all right, chris jansing in gulf shores, alabama. be safe.'s turn to al roker let's start with the water issues we're dealing with. i have to say, how did we go from sally being a disturbance we need to monitor on the gulf side of the state of florida to what we saw. the initial, and i say this. i have family and friends in the panhandle, so i pay a lot of attention to the gulf side the initial projections, this storm was never going to achieve hurricane status how are we missing these super fast-forming hurricanes so quickly right now at the hurricane center >> well, you know, actually, chuck, we were looking at this earlier this week. and we -- it was part of the development zone, right? right now you can see this frenzy we've got going on. so we knew that it was going to be developing. and we thought early on this could become a storm so this one actually was picked up by the national hurricane center you can see we've got quite a bit going on but what we were concerned about and what we have been seeing this season, we've seen twice befor

long it sticks around, and the possibility for as much as a seven-foot storm surge, andrea >> chris jansingank you so much, chris. >> reporter: there it goes >> they're already on sally, the s's, and it's only early in the hurricane season they'll go to the greek alphabet next, apparently, when they get through the w's. >>> meanwhile, today, joe biden is in florida for the first time after polling that shows he's really lagging behind the president and hillary clinton's support among hispanic voters, many of whom have been waiting for him to show up joining me is garrett haake in florida, fwgarrett, he's targetn specific communities, particularly puerto rican communities, but not in miami. >> reporter: andrea, to be clear, biden does lead with hispanic voters in the state of florida but not by the margin that hillary clinton did, and that's an issue of concern when you have a state that's decided by less than a percentage point, everything is done on the margins here you talk about targeting hispanic voters, they're not monolithic in the state of florida. biden is in tampa first today, then

from michigan to ohio, that's where we find chris jansing. so chris, last night i checked in with you before the debate. seemed like you had a great spot to watch the debate. i'm sorry you had to watch the debate, because that looked like a great spot. >> reporter: thanks. it was gorgeous. we were all in a very positive mood in this lovely cleveland neighborhood. then when it was all over, the folks i was watching the debate with used words like painful, unpresidential, disrespectful. chuck, here in ohio, the folks i was with last night, and i've been traveling through battleground states since last month, it almost seems like trump supporters who have not jumped ship, but are concerned about the way he comports himself, were just looking for a reason to stick with him, because they're concerned about what they see as potentially liberal policies oh of a biden/harris administration. he just didn't give them that last night. they talked about a '70s era sound proof booth that he would have to go in if he just couldn't stop talking over joe bid

chris jansing there in avon, ohio. chris, thank you for that. thank you, shannon, ali, gene robinson. we're keeping an eye on the location that ali is at the train station where joe biden is getting ready to deliver remarks ahead of his train tour through a couple of different battlegrounds here. we're also talking about the morning after a debate, in which the shadow of covid and the economy hung heavy. listen. >> a lot more are going to guy unless he gets a lot smarter, a lot quicker. >> there is nothing smart about you, joe. 47 years you've done nothing. if you would have had -- let me tell you something, joe. >> no. >> if you would have had the charge of what i was put through, i had to close the greatest economy in the history of our country, and, by the way, now it is being built again. >> joining me now from the white house is peter navarro, assistant to the president, and director of the office of trade and manufacturing policy. peter, thank you for being on the show this morning. >> did you have a good night in the hall? i saw your revi

i'm chris jansing in for craig melvin. right now political analysts are pouring over a slew of newly released polls trying to read the tea leaves 61 days out from the election. new cnn polling has joe biden up five points over president trump in 15 battleground states, 50-45%. here is what's important. that's a statistical tie. it's right in the poll's margin of error. in just the last minute, a new look at one of those battleground states, north carolina. fresh off the president's visit, a brand new monmouth poll shows biden up just two percentage points, also within the margin of error. today both candidates are driving their messages home in key states. joe biden is heading, even as we speak, to kenosha, wisconsin, just days after the president's visit there. he left in the last 30 minutes and will meet with the family of jacob blake who was shot in the black seven times by police, leading to unrest and violence there. it will be joe biden's first visit to wisconsin in 674 days when he was there campaigning during the m

i'm chris jansing.en's big speech on the economy, but will he also say something about the president's comments on the military. my colleague andrea mitchell picks up things right after a short break. have a great weekend everybody. i'll see you back here -- the open road is open again. and wherever you're headed, choice hotels is there. book direct at choicehotels.com. and wherever you're headed, choice hotels is there. i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband, and it's already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it's rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it's like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today's 4g networks. in fact, it's the fastest 5g in the world. from the network more people rely on. this is 5g built right. only on verizon. before money, people tools, cattle, grain, even shells represented value.

