the fact that they are trying to make inroads in these reliably red states. vice president biden will be in the battleground state of florida on thursday. senator kamala harris will be in texas on friday, another red state. democrats are feeling embolden. i spoke to one biden official who said, look, if we can peel off some of these states that trump won in 2016, that could make the difference if this is a tight race. but andrea, it's a risky strategy, of course, because they need to hold on to the democratic strongholds as well. and so democrats are certainly energized by this strategy, but also hoping that it pays off, andrea. >> indeed. and robert costa, who of course is also the host of "washington week" on pbs, talk to me about your white house sources are

telling you about the president's strategy as he's criss-crossing through swing states and also making that side trip to nebraska to make sure that joe biden doesn't win that one electoral vote in the omaha-based district. but also with covid, really the biggest issue, he still rid ridicules the pandemic and is going into hotspots and doesn't seem to recognize the seriousness of the disease. >> there is unease in the republican party and inside the white house about these outbreaks across key battlegrounds in the industrial midwest. you see spikes in wisconsin, spikes in iowa. this troubles the white house, whose whole plan for reelection is to make sure that the core trump voter who came out in 2016 is enthusiastic and comes out again in the industrial midwest. and so the president is trying to preserve his own base in pennsylvania. he keeps going back there to western and central pennsylvania. but at the same time, he has to

now keep an eye on the sun belt and the deep south as the biden campaign tries to make inroads in states that have not turned blue for years. >> and phil rucker, the october surprise is really the pandemic. >> that's right, andrea. the case counts are up. hospitalizations are up in a number of states around the country. there is a fresh outbreak inside the white house, at least five members of vice president pence's team testing positive for the coronavirus. and it completely undercuts the argument that the president is trying to make in these closing days to voters, that the pandemic is nearly over, that the country is rounding the corner, as he puts it. he's confronted at these rallies with reminders that the pandemic is not over. it remains a top issue for voters. that's where president biden, where kristen welker is today,

is making a point with drive-in rallies instead of the mega-rallies that trump is committed to doing between now and election day. >> and the president keeps ridiculing, and the vice president is out on the trail instead of quarantining according to cdc guidelines, is remarkable, with five people on his staff testing positive, including very close aides. garrett haake in florida, take us through what to expect and the early voting in key battleground states which you've been tracking. >> the president is such a key validater for former vice president biden, you can see biden working side by side with him in the white house. i expect we'll hear from that from the former president. and he'll cut into donald trump, he's done that at previous campaign stops on behalf of the biden ticket, giving these lacerating speeches, almost mocking president trump, in a way that is cathartic for

democrats and also gets under the president's skin. as for florida, look, florida is perennially a one percentage point state, always incredibly close. we're seeing gang busters early voting across the state. we're seeing democrats leading in terms of early ballots returned, early votes cast, around 42% of the votes that have come through here, the rest divided between republicans, 25%, and npa voters, no party affiliation voters, the folks everyone is competing over. what we've seen in florida over the last few election cycles are democrats building up big leads in early voting and then an election day wave from republicans taking away that advantage. the third and final thing we'll hear from former president obama today is to get people out and get those votes locked in early to try to build an even higher sea wall against the possibility of an election day republican wave, in a state that is always, just always incredibly close, andrea. >> indeed.

and lansing, michigan, of course is one of the states that the president really needs to win. he eked it out last time by some 10,000 votes. our shannon pettypiece is there in lansing. shannon, again, these big rallies, they really feed the president's ego but they also really counteract the argument that the medical experts are making about gathering, social gatherings. and they're not socially distanced and they usually are not wearing masks except for the select people who are appearing behind the president. >> right, and certainly that's the case right here behind me, andrea. there are some chairs set up, they're all close together. i would say a few more people are wearing masks here than i saw at a rally in florida last week. but it's still very sporadic. michigan right now is seeing a very big surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. hospitals in this area right around me are nearing capacity. this is a state where some schools are open, some schools are not.

