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Erin Burnett Outfront
Hurricane's Wrath Leaves 13 Dead With More Casual Ties Expected; Obama At Rally: "We're Ready For A President Kamala Harris". Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 10, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:30]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, former President Obama about to speak. This is his first campaign event of this election. It is going to be live here in the next few moments as polls show the race tightening in the crucial battleground states today.
Also breaking, the death toll rising from Hurricane Milton but amid the destruction a miraculous story, a mother, her four young children rescued by a TV crew. They had to cling on to an oven, climbing onto a kitchen counter to escape the rising floodwaters. That mother is my guest tonight.
And once considered fringe even by her fellow Republicans, now this conspiracy theorist is gaining power and influence in a must-win swing state.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, we are following several breaking stories this hour.
First, Barack Obama is about to take the stage. This is going to be his first public campaign appearance of the year. The former president moments away from rallying Kamala Harris supporters in Pittsburgh. We're going to bring that to you live, again, this first comments here we have heard this year.
Vice President Harris calling up the biggest names in the Democratic Party, hoping that he will energize what was a winning coalition for him at a time when the polls show the race increasingly tight.
We're going to bring you Obama's remarks when he begins speaking in just a few moments. You see the governor of Pennsylvania and he's going to be speaking shortly. But first, let's get to the breaking news out of Florida where the death toll rising after the devastating blow from Hurricane Milton, according to officials, at least 13 people are known to be dead. Crews right now are still scrambling to find people, to rescue people who are still stranded in floodwaters.
And just a short time ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says, they've already rescued nearly 350 people who were trapped in the devastating storm surge, inundated entire neighborhoods. And we'll show you some brand new images here. This is a before and after of the image in Punta Gorda.
So you can see what, how things have changed so dramatically in 24 hours. What you're seeing is the area before Hurricane Milton's. So you can look at that. Now, let's look at the after, homes and roads as far as the eye can see under water, just one night. And that is the change.
Milton unleashing a historic number of tornadoes across the state at the end of the day, nearly 40 were reported. The deadly outbreak tearing homes apart, leaving major roadways littered with debris, broken road signs, abandoned cars and trucks, obviously impossible in those areas.
And we are learning that as of now, about 3 million people are in the dark.
Bill Weir begins our coverage OUTFRONT live in St. Petersburg.
You know, Bill, last night in this hour, you know, you are getting lashed by waves coming up where you were in St. Petersburg. Milton was making landfall. Now, it is the aftermath. What have you seen?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's so interesting. Erin. People today, there's a swirl of gratitude that it wasn't worse because we were bracing for this monster storm surge when I talked to you last. But then there's also so much loss in unexpected ways. I mean, hurricanes are really the intersection of nature and human nature. And we use the past to try to figure out what's going to happen next.
You know, when Helene was so far offshore, the people on the coast thought, well, there'll be no storm surge and it was devastating. So then this time, Milton, people are afraid of the surge, but instead it was rain. It was wind. It was tornadoes, 100, 150 miles away from the storm, hitting people completely by surprise.
So right now, people are trying to process this one-two punch and real really what comes next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR (voice-over): As earth overheats, these are the kinds of storms the tape and livelihoods but as families reel in private grief, it's the material lost that is so obvious everywhere in Pinellas County, from the tower construction crane that crashed down on neighboring buildings, to Tropicana Field, peeled like an orange by Milton's winds. The Tampa Bay Rays already have plans in the works to build a new stadium, with taxpayers kicking in hundreds of millions of dollars.
What happens now is anyone's guess, especially after the loss of empire neighborhood's retirees and working class American dreamers. SANDY DAUGHTRY, FLORIDA NATIVE, PINELLAS COUNTY RESIDENT: I'm just
really concerned for all these people, it's just devastating, it's like World War Three or something, you know?
WEIR: Sandy Daughtry, hid in a closet during landfall and the day after, rides her bike through the mangled wreckage of back-to-back hurricanes, praying for neighbors she knows now have nothing.
[19:05:06]
Long after all of these pieces of peoples lives have been picked up, what will remain in Florida is a massive insurance crisis. In just the last couple of years, dozens of different carriers have gone insolvent, or stopped accepting new customers, or have been placed on state watch list.