i'm chris jansing in for craig melvin. with the race for the white house heating up on several fronts, a tightening race and a new poll released at the top of the hour. >>> new attacks, counterattacks and new plans by joe biden. we'll have that breaking news coming up in just a minute. the president is scheduled to leave this hour, headed to the critical state of north carolina. his second visit to that battleground state in just a matter of weeks. it's fresh off the heels off his visit to kenosha, wisconsin, where he magnified a message of law and order, a message the biden campaign is looking to turn upside down. with a one-two punch they're out with a new ad criticizing rioters and looters and slamming the president with his own rhetoric. in just a matter of hours, he'll be taking a jab at another weak spot for the president, the coronavirus pandemic and our schools. we're just 62 days to election day. the new polls i mentioned show it's messaging that's increasingly important. we'll have more on the state of play in ju

chris jansing for us in mobile, stay safe. kevin, be safe as well, kevin her photographer there it really is hard to get your head around just how much rain the gulf coast is getting right now. take a look at these images we've captured over the past few hours. this is nbc's sam brock. he's covering the storm from pensacola. just look at how much that area has changed in just a few hours' time more rain, more water, and it is all happening so very quickly. sam brock back with us now once again from pensacola we've seen significant changes so far this morning. how are things there now >> reporter: craig, good morning. it has not stopped raining, and the wind is still slamming into us, as chris said, speeds up to 85 miles an hour this has been going on for hours. we were out here at 4:00 a.m. this morning there was no water in this parking lot. there was some water, some flow going out on the streets next to me now look at this there's a street over here i'm on a parking lot, as i mentioned. there's a street down there. this mig

i'm chris jansing. officials asked him not to come. community leaders say the trip makes them nervous. right now the president is leaving the white house about to head to wisconsin anyway. the concerns that his visit to kenosha will stoke my tensions. plus, the joe biden many top democrats have been hoping to see, his stinging new attacks on the president that have some saying this race just entered a whole new phase. some fascinating new polls from battleground states. did two weeks of party conventions and the unrest following the shooting of jacob blake move the needle? >>> we begin with the president making his way to kenosha, wisconsin, even though the governor and mayor asked him not to come. governor tony evers sent trump a letter asking him to reconsider the trip. once he arrives, the president is set to meet with law enforcement and tour businesses. what's not on his agenda, a visit with the family of jacob blake, whose shooting sparked the protest there. i want to bring in nbc's shaquille brewster in kenosha and nbc's monica

i'm chris jansing in for craig melvin.rump about service members that threaten to up end the electoral playing field, claims that the president called dead service members losers and suckers, a strark contrast to his public persona as a champion of our military and veterans. the white house and the president's response came fast, denying the reports. a sign of just how important the military vote is to his campaign. we could soon hear from donald trump as he navigates this political storm. this hour he's meeting with the presidents of the republic of serbia and the prime minister of the republic of kosovo. we may get the first live comments from joe biden who has a big speech coming up next hour on the economy. in a statement, he's already calling protection of generations of american troops to be the one truly sacred obligation of a

i'm chris jansing. officials asked him not to come.. right now the president is leaving the white house about to head to wisconsin anyway. the concerns that his visit to kenosha will stoke my tensions. plus, the joe biden many top democrats have been hoping to see, his stinging new attacks on the president that have some saying this race just entered a whole new phase. some fascinating new polls from battleground states. did two weeks of party conventions and the unrest following the shooting of jacob blake move the needle? >>> we begin with the president

of me this is -- i'm in -- almost at the florida/alabama border pensacola, florida, over there chris jansing is over there in mobile i will say overnight, came in with top winds of 105 miles an hour i've been doing hurricanes for 15 years, hallie my crew and i were all worried that our windows were going to smash in, all of our rooms are weight it was really, really rough overnight. we had 24 inches of rain just here in orange beach there is flooding, wide spread flooding, boats in the street of orange beach right now there are about half a million people in this region, without electricity. and, of course, they can't start rees ree rescues or repairs with the winds at these levels. this rain started yesterday afternoon. and over here where i am, carried on until 9:00 this morning or something like that we're probably still going to get bands of rain all the way through to 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 this afternoon. what happens is that the water gets drenched, root systems get drenched, trees fall over, more power is lost, of course, they can't get those bucket trucks up to start fixing that just to g