people are really starting to feel the burden of this. i'll tell you, andrea, as i talk to voters who say they're supporting the president, there is of course fear of the virus but there is also this big fear of the economy. particularly in a place like michigan where the recession is still so remembered, there is a lot of fear of once again losing their homes and businesses. that's driving voters. >> that's of course where governor whitmer has been under fire and is getting a lot of support. now we're going to barack obama in orlando. let's give a listen to some of his speech. >> i don't know if we have any tampa bay rays fans in orlando. big game tonight. it's do or die time. now, the last time the rays were in the world series in 2008, florida sent me to the white house. the rays fell just a bit short then. but here in florida, democrats

fell a little bit short in 2016 also. over the next couple of weeks, florida, you've got the chance to fix two mistakes. you've got the chance to set two things right. you can bring a world series championship to the sunshine state and you can send joe biden and kamala harris to the white house. [ cheers and applause ] we got one week, orlando. one week. one week until the most important election of our lifetimes. and you don't have to wait until next tuesday to cast your ballot. you've got two ways to vote right now. number one, you can vote early in person right now. number two, you can vote from home with a mail-in ballot. don't wait. put it in the mail or drop it

off at a dropbox location today. don't take any chances, just get it done. just go to iwillvote.com to find out where you can early vote in person or drop off your ballot. if you've already voted, how many of you have already voted? if you've already voted, then your job is to help your friends and family make a plan to vote, because this election requires every single one of us. and what we do this week will matter for decades to come. now, i've sat in the oval office with both of the men who are running for president. in case you couldn't tell, they're very different people. i didn't think donald trump

would embrace my vision or policies but i did hope for the country's sake he might show some interest in taking the job seriously. but he didn't. he hasn't shown any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself and his friends or treating the presidency as anything more than a reality show that can give him the attention that he craves. and he does crave attention. this week, with everything that's happening, you know what he brought up? he was fussing about the crowd size at the inauguration again. saying his was bigger. who is thinking about that right now? nobody except him. but the rest of us have had to live with the consequences. more than 225,000 people in this country are dead.

more than 100,000 small businesses have closed. half a million jobs are gone in florida alone. think about that. and what's his closing argument? that people are too focused on covid. he said this at one of his rallies. "covid, covid, covid," he's complaining. he's jealous of covid's media coverage. if he had been focused on covid from the beginning, cases wouldn't be reaching new record highs across the country this week. if we were focused on covid now, the white house wouldn't be having its second outbreak in a month. the white house. let me say this. i lived in the white house for a while. you know, it's a controlled environment. you can take some preventive measures in the white house to

avoid getting sick. except this guy can't seem to do it. he's turned the white house into a hot zone. some of the places he holds rallies have seen new spikes right after he leaves town. and over the weekend, his chief of staff said, and i'm quoting here, i'm not making this up, his chief of staff, on a news program, says, "we're not going to control the pandemic." he just said this. yes, he did. and yes, we noticed you're not going to control the pandemic. listen, winter is coming. they're waving the white flag of surrender. florida, we can't afford four more years of this. that's why we've got to send joe biden to the white house. because we cannot afford this kind of incompetence and disinterest. 12 years ago, when i chose a vice president, i didn't know

joe all that well. we served in the senate together. i notice, by the way, one of my great friends, bill nelson. i haven't seen bill in a while, that's why. plus he's wearing a mask. one of the great senators from florida. and joe and i served together with him. and, you know, i had a lot of friends in the senate, but joe and i wasn't the closest person. but he and i came from different places, we came from different generations. but i quickly came to admire joe as a man who learned early to treat everybody he meets with dignity and respect. and bill will testify to this, joe is somebody who lives by the words his parents taught him. no one is better than you, joe, but you're better than nobody. he believes everybody counts. he believes everybody is important. and that empathy, that decency,

that belief in other people, that's who joe is. and that's who he'll be. i can tell you, the presidency doesn't change who you are. it reveals who you are. and joe, time and time again, has shown himself to be a man of principle and character. and he's going to be a great president. [ cheers and applause ] for eight years, joe was the last one in the room whenever i faced a big decision. he made me a better president. and he's got the character and the experience to make us a better country. and he and kamala harris are going to be in the fight not for themselves but for every single one of us. listen, you got a president right now, he wants full credit for an economy that he inherited. he wants zero blame for the pandemic he ignored. you know what, the job doesn't work that way.

