tell them [record scratch] the party's over. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. just four days to go. joe biden and president trump are head to head, battling for the midwest, a region battling the coronavirus, and possibly helping to decide this election. biden kicking off his campaign today trying to win back iowa. then on to minnesota and

wisconsin. the state hillary clinton ignored in 2016. president trump will end his day in wisconsin. but first, rallies starting next hour in michigan where covid cases are up 85% over the last two weeks. then he goes to minnesota following biden there. not the ordinary trump mega rally, though. minnesota's governor is restricting any gathering to 250 people because of the pandemic. the coronavirus is dominating these final days of the campaign as the candidates take dramatically different approaches to a disease that is setting records for cases and killing nearly 1,000 americans just yesterday. >> our vaccine will eradicate the virus and by the way, we have it. but whether we have it or not, it's rounding the turn, it's rounding the turn. >> he's doing nothing. we're learning to die. donald trump has waved the white flag, abandoned our families and surrendered to the virus.

>> joining me now, nbc political reporter monica alba, mike memoli, ali vitali, we've got the midwest covered. mike memoli, this is the biggest campaign day for joe biden in states like iowa, minnesota, that have not been the center of attention this election year. wisconsin, importantly. is he paying enough attention to the midwest? it's coming late. >> reporter: yeah, andrea, yesterday it was all about in a battle for florida. today it's the battle for the midwest. and really this is ground zero for the election, when you consider what happened four years ago. all those blue wall states that crumbled, that enabled donald trump to win the white house. and the biden campaign sending a very clear message that they are fighting to win them back. andrea, it's amazing when you consider what happened 270 days ago, joe biden leaving here after the caucuses, very much humbled, talking about a gut punch. to think that he's coming back

here today as the democratic nominee with a chance to win this state, potentially. he's also coming here, though, as part of an effort to win back the senate. this is a key battleground in that race as well. his itinerary certainly giving a lot of democrats some last-minute jitters as they wonder, maybe these states which they thought were more trending in their direction are very much too up for grabs at this point. biden addressed that head on as he got on the plane to head here. let's listen to how he explained his itinerary. >> we're going to be in iowa, we're going to be in minnesota. so i thought we would stop in wisconsin. i don't take anything for granted. we're working up to the last minute. >> reporter: coronavirus cases, as you mentioned, andrea, spiking across the midwest, especially here in iowa. there are now more than 30 counties with a positivity rate above 15%. that's the threshold the governor has set for closing down some of the schools, limiting some of the gatherings as well. for a campaign that has made the

coronavirus front and center as part of its campaign message, that's also aligning with this final couple of days on the campaign trail, andrea. >> the picture could not be more different, mike, than where monica is. 12 rallies, following donald trump around the country. what is the strategy for today's travel? >> reporter: andrea, it's simply to ignore the coronavirus pandemic and crisis that we're seeing and push ahead with a complete campaign blitz. the president is considered at this point the reelect effort's best asset. they don't seem to have a major strategy beyond that. so they simply want him to be in as many places as possible, giving these mega rallies, these speeches that now he has about three stops a day, that is likely going to increase to four, and as many as five or six stops a day in the final push. michigan, a critical state. but it's one that he really won by such a narrow amount in the

last cycle. only 10,700 votes. he's here in oakland county which he actually lost to hillary clinton and he's currently trailing in the polls. but republicans think if he's going to be able to do well in michigan, he has to improve his chances in places like this that have leaned democratic and certainly showed that way in the 2018 midterms. i have to tell you, andrea, just as a little bit of color, rnc chairwoman ronna mcdaniel says that their focus is looking beyond next week, hoping to vote out governor agagretchen whitme even after the plot to kidnap and kill her was foiled. but we talk about also the packed crowds, coronavirus cases on the rise here. just as concerning, andrea, is the hospitalizations. here in michigan, and in

