yamiche alcindor, what is your obsession the last few days? >> south carolina.e race between jaime harrison and senator lindsey graham. this was a race solidly looked at as the republican seat. it's been moved over by the cook political report as a toss-up. it's fascinating because jaime harrison is able to raise boatloads of money and put lindsey graham on the defense. this is a state president trump won in 2016 by 14 points. they have not sent a democrat to the senate in two decades. if jaime harrison is able to pull this off, it will be a major blow to republicans and lindsey graham has emerged as one of the closest allies to president trump. that's what makes this race an interesting one to watch. >>/yamiche, i want to play a piece of this tv ad jaime harrison is running because he decided to add a third candidate to the race. take a look at this ad. >> bledsoe was pro trump from day one, opposes all abortions and bledsoe's against all gun control. lindsey's changed and bledsoe is too conservative for south carolina. >> yamiche, bill bledsoe technically drop

lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor, down to the wire, thank you th. now, to help wk us through the battleground map and each candidate's paways to the 270 electoral votes, i'm joined by npr's senior political editor and corrpondent, domenico montanaro. domenico, thank you h for being with us again. we are less than a week out. we're just, what, three days out. what is the big picture look like right now? >> well, the big picture, our map, so far, we have it at 279 ectoral votes for joe biden for states that are leaning toward him or likely to go his direction, and only 125 for president trump for states leaning in his direction or likely to go in his directio. so, you know, this has been a crazy year because, when yot u lookl of these states in yellow that are the tossu states from arizona, texas, georgia, florida, north carolina, ohio and iowa, all of those states are reason the margin of error, judy, so that gives a lot of democrats a lot of pause when they look at a number thasays, wow, joe biden is up by a lot, but that could all tip vry quickly p

that is lisa desjardins and yamiche alcindor. thank you to you both. >> naz: in the day's other news, confirmed cases of covid-19 around the world topped 40 million. more than eight million of those are in the united states, with more than 70,000 new infections a day, the most since late july. in chicago, mayor lori lightfoot made a public appeal to slow virus spread. >> i understand that a lot of sacrifices have been made over these many months. and i also understand the fatigue factor that people have. but folks, given what we're seeing and t incredible escalation of the rates of cases every day, this is not a tim when we can indulge in covid fatigue. >> nawaz: also today, the nation's top military leaders were cleared to return to work. they had gone into quarantine when a senior coast guard official tested positive for the virus earlier this month. we'll take a closer look at the wave of new covid cases, after the news summary. the justice department today charged six russians with hacking everything from the 2017 french elec

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports on how the trump and biden camps began their week. yamiche: it's 15 days until the election. and for both campaigns, every day le is critical. >> what's up, florida? yamiche: senator kamala harris, the democratic vice presidential hopeful, went to orlando and jacksonville, florida to encourage turn out as early voti began. harris just came out of quarantine after some of her campaign staffers tested positive for covid 19. >> health care justice is on the ballot in 2020. reproductive justice is on the ballot in 2020. criminal justice reform is on the ballot in 2020. climate reform is on the ballot in 2020. everything is on the ballot in 2020. joe biden is on the ballot in 2020. when we vote, we win. when we vote, we change things, we make it better, we know our power. yamiche: harris' running mate, former vice president joe biden, stayed off the campaign trail today. he's prepping for his final debate with president trump, on thursday night. today, the president went from rally to rally in the west. he left las vegas and traveled to ar

yamiche alcindor with the latest, thank you. hanks so much. ♪ judy: there are many other questions about the president's personal health, the duration of qurantine and whom else might have been exposed in recent days. dr. ashish jha is the dean of the brown university school of public health and joins me now. given what we have seen now, the president is about to leave white house to go to walter reed for several days you have heard i think what we have about the president's symptoms. what does that all add up for you? dr. jha: thank you for having me on. this is very concerning for the president and the country. in terms of the president and his health, we do not have a lot of information. do know -- we do know cute deceived an experimental therapy, but it seems like it is moving pretty quickly. he was diagnosed last night. he is heading to the hospital tonight. it concerns me. i do not want to overstate it. i do not have a lot of details, none of us do. but this is a concerning and i think worrying development. it feels like he