you've got to be responsible 24/7. you've got to pay attention 24/7. tweeting at the tv doesn't fix things. watching tv all day doesn't fix things. making stuff up doesn't fix things. you've got to have a plan if you want to make people's lives better. you've got to put in the work if you want to make people's lives better. and along with the experience to get things done, joe biden has concrete plans and he's got concrete policies that will turn our vision of a better, fairer, stronger country into a reality. look, here's the truth. the pandemic would have been challenging for any president. but this idea that somehow this white house has done anything but completely screw this thing up is nonsense. [ applause ]

south korea had its first case of covid at the same time, the same week, as the united states. do you know what their per capita death rate is just 1.3% of what ours is? think about that statistic. i've given this statistic a couple of times and people haven't really focused on it. the number of people in korea who have died of covid per capita is less than 1.5% what our death rate is. that's thousands and thousands of people, if we had been as effective and responsible, whose lives would have been saved in this country. just across the border in canada, the death rate per capita is 39% what ours is here in the united states. we are the wealthiest, most

powerful country on earth and we cannot smomehow get a grip on this because the government hasn't been doing its job. last week, when our -- and last week, when trump was asked if he would do anything differently, you know what he said? he said, "not much." "not much." really? not much? you can't think of anything that you might be doing differently, like maybe you shouldn't have gone on tv and suggested we might inject bleach to cure covid, that's not something where you said, maybe i shouldn't have said that? not much? think of how harmd the tourism industry has been hit right here in orlando, right here in florida. you lost one spring training season already. and he can't think of doing anything differently? joe takes this seriously. he knows the emotional toll on

grandparents when they can't see and hug their grandkids. he's not going to screw up testing. he's not going to call scientists idiots. he's not going to host super spreader events at the white house and then take it on a tour all across the country. joe will get this pandemic under control with a plan to make testing free and widely available. he's going to get a vaccine to every american, cost-free. and he's going to make sure our front line heroes never have to ask other countries for the equipment that they need to keep themselves safe. his plan will guarantee paid sick leave for workers and parents affected by the pandemic. he'll make sure that small businesses that hold our communities together and employ millions of americans can reopen

safely. and he understands that we're not going to rebuild the economy and put people back to work until we get this pandemic under control. it's not that complicated. donald trump likes to claim he built this economy. but i just want to remind you that america created 1.5 million more jobs in the last three years of the obama/biden administration than in the first three years of the trump/pence administration. that's a fact. look it up. [ cheers and applause ] and that was before trump could blame the pandemic. he in fact inherited the longest streak of job growth in american history. but just like everything else he inherited, he screwed it up. and the economic damage that he inflicted by botching the pandemic response means he will

be the first president since herbert hoover to actually lose jobs. the first president since herbert hoover back in the '30s. that's a long time, people. that's almost 100 years ago. he loves to talk about black unemployment, look how low black unemployment -- well, you know what, unemployment was really high when i came in and we brought that unemployment low and it kept on going low. and he wants to take credit for it, says he's the best president for black folks since abe lincoln. man. now his advisers are out there saying, including his son-in-law, his son-in-law says, black folks have to want to be successful, that's the problem. who are these folks? what history books do they read? who do they talk to?

don't read, is that what's going on? black unemployment hit almost 17% during the great recession, ten years ago. and through a lot of hard work, joe biden and i helped get it down. and it kept on going down. not because trump did anything. and then this year, because they've screwed up the pandemic response, it's soared back up to above 17% here in florida. but it doesn't have to be that way, florida, if you go out and vote. [ cheers and applause ] yes, we can. listen, the only people truly better off than they were four years ago are the billionaires that got trump's tax cuts. in the meantime, he has not been able to manage extending relief to millions of families who can't pay the rent right now.