wisconsin, another major hotspot where he's headed to next. the rally in minnesota, only 250 people will be there for the president tonight because of coronavirus restrictions. >> a lot of criticism there in minnesota for what happened in duluth, remember, that duluth rally where people got sick. ronna mcdaniel is a michigander, romney's father was the governor back then. that's an interesting battle in michigan especially with him going after a very popular governor despite the lockdown she was criticized for. ali vitali, we're seeing coronavirus cases spiking across the country, most notably in wisconsin where you are. we've learned this week that 59% of likely voters there disapprove of the president holding these rallies at all. >> reporter: that's right, andrea, and as much as monica

says that president trump wants to ignore the coronavirus out on the campaign trail, i can tell you that i've been talking to voters all day, and all of them have mentioned the pandemic as a key issue that they are voting on as they head into the ballot boxes behind me. you can see there's been a line here all day. this is a state where we're already seeing 2.1 million ballots already cast, when you factor in absentee ballots mailed in as well as early in-person voting. compare that to the total number of votes in 2016. 2.9 million people voted in wisconsin total. we're already seeing massive numbers of turnout here in this state. when i say they're voting on the pandemic, for some of these voters that i've met here, it's not just theoretical. it's not just that they have to wear a mask when they go out of their houses. for some of these voters this virus has hit them in their own families, in their own homes. i want to play for you one woman who told me why this is so important to her. >> i believe in a great change. >> reporter: what change are you looking for?

>> for everybody to be equal. for this pandemic that's going on, for it to be actually looked at seriously. me and my husband, i lost my husband, this is not a joke. it's serious that people get out here to vote. it's hard for me to stand but we need to get everybody out here to vote. >> reporter: you heard that voter talking about how she wants this virus to be taken seriously. many voters say that's the thing they like to hear from joe biden, is the fact that this is a priority to him, that he's speaking to the reality of the situation on the ground. we know of course that the campaign feels good when they're messaging on the coronavirus, if they're talking about needing to prevent covid from continuing to spread, if they're talking about health care, that's where they feel comfortable. i will also tell you, though, andrea, one man linked it all together, he said it's my civic duty to wear a mask and it's my civic duty to vote. these issues are linked. >> monica alba, mike memoli, ali vitali, where it's happening,

thank you so much. dave wasserman, house editor for the cook political report, and michael steele, senior adviser for the lincoln project and former republican national committee chairman. welcome back, both. michael, you were tweeting four days out, five days out, last time around, from 2016, you wrote, five days from election day, it's clear who has the momentum and it's not hillary clinton. this thing is close. so then we bring it up to today, your tweet yesterday, rather, writing, five days from election day, it's clear who's the favorite and it's not donald trump. so tell us what you're saying now, which is so different from what you were seeing four years ago. >> andrea, you know, there's a lot of last-minute freakout on the part of democrats about some of the polls in pennsylvania, arizona, other states, where we thought that joe biden had a lead. the reality is a lot of those polling averages are full of lower quality polls. we're still waiting for high quality pollsters to tell us

more. but the biggest tell to me has been the difference in the district level polling. in 2016, in late october, i was seeing polls that were flashing red warning signs for hillary clinton in places with high working class populations like northern wisconsin, southern tier of new york, upper peninsula of michigan. today we're seeing consistent polling at the district level done by both parties that suggests that trump is well off of his 2016 margins in a lot of different corners of pennsylvania, in places like grand rapids, michigan, and the detroit suburbs. so to me that gives me the most confidence that we're looking at a very different picture this time around. the other thing i would point out, we're talking a lot about the blue wall, but we could see a crumbling red wall on tuesday. arizona, texas, and georgia are very much in jeopardy for the president. and we're seeing historic, record-shattering turnout. texas just surpassed its 2016

