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ahead for us, blue wall blues. new nbc news reporting about concerns inside the harris campaign that michigan or wisconsin may break for trump. the stakes, the stress, and the star headliner barack obama trying to whip up support today. plus, donald trump fanning the conspiracy flames around potential voter fraud, just hours after admitting he's seen zero evidence it is happening. i'll talk to an election official from wisconsin about the challenges as early voting kicks off in that battleground state. and house hunting, more than two dozen races from california to the catskills set to decide which party will control the house come next year. democrats outspending republicans in some of those races nearly two to one, but how much will it matter. a lot to get to, but we start with the very highest level of political chess being played in these final two weeks of a dead even campaign. and the increasingly difficult

strategic choices that presents. for kamala harris today, it means no campaign rallies, but instead two network interviews. while sending her not so secret weapon former president obama to wisconsin and michigan, two of the three blue wall states so critical to victory. first stop, deep blue madison, a big college town where tim walz will try to whip up enthusiasm and voting margins on the same day early voting gets under way in that state. and where lines were already forming this morning. obama easily won wisconsin in 2008 and 2012, a stark contrast to trump's narrow upset in 2016, and biden's even narrower win in 2020, making wisconsin the only state both years that were decided by less than 1%. and with polls just as tight this year, three sources tell nbc that there are concerns about cracks in the blue wall. the conversations have focused

on whether michigan or wisconsin fall to former president donald trump while the other two states go blue and that the bigger concern is over michigan. i want to bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell in madison, wisconsin, where former president obama will be next hour. matt gorman is a republican strategist who was an adviser to tim scott's campaign, aide to jeb bush and mitt romney and former communications director at the nrcc, and cornell belcher a democratic bolster, founder of brilliant corners research and an msnbc political analyst. okay, cornell, is this blue wall stuff nervousness, typical democratic angst or do you think in a race where virtually every battleground state is tied they would be crazy not to worry? >> well, i think you know the answer to that. you got to be worried about all the states. but, look, you know, as someone who worked on both the obama campaigns, you're nervous about all the states. that's why you put multiple states in play. i remember before election

night, you know, david plouffe talking about how we're not going to be sitting around election night waiting for one state to come in and decide the race and that's why you have the harris campaign putting multiple states into play and spending across multiple battlegrounds in case one state does fall, you have multiple pathways. i will say this about michigan and wisconsin. look, if you look at -- look, too much of the conversation, by the way, is asymmetrical. it is all about harris and what she's got to do. but quite frankly, i'm more -- if i'm on the other side, i'm calling this, look, it is just as much about what donald trump has got to do. if you look at michigan and wisconsin, where is donald trump not in the polling, but where he is on election day? he's always at 47, 48%. that 47%, 48% worked in 2016 when you had a lot of third party voting. i would argue that he's got to break above 47, 48% in michigan and wisconsin in order to win

those states without a lot of third party voting. and not from polls, but in the polling also shows he's always at a ceiling of 48%. i would argue from a strategic standpoint, i think the challenge is for how does donald trump raise the ceiling in those states where we had back-to-back elections where we know where voters ended up and it is 47%, 48% for donald trump. >> he can raise his ceiling, which has generally and for a long time been considered to be 47%, 48%. does he have a heavier lift in the blue wall states? >> i think the fact we're talking about it as the blue wall, right, these were always the safeguards for democrats here. you saw david plouffe admits north carolina could be slipping away from them ever so slightly, georgia atlanta journal institution has a lead for trump there. you shrunk the battlefield. and so if trump picks off any one of these states, particularly pennsylvania, then that's the ball game here, folks. what i'm watching very closely

is also the actions of some of the down ballot candidates. bob casey, senator from pennsylvania tight race, tammy baldwin of wisconsin, tight race. they're incorporating trump into their ads favorably, praising the work they have done with them, so what that tells me is there needs some trump, baldwin or trump, casey voters, they sit at the top of the ticket and they need to get crossover vote more than anything else. that tells me where the state of the presidential race is in some of these places. >> so, kelly, that brings me to you. madison, wisconsin, why there, why now for former president obama? >> reporter: well, good to be with you, chris. this is the point hours ahead of the event when the audio vendor is showing what he can by blasting the music, so, i hope you can hear me okay. this is the first day of early voting, and madison is, of course, a college town. it is the state capital. and i've been talking with democratic officials here and they say that dane county has

