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Dueling Campaign Strategies Down Final Stretch Of The Race; River Floodwaters Still Threatening In Florida; Netanyahu Cabinet Meeting Sunday As Israel Weighs Response To Iran; New Polling: Harris Holds Narrow Edge In PA, Trump Leading In AZ; CNN Takes You Inside Mail-In Ballot Process In NC; "Why Springfield?" Airs Tomorrow Night At 8PM. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired October 12, 2024 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[17:00:03]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.
We are now exactly 24 days from Election Day in America.
Just a few moments ago, Vice President Harris addressing Democrats who are increasingly nervous about this race. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Listen, this is it. There's no question. I say it in my rallies. This is a tight race. It is a margin of error race.
And that's why I'm out here and will continue for the next 24 days to be traveling around our country, talking with folks about the issues that matter most to them, and offering them what I believe to be the --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: And newly-released New York Times/Siena College poll essentially shows a coin flip in two key swing states. The polling has Vice President Harris with a slight edge in Pennsylvania, though it is within the margin of error. While former President Donald Trump holds a narrow lead in Arizona, according to that poll.
Today's campaign schedule is highlighting the contrasting strategies for these candidates. Harris will be in the storm-ravaged swing state of North Carolina this weekend before going to Pennsylvania Monday.
Meanwhile, Trump is passing up on opportunities to spend more time in those critical battleground states and instead, he's holding a rally in Coachella, California, of course, a solidly blue state when it comes to presidential elections. Yesterday, he was in Colorado, a state which has gone blue for
Democrats in the last four presidential elections. He's also going to hold a rally at Madison Square Garden, New York City. 1984 was the last time the state of New York was won by a Republican presidential candidate.
Still the Trump campaign remains adamant these events, regardless of where they're held, will draw national attention.
Joining me now from the Harris campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware is senior spokesperson and senior advisor for the Harris and Walz campaign, Ian Sams.
Ian, good to see you. Thanks for being here.
IAN SAMS, SENIOR SPOKESPERSON, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Thank you. Roll Tide.
DEAN: Yes, it is. And we have lots to discuss.
I first just want to ask you generally, we just heard from the vice president there saying this is a tight race. This is what she's doing to win. Your own campaign manager said back before the convention that this was going to be a margin of error race.
And yet Democrats, some Democrats have started to panic in the last week. There's been, you know, kind of concern maybe to all the way to bedwetting. What do you say to them?
SAMS: Well, what I'd say to them is that we've always said this is going to be a really close race and that the country is divided and that taking that anxiety, taking that concern and channeling it into real energy to work to win this election is what's most important.
People can go to go.kamalaharris.com to sign up to volunteer. We're working very hard every day and the vice president, as you just mentioned, is on the campaign trail every single day trying to earn voters' support.
We still have undecided voters out there, three weeks left, who are trying to make up their mind between these two candidates.
And so the most important thing that the vice president is doing right now and you just heard her speak to this. And the most important thing that I think any nervous Democrat could do right now is to roll up their sleeves and get to work on behalf of this candidate and make sure that we win this race in three weeks.
DEAN: And David Axelrod said this week about Harris that she made steady incremental progress in the ten days after the debate but now the race has plateaued. Do you agree with that assessment?
SAMS: Well look, I think that were in a moment where people are trying to make up their minds. Both candidates have consolidated a lot of the support from within their own parties. And again, there's this small sliver of undecided voters out there who
are going to tip the election one way or another. It's why the vice president is in North Carolina today and tomorrow campaigning very hard to earn people's support in a state like North Carolina, where we think that the vice president can win and earn the electoral college victory.
And so she's there today in Raleigh. She's going to be meeting with black faith leaders as well as working with low local community members to package relief supplies that are being sent to western North Carolina.
That's the kind of leadership that you see from her right now while Donald Trump, as you said, is going to Coachella, California, which is not exactly a Trump stronghold for him electorally, because he wants attention for himself. He wants to have a big rally with attention for himself.