total votes cast yesterday and we still have one day of early voting to go and election day. >> and in fact, you've got that dropbox controversy in harris county, the biggest county there, so the governor is making it harder for people to drop off ballots. certainly we hope they're not mailing them in at this point. michael steele, president trump's strategy seems to be nonstop travel, nonstop tweeting. he was even on a tweetstorm at 2:30 this morning. we're continuing to see him go off message at those rallies. take a look at this, on a day when he had arguably good, relatively good gdp numbers compared to what it had been, to talk about. let's watch. >> i get a call from all the experts, right, they're calling me up, sir, you shouldn't be speaking about hunter, you shouldn't be saying bad things about -- because nobody cares. i disagree. they say, talk about your economic success. but you floolglook at that and look at what tucker carlson did

the other night. hey, how about anonymous, did we see anonymous? a low staffer. >> he just seems to care about the echo chamber on fox news and not about what might be a message to the voters that would counteract at least his handling of the pandemic. >> i think, andrea, pivoting off of david's analysis and the work that they're doing looking at these numbers, what you see reflected from the president is, in those clips, it's personal. the economic numbers, you would think you would lead off. that would be the only thing you need to talk about is the economic numbers. great gdp, sets in place the narrative pre-covid, puts in place a narrative post-covid that you want to make to the american people. this president has still not given us a reason to reelect him. that's not coming from an

anti-trump bias. that's reflected in what we're seeing and hearing in our conversations around the country, through lincoln project and other groups that i'm working with right now, that there is a widening disconnect between this president, his presidency, and the american people. and what they're seeing now is, okay, i'm exhausted. we're hearing more and more conversations, people saying, i'm tired, i'm tired of talking about trump, i'm tired of trying to figure out what he's doing. biden is now offering them a space to go to where at least they have some sense of what he wants to do as president. and that's important in this election, when you're dealing with this pandemic the way we have, for people to feel that there is some resolution. in the reporting you just

played, the woman saying "i lost my husband, i'm here to vote, i want to get this resolved." and so that frustration is palpable at this point, and we're seeing it in the numbers. >> and in the category of who are you going to believe, he or your lying eyes, listen to don junior last night talking about the pandemic. >> i kept hearing about new infections. but i was like, why aren't they talking about this? oh, oh, because the number is almost nothing, because we've gotten control of this thing, we understand how it works. >> i mean, just look at the numbers. dave wasserman, looking ahead, how can they believe that that message is going to resonate with the american people given what we've seen? 90,000 cases just yesterday. >> well, the data does not support the idea that it would resonate. clearly we've seen a stable lead

for joe biden in wisconsin where cases have spiked. a majority in polls consistently say they disapprove of the president's behavior in holding these rallies. and look, the two biggest drop-off groups that we've seen for the president over the past month, as joe biden's lead has slightly expanded, have been seniors who are most at risk, and women who are on the front lines, disproportionately fighting this pandemic. >> david wasserman, and of course michael steele, thank you both so much. ahead, no relief in sight. house speaker nancy pelosi to talk about where things stand with the white house and whether there's any hope of another relief package this year. in the near future, at all. but first, covid crisis. a new spike in coronavirus cases has hospitals in remote areas at the breaking point. we'll take you to an icu in billings, montana, where doctors

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the coronavirus surge across the country are putting tremendous pressure on doctors, nurses, and hospital staff in rural areas where caregivers are overwhelmed. nbc's gabe gutierrez was given exclusive access inside a unit in billings, montana, scenes that may be difficult to watch. >> reporter: this hospital in billings, montana wasn't always on the front lines in the war against covid. it is now. >> i'm a good nurse. and the nurses that i work with are good nurses. but we are broken. >> reporter: joey traywick says he's personally held the hands of 23 of his patients who died after the first one passed without him. >> i came back to the room at one point and she had passed.