swelled in its size of population. and they believe they have more democratic registered voters here. and one thing about wisconsin is they had so many competitive races for a series of years that the operational actions of the nitty-gritty, getting out the vote is something that frankly both parties know a lot about, democrats certainly know about, and so they believe this is a critical time. so bringing barack obama here where he can try to kill that space while vice president harris is doing interviews today can try to get voters capitalizing on the moment. they can vote now, election day is here. get them to do it. and certainly being with governor walz is part of also trying to do the outreach to the rural communities, so you got the mix of the student population, the core democratic base, the suburban and rural voters, who are a little farther up who will be paying attention to this today. and that they believe they can act on it. moving from simply talking about

the election to actually being able to cast ballots, that moment is here now for wisconsin. and that's what they want to try to bring the energy to, chris. >> matt, thank you very much, first of all, kelly, admirable job, i've been there with the music blasting, trying to talk over it. the most valuable asset that a campaign has is their candidate's time, right? we remember when hillary clinton chose not to go to wisconsin in the leadup to the general election, she wound up losing it. there have been countless conversations about whether that was a key in costing her the election. and we heard donald trump criticizing harris today for not holding any rallies. here is what he said a short time ago. >> i was going to hit her really hard on the trail today, but now i don't have to, because she's off. she's off. i can't get over it. who the hell takes off, you have 14 days left. and she'll take a couple more days off too. you know why? she's lazy as hell and she's got

that reputation. >> you've been in those meetings. talk about the strategic decisions that have to be made. they're not easy. the closer you get to election day, about how and when to deploy candidates in this case a rally in one of the battleground states or a sit-down interview with a couple of networks that has a broader audience, but some people would say loses that energy. what do you think? take us inside the conversations. >> yeah, everyone is different, right? so example some candidates are stronger in the morning, some candidates are stronger later at night. george h.w. bush went to bed early, tim scott liked to do meetings later in the day. two big interviews for kamala harris, later today with hallie jackson and another one later too. objectively i think maybe if she was up for it, squeeze in a morning event somewhere, maybe in wisconsin, maybe in pennsylvania, get a little bit

of local press too. and you're still able to prep, rest and take care of yourself in order for those interviews later today. you're absolutely right. time is precious. fit them in where you can. >> what do you think about that, cornell? and what do you think about the decisions that have to be made? how hard are they sometimes? i tell this story to my team all the time, 2000, no security to speak of at airports, i would arrive at an airport and wait to hear where the campaign had decided to go the next day and then try to get on a plane to get there. obviously those days are gone. those decisions are made often in real time. >> yeah and also maybe smoke a cigarette on an airplane. >> well, let's not talk about that. >> well, i got to say, the hilarity of this is what is doing it for me is on this network we have reported on how donald trump has been canceling events and canceling interviews for the whole week because

apparently he's exhausted and falling asleep. we reported that on this network. i think it is hilarious his idea that she's not on the trail. i think she's done a very good job -- >> he also said he can't respond to her. she has to be at a rally for him to be able to talk about her. yeah. >> yeah, no, it's a little odd. but, look, i have no issue with the way the harris campaign is using the candidate's time. i think she's dominated the news cycle for the last two weeks. and dominated in a way that is unconventional. dominated in a way that a lot of our traditional media doesn't like. because she's been doing podcasts, she's been doing narrow casting, and you know what, when you look at audience out there she needs to bring home the most, with the younger viewers, i love our network, but a lot of those millennials and those voters under 25, they're not tuning in to cable broadcast news programming. so she's going where her voters

are and i think that makes a big strategic sense. and her surrogates out there, whether you're a democrat or a republican, look, the guy who won wisconsin going away last time around, barack obama, guess where he's going to be? he's going to be in michigan and wisconsin for her stomping. so i think it makes a lot of sense. >> you know, matt, you have obama going to wisconsin a day after harris was there with liz cheney. tim walz, talk about that part of the strategy when he was on "the daily show." take a listen. >> the cheney thing, do we really have to do that? >> look, it goes broader than that. bernie sanders, dick cheney, taylor swift -- >> no, no, no, no, no. having the cheneys on board -- >> yeah. you can't dick cheney or taylor swift, no. >> we're big ten. >> what country did taylor swift get us to invade?