katy >> chris jansing, sam says he was on the dirty edge of the storm. where were you and what is it like now >> well, the rain is unrelenting. it just keeps coming down. look at what the result is so many trees down this big oak went right into the mcdavids' house, so they were already hunkered down. they let their three kids, who are 8, 6, and 2, sleep in their bedroom. then they heard this huge, what sounded like an explosion. it was actually probably this big oak tree, the second one, cracking they went running. and they realized that the oak had gone down right into the middle of their 6-year-old daughter's bedroom thank goodness they had moved the kids into their room obviously, this house is not inhabitable right now and it's getting wet with the rain coming down and just a few blocks from here, another situation where folks weren't so lucky a couple asleep in their bed the tree comes down right into their bed. we can show you some video that we shot. when you look at it, the tree seems to be laying right in the middle of the bed. i was able to ta

chris jansing, thank you. ellison barber and shaquille brewster, we appreciate it. everybody, thank you very much. >>> and coming up, we're going to get into the president not condemning racism -- sorry, not condemning white sprem saes, also defending his response to the pandemic in last night's debate on ask from masks to a vaccine. we'll short out the facts from fiction. >>> plus, more on the president's refusal to condemn the far right group proud boys. today, that group is celebrating. and we're 34 days away from the november election, but today, republicans had james comey, james comey, testifying again about what happened in 2016. also, joe biden is on a train tour, campaigning by train today. here are some live pictures. he is on his way to pittsburgh. joe biden on amtrak. $9.95 at my age? $9.95? no way. $9.95? that's impossible. hi, i'm jonathan, a manager here at colonial penn life insurance company, to tell you it is possible. if you're age 50 to 85, you can get life insurance with options starting at just $9.95 a month. okay, jonathan, i'm listening. tell

>> chris jansing, thank you. county with unemployment on the rise, covid hospitalization on the rise, what are the specific policies that are working so well? that wraps up this hour. i'm stephanie ruhle. hallie jackson picks up our debate coverage next. live from cleveland, ohio. r debate coverage next live from cleveland, oo.hi you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait. because when caught early, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it. that's a step in the right direction. i'm on it. what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks?t smell clean? now they can! this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. pour a cap of downy unstopables into

i'm chris jansing in for craig melvin.g over a slew of newly released polls trying to read the tea leaves 61 days out from the election. new cnn polling has joe biden up five points over president trump in 15 battleground states, 50-45%. here is what's important. that's a statistical tie. it's right in the poll's margin of

i'm chris jansing in for craig melvin.on several fronts, a tightening race and a new poll released at the top of the hour. >>> new attacks, counterattacks and new plans by joe biden. we'll have that breaking news coming up in just a minute. the president is scheduled to leave this hour, headed to the critical state of north carolina. his second visit to that battleground state in just a matter of weeks. it's fresh off the heels off his visit to kenosha, wisconsin, where he magnified a message of law and order, a message the biden campaign is looking to turn upside down. with a one-two punch they're out with a new ad criticizing rioters and looters and slamming the president with his own rhetoric. in just a matter of hours, he'll be taking a jab at another weak spot for the president, the coronavirus pandemic and our schools. we're just 62 days to election day. the new polls i mentioned show

chris jansing went to wisconsin to look at the ground game for both of these campaigns. ris, what did you find out in. >> reporter: i talked to a lot of longtime campaign operatives they say the risks are huge on both sides. ohio, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, the ground game has been the gold standard but now, we're in the middle of a pandemic so we're in totally unchartered territory. >> are we going to re-elect donald trump? >> reporter: in suburban milwaukee, donald trump campaign volunteers are getting -- >> a door knock from a neighbor or a friend. if you don't want someone to knock on your door don't answer it. >> i feel fine with you being here. >> reporter: the trump campaign claims it's knocking on million doors a month. the biden campaign, zero. a reverse from barack obama. biden's campaign is making an unprecedented high-stakes gamble on a totally digital field operation. >> chris, you're living your life in a very, very different way. so we're meeting that moment and we're meeting people where they are. >> reporter: which means blasting voters we mails,