by herself. and i thought, i'm never going to let that happen again. if i have to stay late after work, if it means coming in on my day off, they're not going to pass alone. on my unit. none of them. >> reporter: the hospital granted us access with the permission of patients' testimonifamilies to show the devastating impact of the virus. this facility takes in critical patients from across the state. this is one of the hospital's three covid units. at least 14 patients here are on ventilators right now. it's a minute by minute struggle. >> it's been shocking to me how fast it's accelerated in the last couple of weeks. >> reporter: this doctor works in the icu. >> you know, a lot of times

these 12-hour shifts will morph into 13, 14-hour shifts. there's too much to do and we can't get it all done. >> reporter: how close are you to being at capacity right now? >> we're close. we're very close. we can probably find beds but it's going to be at the expense of non-covid patients. >> reporter: she came out of retirement earlier this year to rush to new york. now she's back. the virus followed. >> this patient may or may not survive. >> reporter: she showed us one patient still intubated. another had just come off his ventilator. >> shehe's improved. it doesn't mean he's out of the woods yet. he's still very critical. >> reporter: the toll is mounting for the patients and the caretakers. joey traywick has self-isolated for months, sleeping in his basement, away from his wife and three kids. how hard is that for you? >> it's a huge impact. >> reporter: late today he

visited one of his patients now in recovery, out of isolation. >> he gets to get off of the covid unit, onto a different floor where he can have a visitor, perhaps. it's like we won. >> gabe gutierrez joins me now. gabe, just extraordinary reporting that you did first for "nightly news" last night, we really appreciated that insight. how is joey doing, how are the doctors doing? >> reporter: you know, andrea, he got a lot of response after that piece first aired last night, people from around the country calling him a hero. he's grateful for that. a lot of the health care workers we spoke with, not just here but across the country, there is a sense of exhaustion. they've been dealing with this for months. some areas, like billings, montana, have seen a dramatic rise in the last couple of weeks. montana recorded its second highest number of covid cases

since wednesday. these health care workers are thankful they're being heard and the hospital granted us access to show the impact in communities across the country. >> gabe, you were in el paso yesterday, now billings. thank you for everything you're doing to bring it to the american people. it's very important. we appreciate it. private negotiations in washington becoming public. house speaker nancy pelosi and treasury secretary mnuchin trading barbs as talks falter. what does it mean for hopes for another relief package? speaker pelosi joins me next on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. a mitchell reports" on msnbc. at dell technologies,

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more than 22 million americans applied for unemployment benefits just this past month but a deal on covid relief is still out of reach. in fact treasury secretary steve mnuchin is accusing house speaker nancy pelosi of pulling, quote, a political stunt after her letter to him was released listing all the issues that his latest offer still fails to address. he's blaming pelosi for the

stalled talks. joining me now is the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. madam speaker, thank you very much for being with us. the last time you were on the show, madam speaker, you were very optimistic about something being done before the election. that certainly is no longer the case. the treasury secretary is blaming you for all the private negotiations going public. "the washington post" is saying that you and mnuchin were once washington's odd couple but that your relationship has flamed out. is this a flamed-out relationship? >> it doesn't matter what our relationship is. it matters what the truth is. and the truth is that this administration has failed miserably in responding to this virus. in fact today, our select committee on the coronavirus put out a report. "inefficient, ineffective, inequitable, the trump administration's failed response to the coronavirus."

we had given the administration plenty of time to come back with answers as to how they would deal with honoring our heroes. you just paid tribute to the heros who are there in health care. many of them are part of state and local facilities to minister to needs of people with coronavirus. honor our heroes, they risk their lives to save lives. now many of them will lose their jobs. why? because the president does not want to recognize that state and local government is playing a very big role in ministering to the needs of those who are sick as well as the revenue they have lost because of the coronavirus. they have also -- they keep saying, more than two weeks ago the secretary said they were going to agree to our language on testing. finally they were going to agree to our language on testing. but they haven't yet. so let's not get involved in what -- what the secretary did say in his letter that i think should be pointed out is that we should be grateful, we should be