no. >> don't you think, though, that -- i do this, i believe this, there is still a core group of folks out there. your point being, the don't tread on me, the reagan piece of this, the libertarian piece, but the constitutional piece, there are a lot of people out there. i think liz cheney and dick cheney give permission to those folks who want to find a reason to do the right thing. it doesn't mean they agree with us. >> i love the word permission. do you think there are -- there are republicans or true independents who are troubled by donald trump, for one reason or another, maybe aren't madly in love with kamala harris, are they looking for somebody like a liz cheney to, for lack of a better word, give them permission, it's okay to vote for kamala harris? >> my position on this is if you need liz cheney to give you the permission, you been drifting that way for a little while. when it comes to liz cheney, i'm a yankees fan, i'm in the world

series, i'm a lefty special, she come in from the bullpen to do one specific job. and yesterday she started weaving into abortion. at that point you lose the effectiveness of being that republican so to speak and you become more of a conventional democrat. so i think what i would focus, what i would tell her, only my advice, i would tell her stay focused on the issue you're known for and you're driving, don't wade into traditional democratic issues that only lose your effectiveness. >> you know, matt, we're going to ask you to stick around for another segment. you brought the yankees to a cleveland fan. so, i'm going to have a conversation with my control room. hang out. hold on. calm down. thank you, cornell belcher. i appreciate you. and my colleague hallie jackson sits down for an exclusive nbc news interview with vice president harris that airs tonight on "nbc nightly news" 6:30 p.m. eastern and catch it on nbcnews.com. coming up in 90 seconds, the

big challenge for election officials as donald trump sows new doubt about whether the results will be fair. first, how voters there are feeling heading into the polls. >> is there excitement about this election at all? >> oh, yeah. there is a lot of excitement. if you're on facebook, or whatever, i mean, so i encourage everybody to get out and vote. i encourage every out and vote more hang outs. more “mmmmm, so good!” yeah, give us more of all of that little stuff that makes life so great. but if you're older or or have certain health conditions, you also have more risk from flu, covid-19 and rsv. but vaccines help keep you from getting really sick. and that, is huge.

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as of today, 36 states are early voting. amid an unprecedented onslaught of misinformation. it did seem for a hot minute like donald trump did not believe voter fraud was an issue for 2024. but listen, first, to what he said in the afternoon and then when he said the opposite less than two hours later. >> have either of you seen any cheating, incidents of cheating that leads you to believe this election will not be fair? >> well, i haven't. >> they said millions and millions of ballots out there, they don't know what the hell's happening. did you ever hear the expression you vote counter is far more important than the candidate? and unfortunately we can't let that happen. we got to take it back. >> with trump warning, with no proof, about election fraud, impacting voters at the polls today. take an example. this is north carolina today. >> do you have confidence that

this election will be fairly decided? >> i sure hope so. i have some confidence, not 100%. i guess we'll see. >> not 100%. nbc's dasha burns is reporting on this for us. so, what is trump's sort of larger narrative to his supporters about security on one hand? don't vote early, then vote early, everything is okay, i haven't seen any proof, oh, there are problems. >> so, on the voting early and voting by mail piece, the republican party has been trying so hard, despite the best efforts of their leader, donald trump, to try to get their voters to be comfortable with early voting and mail-in voting, but this is a narrative he's been touting for, you know, years now, so that's been a challenge for the party. and then overall, you hear him at the rally versus what he said to vaughn hillyard, at his rallies this is the primary message. the only way that i can lose is if they cheat. listen. >> she's a threat to a lot of

things, but that's the way it has to be, because we're winning by a lot. we're leading by a lot. we're leading in the polls. every single state. >> he's saying we're leading in the polls, we're leading in every single state, he's saying he's going to win california, that's absolutely not true, but this is the kind of narrative he's projecting to his voters. and it does raise concerns from election experts and operatives that this is sowing the seeds of doubt already, if he doesn't have an overwhelming victory that something was wrong in the election, again, the claims are unfounded and he's not winning in every single poll, but that's part of the rallying cry is, again, his message to his supporters, the only way we lose is if they cheat. >> dasha burns, thank you as always. well, election officials in wisconsin as we told you early voting today have been working overtime to shut down conspiracy theories. the debate has been particularly heated over ballot drop boxes, which are once again being used