It's a real contrast between the two candidates of what their priorities are.
DEAN: We also saw the vice president release her health records today with her doctor saying she's in quote, "excellent health". According to a release from the Trump campaign, they don't plan on releasing anything beyond these updates that they pointed to from Ronny Jackson?
Do you think this sort of information, I hear you saying you've got to convince these persuadable voters. Is this the sort of information that you think is key, is helpful in doing that?
[17:04:50]
SAMS: Absolutely. Voters are sitting there thinking about which of these two candidates they're going to vote for in three weeks. And anyone who's been paying attention to Donald Trump knows that this is not the same guy from four years ago, and certainly not the same guy from 2016. Even Republican governor Chris Christie, a former top ally just yesterday talked about his decline.
It's interesting that the campaign is refusing to put out more information. On August 20 in an interview with CBS News, former President Trump said that he would quote, "very gladly" release his medical records and information.
The public has A right to see whether he's fit for the job. If you just listen to his own former national security advisors, his own former chief of staff John Kelly, his own former chairman of the joint chiefs Mark Milley. These are the people who know him best and they're saying that he's not fit to serve and that he would be a dangerous figure in the Oval Office.
I think that for Trump who rambles and meanders at his rallies saying things that often are nonsensical, for him to refuse to disclose his medical history and health information to the voter three weeks ahead of the election, that that should raise alarm bells for voters who are trying to make up their mind. I think that they have to wonder what he's trying to hide. He's
pulling out of "60 Minutes" interview, for example, last week because he doesn't want to face that kind of scrutiny. He's done 27 interviews in a row on conservative media outlets that treat him softly. And so he's hiding in a safe space instead of going into the belly of the beast and taking tough questions. And I think it raises questions about whether he's up for the job.
DEAN: I'm curious. We've seen this has been such a wild election season. I don't have to tell you that, a wild campaign season. You've lived through it with the rest of us.
And so many things have happened and yet there is this slice of voters, a very small slice in a handful of states that do remain persuadable. What is the Harris campaign's theory of the case about how you move those voters?
SAMS: Well, what our campaign is saying is a couple of things.
First, we're seeing that voters still want to know what these candidates are going to do for them. Vice President Harris has been vice president for three-and-a-half years, but she's only been the candidate at the top of the ticket for a couple of months. People still want to hear from her.
That's why she's out there talking two major audiences this week on "The View", on "Colbert", on "Howard Stern Show", on "Call Her Daddy" podcast, on "60 Minutes" talking about her vision for the country: bringing down costs for people and her plans to do that, plans to expand affordable housing, plans to cut taxes for the middle class and American families, plans to protect reproductive freedom.
These are all the top issues that voters are telling our campaign and are telling independents pollsters from CNN and everywhere else are the top issues.
So she's going to keep talking about that.
But there are voters out there who are still saying, I just don't know if I can vote for Donald Trump again and, you know, maybe, maybe they think I voted for him in 2020. I voted for him in 2016 and they're trying to make up their mind about whether they're going to support him again this time.
And when they see that he won't release his medical records when they see that he's backing out of "60 Minutes" to not talk to the American public in a large platform, when they watch a Donald Trump rally where he rambles about the wind or rambles about Hannibal Lecter or says that immigrants are eating cats and dogs -- these are things that are alarming to those voters.
And as they make up their minds here in the homestretch of this race, I think that they're going to have a choice. They're going to say, do we want to go back to that? Do we want to go back to the day-to-day chaos and the risks that this guy poses to our country? Or are we going to turn the page on all that and pursue a new way
forward because Vice President Harris is talking about how to make my life better.
That is going to be the fundamental choice in three weeks. And that is why the vice president is out making that closing argument to voters very aggressively across the battleground states.
DEAN: And we're seeing you all deploy your surrogates as well.