thanking them rather than criticizing them, thanking them for nearly 250,000 people dying from the coronavirus, thank you for just over 9 million people affected, tens of millions, as you mentioned, going on unemployment insurance, 8 million people slipping into poverty because of the coronavirus, 17 million children, food insecure. millions of their families on the verge of eviction. and not honoring our state and local -- not crushing the virus? not crushing the virus? and they want us to say thank you. so let's just be calm. let's just understand this election is very important. we will insist upon the truth. we will insist upon the truth. and that is that we must allocate the resources in a way that honors our heroes. you just demonstrated why we

should. crush the virus, put money in the pockets of the american people, and be able to open up our schools and open our economy because we have followed the science. testing, tracing, treatment, mask, mask-wearing, sanitation, separation, and the rest. and also in a way that recognizes that overwhelmingly this virus is affecting communities of color in our country. so again, we're not going to make matters worse by agreeing to something where they say, we don't want to do the earned income tax credit but we will give $150 billion to the wealthiest people in america, having nothing to do with the coronavirus, and retroactive to years before the coronavirus. so we have a major difference of opinion. i was hoping that we could reconcile them. i still am hopeful that we will. but it won't begin by us

thanking the administration for what they have done, as they have claimed incredible progress. incredible progress. we must insist upon the truth and make policy that allocates the resources in a way that is effective and not just give money to the president to spend any way he may desire, not to solve the problem. >> madam speaker, the president claims that there will be a deal immediately after the election and mitch mcconnell has said it would be at the start of the new year. which is it? do you think there can be a deal actually in a lame duck session of congress? >> it depends on how much of a rehabilitation tour the republicans want to take. they know what they are doing is wrong. they are trying to make it look as if they're trying to get something done. i would have hoped that we could have done it before the election. why? because people are suffering and they need help. we know that very well because

we represent those people, especially those in the most dire of straits. we also have important work to do after the first of the year. so to the extent we can address some of this now, we'll have more to do later, but nonetheless we want to, again, come to the needs, help the neediest. it's interesting, the economists, some former treasury secretaries and the rest say, if you want to help, help the neediest first, because putting money in their pockets is stimulus to the economy, it helps inject demand into the economy, create jobs, and that's good for the economy, rather than some kind of trickle down effect by giving money to the wealthiest. so we're coming at this from two different places. trickle down, bubble up. meet the needs of the people versus putting more money in the pockets of the wealthiest in our country. and that is the big difference

between democrats and republicans. and that is what is at stake in this election. so we're not going to make matters worse so that somebody can say, oh, they came to an agreement; isn't that right? no, we have to do what is right. so to your question, i would hope that, again, on the rehabilitation tour, that they may want to do something, the sooner, the better. certainly we'll have something at the start of the new presidency. but we don't want to have to wait that long, because people have needs. and many of them are embarrassed and they don't want to -- they know they're going home. they know they're going home. now they'll go home having said, why don't we just help business while letting other people starve. and we want to help everyone. they see what's happening to the market. the market is acting upon the spread of the virus, which could have been prevented. the market is reacting to the fact that we don't have an agreement, which we can, which

we can, except they do not want to start with those who need it the most. >> and i didn't mean to interrupt, but you sounded -- you were sounding very optimistic about the election, talking about a new president. >> yes. >> how confident are you of even getting a fair count? now you've got a federal appeals court not letting one state count ballots after election day. our study found a suspicious coincidence between letter service, letter delivery, and the big cities with a large minority of voters. so how confident are you that the mail-in ballots will be counted, you'll get a full count and have a fair election? >> we have to. and again, they have poisoned the well in so many ways, dismantling the postal service, trying to slow down the mail and the rest, not putting resources, as we have asked for in the package, of significance that

would help facilitate voting in-person. they have no respect for the fact that so many people are standing in line for hours because they want to honor their sacred right to vote. and yet they won't allocate more resources for more voting places in a safe way for people to vote. dismantle the system of the mail coming in quicker. also, just as you see in texas, having one place in a gigantic county with more people than many states, having one place to drop off the ballot in terms of the official drop-off of the ballot. so they're trying to put up barriers to participation. we don't agonize, we organize. and by the way, there are barriers they're putting for counting votes if received after the election but postmarked before, on election day, having an impact on our military votes coming in. how votes are counted various from one state to the next.