joining me now, pbs news hour white house correspondent yamiche alcindor, nbc's jacob soboroff, author of "separated: inside an american tragedy," jim messina, manager of president obama's 2012 presidential campaign, and nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. welcome, all. yamiche, you've been on the firing line at white house news conferences. it's unimaginable, the pressure on kristen last night. president trump trying to attack biden through his son hunter, but to my eye, he never really explained to a general audience what those unsubstantiated charges were all about. unless you were in the fox bubble, as he is every day, he wasn't really explaining the substance behind it, that he alleges. and biden was just ready to pounce. let's listen. >> you were getting a lot of money from russia. they were paying you a lot of money. and they probably still are. but now, with what came out today, it's even worse. all of the emails, the emails, the horrible emails of the kind of money you were raking in, you and your family. >> i have not taken a single penny from any country whats

msnbc continues on the other side >>> joining us now, yamiche alcindor, correspondent for pbs news and a msnbc political analyst. yamiche, pictures from tuesday night, this is after the debate you see president trump, melania trump, you see karen pence and -- i'm sorry, you see jill biden and joe biden not coming near each other on the stage. let me ask you this, yamiche, vice president pence has tweeted his good wishes for the president and melania trump. and we share those good wishes. we hope they are asymptomatic or don't suffer from this. he didn't tell us whether he's been tested or not. >> that is one of the biggest questions now really that is part of this incredible scenario where the president of the united states has tested positive as a senior citizen at 74 for this virus. i've been reaching out to the vice president's office. i know that you have reporters at nbc news and msnbc who have been doing the same. it's just not clear whether the vice president who, of course, works often closely to the president, whether or not his status for the coronavirus is known. it's going

. >> leading off our discussion tonight, yamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for pbs news hour, and jonathan alter, columnivity fcolumn ivity columnist for the daily beast and the author of "jimmy carter: a life." both are msnbc analysts. yamiche, what is going to happen at the white house tomorrow? >> well, what's going to happen at the white house is the president is going to be speaking on a balcony before we think possibly hundreds if not dozens of people. and the people that are coming to the white house tomorrow, they'll be given a mask or be instructed to have masks with them. they're going to be instructed to wear those masks. but they're not going to be tested before they go onto the white house grounds. instead they're going to face a series of questions. they'll have their temperatures checked. what's remarkable about all this, of course, is that the white house is still dealing with a coronavirus outbreak within its own walls. so the most protected place in the united states is not going to be able to protect itself before and it wasn't able to protect itself now to

yamiche alcindor reports. >> the waning days of a presidential campaign. candidates, no end to the work to be done. today, the focus for both sides, north carolina, where more than two million voters have already cast their ballots, nearly three times more than at the same point in 2016. in asheville, democratic vice presidential nominee kamala harris urged voters to keep that going. >> 13 days to go and we cannot spare a minute, sisters and brothers. we cannot spare a minute. we're talking about an election that's taking place right now, where over 20 million americans have voted. yamiche: this eving, president trump also headed to the state for a large-scale rally at an airport just outside of charlotte. his opponent, however, stayed off the campaign trail. for a third straight day, former vice president joe biden has been holed up, preparing for his final debate with president trump. it's planned for tomorrow night in nashville. instead, this evening, in philadphia, his former boss, president barack obama, stumped for him at a community roundtable, and

our yamiche alcindor looks at how the virus is affecting the race there.osh, wisconsin is one of the countastest growing coronavirus hotspots. in recent weeks, cases have surged here and across wisconsin, a state that also happens to be key to presidents trumelecon. >> our hospitals are becoming overwhelmed. yamiche: doug is the county health director p he hoped the president's own experience with the virus woulcause people to take it more seriously, but it did not. pres. trump: don't be afraid of it, you will beat it. he had an opportunity to express to the blic have serious this disease can be for some individuals. unfortunately, it has beend minimized an are still on the same path we were before. yamiche: in 2016, president trump flipped wisconsin red by fewer than 23,000 votes -- thanks partly his sweep of this northea section of the state, known as the fox river valley. it's become one wisconsin's most politically divided regions, and that was even before the coronavirus pandemic. >> i don't think my vote was yamiche: republican nate. gustavson suppor

yamiche alcindor, lisa des jardins, thank you.t has happened before with president trump, stopping short of clearly denouncing far-right extremists and racist groups and sentiments when prompted. william brangham has our deeper dive into that exchange from last nights debate. >> this is the moment when the president was unwilling to criticize racist groups in america. mr. wallace: are you willing to condemn white suemacist and militia groups and say ty need to stand down and not add to the violence in cities as we saw in kenosha and portland? pres. trump: i am willing to do that, but i would say almost everything i see is from the left wing, not the right. mr. wallace: what are you saying? pres. trump: i want to see peace. mr. wallace: so do it, sir. mr. biden: say it. pres. trump: what do you want me to do? who do you want me to condemn? proud boys? stand back and stand by. somebody has to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right wing problem. mr. wallace: the proud boys are part of a loose network of fa