Of course, we saw President Obama on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania earlier this week where he really gave a very stern talking-to, a very emotional talking-to to black men specifically in terms of the choice between Vice President Harris and President Trump.
Can we expect the vice president to speak to that as pointedly as, as President Obama did.
SAMS: Well, what the vice president has said and what she's doing is she's saying, you know, I don't -- I don't automatically get everyone's vote. I don't expect to automatically get everyone's vote. I expect to earn people's support.
And so when she's out there on the campaign trail, she's explaining whether it's to a black man or a white woman or a Latino or any American, because she wants to be president for all Americans how she's going to make their lives better.
She's talking about lowering their cost. She's talking about small businesses, for example, helping people be able to better afford to start a small business by expanding tenfold the tax credit for new small business owners.
[17:09:45]
SAMS: These are resonant issues with black men in the black community, but also with all Americans. And so I think when she's out there and she's talking to black voters, when she's talking to all voters, she's trying to try to earn peoples support by saying, here's how I'm going to help make your life better.
And that's her commitment in this race is not to take anyone's vote for granted, but in fact to go out there and work really hard to earn people's votes.
DEAN: And so here we are, we're about three weeks left. You now, as a campaign, have to do two things at once, right? You have to convince anyone that can still be convinced and also get out the vote. How is the campaign prioritizing those two things?
SAMS: Well, you raise a good point with that, you know, because of the historically compressed timeline of this campaign, you have to do both at the same time. You have to introduce the vice president to voters who may not know her that much. It may lead to more voters toward the end of this race, here we are three weeks to go still being undecided about who they're going to vote for. So you are still doing that persuading. You are still talking to
voters who are making up their mind.
But at the same time, we're mobilizing our voters. I mean, you've seen some of these rallies that the vice president is doing, that Governor Walz is doing, that President Obama is doing.
Today, for example, also, former President Clinton is in Georgia campaigning for Vice President Harris. And we're trying to turn out voters in a lot of states, a number of states.
People can already vote, whether you're mailing in your ballot, whether you can go to in-person early voting. That's already happening.
And so we have a very robust effort right now in states, thousands of volunteers and staff, hundreds of officers and communities across all the battleground states working right now to go ahead and turn out our voters. Whether it's through early voting or for mailing in their ballots.
And so that work is also going to continue at the same time that you see the vice president helping to encourage voters who may not have decided yet, who to support in this race.
And so it is a historic and interesting opportunity to do both those things at the same time. We've built a massive infrastructure of this campaign to do so, you know.
And as you mentioned at the very beginning of this interview, if there's people out there, and especially Democrats, who might be nervous or anxious we'd encourage them to go to go.kamalaharris.com and sign up to be a part of that organization to both turnout voters and persuade people who are still making up their minds because we can leave it all on the field these next three weeks and win the election.
DEAN: All right.
Ian Sams, thanks so much for being here. We appreciate it.
SAMS: Thank you.
DEAN: Still ahead flooded rivers, blackouts, and gas shortages -- just a few of the problems for people and first responders in Florida right now after Milton carved its way across the state,
Plus new warnings from Iran about what they think will happen if Israel responds to their missile attacks.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
[17:12:27]
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DEAN: As Floridians begin the long process of recovery, many are facing even more flooding in the next few days. Milton's deluge has left several rivers bloated and in some cases, rivers a few feet above normal. A flood warning has been issued for communities east of Tampa. Since Milton made landfall, more than 1,200 people have been rescued statewide.
Joining us now CNN's Brian Abel from just outside Tampa, Florida. Brian, what are you seeing?
BRIAN ABEL, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: Well Jessica, we know that just one agency conducted 300 of those rescues and that was right here, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
I do want to show you what this area is still experiencing. If you can see behind me here, this home where the water up to not just the front door, but also inside the garage.
We went on a tour of this neighborhood on an airboat earlier this morning with the sheriff's office and saw that what is happening here is pretty widespread. Miles in this direction, miles in this direction, as well as blocks back.