after they were briefly banned over claims of fraud. i want to bring in ann jacobs, wisconsin elections commissioner. thank you so much. i think you're a little busy, so we appreciate you taking the time. i wonder what you're watching for today now that early in person voting has started. >> thank you so much for having me. we are watching to see whether or not we're going to have smooth early voting here in wisconsin or whether or not there are going to be challenges at the polls to our voters. so far it's been quiet, i hope it stays that way. >> your state elections commission lists 107 drop boxes in use throughout the state right now. there were 500 during the 2020 election. now, obviously that was a covid year. but it still seems like a big drop. what has happened between then and now and is this big drop tied to challenges brought on by some of these conspiracy theories? >> to my opinion, it is entirely

due to conspiracy theories. there was a movie that was made that claimed that drop boxes were being surreptitiously used to stuff the ballots. it was completely false. unfortunately what that meant was a lot of communities decided they didn't want to have drop boxes. i suspect there is more than 107. we don't require clerks to notify us if they're using drop boxes, but that being said, they're the best way to get an absentee ballot back to a clerk. so, it is disappointing that communities are choosing not to use them. >> so, help people understand the truth. what do you say to voters who are concerned about whether drop boxes are secure? >> i tell them that it is the most secure way short of handing your ballot to your clerk's hands. it goes through -- we have guidelines for the wisconsin elections commission for all of the communities in the state on how to make sure they're safe and secure. how to make sure that the chain

of custody between the drop box and the clerk occurs. i always tell people, think about how many people touch a piece of mail if you put it in the mailbox to go out into the mail stream, it goes to your postal carrier, to a sorting entity, for a lot of the state of wisconsin it goes to one of the two major cities, either minneapolis and minnesota or to milwaukee, and then it gets redistributed and redelivered. so, drop boxes are just a great safe way to turn in your absentee ballots and it is disappointing that conspiracy theorists have caused that to be limited for some voters. >> what is your biggest fear surrounding this election? >> that one of our election workers gets hurt, injured, killed. hands down. >> are the threats out there? >> they are. >> we have done pretty extensive reporting on the extra measures that have been taken in many election places from panic buttons to reinforced or bulletproof glass.

do you feel confident that you have done at this point and have had the ability to do everything that you think you can to keep your workers safe? >> we have done so many different outreaches, trainings, assistance to our clerks. wisconsin is a little different because we administer our elections at the municipal level. so we have 1,850 clerks who each administer their oath municipalities' elections. all those clerks have been provided the resources we can. we have done troubleshooting and tabletop exercises. so, while that may be my biggest fear, it is one that i feel very strongly we have done our very best to mitigate. >> and finally, let me ask you, the question everyone has, when will we know the results and what will it be on election night? there was that bipartisan effort that failed to pass earlier this year that would have allowed your state to begin processing absentee ballots before election day as some other states do.

what do you see as the timeline for getting results? >> thank you for asking this question. it will be very early in the morning on november 6th. if past is prologue, it will be somewhere around 2:30 or 3:30 in the morning before wisconsin's totals are reported as sort of the final unofficial totals. so, please, if you're out there thinking about what, you know, what time you want to go to bed, if you want to know results, i'm afraid you're going to have to a late afternoon coffee because wisconsin will be coming in very early in the morning on november 6th. >> i really hesitate to ask this question, but given the polls and battleground states, i have to. what triggers a recount in your state? >> a margin of less than 1%. the aggrieved candidate has the right to request a recount providing they pay for it. if the margin is less than 0.25%, the recount is free. so, in 2016, the stein campaign

paid full freight for a full state recount. in 2020, the trump campaign paid for only two counties to be recounted. >> and ann jacobs with a very big job and we appreciate you taking time away from it to talk to us today. good luck. >> thank you. >> and still ahead, secretary of state antony blinken makes another big push for a cease-fire in gaza. what we know about a proposal israel is now considering. but first, the widow of imprisoned russian opposition leader alexei navalny speaking to msnbc. here is what she told rachel maddow about the stakes of fighting for democracy with the u.s. election right around the corner. >> i am sure that america will do the right choice and you'll be fine. as you know now, there are more and more authoritarian regimes and alexei's great example that people never give up, even in