. >> woodruff: for analysis of the debate, i'm joined by our own lisa desjains and yamiche alcindor. so hello to both of yu, and lisa, first, as we can tell from what we just listened to, this was a more policy-oriented debate than what we saw last week between the president and joe bid so what are some of the main policy contrasts that emerged last night? >> let's look at two, judy. c first, omate change. you had senator harris saying its an existential threat and significant action is needed now. on the other hand, you had vice president pence just offering a question whh is what is the cause and what do we do about it, not definitively giving his opinion on it. the other issue, judy, is the economy. vice president pence put out there that democrats, in his opinion, are willing to shut overuse the muscles ofoo eas government. senator harris posed a different problem. yoe said that,he look at the trump administration, it favors the rich too much. >> woodruff: so, yamiche, we did see vice president pencee defending president, the tministration's response coatnavirus. o wh of all he s

. >>> we're joined now by yamiche alcindor. also with us christina greer. and, yamiche, you are part of the people who take the risk of being around these white house staffers, being around the president. we have the breaking news at this hour that the president should be quarantined. that is the breaking news that america should be concentrating on right now. all public health officials, the cdc, the doctor just indicated, the president should be quarantined based on what's happened to hope hicks. >> that's right. and the other breaking news is the president says just a few minutes ago that he has been tested for the coronavirus and is now awaiting his results. he says he might be getting it tonight or friday. he said, quote, whether we quarantine or not i don't know. so essentially the president, as you said, that he should be quarantining. he's openly saying he doesn't know if he's going to quarantine. the president and his staffers, while they are tested daily, as someone who is in the white house multiple times a week, a lot don't wearmasks. they are te

but as yamiche alcindor reports, the candidates kept an eye on the confirmation hearing in washington. >> alcindor: for former vice president joe biden, the supreme urt stakes are clear... >> it's about finally getting his wish to wipe out the affordable health care act. because their nominee said in the past the law should be struck down. >> alcindor: for vice president pence, barrett's nomination and confirmation hearing are about standing up for religious liberty. some democrats have raised questions about whether barrett, a devout catholic, can separate her faith from her judicial rulings. >> to live, to work, to worship according to the dictates of our faith and conscience lives in the constitution of the united states of america. >> alcindor: both biden and pence spent the afternoon in ohio, where early voting started last week. four years ago, president trump won the state by about eight points. but recent polls show biden and trump in a statistical tie. since the pandemic began, the state has lost about 40,000 manufacturing jobs. campaigning with auto workers in a socially dis

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins r coverage. >> alcindor: one week to go. r and in the-up to election night, both candidates are criss crossing the swing states. today, democratic candidate former vice president joe biden campaigned in georgia. b it's to flip a state which hasn't voted blue in a presidential race since 1992. >> we will act on e first day my presidency to get covid under control, we will act passo an ec plan that will finally reward work not wealthy, in this co we will act to pass my healthcare plan provide affordable accessible healthcare. >> alcindor: while his running mate, senator kamala harris visited nevada. and, former president barack obama campaigned for his former p. in critical florida. >> his chief of staff on a news program says we're not goil to conte pandemic. he just said this. yes,e did. and yes we noticed, you're not going to control tne pademic. listen, winter is coming. they're waving the white flag of surrender. >> reporte meanwhile, president trump made a sweep around >> alcindor: meanwhile, president trump made a swear