. >>> joining me is al roker and chris jansing. you're already in the beginsings of it, talk to me about how people are preparing for the worst. >> reporter: well, pummeling is right. the winds have definitely picked up even in the last half hour, the rain is definitely heavier i just got off the phone with a local emergency official -- wow. let's let that pass, that little gust pass. all they can do now is wait, because they know that overnight is when this is really going to hit hard they're talking about the potentially for historic flooding, and it's exactly for the reason you have said when you're talking about a storm that is that slow, 2 miles per hour, this is something that happened a lot when it moves slowly, but then you have a rain sitting over a place like gulf shores, all way up to mobile, which has a lot of low-lying areas, and it can drop huge amounts of rain, talking about 30 inches of rain. if it gets above that, we could be talking about as much rain as they would typically getting in the month of september, and

life-threatening storm surge, on high alert at this hour joining me now from gulf shores, alabama, is chris jansing, good to talk to you you're already seeing some rain, i should note, and wind from sally there in alabama, tell us about how the people there are preparing and does it seem as though people are staying in the area to ride out the storm or are they evacuating? >> reporter: yeah, it seems like they're having trouble getting a handle on exactly how many people are evacuating, in a normal hurricane situation, we would have folks going to shelters, they would have people checking and seeing where people are, but we're in a time of coronavirus, so all bets are off, at a local shelter, less than a few dozen people up near mobile, but here, a shelter essentially of last resort, people who haven't already evacuated need to get out bush but they have been on tv relentlessly throughout the morning telling people the low-lying areas, areas that tend to flood, to get out this could be life-threatening and the reason is, that this storm is moving so slowly, two miles per hour, i don't know if you c

covering all of this i want to start with hurricane sally pounding the gulf coast as we speak chris jansing is in obile, alabama, which is also getting pounded. chris, tell us what it's like where you are. >> reporter: yeah, i'm in downtown this is absolutely a ghost town. people heeding warnings, and good reason to it has been a hairy night, to say the least. you mentioned this slow-moving storm. that's the problem so much rain local forecasters are saying it could continue to pelt this area for nine more hours. it's been weakening the roots of trees. this is a small one outside of my hotel that just came down a short time ago but talking to city officials as i make my way down -- you can see all the debris that's down here there have been more than 100 trees coming down overnight in the city of mobile, several of them hitting houses. they've had to do rescues. there was one woman. it took a long time to get her out of her bed fortunately, she was conscious and responsive when emts got to her. that's the kind of situation they're dealing with in areas that are flooded, they can't necessari

chris jansing spoke to people working for both campaigns and joy joins us now.the two campaigns are adjusting or not adjusting to the pandemic. >> reporter: they couldn't be more diametrically opposed. folks in neighborhoods like this in ohio, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, they're used to folks coming to their door for a candidate. but we're a pandemic now. we're in absolutely unchartered territory. take a look. >> are we going to re-elect donald trump? >> reporter: in suburban milwaukee, trump campaign volunteers are getting marching orders to go door knocking during a pandemic. >> the number one way to change a vote is a door knock from a neighbor or a friend. if you don't want somebody to knock on your door, you don't have to answer it. >> reporter: christina will put on a mask if asked, no one does. >> i feel fine with you being here. >> reporter: the trump campaign claim it is knocking on a million doors a month. the biden campaign, zero. it is a stunning reversal from the standard set by barack obama, so successful, republicans required campaign staff

. >> i want to bring in chris jansing. she watched debate with voters in her home state of ohio. i'm dying to talk to you. how did they see it? >> reporter: as a depressing debacle, uninformative. a chunk of their conversation turned to a remnant of '70s game shows. remember the sound proof booth? you keep talking over the other guy we're going to send you into an adult time-out. that's where we are with this, steph. let me play you more of that conversation. >> it's frustration. it's disappointing that those are the two choices in the top two parties. >> if you were to ask me who won the debate, i don't really think either one won. they danced around, called each other names, were disrespectful. >> i don't know if anybody really won, but i came away with a little more respect for joe biden. >> i think i'm still pretty undecided. >> it would maybe edge me a little more toward biden, but not much. >> reporter: did you learn anything? >> anything new? no. >> you can't even figure out sometimes how they get from a to z when they're just yelling at each other. >> be civil. answer the

let's bring in senior national correspondent chris jansing. she's in lorraine county. hillary clinton won lorraine county by just 100 voters. i know you're talking to the undecideds out there. what are they going to be watching for tonight? >> reporter: it's so interests. yes, we talked about the issues, but in the end, the world that kept coming up, katy, is character. let me give you two examples said for us that is simply unfair. it's not the same as what happened four years ago. we used the same unfair. >> you can't ask the american people to do one thing and you're doing the complete opposite. it's just unfair. >> most people will look at it as unfair. why thinking me first? let's get the most benefit -- >> if you think he's not a fair guy enks i it's it's a big distinguishes sit. . >> it could sway me, but i see character flaws on both sides, the hunter bide ing biding and s on