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today there is a new push for peace in the middle east. secretary of state antony blinken hoping to leverage the death of hamas' leader to advance a cease-fire and hostage deal. he met for two and a half hours today with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and other senior officials in jerusalem. in the meantime, israel is

pressing ahead with a deadly offensive in northern gaza. and a bombing campaign against hezbollah in lebanon, striking the suburbs of beirut once again today. nbc's raf sanchez is reporting from tel aviv. matt bradley is in beirut. so, raf, tell us what we know about this two-week cease-fire proposal that israel is said to be considering. >> reporter: so, chris, for the last year the three mediators, the u.s., egypt and qatar have been trying and failing to broker a comprehensive cease-fire to find a way to end the war in gaza in exchange for the release of all of the remaining hostages. there is a new intelligence chief in egypt, he just took over his post last week. and he has arrived with the philosophy that if we can't get to a big deal, what if we can get to a small one? he's been proposing a two-week cease-fire in return for the release of just six israeli hostages. now, an israeli official tells

nbc that israel's security cabinet has been briefed on this proposal, they are considering it. it is not clear at this point if it is something that israel would actually go for. it is also not clear, chris, if this is something that hamas would sign on to. you mentioned that the u.s. has a certain level of optimism that the killing of hamas' hard-line leader yahya sinwar potentially opens a window for restarting these talks. but these same u.s. officials pretty much in the same breath are also acknowledging that they don't know who is in charge of hamas inside of gaza right now. it is not clear if there is anybody who can actually sit at the negotiating table and make a deal on behalf of the group right now. one of the things secretary blinken is exploring here. but this israeli official cautioning it is quite possible that nobody wants to make any big decisions until at least we know who won the u.s. election and also until israel carries out this really long awaited strike against iran in

retaliation for that ballistic missile attack, a strike that could set off a chain reaction of retaliation. >> raf sanchez, thank you for that. so, matt, i know you went to the scene of potentially the deadliest strike in lebanon of this war. what did you see? >> reporter: yeah, well, i say potentially the deadliest strike because we don't know if that's the case yet. there have been strikes that killed two dozen people. this one, the official number so far is 19 dead. but it really looks as though that number is going to be increasing. now, the israelis have been pounding beirut and mostly the southern suburb of beirut right outside the city for the last month. it resulted in huge numbers of casualties. but this particular strike came without warning. it was right near one of lebanon's or beirut's main most important hospitals which is very alarming to folks here as israel expands its menu of targets. and i spoke with one man who told me that he had lost 20 members of his family, and you'll notice that's higher than the official death toll. that's because he says these

numbers are missing and he thinks as many people do when we spoke to them in that area that the death toll is going to be increasing. this man, here's what he said about what he saw there. >> reporter: so as you can see, chris, he's really saying that this was entirely a civilian area. there was no real military or strategic interests for the israelis to target this place. as we heard time and time again, there was no violence there. this was an attack without warning, it surprised the residents and that's what we're seeing a lot of here. that there is just no place like in gaza, no place in lebanon for people to flee for their lives from this relentless israeli assault. >> matt bradley, thank you. he kept abercrombie & fitch at the top of the fashion

industry for years. now, former ceo mike jeffries is facing federal sex trafficking and prostitution charges according to two senior law enforcement officials. nbc investigative correspondent tom winter is following this story for us. what do we know? >> right, chris, well, this case is so similar to the types of cases we have seen over the years, where somebody basically taking some form of vulnerability in another individual and then using that to basically come across and say, look, if you do this, for me, then i can help you out. in this particular case, according to the allegations, this was a promise of a job, a job in modeling, he's the powerful ceo of abercrombie, they are the hottest fashion retailer at the time and it had serious consequences acording to the u.s. attorney when he spoke today. >> to anyone who thinks they can exploit and coerce others by using the so-called casting