So that's pretty significant about how little this water has gone down in the last 48-plus hours since Hurricane Milton made landfall.
We also did talk with some people in this area that told us that in the 50 years they've been here, they haven't seen anything like this.
Making matters worse has been the gas situation, Jessica. We do know that there's been a shortage. We have seen the long lines at gas pumps around this area. It is getting better. We are seeing that fuel tankers are showing up, being escorted by police after having issues at the port with some equipment being fried, delaying the efforts of getting gas to people that need it most.
So though that is improving people, they're having to use word of mouth in order to find out which gas stations have gas. Take a listen to what one person said in line.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness. I've been going to all morning, went down to (INAUDIBLE) to get some gas. Then somebody told me about it I'm on mobile, 7/11. I went over there everybody is on the on the on the pump itself, but there's no gas there.
But so I went inside, is there something that that I don't know, I said to them says gas is coming because we don't know nothing. Nobody knows anything, but everybody is waiting at the pump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Now, Governor DeSantis talked about the state of Florida providing public fuel sites. We do know that there is three of them in the Tampa area, in Bradenton and St. Pete with more about to come online for free gas.
And also we did just see about a mile or so down the road here, a church providing a free food pantry.
[17:19:53]
ABEL: So Jessica, as we say, time and time again in situations like this, you know, the worst situations really do bring out the best in humanity.
Back to you.
DEAN: That is a silver lining in this, seeing that unfold for sure. Brian Abel, thank you so much for that.
When we come back, while Iran urgently tries to shore up support in the Middle East, Israel holds a cabinet meeting to consider retaliating against Iran.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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DEAN: We have breaking news out of the Middle East.
Within the past hour, we've learned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a cabinet meeting Sunday.
[17:24:47]
DEAN: And of course, this comes as Israel weighs its options about how to retaliate against Iran for Iran's recent ballistic missile attack against Israel.
Our Nic Robertson is joining us now live from Tel Aviv.
Set the stage for us Nic, as this -- as the cabinet prepares to meet tomorrow and likely discuss how they might retaliate.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. And I think it's sort of significant that it's coming out of a high holiday. Yom Kippur now, the October 7 commemorations earlier in the week, Rosh Hashanah last weekend.
So really this cabinet session, there's nothing -- no sort of major national events that are happening and the cabinet has a lot going on.
Expanded military operations in Gaza are underway. They've expanded military operations inside of Lebanon declaring another closed military zone on the border with Lebanon, telling another 24 Lebanese villages. That's 136 now that they need to evacuate and move 30 miles north of the border.
But I think the big issue that is going on and the one that really has the country on edge at the moment is how Israel is going to respond to Iran's barrage of ballistic missiles two weeks ago.
It was expected that Israel might have responded sooner. They had a cabinet meeting last week where this was discussed and that was just before that cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a direct, as it was described, 30-minute phone call with President Biden where there was a real effort from the White House to get Israel essentially to limit the possibility of an escalation, you know, to select targets in Iran that were proportional like the targets Iran hit here -- a military bases, intelligence headquarters.
A lot of focus will be from the outside at least of that cabinet meeting to try to get a hint of what Israel is planning, how big the strikes will be, and when they'll come.
And the whole country and the region on top of that is waiting for that.
DEAN: Certainly, certainly they are.
All right. Nic Robertson for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much for that reporting.
I want to bring in Hagar Chemali, former National Safety Council director for Syria and Lebanon and former spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the U.N.
Hagar, thanks so much for being here.
HAGAR CHEMALI, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL: thanks for having me.
DEAN: Nic just kind of laid out what we're looking at in the next 24 hours. We know that the cabinet will meet. They're expecting to discuss Israel's options as they weigh their response to Iran's missile attack.
When it comes to that -- that response, how do you see -- where do you see the state of play today.