for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. od >> woodruff: provided the last major economic data before the election, and it ge the president some good news. economic output this past quarter grew at the fastest pace on reco sce world war ii: 7.4%. that's a sharp rebound from the record plunge of the previous quarter. but 23 million people are still ceivinunemployment assistance. one more data point: as theid prt and vice president biden visit midwesrn states in the final days, a new analysis finds private job grth in michigan, wisconsin and ohio was about half the national erage during the past four years. david lynch of the "washingtti post" is rep on all of this and joins me now. david lynch, welcome. so this news about economic very good-- 7.4% in the third previous quarter.ng down 9% e but put it in context. how much of a boun-back is it? >> well, the good news is it was a very strong quarter. but it came aft a terrible quarter, of course, in theon squarter, when the economy was put in a deep freeze as lewe bathe pandemic

yamiche alcindor haseen in south florida taking a look at those groups, and what isss are top of mind. >> alcindor: florida-- often won by razor-thin margins-- is back in the political spotlight. with less than two weeks until voting ends, organizers here are hitting the streets to rally the vote. there's leaflet-ing, to door- knocking, and all-out flag waving. ( car honking ) the sunshine state is home to a diverse set of nearly 22 million votertus, and higout is what could secure the election for either party. republicans democrats are laser focused on a few key groups: black voters, seniors and latinos. both president trump and former barnstorming the sithden are mult weeks of the race.inal they'r more than $120 million on ads. that's more than any other state. >> i could just sum it up in three words, it would be this: "managing the margins." >> alcindor: fernand amandi is a democratic pollster based in miami. >> hillary clinton did a historically good job in south florhich is the base of the democratic constituency in the state. but she was then overrun, because her campaign didn

for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor >> woodruff: each week feels like a whirlwind of news-- ithard to make sense of it all. must this evening the commission on presidential debates officially canceled next week's debate following esident trump ying he uld not participate in a virtual event. thankfully, we havthe analysis thankfully, we have the analysis of shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. he to to both of you. after another news-filled week, mark, you just listened to the report from wisnsin, yamiche's report. what is your sense of voters'ke n how the president has handled coronavirus and how it's affecting their vote.t >> well, it's od, judy. this is an area where joe biden has a decisive margin over donald trump. one of the misleading impressions about wisconsin, why it is important, is tht every democrat since water mo mondalen 1984 has carried it up until hillary clinton. the margins were incredibly thin. trump carried it by eight-tenths of one percent in '16. it is the ultatimate eground state and a

joining us now, nbc news capitol hill correspondent garrett haake along with yamiche alcindor with pbs news hour. i mentioned at the top we have not seen the president for days. what are white house advisers saying about the current state of things inside the oval office in the west wing? >> well, white house officials on the surface and on the record are saying that the president is feeling fine, that he's hard at work, that he really is getting ready to be able to go back on the campaign trail. we heard from the president's doctor saying that he could be cleared as early as saturday to be back on the road. there's some talk now of having some sort of rally this weekend, possibly in florida. that's what's being said on the surface. also the president held this two-hour plus call with rush limbaugh, the conservative radio host, where he made the point over and over again that he felt fine, that he felt perfect. he claimed that he had been cured. he claimed that he didn't have any issues with the virus. but here's the key thing. when you talk to people off the record or on background at

correspondent and "weekend today" co-host peter alexander, nbc's mike memoli, and pbs news hour's yamiche alcindor. let's sort through what the biden campaign is now saying, they want to change the format of the october 22 debate. >> yeah, andrea, i think what we've had happen in the last few minutes here is a debate on debates has broken out with all of the participants here. let's rewind and start with this morning. that was the debate commission announcing to the surprise, frankly, of both campaigns, that they were going to move forward with a virtual debate in the town hall format for next week. this was done without consultation of either of the campaigns. the biden campaign said they were just getting ready to begin their conversations about how this debate were to move forward, if it moved forward at all, given the president's diagnosis. very quickly the biden campaign said they would gladly participate in such a debate but the president ruled it out. kate benefiting field, the deputy campaign manager of the biden campaign, says given the president's unwillingness to participate in a virtua

for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: in the day's other news: pharmaceutical giantdue pharma is pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and paying kickbacks to doctors in the national opioid epidemic. it involves the painkiller oxycontin, and is part of an $8-billion settlement. federal prosecutor christina nolan said today the case sends a clear message. >> people were suffering from addictions that sometimes ended in death, and so many of those addiction stories began with oxycotin. we hope purdue's guilty plea will send a messe that d.o.j. will not allow big pharma and big tech to conduct illegal conduct that corrupt the doctor patient relationship. >> woodruff: some states and congressional democrats have argued the settlement is not sufficient punishment, but the justice department says purdue pharma's executives and owners-- the billionaire sackler family-- could still face criminal liability. pope francis has become the first pope to endorse same-sex civil unions. in an interview for a documentary film, he says mosexual couples have a right to be a f