So as a result, flood insurance for a home like this can be over $20,000 a year, way more than the mortgage. So most of these families had no coverage at all.
There are so many folks here uninsured, right?
DAUGHTRY: Yes. Yes, I know that's why I just like it breaks my heart. I'm riding through here just like my heart is just -- shatters. I just can't even -- it's just unbelievable, really.
WEIR: What do you think becomes have communities like this?
DAUGHTRY: I don't know. I really don't. I'm hearing a lot of people saying they're going to leave the state and head back up north, but I don't -- I don't know if that'll happen, maybe a mass exodus or something.
WEIR: Do you connect and all of this to a changing climate, a warmer planet?
DAUGHTRY: You know, I don't -- I'm not sure. I couldn't -- I cant really answer.
WEIR: Really?
DAUGHTRY: I just -- maybe it's just a hundred-year cycle or some kind of a cycle that we get through.
WEIR: Even though all the scientists are telling you, this is what climate change looks like?
DAUGHTRY: Well, yeah, well, that's the point. I'm not sure all the scientists are in a bit agreement with this.
WEIR: They are. I can tell you, they are.
DAUGHTRY: So, that's why I'm kind of like --
WEIR: I'm here to tell you, they are, 99 percent of them absolutely agree. You can ask anybody -- DAUGHTRY: I can definitely you our beaches are eroding my lifetime,
the -- all the beaches have -- I've seen the water come up higher than it ever has before. So --
WEIR: Thank you so much.
DAUGHTRY: Thanks so much for talking.
WEIR: Yeah, thank you for talking. Really, you're a great neighbor. If there's a heaven, you're getting in.
DAUGHTRY: Amen, amen. And that's obviously -- that's what I do. I ride around and just pray for people and just --
WEIR: You're first pray responder. That's --
DAUGHTRY: Yeah, amen.
WEIR: All right. Good luck to you.
DUAGHTRY: Thank y'all.
WEIR: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR (on camera): I love meeting Sandy right there.
It's been said that Florida is a state of mind and for too many folks, that state of mind includes ignoring warnings from science that this state is becoming more and more vulnerable as the oceans and the atmosphere warms up and we just got in our climate slack channel, seeing news that the mayor of Clearwater just said there had to rescue 500 people, Erin, from a place that was outside of the evacuation zone, was sort of lack the capacity to imagine what these storms can do based on what we know.
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. Bill Weir, thank you so much. We're so grateful you're there.
OUTFRONT now is Amber Henry. She was trapped during the storm with her four young children in Lakeland, Florida, just east of Tampa. She shared videos with us that she took as the floodwaters were rising. And at the worst moment, they actually to get up onto their oven and kitchen sink to try to seek higher ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMBER HENRY, MOTHER AND HER 4 CHILDREN RESCUED FROM HURRICANE FLOODWATERS: We literally on -- in the sink. We're on top of the sink. Look at the whole house -- the house. Look at the house.
Look, we're on top of the oven. Look at the house, if it's done -- I pray God, come help us. Help us, God. Help us.
This water is so tall. It's going up the cabinet. Look how deep it is. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You can hear the fear in your voice, Amber. Her -- kids and Amber were fortunately rescued, a miracle, after seven hours in the water by a local news crew. You see them here in this video, is that happened trudging through the flood at that point to a Jeep that took him to a shelter.
And, Amber, I am so glad that you're here and you're safe. Your children are safe. And this storm really caught you by surprise.
I mean, I want to be clear to everybody, you were not under evacuation orders, right? It wasn't that you were told to leave and stayed. You are where you were supposed to be, sheltering in place.
I -- I can hear the fear in your voice. I'm sure it must -- must be hard to even hear your own voice played back.
Tell me about that moment when you realized this could go horribly wrong.
HENRY: Yeah, I thought I was making the best move going towards Lakeland. I even call the officials and they told me it was not a mandatory back and me and my children will be fine. But that was not the case.