CHEMALI: Sure. Well, on one hand, we know that Israel is very -- it's very seriously considering targeting Iran's nuclear facilities. And that is not something that to take lightly. That is something that there's a reason Israel is considering that, and that's because we know and I can tell you having been on the U.S. side of things, on the side of when we were working on the Iran nuclear deal. We know that Iran, in part is creating its nuclear weapons in part to annihilate Israel. That's a stated goal of theirs.
And they have their proxies, their quote, "ring of fire" around Israel to enhance that threat, to load a pointed gun at Israel's head.
And so that is something that we're considering in (INAUDIBLE) that Iran's denounce particularly emboldened right now, as we see with how, how the shape of the war is taking, the escalation in Lebanon, of course.
It's feeling emboldened because the Israeli government has significantly decimated Hamas and also has significantly weakened Hezbollah in a way that I think nobody anticipated, particularly by killing its leadership off. And so it is a very real possibility, but they are very seriously considering also the U.S. View on this. And that's why it's taking this long.
They have been closely coordinating with the United States, taking in their perspective. The U.S. has been very clear that they don't want Israel to target the nuclear facilities because they're worried it could escalate into a much broader war at a time of certainly when the U.S. doesn't want to be roped in. But also at a time when Israel's significantly engaged in Lebanon.
And so something (INAUDIBLE) pursuing this type of strike at this kind. This would not be the same as pursuing the strikes they're pursuing in Lebanon. Why? Because Iran has defensive missile systems.
So Israel would have to make a very concerted serious effort to target its nuclear facilities I'd give it a 50-50 chance. It's possible, but I also think it's much more likely that they're going to target other military infrastructure and leadership in Iran.
DEAN: And you mentioned the U.S. role in all of this. We know that Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Biden did speak for the first time in many weeks recently, that it was a very direct phone call.
Where do you see -- how much leverage do you think that the U.S. has here and how much is Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu listening to the U.S. because obviously we have seen -- that is a very difficult relationship between those two men at this point.
[17:29:50]
CHEMALI: Look, one of the things I can tell you and I worked -- I worked every closely with the Israeli government throughout my government career and how you're seeing it play out now, doesn't entirely surprise me because for my entire career, we worked very closely with them. We would brief them. We would coordinate on policies. We would share our goals and so on.
But when there were disagreements, and there were numerous disagreements, at the end of the day, the Israeli government will do what it feels is best for its survival, even if the U.S. government disagree.
And this is a scenario where you're seeing that the U.S. government views a different strategy that we believe or the U.S. government believes would be best for Israels long-term security.
And we've seen numerous examples where the Israeli government has clearly disagreed. But that's not too dissimilar from other partnerships and alliances.
You could look for example, at our support of the Saudi war in Yemen and our support for way we gave them and the many arms and weapons we gave them technical and intelligence assessments and urged them not to target civilians in Yemen when they we're going up to the Houthis and they still did. And that caused one of the worst humanitarian crises of the last 20 years. And so what you're seeing play out now doesn't surprise me .
And the way I would sum it up is that really the government cares very deeply about the U.S. perspective. And they seek it, they seek U.S. guidance, often.
But at the end of the day, they're going to do what they feel is best for their own survival, even if the U.S. disagrees.
DEAN: All right, Hagar Chemali, thank you for that context, for that analysis. We really appreciate it.
CHAMILI: Thanks.
DEAN: Still ahead, what new polling reveals about the state of the race for the White House with just weeks to go until Election Day.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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[17:36:09]
DEAN: New polling from a "New York Times/Siena College shows an extremely tight race in Pennsylvania and Arizona, with Harris slightly ahead, well within the margin of error in the commonwealth, while Trump continues to hold an advantage in the Sunbelt state.
Here to discuss this and more is CNN's senior political analyst and senior editor here at the Atlantic, Ron Brownstein.
Ron, good to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Jessica. Nice to see you.
DEAN: Glad to have you.