but they all accommodate our overseas military ballots coming in, and there are some real serious questions that have arisen as to how they will also neglect the respect we should have for our military voters, some of which are coming, many of which are coming from overseas. but confident? 9 million people have already voted in texas, that's more than voted all together. around the country you see this enthusiasm. we feel very confident. i know that we will win the house and increase our numbers, even though the president is saying the republicans are going to win the house. so delusional. delusional in many respects. we have a good chance to win the senate, it's all about turnout. i have every confidence that on january 20, joe biden will be inaugurated the president of the united states. but we don't assume anything. i'm confident because we're doing the work.

we've been down this path before. and that's not going to happen again. >> regarding covid, very briefly, the president continues to hold these packed rallies in states with big surges in cases. he's in the midwest today. don junior said last night, referring to the death rate, the number is almost nothing. your response to that? >> i'm just thinking of the families in our country who have lost their loved ones. i'm thinking of the families in our country who have been affected by the coronavirus and how they may be long haulers and may have serious preexisting conditions for a long time to come. it may be almost nothing to him. but it is everything to the families who have lost a loved one. but it just shows you why we're having this fight about the negotiation. they have no respect for those who are in need, whether it's in

need of care, whether it's in need of sympathy, whether it's in need of money, whether it's in need of their jobs that we're trying to protect with our state and local government, to protect our health care workers, our police and fire, our first responders, our health -- i said health. our teachers, our teachers, our teachers. sanitation, transportation, food workers. these are the people who make things happen in our country. so their disregard for that. i don't even want to go to -- i don't even want to go to donald junior's statement, it's so outside the circle of respectability for the office that his father holds and the respect that all american people are worthy of, especially those who have lost their loved ones. >> madam speaker, thank you for being with us today. >> remember, we don't agonize, we organize, and we're going to win on tuesday. but people should get in their

vote. don't mail it, take in your vote. make it count. thank you. >> an important message. thank you very much. and open carrying of firearms is going to be allowed at the polls on election day in michigan, after the michigan court of appeals rejected the secretary of state's appeal of a lower court ruling that struck down her open carry ban earlier this week. joining me now from kent county, nbc news reporter dasha burns. dasha, let's talk about this reversal which creates a good deal of concern among michigan officials. obviously michigan is where you had the march on lansing, on the capital, long guns, and of course the threat against the governor. >> reporter: yeah, andrea, this topic has been very much in the spotlight in this state. the attorney general here has appealed that ruling to the michigan supreme court. in announcing that move she

cited a recent poll from the detroit news and wvie that showed the majority of michigan voters do not support open carry at the polls, they do not want to see guns in the voting areas on election day. andrea, the people who ultimately will be on the front lines of this thing are the local clerks and the precinct chairs. i've been speaking to those folks and they tell me they're being put in the middle here and they're in a tough spot, with this issue up in the air on election day. they're fielding concerns from voters and election workers. he want you to hear from peggy satler, the byron township clerk. listen to how she's telling her team to deal with this issue. >> we've tried to tell them, if they have somebody coming in, doing the open carry, just let them go at this point, but if they start to feel like they're starting to be intimidated, that they're purposely trying to draw attention to themselves, then

the chairman is the one then that needs to help defuse the situation. >> reporter: peggy also told me she's hoping wherever this lands, however the rules wind up, she's hoping the voters don't take it out on the people who ultimately have to carry out those rules. she's hoping voters will be respectful of each other and of the election workers who are working so hard to ensure every vote counts, andrea. >> dasha burns, thank you very much. meanwhile, both candidates are making a last dash to wisconsin today, a state in the grips of a major surge in coronavirus cases. joining me now, democratic representative mark pocan from wisconsin. congressman, thanks very much for being with us. talk to me about wisconsin, what's the impact of these big rallies that the president is holding? you see huge crowds. those people are obviously not concerned about the virus. they're not wearing masks. >> you know, it should be criminal, what the president is doing. we have our highest covid numbers we've had. it just was announced we've had