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: covid relief talks are on hold tonight until after the election. today, president trump tweeted that hhas instructed his representatives to stop negotiating, and instead focus on confirming his supreme court nominee. and, he accused house speaker nancy pelosi of not "negotiating in good faith." that comes as the virus is coursing through the white house, and the president is trying to project strength. the goal of showing confidence was on full display monday evening, when president trump returned to the executive mansion. critics called the made-for-tv moment "political theatre." the president's first act? removing his face mask while still contagious, with white house staff nearby. federal health guidelines say he should be in isolation. within an hour, the white house released a campaign ad-style video hailing his return, and as the u.s. death toll topped 210,000, there was this upbeat message: >> don't let it dominate you. don't be afraid of it. you're going to beat it. we have the best medical equipment.

lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor, we thank you both.re are many other questions about the president's personal health, the duration of the quarantine, and whom else might have been exposed in recent days. dr. asish jha is the dean of the brown university school of public health. and he joins me now. dr. jha, given what we've seen, the president is about to leave the white house to go to walter reed for several days, they say. you've heard what we have about the president's symptoms. what does this add up to for you? >> judy, thank you for having me on. this is all, of course, very concerning for both the president and for the country. in terms o of the president and his health, we don't have a lot of information. we know he received this experimental therapy, but it seems like it's proving quickly, and he was diagnosed last night and is heading to the hospital tonight. it concerns me. i don't want to overstate it. i don't have a lot of details, obviously none of us do, about his clinical condition. but this is a concerning and i think w

yamiche alcindor for us reporting on the white house, lisa desjardins reporting on thn capitothe bidenpaign. thank yoboth. and as yamiche and lisa just laid >> woodruff: as yamiche and lisa laid out, negotiators appear to be a long way from a comprehensive deal. while parts of the american economy have recovered better and more quickly than expected, there are signs that millions of people may be wiout a job for six months or longer. that prospect, along with thed some benefits and aid to businesses, has some people worried about where all is is headin count neel kashkari them. he is the president of the federal reserve bank of minneapolis. and he joins me now. neel kashki, welcome back to the "newo our". i wantypt what we heard yesterday from fed chair jay powell. he warned of tragic sults for the economy if there nd robust aid package coming out of congress in the wake of the pandemic. today, you used the term "enormous cosequences" if there isn't a significant aid package. what do you mean by that? >> well, jy, good to see you. there are roughly 11 million americans who are still ou

. >>> joining us now, yamiche alcindor, correspondent for pbs news and a msnbc political analyst. yamiche, pictures from tuesday night, this is after the debate you see president trump, melania trump, you see karen pence and -- i'm sorry, you see jill biden and joe biden not coming near each other on the stage. let me ask you this, yamiche, vice president pence has tweeted his good wishes for the president and melania trump. and we share those good wishes. we hope they are asymptomatic or don't suffer from this. he didn't tell us whether he's been tested or not. >> that is one of the biggest questions now really that is part of this incredible scenario where the president of the united states has tested positive as a senior citizen at 74 for this virus. i've been reaching out to the vice president's office. i know that you have reporters at nbc news and msnbc who have been doing the same. it's just not clear whether the vice president who, of course, works often closely to the president, whether or not his status for the coronavirus is known. it's going to be clear that he's going

for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. supreme court ordered a halt to counting for the u.s. census. civil rights groups wanted to continue until october 31, to prevent an under-counting of minorities. the trump administration argued that the count should end immediately, so it can report final numbers by a year-end deadline. online voter registration was disrupted in virginia today, on the deadline date for signing up. state officials blamed an accidental cut in a fiber optic cable. the outage could prevent thousands of people from registering to vote. the f.b.i. says anti-government groups from several states discussed kidnapping virginia governor ralph northam, last summer. an f.b.i. agent says they opposed northam's pandemic lockdown orders. the disclosure came today at a federal court hearing in michigan, where six men are accused of plotting to kidnap that governor, gretchen whitmer. in europe, the world health organization repor a second wave of covid-19 is accelerating, with 700,000 cases last week. that is up 34%