Around 10:00, that's when I seen water seeping in. I was in buckets putting it down to drain, but then the house literally ate us with water. Me and my children had to get on top of the couch. And when the couch got submerged in the water, I begin to look out the window, seeing water come into the house.
I was terrified because I heard transformers go off and I just knew that me and my children were going to be electrocuted and we're just going to die right then and there.
[19:10:04]
All I could do is pray and I had to be brave and my daughter, she's 10-years-old and she's about to be 11 and she told me, mom, her birthdays on the 21st and she told me mom, I don't want to die for my birthday.
I was terrified. My own car, her uncle drives trucks and she was like, can he come get us? Due to him being in a high state, but he was very far away, I have a four-year-old and a five-year-old and they are two small children. And it's like I couldn't even hold both of them.
I'm a single mom. I have nothing but me and my children. We were dark. We were in cold. I was afraid of snakes. I was afraid of being electrocuted and I was afraid to actually be the one that passed the way and then my kids have to suffer. It was very terrifying.
So when I seen the refrigerator float, I got on top of the oven and I just seen the water pouring I just told my children we have to get out of here. I did see a semi-truck in the yard. So, we were literally going to ride the storm in the truck.
But then I just say, you know what, I'm going to go to the neighbor's house. I know they're not home and I had to break in that house just to get higher level.
It was very scary. It felt like a movie, a worst nightmare. The worst nightmare, and I'm so glad and I'm actually able to talk about it right now.
BURNETT: I know. I mean, a miracle. I can only imagine that, you know, you're changed forever by a moment where you realize how fragile life is and your children, my God.
So when you go to your neighbor's house and I know you mentioned to go there to break into get to higher ground, I believe there was a floatie or something like that, right, that your kids were able to get on.
And it was at that moment that the local news crew happens to come by -- you had a video of that moment, the moment when, all of a sudden, you had hope. I'll play what you shared with us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: I see somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: You see someone?
HENRY: Hold on, I see somebody.
Hello? Hello? If you guys can call 911, I'm trapped in a house with four kids. Yes, with four babies. Thank you so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Amber, and that local news crew, they filmed you as you were calling out for help and gosh, what was that moment like when you -- you realized after worrying that you were going to die, believing that you could die, that somebody was there?
HENRY: I don't know what made me open that window, but I am so glad I did because they could have finished that story and pack up and left. I don't know what made me, but when I seen someone standing in the middle of the road, I knew it was my blessing and I had no other choice.
I know so that there was an outlet. I was calling the sheriff department four hours, but no one can come out to help me.
So when I did see a person, it was so magical, and I just said, this is -- this is our time. We're going to die trying to get to that person. Me and my children will die trying to get out of this mess.
BURNETT: Amber, what happens now? When -- when do you go home?
HENRY: I don't have a home. I'm currently homeless right now. My car is submerged under underwater. I'm pretty sure it's floating right now.
I have nothing. The only thing -- me and my children didn't even have shoes. The only thing that we had were wet clothes on the backs. I lost my Social Security numbers, I lost my birth certificates. I lost everything.
I gained courage and I gained strength and I'm just trying -- I don't even have a plan, but I'm taking day by day and I just have to do that. I have to restart over again. I have to start my whole life over again
BURNETT: Amber, thank you very much. I am so sorry. I know and hope everyone will hear everything you said -- and thank you very much for even being able to speak and share all of that. I don't know how you have the strength.
HENRY: You're welcome. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I don't know how I have the strength, but I'm getting there. Thank you.
Nothing gets worse than this -- nothing.
BURNETT: And for more information about how you can help, how you can help Amber and others who have lost absolutely everything or just starting their lives from scratch, go to CNN.com/impact. Well, the breadth of Milton's destruction cannot be overstated, when you hear Amber talking about the impact on one family.
And now, there are millions others without power, homes are destroyed, livelihoods washed away -- just the clothes on their backs.
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT now with a look at how widespread this damage truly is -- Jason.
[19:15:05]
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, we've been tracking Milton's wreckage throughout the state to try and get a better assessment of its path of destruction, and what is already clear. Much of the damage occurred from a record number of tornadoes, some of the tornadic activity caught on camera in places like St. Lucie.