can't put food on the table right now. got no plan to reopen schools that need reopening. or protecting teachers in the process. you know, i don't understand how it is that he cannot organize republicans in congress to do the right thing. and it's not like it's his money that we're asking to pay, cause he doesn't pay taxes. barely pays income taxes. we know he's got a secret chinese bank account, so he may be paying taxes to the chinese. but he's not paying taxes here. first year in the white house, only paid $750 in taxes. in federal income taxes. $750. can you imagine that? i mean, teachers pay more than that.

you know, social workers pay more than that in taxes. huh? soldiers, folks in uniform, pay more in taxes than that. so how are you living large and you're not willing to do the right thing to make sure that we're able to pay for quality schools for our kids? to provide veterans' benefits for those who have earned them? joe biden has a plan to create 10 million good clean energy jobs right here in america. it's part of his plan to protect florida from climate change and secure environmental justice. and he's going to pay for it by rolling back those tax cuts to billionaires. [ cheers and applause ] and the thing is, joe doesn't want to just get back to where we were.

he finally wants to make some long overdue changes so that our economy actually makes life a little easier for everybody. a waitress trying to raise a kid on her own. the student trying to figure out how to pay for next semester's classes. the shift worker worried about maybe being laid off. the cancer survivor who is worried that her preexisting conditions might prevent her from being able to get coverage. and speaking of health care, by the way, you may have noticed, republicans love saying right before an election how they're going to protect people who have preexisting conditions. have you noticed that? well, you know what? joe and i actually protected them ten years ago with the affordable care act. and you know, those same republicans who say they're going to protect them, somehow they have tried to repeal or undermine the affordable care act more than 60 times.

and each time they try to repeal it, they say, oh, we've got a great replacement, it's coming. everybody is a little young here but you guys remember popeye? and remember that guy who always needed to borrow some money for a hamburger, he said, don't worry, i'm going to be paying you back sometime soon? that's like republicans with health care. they always say it's coming soon. we're going to be paying you back with a great replacement plan. but that two weeks has been ten years coming now. for the last ten years, every two weeks they say we're going to have a great health care plan. you know where it is? because i don't. the reason they don't have a plan is because a plan doesn't exist. they've never had one. instead they've attacked the affordable care act at every

turn, driving up costs, driving up the uninsured. now they're trying to get the supreme court to take away your health care, right now, as quickly as they can, in the middle of a pandemic, with nothing but empty promises to take its place. think about what that would do to families right here if florida. florida has the highest enrollment under the affordable care act of any state in america. last week, trump flat out said he hopes the supreme court takes your health insurance away. said it out loud. don't boo, vote. and last night, he installed the supreme court justice who he hopes will help him do it. don't boo, vote. florida, this is serious. and joe and kamala will protect your health care, they will expand medicare, they'll make

insurance affordable for everybody, because joe knows that a president's first job is to keep us safe from all threats, foreign, domestic, and microscopic. when the daily intelligence briefings flash warning lights about a virus, the president can ignore it, can be too lazy to read the briefing. when russia puts bounties on the heads of our soldiers in afghanistan. joe biden would never call the military suckers or losers because they're willing to sacrifice their lives on behalf of the american people. [ cheers and applause ] joe biden understands those troops are somebody's kids, somebody's dad, somebody's mom, somebody's husband, somebody's wife, somebody's father or mother.

and joe biden understands that there is glory and goodness in being willing to sacrifice on behalf of others. something that apparently this administration just doesn't comprehend. our current president, he whines if "60 minutes" is too tough. you think he's going to stand up to dictators? he thinks lesley stahl's a bully. just yesterday, just yesterday, he said that putin, of russia, xi of china, and kim jong-un of north korea, want him to win. we know. we know, because you've been giving them whatever they want. for the last four years. of course they want you to win. that's not a good thing. you shouldn't brag about the