All right. So we're here to the final three weeks of this race. And in this last --
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN: I know. Isn't it crazy?
This last week, the Harris campaign has really seen -- seen a lot of Democrats who are just kind of, for lack of a better term, freaking out at this point.
Even though the Harris campaign has said all along, this is going to be a margin of error race.
Why do you think Democrats are so worried all of a sudden?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, they're worried, in part, because the stakes are so high. I mean, I think not only Democrats, but many people who used to work for Donald Trump, including we just saw the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he was president believed that he constitutes an existential threat to American democracy.
And really is the most significant figure who is not committed to the basic principles of American democracy that we've seen in us politics, probably since John Calhoun, before the Civil War.
The anxiety among Democrats is centered on the three states that Trump knocked out of the blue wall in 2016, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Biden put them back in there. That's largely why he was president. Democrats won their governorships in '18 and '22.
They hold five of the six Senators in those states and they've been leading in polls, in them pretty consistently since Harris got in the race. In fact, they are still probably slightly ahead in most public polling there.
But there's no question that particularly in those states -- I hate using sports analogies because the stakes are so high. But I will. Trump has landed a punch with his ad about immigration and crime and transgender rights.
But if you look at the polling, it's not a knockout punch by any means. And the real question is, what is Harris' response in the final few weeks?
I think the big anxiety among Democrats, the big concern among Democrats is that her arguments have been very successful and she's made a lot of ground with him, but -- with them, but they -- maybe they have taken her as far as she can go, and she has to sharpen her message for the final stretch of the race.
DEAN: Yes, so on that point, some prominent Democrats, including longtime strategist, David Axelrod, are concerned momentum is slowing. He said, "Harris made steady incremental progress in the 10 days after the debate. But now the race has plateaued."
Do you agree with that categorization?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. It's interesting, you know, why did Harris make progress immediately after the debate? Part of it was the strength of her performance.
But I think a lot of it was that Trump's performance reminded voters of everything they didn't like about him when he was president. You know, clearly, most Americans think the economy was better under Trump than it has been for them under Biden, largely because of the cost of living.
But when they we're living through that economy, Jessica, Trump was the only president whose approval rating never reached 50 percent.
And there was a reason for that. Because of everything else that came with it, the chaos, the division, the vitriol, you know, immigrants are stealing and eating pets, their vermin, and so forth. Now, if you look at that "Wall Street Journal" poll that came out yesterday in the swing states, we still had Harris, by the way, ahead in enough states to win.
Nonetheless, it showed that the retrospective job approval of Trump was rising. And in fact, was at 50 percent or more in all of those states.
And what that says to me is that the impact of the debate has faded. And that while Harris is predominantly focused, as you saw, in all of those media interviews she did on reassuring people that she is ready to be president, that she's moderate, that she will protect them at the border.
[17:40:03]
It's pretty clear, I think from these data, that she has to remind them or Democrats have to remind them of what they didn't like about Trump's presidency.
Because, if it's just a question of who is going to be better for your bottom line, that is going to be a hard argument for them to win just as it was for Biden.
DEAN: Yes, and it speaks to as well, like why there not being another debate really matters? Because there isn't this like natural inflection point like you're describing.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
DEAN: I also want to ask you, what has been interesting to track is to see the former president really triple, quadruple down on these anti- immigration themes.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
DEAN: This really extreme rhetoric, right?
And we're not hearing him talk about the economy nearly as much. It's really, that's kind of, at this point, seems to be his closing message. What do you make of that?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I wrote about that this week in "The Atlantic." I mean, he is dredging up the most venomous anti-immigrant arguments that have occurred regularly throughout our history.
You know, when he's talking, when he's saying that immigrants are bringing crime and disease and taking away jobs, these we're the arguments made against the Irish in 1840s and 1850s, against Chinese immigrants in the 1870s and 1880s, and at the first couple of decades of the century against polls and Italians and Jews.