a 500% increase in cases in just two months. and where he's going to be green bay, they had more deaths than any day throughout this entire pandemic, just today. and the rate of positivity for people getting tests for covid was 45.5%, which is a staggering number. and here he is going to bring people together without masks, close together, just so that he can get the adore asiation of h followers. it's really awful. our numbers in wisconsin are a serious problem. people have to look at it when you have a rally. joe biden is having something quite the opposite, quite different. donald trump can come but he shouldn't put people at risk just so that, you know, he can somehow be satisfied by a lot of applause. >> now, the latest polling has biden ahead of trump, but the polls have also been very inconsistent. they've been favoring biden for months. but one recent poll had him up by 17 points, which was

certainly head-scratching. the new marquette law school poll found 58% of wisconsinites of disapprove of the president's handling of the pandemic. your district has liberal madison but also extends to some conservative strongholds. what are you seeing in your district? >> i think covid is the biggest issue, right? when you have the kind of covid cases we have and all the problems we have in wisconsin with it. you know, donald trump has lied to people over and over and over. and now the most republican parts of the state are the areas that have the highest covid numbers. and our hospitals are literally bursting at the seams, over 85% occupancy, and more in many of these hospitals. it's certainly on people's minds. i think this is going to affect the election in a negative way for donald trump, because now that people -- everyone knows someone who has had covid. i talked to someone in the fox valley, her and her husband knew 27 people who had covid. that's not normal for wisconsin. and clearly, you know, people now know the president has not been telling them the truth.

i think if he's not telling you the truth about covid, what else isn't he telling you the truth about? we're pretty common sense focus in the upper midwest. i think his messaging doesn't work. >> what is your reaction to the badgers having to cancel their game this weekend with cases up to, what, 16? what's the latest on that? >> yeah, our team can't play because we have so many cases right now. that's the reality, again, of what's going on in wisconsin. i think our university has been responsible. i give credit to them, they didn't have a lot of people in the stands for the first game that we had. but right now, you know, we need to be doing more that's following governor evers' orders. he had an order to limit public capacity, that's being challenged in the court. right now we need to all be doing more, democrats and republicans, because our numbers, talking to dr. fauci, this is the worst time to have these peaks hit going into the flu season. we've got to protect our friends and our neighbors and our family

members. donald trump is not, by doing the super spreader rallies he's having. but we need to get democrats and republicans together to have a message about wearing masks and staying at home as much as possible. >> thank you so much, congressman mark pocan. and the debate drama in georgia after jon ossoff attacked incumbent senator david perdue about his handling of the pandemic. this moment went viral with millions of views. jon ossoff joins me next, only on "andrea mitchell reports" right now here on msnbc. right now here on msnbc. nice. this is the new buick?

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but i will govern as an american president. i'll work with democrats and republicans. i'll work as hard for those who don't support me as for those who do. we will act on the first day of my presidency to get covid under control. we'll act to pass an economic plan that will finally reward work, not wealth in this country. we'll act to pass my healthcare plan to provide affordable, accessible healthcare. we'll act to restore our faith in democracy and our faith in one another. with our voices and our votes, we must free ourselves from the forces that pull us apart, hold us down, and hold us back. and if we do so, we'll once more become one nation, under god, indivisible. a nation united. a nation strengthened. a nation healed. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message.