fact that some of our greatest adversaries think they would be better off with you in office. of course they do. what does that say about you? i mean, think about that. why are you bragging about that? come on. and that doesn't make any sense. joe biden wouldn't coddle dictators. he'll promote human rights around the world, including in cuba. joe will restore our battered standing around the world, because he knows our true strength comes from setting an example that the world wants to follow. a nation that stands with democracy, not dictators. a nation that can inspire and mobilize others to overcome threats like climate change and terrorism and poverty and disease. and here is one other thing. joe and kamala, when they are in office, they're not going to

have -- you're not going to have to think about them every single day. you're not going to have to worry about what crazy things they're going to say, what they're going to tweet. they're just going to be too busy doing the work. [ cheers and applause ] it just won't be so exhausting. you'll be able to go about your lives knowing that the president's not going to retweet conspiracy theories about secret cabals running the world, or suggest -- i mean, listen. our president of the united states retweeted a post that claimed that the navy s.e.a.l.s didn't actually kill bin laden. think about that. and we act like, well, okay. it's not okay. we're not going to have a president, when joe biden is in

office, that goes out of his way to insult people just because they don't support him. he'll be a president for all people including people who didn't vote for him. because he knows that's the job of being president. [ cheers and applause ] i mean, we've gotten so numb to what is bizarre behavior. we have a president right now who lies multiple times a day. and this is not my claim. even fox news sometimes says, what he says isn't really true, he didn't mean it. it's not normal behavior. we wouldn't tolerate it from a co-worker. we wouldn't tolerate it from a football coach. we wouldn't tolerate it from a high school principal. i mean, we might have to put up with it if it was a family

member, but we would talk about him afterwards. even florida man wouldn't be doing some of this stuff. why would we accept it from president of the united states? and you know what? i mean, sometimes it's almost too easy to make fun of it, but it's serious. there are consequences to his actions. if he was just on jerry springer or something, you know, you would say, well. but this is the most powerful office on earth. and when people see the president doing things like that, it emboldens other people to be mean and cruel and with divisive and racist. and it frays the fabric of our lives. it affects the way our children see things, when we tell our children to tell the truth, and then we have the person in the

highest office in the land who doesn't seem capable of doing so, that undermines our society. it affects the way our families get along. it affects the way the world looks at america. and it distracts from the truly destructive actions that his cronies are doing all across the government as we speak, actions that affect your lives. you got the environmental protection agency that's supposed to protect our air and water. it's run by an energy lobbyist who gives polluters free rein to dump pollution into our air and water. it ain't right. the labor department. that's supposed to protect workers. it's run by a corporate lobbyist who has declared war on workers, trying to gut protections to keep essential folks safe during a pandemic.

making it easier for big corporations to steal their wages. the interior department that's supposed to protect our public lands, our wilderness, the everglades. it's run by an oil lobbyist who is just fine with selling them to the highest bidder. you've got an education department run by a billionaire, who has gutted rules designed to protect students from getting ripped off by for-profit colleges and is stiff-arming students looking for loan relief in the middle of an economic collapse. you've got the person who runs medicaid who is kicking more people off of medicaid. come on. it ain't right. so what are you going to do about it?

you gotta vote. you've got to vote. when joe and kamala are in charge, they're not going to surround themselves with hacks and lobbyists. they're going to surround themselves with qualified public servants who actually are serious about doing their job. who are looking out for you, for your job, your family, your health, your communities, your planet. and that more than anything is what separates them from their opponents. they actually care about you. they actually care about every american. and they're going to be fighting on your behalf every single day. they're not going to get everything right every time. they're not going to solve every problem right away. but they're going to be working on it every single day to see how can i make sure this little brand-new baby right here is

inheriting a better world. [ cheers and applause ] that's what they care about. i will say that i miss kissing babies during a pandemic. i can't do it, but look at that little bundle right there. brand-new. it's got the new baby smell. congratulations. but joe and kamala, they care deeply about people and they care about our democracy. they believe that in a diagramcdiagram democracy, the right to vote is sacred. we shouldn't be making people wait in line for hours. we should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder. [ applause ] they believe that no one, especially the president, is above the law. they understand that protest isn't un-american.

