anthony zurcher is in washington.g donald trump saying that robert redfield the director of the cdc wasn't in the loop and didn't have the latest information but then you talk to drug manufacturers and they kind of echo what redfield is saying. that there could be a vaccine and the next month or two but it could also be stretching well into 2021. that's why you see people likejoe biting saying that there is a political motivation behind donald trumps announcement for that because he is talking about it happening right before election day. and if there is a return to normalcy that probably would help donald trump politically. although let's be clear all candidates running for election try to line up positive things don't they? donald trump is not alone in doing that. no that's not the case although when it something like life and death like this i think the sta kes a re and death like this i think the stakes are that much higher. you have to look at donald trumps record over the course of this year being overly optimis

anthony zurcher is in washington. , can it not, with the cdc saying one thing and down from sin quite some thing and down from sin quite some thing else? and then mark meadows, donald trump's chief of staff, echoing donald trump, saying that robert redfield was not in the loop and did not have the latest information, but then you talk to drug manufacturers and they kind of echo what redfield was saying, that there could be a vaccine in the next month or two but it could also be stretched well into 2021. as lazy people like joe biden stretched well into 2021. as lazy people likejoe biden saying that there is a political motivation behind donald trump's announcements because he is talking about it happening right before election day, and if there is a return to normalcy, that probably would help dom from politically. although let's be clear, all candidates try to line up be clear, all candidates try to line up positive things —— and that's why you see people likejoe biden. that's definitely the case, that was something l

it is time then to get our very own a—z on texas, with anthony zurcher who is there for us, in the cityically because it is an outlier, isn't it? it is and i grew up outlier, isn't it? it is and i grew up yourand it outlier, isn't it? it is and i grew up your and it was an outlier when i was a kid, a little island of the liberal blue amongst a sea of red but texas is transitioning. cities like houston, san antonio, dallas are becoming weird like austen, liberal and i think that is why you are seeing some democrats look at these polls and think the trend over these polls and think the trend over the last few elections and sayjoe biden has a chance in texas, democrats have a chance and as you mentioned if that flips over to the democratic column, that pretty much guarantees democratic president as long as it stays true. of course overhear the one name we associate with texas is better overwrought because he had a star power. some say he was all hat and no cattle but he was a star and really brought the focus to texas. did the democrats have someone with the same kind of swagger? it's hard

anthony zurcher looking ahead. joe biden has been ahead of donald trump in most national polls.ald trump has 43% per cent of the vote. this graph shows the trends across hundreds of individual polls since the start of the year. it showsjoe biden has hovered around 50% in recent months and has had a ten point lead on occasions. national polls tell us how popular a candidate is across the country as a whole, but it's important to remember there are limitations as we saw in 2016 when hillary clinton led in the polls and won nearly three million more votes than donald trump, but she lost the election because the us uses an electoral college system. joining me now from charlottesville is larry sabato who is the director for the centre of politics at the university of virginia. before we come to the debate tonight can you briefly remind us about the electoral college system and how you can win an election with fewer votes than your opponent? it is an archaic system that was designed in the 1790s system that was designed in the 17905 and it certainly does not fit the 21st century but w

let's speak to our north america reporter anthony zurcher.achievement to get two more countries to sign a peace deal with israel from the arab world. how did he do it? well, it is a remarkable achievement. he hints that there will be five other countries soon to follow. i think he did it — donald trump and jared kushner have been working on middle east peace for pretty much the entirety of his presidential administration. there have been lots of doubters, but i think, as you mentioned earlier, there was interest in creating some sort of opposition to iran, and that helped urge these persian gulf nations to ta ke urge these persian gulf nations to take the first step in 26 years for an arab nation to offer some kind of normalised relations with israel. let's look back to 1979. remember jimmy carter making peace between israel and egypt, shaking hands on that same white house lawn. yet a year later he was voted out of office. signing a middle east deal does not guarantee a keen to read —— key to reelection. it does not, and american voters tend

let's bring in our senior north america reporter, anthony zurcher.mateur problems as for the president? i think first and foremost it is a distraction. it gets him off message, he will have to talk about his taxes and answer questions about his taxes, when he would much rather talk aboutjoe biden and different campaign issues. beyond that i think it will hurt him with the few people who may still be undecided. notjust with the few people who may still be undecided. not just because with the few people who may still be undecided. notjust because thejoe biden campaign is leaning into this, saying that putting up a website where people can compare how much they pay in taxes to how much donald trump paid in taxes. so it will be a challenge for him to ship the conversation again from this. it is not a lot of new information, but it isa not a lot of new information, but it is a complicating factor for his campaign. democrats have been pushing president trump to release his tax returns even since before the last campaign. was there anything in here that was

0ur north america reporter anthony zurcher looks now at some of the challenges the two men face as theyt is the big difference between honest a ba nya. difference between honest a banya. there are enormous opportunities once we get rid of donald trump —— honest abe and you. when donald trump took the debate stage in 2016 he was a political neophyte, but we knew about how he was going to go about debating. he was going to be unpredictable, he was going to be uncouth, he was going to be uncouth, he was going to be uncouth, he was going to try to rattle his opponenfs going to try to rattle his opponent's cage full, dogs, slobs, and discussing animals. your twitter account... only rosie o'donnell. it will be a stark contrast to joe rosie o'donnell. it will be a stark contrast tojoe biden who has been a politics nearly half a century. he has been in a lot of debates, none quite so important as this. his style is much more affable, much more casual. you know me. you know my heart. you know my story. he tries to put his opponents of balance by seeming like the everyman. so walk with me in my n