georgia's embattled republican senator david perdue has suddenly withdrawn from this week's final debate with democratic challenger jon ossoff after showing no ability to counter ossoff's countdown in their last face-off wednesday night. >> well, perhaps senator perdue would've been able to respond properly to the covid-19 pandemic if you hadn't been fending off multiple federal investigations for insider trading. it's not just that you're a crook, senator. it's that you're attacking the health of the people that you

represent. you did say covid-19 was no deadlier than the flu. you did say there would be no significant uptick in cases. all the while you were looking after your own assets in your own portfolio and you did vote four times to end protections for pre-existing conditions. four times. >> joining me now is democratic senate candidate jon ossoff. senator, that was quite a take-down, as has been noted. i guess the reason for him canceling the debate is that the president's coming that night? is that the deal? >> we don't even think the president's actually coming on sunday. in any event the station offered him any time. and i'm ready to debate senator perdue. we think his handlers decided that they don't want him out on the debate stage anymore. he doesn't have good answers to the questions georgians are asking him. why he was buying stock the same

day the senate got a briefing on covid-19. he feels entitled to his seat and he's running from open debate. >> you've got two senate races in georgia, and everyone's watching this because of the georgia rules. you've got three candidates. what is the likelihood of avoiding a runoff? >> well, we're working hard right through the finish. we're in macon, georgia, on the road today, hence this picture-esque backdrop behind me. we are working hard to protect ballot access. but that's my most important message to folks out there. you want to see us defeat senator david perdue. this is the same guy who because he doesn't want to talk about covid-19, stooped to mocking kamala harris' heritage at a presidential rally. this is the same guy who was buying stock in manufacturers at medical equipment the same day the senate got a classified briefing on covid-19 in january. this guy has nothing to run on

but disease, unemployment, and personal corruption. he's refusing to debate me. he's running from the public at the moment when the public deserves to hear from elected officials. we've got to combat voter suppression, protect ballot access in georgia, and folks can log on and help us do that at electjon.com. >> the president is coming on sunday but also senator kamala harris is going to be campaigning in georgia on sunday as well. joe biden was in the state earlier this week. there has been some criticism, you know, why the democrats spending so much time, georgia, texas, arizona, and not focusing on what they really need to win, which is pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, and try to deny the president, you know, at least hold the states that hillary clinton won. or else deny the president florida. >> well, we welcome the vice president's visit. we are thrilled that senator harris is coming again on

sunday. andrea, remember that stacey abrams only lost the governor's race here in georgia by 50,000 votes two years ago. we've registered more than 800,000 new voters in this state since then. and the georgia's new electorate is younger and more diverse. georgia voters of all parties are rejecting this administration's incompetent, catastrophic, and corrupt leadership of this moment of national crisis. we desperately need a change and i'm urging folks to log on and support my vote so that every single voter in the state can cast this ballot. today the last day of early voting or tuesday the last chance to vote at all. >> and i assume the message is also don't mail those ballots in at this point. that is not at all secure. jon ossoff, thank you very much, and i called you senator. i didn't mean to. that was an unwitting promotion. i know you're running to be the

senator. and we wish you luck. and safe travels on the campaign trail. and -- >> thanks for having me, andrea. >> and we've of course talked to senator perdue's office. any time senator perdue wants to reach out to us, we'd love to talk to you as well. and that does it for a busy edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, get a mask, make a plan, go vote, follow us online and on facebook and twitter. chuck todd with "mtp daily" is up next. aily" is up next. everyone does -- right. it happens to all of us. we buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. what i do is help new homeowners overcome this. what is that, an adjustable spanner? good choice, steve. okay, don't forget you're not assisting him. you hired him. if you have nowhere to sit, you have too many. who else reads books about submarines? my dad. yeah. oh, those are -- progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto

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♪ welcome to friday. it is "mtp daily," and i'm chuck todd. just four days to go, right? both candidates are barnstorming the midwest battlegrounds right now with dueling rallies scheduled to start? just a few moments. president trump is about to speak in minnesota. then he will hit wisconsin. we will dip into these rallies as we get underway, the final weekend is actually looking like a jam-packed weekend of campaigning. also happening right now, hot off the presses our new