yamiche alcindor, jerry seib. what a group we'll take you as close to the news as we can and check out t "washington week" bookshelf series and chat with jerry o hisew book on the g.o.p. i'm robert costa, good night from washington. >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated adviser -- that's fidelity wealth management. for 25 years consumer cellular has been offering plans digned to help people do more of what they like.ur how customer service team can find a plan to fit you. program that offers technology to teach a new language like spanish, french and russian. it is available in the app store or onle at bmp belom. >> additional funding is providing by -- the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [sounds of vehicle doors opening] [siren pulses][v icle doors shut] announcer on commercial: it's how most of us got here

yamiche alcindor reporting on all of this for us. thank you, yamiche. >> thanks so much. be returning to the white house tonight, but the number of confirmed coronavirus casesus among white staffers ticked higher today, raisingon quesabout the precautions place in the white house, and how well they were followed. john yang gets an insider's perspective from olivia troy.er a former advo vice president pence who previously work on the white house coronavirus task force. she left the administration in gust and has since been working with republican groups opposing the president's re- election. >> john: olivia, let's start off with t question that judy just posed. what procedures were in place when you were in the white house, in terms of testing the staff, in the west wing and the executive fice building? >> well, certainly we had guidelines posted in measures in place. we had masks available, especially upon entering the west wing, for immediate staff. they wnnecting testing, for example, for me, who saw the vice president on a dailyba s, or any senior staff, who were inter

yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, we thank you both. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, information surfaced about supreme court nominee amy coney barrett having signed a 2006 newspaper ad that called for overturning roe v. wade, the landmark supreme court abortion rights decision, saying it was an "exercise of raw judicial power" with a "barbaric legacy." president trump had said that her view on roe is not known. the ad was not included in the documents barrett submitted to the senate judiciary committee ahead of her confirmation hearing. the trump administration is further slashing refugee admissions to the u.s. in a late-night memo, the state department announced that it intends to admit only 15,000 refugees into the country in the 2021 fiscal year that started today. that is down from 18,000 during the previous fiscal year. it is another record low in the dern refugee program. texas republican governor greg abbott issued a proclamation today limiting each of the state's counties to just one drop-off location for mail-in ballots. abbott said that the move was meant to strengthen

msnbc continues on the other msnbc continues on the other >>> joining us now, yamiche alcindor, correspondent for pbs news and a msnbc political analyst. yamiche, pictures from tuesday night, this is after the debate you see president trump, melania trump, you see karen pence and -- i'm sorry, you see jill biden and joe biden not coming near each other on the stage. let me ask you this, yamiche, vice president pence has tweeted his good wishes for the president and melania trump. and we share those good wishes. we hope they are asymptomatic or don't suffer from this. he didn't tell us whether he's been tested or not. >> that is one of the biggest questions now really that is part of this incredible scenario where the president of the united states has tested positive as a senior citizen at 74 for this virus. i've been reaching out to the vice president's office. i know that you have reporters at nbc news and msnbc who have been doing the same. it's just not clear whether the vice president who, of course, works often closely to the president, whether or not his status for the coronavirus is k

yamiche alcindor, the president, we saw a president who was, yes, he was forceful but not interrupting. 150 and 160 times as in the first debate. what did you hear from the president tonight that stood out to you? >> well, judy, as you just noted, president trump was much more controlle much more in a traditional sense, having a debate with joe biden on substantive ises. one of the main issues that came up, of course, is the pandemic and the coronavirus. the president was on the defense. he said at one point that the neutral iterate was dropping and spikes in cases were gone in states like florida and texas and arizona, that is not completely true, it has actually been spiking after the summer. i also want to point out that the president was talking about race and when he was asked physically about what he would say to family members who would talk about their children and warn them about the police, he said i'm the least racist person in the room. and then he went on to talk about all the things he has been doing with other things for african-american communities. >> so yes, they very