St. Lucie hit with nine tornadoes, three of them striking in just 25 minutes. Florida had the most tornado warnings ever in a single day, at least 126 issued by the National Weather Service, and at least 15 confirmed touchdowns.
This is what it looked like, for example, driving through places like Fort Pierce today. You can see that there are destroyed buildings everywhere, debris still on the ground. Weather experts say these tornadoes were different. They say they were super charged, meaning that they were more powerful and lasted longer once they were on the ground.
We've also heard so much about storms surge, places like Fort Myers and Naples, for example, experience more than five feet of storm surge, water flooding, the first floors of businesses and homes. By day, for example, this is what it looked like places like Punta Gorda, there were boats all over the place on land where they should not be, places like in a park, on sidewalks, once again, showing the power of storm surge during its worse.
And now, an overview of some of the flooding and its aftermath. Keep in mind, some spots in Florida saw a months-worth of rain in a single day, more than 18 inches in St. Petersburg, more than 14 inches in Clearwater Beach. Rescues like this one taking place today, for example.
This teenager got stuck in the water, needed some help getting out. He thought he could make his way through but ran into trouble, needed rescuing by the Hillsborough County sheriff's department. He's going to be okay.
There's also aerial footage from that very same sheriff's department showing more people being rescued. They were also trapped in their homes, needed help getting out this morning due to those high floodwaters. And while this was definitely not the worst-case scenario there in Florida is still so much destruction and loss of life -- Erin.
BURNETT: Jason, thank you very much.
And next, former president Obama, as I said, he is about to take the stage at any moment. We are awaiting him going to that podium. His first time turning to the campaign trail in this election. All right?
So he's waited until now, but he's going to speak tonight. It's an important moment. We're going to bring it to you live.
Plus, we go beyond the numbers so who exactly is registering to vote? Which party has the advantage whether those registrations are votes? Harry Enten breaks it down in a special report.
And the woman help rewrite Georgia election laws, even at the same time as she's pushing conspiracy theories about the last election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: What did you see? You saw --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw big containers, big bins of things that said official absentee ballot, wield over to shredding trucks, sucked up into the truck and shredder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:22:30]
BURNETT: All right. Our breaking news tonight, President Obama about to take the stage for Vice President Harris at any moment. Harris herself is about to hit a stage at a rally in Chandler, Arizona, where Jeff Zeleny is there OUTFRONT tonight.
And, Jeff, you know, Harris, obviously, where you are -- former President Obama going to appear here for the first time, right? Giving this live speech in the must-win state of Pennsylvania and obviously were now just a few weeks before the election. So what is Harris hoping he will do right now?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Erin, there are 19 major reasons why former President Barack Obama is in Pittsburgh, that has the 19 electoral votes in Pennsylvania. It is the biggest prize of all the battleground states.
I am told that tonight, the former president is going to yes, lift up Vice President Harris, but also draw a sharp contrast with what her presidency would look like vis-a-vis a second Trump administration. This was one of the reasons that many Democrats believe this race is stuck, if you will, there are still some voters who have questions about Vice President Harris's ability to serve at exactly what she would do. And they also are not necessarily attuned to what a second Trump term would be.
So I'm told that former President Obama is going to begin what is going to be a really a three-week series of events across the country drawing that very sharp contrast, going out to working class voters, of course, also a particular message to African American men, particularly younger men, who the Harris campaign has been concerned about that. Erin, this is a coast to coast, all hands on deck effort, former President Bill Clinton will be going to Georgia and North Carolina.
He was not a big presence on the campaign trail, of course, four years ago, he will be now.
And here in Arizona, the vice president will be arriving here in a short time. Early voting is already underway here. Arizona has a 11 electoral although so that is why for all the talk of the blue wall, of course, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, yes, that's key. But also the Sun Belt states here in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia also critical with this race exceedingly tight in the last three weeks of the campaign here, the Harris campaign is trying to keep all options open.
But Barack Obama largely seen as one of the best campaigners of his time, of course, Democrats love to see him. He will be out. I'm told starting tonight. And often and between now and Election Day -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
And you see that stage in Pittsburgh. That is where the foreign president is going to be speaking in just a couple of moments.