this country was founded on protesting against injustice. [ cheers and applause ] and we don't threaten to throw our political opponents in jail just because we disagree with them. that's what happens in dictatorships. it doesn't happen in the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ] joe and kamala understand that our ability to work together to solve big problems like the pandemic depends on more than just photo ops. it depends on applying facts and logic and science and not making things up, not flooding the internet with misinformation. these should not be republican or democratic values. they're what we grew up learning from our parents and our grandparents. they're not white or black or hispanic or asian or native

american values. they're supposed to be american values. we have to reclaim them right now. how are we going to do that? by voting. we have to turn out like never before, orlando. we have to leave no doubt. we can't be complacent. we were complacent last time. folks got a little lazy. folks took things for granted. and look what happened. not this time. not in this election. i understand there's some americans who get frustrated by government. they feel like, oh, it doesn't make enough of a difference, my vote won't make a difference. listen, the government's not perfect. it's not going to solve every problem. but a good government can make things better. things were better when i left office than when i started. they weren't perfect, but they were better. a president shouldn't make things worse.

a president by himself can't solve every challenge facing our economy. but if we elect a president who cares and we elect a house and a senate and a statehouse and a state senate that are focused on working people and getting you the help you need, it can make a difference. a president by himself can't eliminate all racial bias in our criminal justice system. but if we elect district attorneys and state attorneys and sheriffs focused on equality and justice, it can make things better. and that's what voting is about, not making things perfect but making them better. it's about putting us on track so that a generation from now, we can look back and say, hey, things started getting better. it's about using the power we have and pulling it together to make sure that we have a

government that's more concerned, more responsive, more focused on you. and you know what? when i hear people say, well, i don't know, i voted last time, things didn't change as much as i thought, listen, we've never come close to seeing what it would be like if everybody voted. in 2008, that was the highest voting rate in modern presidential history. you know what? we only got to 61%. that means 39% of the folks didn't vote who were eligible to vote. what would happen if suddenly we started getting 70% voting rates? what would happen if we got 60, 70% of the people voting instead of 55% of people voting? the country would be transformed. imagine. imagine january 20, and we swear in a president and a vice

president who have a plan to deal with this pandemic effectively, who believe in science, who have a plan to protect this planet for our children, who care about working americans, who have a plan to help you start getting ahead, who believe in racial equality, who are willing to do the work to bring us closer to the ideal that no matter what you look like, where you come from, who you love, how much money you got, you can make it here in america. you'll be treated with respect and dignity and justice here in america. imagine a president, when puerto rico gets hit by a hurricane, doesn't respond just by throwing paper towels. but who says those are americans and we've got to make sure we get in the help they need as quickly as possible. that's what you should expect from a president. and if you're not getting it,

then you have to go out there and vote to make it happen. [ cheers and applause ] all of that is possible. all of that is within our reach. for all the times these past four years when we've seen our worst impulses revealed, the good news is we've also seen our best impulses revealed. we've seen folks of every age and background pack city centers and town squares so that families wouldn't be separated. i've got a friend, jose andres, great restaurant oeur, went dow to puerto rico after the hurricane, organized thousands of meals on his own, because he was saying the response wasn't quick enough. just did it on his own. that is america. we saw people out on the streets

saying we're not going to have our classrooms shut up anymore. we've seen people activated to make sure our kids don't grow up on an uninhabitable planet. we've seen health care workers, so many of them all across the country, risk their lives every single day, just to save somebody else's loved ones. we've seen people contribute and volunteer to neighbors that have been hit hard. we've seen americans of all races joining together to declare in the face of injustice and brutality at the hands of the state that black lives matter, no more and no less, so that no child in this country should feel the continuing sting of racism. [ cheers and applause ] that's true in orlando. it's true in florida.