In fact, I quoted from a book in 1917 called "The Immigration Problem, or America First." That was the title of the book. And the kind of crowning accusation in the book was that the Chinese immigrants we're eating rats and the European immigrants we're boiling dogs into soup. So there is nothing new in what Trump is arguing here. It's something we have seen periodically through American history.
What's striking is that Democrats really have not pushed back that much. Harris has been very focused on emphasizing her credentials to keep -- to secure the border, to restore order to the border.
And she really hasn't taken on Trump at all on the policy that is the end point of all of these arguments, which is mass deportation.
You know, there are four million U.S. citizen kids who have at least one undocumented parent.
So for all the backlash that there was against Trump's policy of family separation when he was president, mass deportation is family separation on industrial scale at a vastly greater magnitude than anything we saw when he was president.
But again, in that Univision townhall, even when questioned by a woman whose mother never achieved legal status, Harris chose not to challenge Trump or to say that this was the kind of voter -- kind of, not voter -- that this is the kind of person in the country who would be interned and deported.
So clearly, they have made a decision that that challenging Trump on this front interferes with their message that they are also committed to keeping the border safe.
But the result is that Trump is getting the best of both worlds politically. He is energizing his culturally conservative white base with these very venomous arguments. And at the same time, he seems on track to improve among Latino voters around other issues but principally the economy and inflation.
DEAN: Yes, and Trump is in Coachella, California, today. He was in Colorado yesterday. Blue states when it comes to presidential elections, we see Harris in more traditional places you would think they would be right now. She is in North Carolina.
The Trump campaign is making the case that they can go anywhere and make the end it is these immigration pushes really and make those cases.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
DEAN: They're going to be in New York City. And that's going to go to the battleground states. They don't have to physically be there. Do you think that it's a smart strategy? Do you think that's true?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, he's using -- you know, our campaigns are more nationalized. No question about it.
And he is using these communities as a backdrop for the national argument that he wants to make. Although, as you know, the Republican mayor of Aurora, Colorado, yesterday was saying that what he was saying was wildly inaccurate and, basically, had no basis in fact.
What he surrenders is that local media in those -- in those environments. You know, the Harris campaign was putting out the front page of "The Arizona Republic" that talked about her speech yesterday that was really emphasizing her willingness to work with Republicans, which is critical for prospects there, former Republicans in the Phoenix suburbs.
That's the cost Trump is accepting by doing this. But from his point of view, it's not an irrational decision because Trump is someone who is pretty much defined the same way everywhere.
And he does reach his voters, I think, largely through national media. But the bigger question is, what is -- what he is saying in these places remotely connected to the reality on the ground.
And what you heard from the Republican mayor in this community outside denver yesterday was a very emphatic no.
[17:45:03]
DEAN: Yes. All right, Ron Brownstein, always good to have you. Thank you so much for your perspective.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
DEAN: Still to come, with just weeks until Election Day, Republicans in battleground states are challenging every aspect mail-in voting as some states are already taking in ballots.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEAN: Early voting is already underway in some states. And North Carolina election officials have already started processing their mail-in ballots.
[17:50:04]
Paula Reid is at the Wake County Board of Elections and takes you inside the states mail-in voting operation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We're here at the Wake County Board of Elections Operation Center where, in just a few minutes, they're going to begin processing mail-in ballots that have already arrived.
This process that's opened to the public. It's open to the media. So let's head inside and see what works.
(voice-over): This box, it contains one of the first batches of mail- in ballots to be processed in the county. Officials review each envelope to make sure it's properly sealed and signed. ANGELA HAWKINS, (R), WAKE COUNTY, NC, BOARD OF ELECTIONS: Look at
those instructions. Follow them carefully.
GREG FLYNN, (D), WAKE COUNTY, NC, BOARD OF ELECTIONS: Sometimes there's -- there's missing witness information or missing notary information. Or the vote isn't signed. So those little these are things that we -- we catch.