couch system, this case should serve as a warning. prepare to trade that couch for a bed in federal prison. >> so, chris, here the idea was if these young men went to these events and they weren't even told according to the indictment that these were sex events, but if they went to these events, they might have an opportunity for a modeling job at abercrombie. they were coerced, they were forced, they were unwilling, according to the indictment, to engage in sex acts with jeffries and two associates and, quote, and others in the indictment and that if they did not do those sex acts, they could actually harm their career. wasn't just enough that they had to go, they had to engage in these sex acts and if they didn't, they could be harmed in their career. his attorney says they will address the allegations in court. that hearing is slated to begin in about 25 minutes from now, around 2:00 eastern time. but put together, we're talking about 16 counts, and 15 john doe

victims in the charging documents. this appears and the period of conduct is 2008 to 2015. this appears to be quite a serious case. >> tom winter, thank you. >> you got it. up next, the battle for control of the house. the hottest and most expensive races to watch as democrats try to reclaim the majority. s democ to reclaim the majority. ♪ ♪ have you always had trouble losing weight and keeping it off? same. discover the power of wegovy®. ♪ ♪ with wegovy®, i lost 35 pounds. and some lost over 46 pounds. ♪ ♪ and i'm keeping the weight off. wegovy® helps you lose weight and keep it off. i'm reducing my risk. wegovy® is the only fda-approved weight-management medicine that's proven to reduce risk of major cardiovascular events in adults with known heart disease and with either obesity or overweight. wegovy® shouldn't be used with semaglutide or glp-1 medicines. don't take wegovy®

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democrats locked in tight house races are riding kamala harris' fund-raising momentum, in the most expensive election in american history. they need to flip four seats this november to retake the house. and many of the most competitive districts are not in traditional battleground states. nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali is at the big board to break it down for us. so, ali, what are some of those key races we should be watching and almost certainly will be watching on election night? >> yeah, it is a very big map, chris. and really you look at the balance of power and it becomes that much more striking that all democrats need to do is flip four seats. we say all they need to do, there are millions and millions of dollars that go into that and these races are dispersed across the map. but, first, the story of this congress really can be told from this graphic alone. the fact that you need 218 for control, for democrats just a question of flipping four seats, just a tiny number right there.

but, again, this has been the story of this congress in large part because the margins have just been so slim for republicans, we have seen why that has been problematic time and again. but then, of course, look at the map itself. i have to say, this is one of the most chaotic and aggressive maps i think we have access to here at nbc news. but it is the exact map that people like hakeem jeffries and speaker mike johnson are looking at every day because for jeffries, his goal is to keep seats in places like alaska, down here, but also to be able to flip seats in all important places like california, and then all the way on the other side of the coast, new york. these are places that both democrats and republicans have been spending a lot of time and, of course, a lot of money that is noting in to say of other places like new mexico, which has a key race in it pennsylvania which has a few key races in it, all of those lend to the overall idea of why we are seeing millions and millions of dollars spent exactly like this.

for example, you look at a place like michigan, 7th congressional district, one of the most expensive races on the map, it is an open seat, that's why we're watching democrats and republicans spend as much as they are there. but it is also an example of something like alaska, this is an area where i spent a bunch of time in 2022 when the now incumbent marry peltola was first on the ballot. she benefitted in part from a bipartisan profile, chris, but she also benefitted from rank choice voting in the state, and two republicans being on the ballot then who sort of split the vote and allowed the democrat to eek in through the middle. now it is a one on one race with peltola and begich. this is one where democrats are spending because they need to keep it as well as trying to expand in other places. one place they're trying to expand, new york's 19th congressional district, just above the hudson valley, goes into other areas of mid to upstate new york. right now, congressman mark molinaro, a moderate republican, holds that seat.

but democrats, you see it, spending over $10 million so far to try to flip it and put it back in the blue column. the same can be said for areas like arizona, where you see a republican in the 1st congressional district playing defense against democrats. but in all of these races, you talk about the money wars here, you see that democrats are outspending republicans across the board, and, again, all of it is going to be in the name of trying to flip this balance of power. again, the magic number is four seats if you're hakeem jeffries and democrats and that can go through many, many different paths on this map. >> without a doubt. it is going to be a long night, ali vitali. thank you so much. up next, why you probably won't see donald trump dropping by a diner or kamala harris swinging by an ice cream shop. the security concerns that have them shifting strategies. and senate majority whip dick durbin will join me live on the battle for democrats to keep control of the upper chamber and why some candidates are keeping their distance from the vice president. are keeping their distance from the vice president.