it's true all across this country. america is a good and decent place. we've just seen so much noise and nonsense and distortion. and sometimes it's hard for us to remember. but orlando, i'm asking you to remember what this country can be, what it should be, what it must be. i am asking you to believe in joe's ability to lead this country out of these dark times. to help us build it back better. don't abandon those who are hurting right now. we can't abandon the kids who aren't getting the education they need right now. we can't abandon all those young people who are out on the streets who inspire us. we have to channel their activism into action. we can't just dream for a better future. we've got to fight for a better future. we've got to out-hustle the other side. we've got to vote like never before. and leave no doubt.

so make a plan. vote as early as you can. grab your friends and your family. get them to vote all the way up and down the ticket. and if we pour all our efforts into this final week, if we vote like never before, then we will elect joe biden president of the united states. we'll elect kamala harris vice president of the united states. we will establish once again what this country stands for, what our values are, who we are as a people. let's get to work, florida. let's bring it home. i love you, orlando. i love you, florida. honk if you're fired up. honk if you're ready to go. are you fired up? are you ready to go? [ car horns honking ]

i'm fired up. let's go do this thing. let's bring it home. thank you. >> reporter: and that was former president barack obama with his strongest get out the vote message that we have heard yet, speaking in orlando, florida, of course the critical battleground state of florida. i am kristen welker in georgia where we'll hear from former vice president joe biden a little later on today. i'm taking things over from andrea who is having some camera issues. we'll rejoin her if and when we can. along with us we have garrett haake, robert costa, phillip rucker, kimberly atkins with "the boston globe" as well as charlie sykes with the bulwark. thank you all for continuing to watch this speech along with us. i thought these were some of president obama's strongest comments to date, garrett haake. let me start with you.

the president taking aim at president trump's covid response, saying we can't afford this incompetence, and then saying the idea that the white house has done anything except screw this up is nonsense. really some fiery language from the former president. he also took direct aim at mark meadows, at jared kushner, and said the white house has essentially waved the white flag when it comes to fighting covid. garrett, what were your key takeaways from this speech? >> yeah, kristen, somebody took the filter off barack obama. this was barack the bad cop here, essentially, especially that first 15 minutes, really ripping the administration's covid response. i thought the line that the president was jealous of covid-19's ratings was particularly cutting. he went back to the theme of the president essentially tweeting at the television, which i think perhaps our other guests will talk about the fact that the president sort of walked into that by tweeting at barack obama's speech on fox news today. he also made fun of the president's recent media appearances themselves, saying that the president who thinks

lesley stahl is a bully isn't going to stand up to vladimir putin or president xi or kim jong-un. so really, you know, about 75% of that speech aimed directly at president trump. the rest of it validating former vice president biden and, again, urging folks not to wait, not to screw around, not to get complacent but to cast your ballots right now which you can still do in florida. >> gather etrrett, you're absol right, the former president wrapping his speech by saying "vote like never before" and telling people in florida if they do that, they will in fact elect joe biden and kamala harris. i want to bring in robert costa. robert, what did you make of this speech? this is a battleground state. so he's got to win over those independent voters, latinos. he's got to win over suburban women. how do you think they heard what we just heard from president obama? >> they heard a scathing case from president obama about the

trump record. president obama was also speaking to core democratic voters. and he said to them directly today in florida, do not be complacent, do not be lazy, his words. and he referenced his own in 20. a victory both for the white house and congress that many democrats would like to see repeated here in 2020. a wave across the board into the industrial midwest. maybe even now into the deep south. that was the obama message today. reassemble the obama coalition, and he put biden right there at the center of his story and the story this year. >> yeah, he is an incredibly strong character witness for joe biden. maybe the strongest having served with him for eight years. garrett haake mentioned the fact that you had president trump tweeting while this was airing. he says fox news is playing obama's no-crowd fake speech for biden. a man he could barely endorse because he couldn't believe he