many thanks to our reporters, kr welker, yamiche alcindor, and dan walz. after a quick break, we ctinue our special tonight on many pbs stations and go deep into theba leground of pennsylvania. i'mst robert a, see you soon. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and acicracy. visit .org] >> corpote funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> when the wld gets compcated, a lot goes through your mind. an a can tailor alth managements recommendations to your life. that's management. >> babbel. consumer cellur. boeing.al additi funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams and coo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural difference -our communities. the corporation for public oadcasting. and contrutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. robert: inside, battle ground pennsylvania. with the voters who could decide it all. will president trump stun the political world once again, or will vice president biden win the state and the w

i am yamiche alcindor. ♪ judy:s you are hearing, the country is seeing record turnout in early votingwhen and if those votes get counted more on what this means on election night and beyond. >>lmost 70 million people have already cast their ballots in this election. this massive turnout includes a combination of mail-in ballots and person.ing to vote in with election day less than a week away, we dive into what these numbers say about the electorate with michael donald, a professor of political science at the university of florida. esyou have been tracking this unprecedented turnout of early voting. what can you tell usthe tr areh? >>bo t we've seen more people vote in thision than in any prior election we've had in any election iour history. in some states, we are pushing near 100% of the turnout that occurred in the 2016 election in itsrl entirety, not just vote. >> a combination of all people who voted who have now been surpassed by the people who voted early. >> we are getting very close to those numbers in states like texas and hawaii, and others are following on their heels. wha

joining me yamiche alcindor and jake sherman, co-author of "politico playbook." yamiche, i'll start with you. north carolina, we just crossed 250,000 cases, 4,000 deaths alone in that state, the president saying he wouldn't do anything different, he wouldn't have changed much. what are you hearing out on the campaign trail? >> what i'm hearing on the campaign trail is from voters supporting president trump. they echo what the president says. it's a pandemic that people are going to die of this virus. they believe the president when he says he saved millions of lives. the president has to double down on his response to the coronavirus, he has to own that he's -- he would be handing over a victory to the biden campaign. their thesis is the president couldn't protect himself, the white house or his family or the country at large. i've heard from people who have had family members in a coma for days or weeks, they say the pandemic is top of mind for them. i was in florida talking to voters of all different genders and race and religion. the number one thing on their m

but for right now let's go to ourcorrespondents following these campaign as, yamiche alcindor back with me, so yamiche, you have been followinghe trump-pence effort verclosely, what did you hear tonight? >> well, while this debate was very civil, vice president pence was really interrupting senator harris to make point after point about the packet that he believes the trumprati is thbe .stira to frd ni he defmiadended vigorously the president's status and his response to the coronavirus, he said at one point thwaat there hot an office that was supposed to be dealing with pandemics,ol did that is not true, there was an office and the national security council that was issolved, we also saw the vice president talk about rates and he said at one point at looting and rioting with no pense for the, no excuse for the death there have been reports of some looting but also peaceful pro tests and also with a defended the president and said he never talked about, white supreme xis, the reondemn estate did do that but the vice president also said that he respects all americans and that ivs jewish

also yamiche alcindor. and it was just announced yamiche will be honored with the eiffel award. and robert gibbs who was press secretary under president obama. now that the president is home, what is the plan? how are they keeping other people in the white house safe? it was just a week ago the president looked at somebody with a mask and said, take that thing off. >> yeah, steph. well, the plan is multifold in terms of the president's medical care. he's expected to continue to be monitored 24/7. we know from his doctor he's supposed to receive the fifth dose of remdesivir some time today. his doctor also said yesterday, we're really in unchartered territory given the number of treatments that the president has had and that he wouldn't breathe a sigh of relief until next monday. in the meantime, the president and the white house are saying that he's set up to work in the residence so he can have a space he can continue to conduct the country's business. but there are concerns among people who are in the white house who say they, one, are not getting a lot of information about wh

yamiche alcindor of pbs newshour, thank you very much. >>> it could happen as soon as tomorrow night. judge amy coney barrett would become president trump's third supreme court appointment. senate voted to advance the nomination. moments later senator mitch mcconnell said this to his colleagues. >> this is something to be really proud of and feel good about. we've made an important contribution to the future of this country. a lot of what we've done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election. they won't be able to do much about this for a long time to come. >> joining us now is democratic senator shelden whitehouse of rhode island, serving on the judiciary, finance, budget and environments and public works committee. senator, good evening. >> good evening. >> what reaction do you have from what we just heard from leader mcconnell? >> he left out the most important part, which is who they're doing it for. and when you look at the amount of money, particularly anonymous money that's gone into selecting these nominees, that's gone into funding the campai