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monica alba has more from washington, and matt gorman, campaign strategist, is still with us, and now, what do we need to know about hosting one of the candidates these days? >> yes, chris, it is notable, because this is something that would usually typify the last few weeks of the campaign and you would see both of the candidates stopping at a diner or small retail stop, but given the assassination attempts the on former president trump's life that you referred to, there has really been a lot more scrutiny on the so-called rtrs that are supposed to have a surprise element, but that the campaigns of course now go to scout out in advance the situation and the location beforehand and work with local law enforcement, and the secret service has always been involved, and that is the way it has been, but because it is so labor intensive to do that for a small coffee shop or local small business, the campaigns are doing far less of them. we have seen some of this from

for instance the vice presidential nominees on both tickets, but you are seeing a lot less of vice president harris or former president trump popping into the establishment like this, and it is because of the work that goes into it, but also now because it is basically planning a full-scale event. all of the work, the logistics that go into holding a rally or a round table can now be compared to what it would be to go into the planning to plan a quick stop, a quick photo-op for either of the candidates and an example of this we saw was from former president trump who went to a barbershop recently, and you could not get a shot of him entering the establishment because of the security concerns they had, and there was some tinting up, and they had it on a couple of other occasions as well. this is a shift in what was normally how you would see the campaigns operating in 2016. remember in 2020 covid shifted all of this as well. so in 2024, we have had this new added element as the campaigns e

volf over time, but it is coming down to as you know too well, chris, the main top priority for any campaign and the most valuable part of it is the candidates' time. so they want to make sure they are spending it in place where is the resources make sense, and again, to reflect the heightened security environment amid all of the threats for the high profile candidates. chris? >> thank you so much, monica. and right, you have had two possible attempts on donald trump, but these can be great for the campaign, because of the surprise that you often see from the customers in the diners or in these ice cream shops or whatever. look, if you are a local tv photographer, if you are a local newspaper photographer, those are the money moments that end up on the 6:00 p.m. or the 11:00 p.m. news or both that end up on the front page.

so how much of a disadvantage is it for these campaigns not to be able to do it the way they used to? >> it is absolutely a disadvantage. i'm a big believer that the juice of this is worth the squeeze in the end. we kept seeing the mcdonald's photo-ops and the barbershop photo-ops and it is potent, but this is a change even from the primary. i remember walking tim scott across the street from a event in lamar, iowa and blue bunny ice cream shop at 11:00 a.m. in the morning, and we didn't have to worry about security, and the photos were great from there, and i am a big believer, if you can get this done and work with secret service 48 hours in advance is great, but monica makes a great point that the businesses don't want the attention, because yo have the difference of one side or another, because they don't want to invite the press or the politics into their business at

all. >> and we have 30 seconds left, but another thing of going into the informal stops, there are candidates who are much more comfortable, much more relatable when theyare talking to people one-on-one instead of a huge rally crowd, and that is another thing that some of them miss. >> that is 1,000%, because it is a great way to humanize the candidate and it does not matter if it is donald trump or tim walz or j.d. vance or whoever, and it is not the same as behind a stump speech or lectern. >> thank you, monica and john. and now, can there be a difference for kamala harris in a state that joe biden won by well less than one percent. for medicare, it's time to take advantage of everything medicare has to offer, and much more. with a humana medicare advantage plan. humana has plans that can enhance your life in so many ways. it starts with peace of

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it is good to be back with you on this second hour of "chris jansing reports." at this hour, the midwest focus. president barack obama starting the mini blue wall tour before dashing the detroit tonight. any minute now he is going to take the stage with vice presidential candidate tim walz in madison. and tonight, the first person to vote in wisconsin looking to rile up the supporters and fortify the foundation of the critical blue wall, and what the voters are telling us as they head to the polls.