won. also i prepaid many millions of dollars in taxes. phil rucker, let me bring you in on that point because you heard former president obama take aim at president trump. yes, over the tax issue, but over the economy. that is still a key issue for voters even as the pandemic looms large over this entire race, right? >> that's so right, kristen. this wasn't just an indictment of president trump's character and record but obama was speaking directly to millions of americans and talking about the consequences of the trump presidency on their everyday lives. he talked about the economy. he talked about how in these last four years, the people who have gotten better off because of the trump tax cuts have really only been the richest americans. and he went through, interestingly, department by department in the federal government talking about how the people who are serving president trump at the environmental protection agency at the interior department explaining how they are interested largely

in energy internets in corporate interests. and he said if you want to do something about this you have to get out and vote because there are real consequences to being complacent. >> kimberly atkins, what did you make of this speech, and what do you make of the broaden biden strategy right now? here we have obama in florida. biden will be there on thursday. but the former vice president is going to be here in ruby red georgia later today trying to peel off a state that hasn't gone to democrats for president at least since 1992. it's a risky strategy. some democrats are wondering if it's going to pay off. what do you make of this strategy we're seeing? >> yes, increasingly, both the democrats and republicans that i have been talking to said they are keeping their eye on georgia. they are seeing georgia as a potential bellwether in an election that requires joe biden, if he's going to win, not only to reassemble that obama

coalition. but try to peel off folks who had voted for trump in 2016. the fact that georgia is even in the conversation right now shows, really, that this is a pandemic response election. this election is a referendum on donald trump's treatment of the pandemic while republicans still trust trump more on the economy. most voters say that they gave him a bad -- for talking about the pandemic. and that's why president obama was hammering that home so hard in the beginning. he -- though only thing more urgent about obama's message about the pandemic was his message about voting. if voting early, getting other people to vote. especially after the recent supreme court decisions that make it clear that it's going to be tougher for those late-cast votes that are cast early to be counted rather than easier.

and so for democrats, it's the double urgency of remembering the pandemic response and getting out and voting early. >> and i think you hit on the key word, urgency. that is what we heard from former president obama. charlie sikes, i'd like to bring you into this and talk about the trump strategy. you are in wisconsin. president trump is going to be in wisconsin later today. a part of his three-state swing. he's going to hit michigan, as well as nebraska where he's trying to peel off a congressional district there. what do you make of president trump's strategy? is it the right one? is he on defense right now? >> well, he's very much on defense. and the problem is that when he has these events, the local coverage is often about the fact that they are superspreader events. they're not getting the kind of positive publicity you'd expect. here in wisconsin, he's got a significant numbers problem. we're seeing this with the early vote in spite of the supreme

court decision yesterday. remember, in a low turnout election four years ago, he won wisconsin, but he got fewer votes than mitt romney got. there were fewer than 2.8 million votes cast here in wisconsin four years ago. right now, we are on track to see a turnout of something like 3.2, maybe 3.3 million. that's another 500,000 votes. and generally, when there are big turnout elections in wisconsin like in 2008, 2012, the democrats do very, very well. so right now, donald trump is very much on the defensive here in wisconsin, and he's got a very significant numbers problem. i think given what we're seeing with the turn dlout numbers in the early voting. >> all right. charlie sikes, i appreciate it. what a tremendous panel. thanks to everyone for sticking around. phil rucker, robert costa, garrett haake, kimberly atkins and charlie sikes. and we are going to continue

with what is a really frenzied pace here on the campaign trail. we are in georgia where we're going to hear from joe biden a little bit later on today. his closing argument in this race. but next, i do want to toss it to my colleague chuck todd who has "meet the press daily" on the other side of the break. andrea mitchell will be back after a quick break. ♪ [sfx: typing sound] ♪ [sfx: typing sound] ♪ [sfx: typing sound]

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if it's tuesday, it's one week to go. and the president is still playing defense. blitzing the trail with five rallies in two dairys all in ple he's won four years ago and must win again. virus cases are going up. hospitalizations are climbing. and the senate has left town after confirming judge barrett which means any hope for emergency relief package before the election have gone from slim to none. in the battle for balance, a setback for democrats at the supreme court. they won't allow late ballots to be counted in the crucially important battleground state of wisconsin. ♪ welcome to tuesday. it's "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd. seven days. we're just seven days until the