REID: (on camera) You can see behind me the committee is hard at work. They are processing ballots that have already been mailed in. This is a bipartisan committee, two Democrats, two Republicans, and a chair appointed by governor.
(voice-over): Roughly a dozen members of the public came to watch the proceedings.
REID (on camera): So once ballots are reviewed and approved by the Board of Elections, they come back here to the sort of goldfish bowl situation where they are then further processed. And I'm whispering here because this is very quiet.
(voice-over): This work may seem mundane, but these envelopes, and whether they have been accurately filled out, could decide the election.
As Democrats have traditionally been more likely to use mail-in ballots, Republicans have already made this the subject of litigation in multiple battleground states.
(CHEERING)
REID: In Pennsylvania, a pivotal state in the 2024 race, the RNC has sued challenge procedures that allow voters to fix issues like missing signatures or incorrect dates so their ballots can be counted.
Concerned, the Harris-Walz campaign backed the DNC and state Democratic party, quickly intervening. Ultimately, the state Supreme Court rejected this challenge and another over counting ballots that arrive in envelopes without handwritten dates or have incorrect dates.
But these types of issues could be revived after the election.
GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): We knew that he would try his same old tactics again. In fact, we've already begun to see some litigation to try and make it harder for certain peoples votes to count.
REID: Officials are working to educate voters about how to properly fill in their mail-in ballot through videos like this.
ANNOUNCER: Make sure you sign it and write the current date in the right spots on the larger envelope.
REID: Back in North Carolina, election officials are preparing for the litigation over these ballots to ramp up, especially if former President Trump is behind in the vote count. PAUL COX, GENERAL COUNSEL, NC STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS: If you have close elections, I think both major parties are lawyered up and they're ready to go to court if they -- if they feel like there's something to be gained strategically from it.
REID (on camera): How likely do you think it is that the election, anything related to North Carolina will wind up in court?
COX: I think it depends on how close it is. That's always the case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: All right, our thanks to Paula Reid for taking us behind the scenes there.
And in this week's "THE WHOLE STORY," CNN's Omar Jimenez takes us -- takes viewers, rather, inside Springfield, speaking with lifetime residents, business owners, local authorities, and the immigrants now facing harassment and safety threats after former President Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, spent a large portion of their campaign spreading misinformation.
Omar also speaks with Ohio's Republican Governor Mike DeWine about how the Haitian immigrants have been good for Springfield.
Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If we did wake up the next morning and all of the Haitians here, we're gone. What do you think happens to Springfield?
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): That's not good for Springfield. I would not like to see them gone. I think it'd be bad for Springfield. I think it would be bad for a while.
JIMENEZ: You voted for Donald Trump in 2020. he's now saying that if he is re-elected, he's going to deport these Haitian immigrants. I mean, do you still plan to vote for him?
DEWINE: I think it would be a mistake to get these people out.
JIMENEZ: Not enough of a mistake to change how you plan to vote?
DEWINE: Well, look, I think the decision to who you support for president is 00 is based upon multiple issues.
JIMENEZ: Given that, what do you say to a Haitians who will see these comments and say, I thought this governor had my back and he is now going to support the person who wants to kick me out.
DEWINE: Yes. Look, people can make any conclusion they want to. But I make my position very, very clear. I don't think they should be thrown out. I think it would be a dramatic mistake. I think it's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[17:54:44]
DEAN: Be sure to tune in to an all-new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," one whole hour, one whole story. It airs tomorrow at 8:00 Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.
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DEAN: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Jessica Dean in New York.
We are exactly 24 days from Election Day in America. Vice President Kamala Harris has arrived in North Carolina with plans to step a pr outreach to black voters as the campaign continues to home in on swing states that will decide this election.
[17:59:55]
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is opting to spend crucial time in a solid blue state for presidential politics at a rally in California's Coachella.
CNN's Kristen Holmes is there.
Kristen, big crowd behind you. What are we expecting to hear from Trump?