yamiche alcindor reports on this day. >> alcindor: five days until the election. and, increasingly, both presidential campaignare holding dueling raies in the same battleground states, on the same days. today, it was flora, a state that has backed the winning candidate since 1996, and wh 29 electoral votes at stake. president trump held his rally in tampa and continued to downplay the rise in covid-19 cases around the country. >> we're never going to lock down again. we locked down, understood the disease, and n we're open for business and that's what it is. our vaccine will eradicate the virus, and by the wayave t and whether we have it or not, it's roundi turn. it's rounding the turn. >> alcindor: to date, the u.s. hareported roughly 8.9 million confirmed infectis and some 228,000 dehs. the democratic candite, former vice president joe biden, has blamed the president's handling of the covid crisis for the extent of the viral spread. today, iard county, florida, he urged people to vote. >> millions of americans are already voting. millns more are going to vo by t

alexander at the white house and ali vitali in d.c., peter baker for "the new york times" and yamiche alcindor. mr. alexander, to you first. let's cut through all the noise. what is the president's closing message, and how is he delivering it? >> we heard it again over the last 45 minutes on f fox & friends. the president against the backdrop of 57,000 cases a day from covid, the highest it's been since july. hospitalizations at roughly 38,000 right now is basically saying that americans don't care about the pandemic. that they want to be left alone. in his words, that they are over it. again this morning, he suggested we are turning the corner. we know that's not the case right now given those numbers we've seen. he said we were turning the corner with or without vaccines at this point which he insisted would be coming soon. he's also attacking the nation's top infectious disease expert anthony fauci saying that he's a disaster. saying he's a bomb that goes off every time he's on tv. and among other things, his attack on joe biden is if he becomes president he'd listen to dr. anthony fauci. n

and for the latest on where things stand, we turn to our own lisa desjardins and yamiche alcindor.isa, to you first. where do things stand and what are the regrets asking for? lisa: hope is not gone, but it seems late today that there has been more look at the disagreement between the white house and democrats and the agreement. -- than the agreement. let's look at where democrats are and what they have on the table at this point. democrats' latest plan is $2.2 trillion. there you can see, there is a $2.2 trillion plan for democrats. of that, or hundred $36 billion would be for state and local governments. $600 per week in additional benefits for the unemployed. got has run out technically now. 75 billion for testing. that is rental and mortgage assistance. this speaks to what americans are facing right now and the fears by many of these lawmakers trying to push for a deal that coming months, if cases rise, that things are going to get worse. judy: yamiche, what is the white house saying about what they expect from this bill? yamiche: again, hope is not gone, but it looks like it w

. >>> yamiche alcindor and david are with us.he beginning of the show to the numbers coming out of harris county, texas. that's where houston is. it is a democratic area. massive early voting numbers like they have never seen before. what do you make of that? >> well, it's highly encouraging, lawrence. both of you want to see biden win, but also for our country. you know, looking at this early vote turn-out and suggesting it could mean we're going north of 150, maybe 160 million turn-out. we need some more days to happen here. we know people are excited to vote early. if this continues, obviously we had a big turn-out on day one and day two. and then of course you really can't relax until election day because do you get what you need on election day even if the early vote is shattering records. so you have got to run through the tape here. and trump is going to get his turn-out. so his high watermark is going to be quite high. joe biden, i think, has more than enough swing voters to win, but he's got to make sure the turn-out is

also joining our conversation, yamiche alcindor and eli stokols from the "l.a. times." let's start in florida, one of the most important states in this race. politico reporting that democrats in miami-dade county are sounding the alarm before weaker voter turnout than expected. i want to take you to ellison barber in one second. before we get to florida, i want to turn to garrett haake. garrett, tell us what's going on where you are in this final stretch. >> stephanie, wisconsin is the one that got away for democrats four years ago. they lost this state to donald trump by only 23,000 votes. four times that many people can go to a packers game at lambeau field on any given sunday. that's how narrow the margin was. democrats think this is a state they can flip. the issue is the one more favorable for joe biden. that's the coronavirus. the president getting hammered on his response here. he's under water in the recent polling for his response to the virus. and it is surging here. the positivity rate in wisconsin is about 4 1/2 times the national average. it is the story on