So I just want to squeeze a bit of a conversation here.
[19:25:02]
Jamal, obviously, it's not as if he didn't want to appear, right? But he hasn't yet. So, it's almost like, okay, they're starting now, and this is going to be an important speech that were going to hear. And then you heard he's going -- yeah, were going to hear more from him. I believe Senator Casey is going to be introducing him here, but, you know, 19 reasons, says Jeff Zeleny, how important is Obama to Harris?
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He's hugely important because Barack Obama was very popular in the Democratic Party. But we have to be a little bit sober about this -- he's popular with people who are older now, right? So if the campaign is struggling with, particularly, younger people, people under the age of 35, I remember when I was leading an office and I talked to a young woman who was 26, 27 to 2008 campaign and she said, I kind of remember that, I was in middle school, but that happen.
So nobody under the age of 30 has ever voted for Barack Obama before. So we have to remember that.
BURNETT: Right.
SIMMONS: So the voters who really know him the best are the ones who are over the age of 30, 35, but the voters, the vice president, may maybe needing, are ones that are under 35s.
BURNETT: Right, and Senator Casey is doing the introductions. So the foreign president will be here in a moment, Mike. But, you know, in your -- you advised John McCain, Mitt Romney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, people who had appeal on both sides of the aisle, all of those individuals.
And so, you know, the power Obama has or had. I mean, I think that's what you're all saying, you know, kind of where is that now. How significant is he?
MIKE MURPHY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I would say we don't have endorsement driven politics at the presidential level. So there's a limit. It's a feather against a bowling ball.
He is the biggest feather in the party so if you're going to have an endorsement, you want him. They also have to roll them out because otherwise, we get into a silly process story of where's Obama the superstar?
BURNETT: Right.
MURPHY: But can he deliver the nomination? No. Can he send a message about her? There's some of the voters she needs. That's trusted because of who he is? Yes.
BURNETT: Right.
MURPHY: So it's a double. It's not a homerun. But everybody else is the single, as far as her power.
BURNETT: Right. Can you be -- can he be the butterfly wing off the coast of Africa that turns into a storm? OK.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I did go to weather camp, go on.
BURNETT: All right. All right. I mean, you know, connecting all this stories.
So, Harry, though, you do see an important group of voters that Obama could help Harris within in Pennsylvania.
ENTEN: Yeah.
BURNETT: But also more broadly.
ENTEN: Yeah. I mean, look, if you look at those Great Lake battleground states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, the plurality of voters are white voters without a college degree.
And if you look, Barack Obama is far more popular with them, then Kamala Harris, as you could you see that right there, 42 percent hold a favorable view of him versus 29 percent of Kamala Harris. Look, this election is going to be won or lost on whether or not Kamala Harris can keep up those margins in around places like Scranton, Pennsylvania that Joe Biden had four years ago.
If she is able to with those white working class voters, she's likely to win in Pennsylvania, and win the election. If she can't, she's probably going to lose. Barack Obama's good messenger with them, he did very well when he ran for president as popularity is right now at this point, significantly higher.
BURNETT: Governor Pawlenty, how much of an impact can the former president have on that group of voters?
TIM PAWLENTY (R), FORMER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: I think he's broadly popular and I think from a Republican standpoint, I wish he wasn't as impactful as these as he's going to be. I will say in a tight race where were coming down to a few hundred thousand people in six or seven states, even a little impact is a big deal.
And one other thing, Erin, nobody in the Democratic Party makes the case in, as well as Barack Obama, he makes it better than Vice president Harris, Tim Walz by far.
So, from a Republican standpoint, I wish he wasn't out there, but he is and he is going to have some impact, positive impact for Vice President Harris.
BURNETT: And part of the reason perhaps they're doing this at the time they're doing it. And in the big splash that they're about to do with this speech is because of the news swing polling that we have.
Jamal, let me go through some of these. Quinnipiac in September, Harris was at 50 to 45 in Michigan, just taking one swing-state 50-45. It was, you know, and everyone was saying margin of error and it was sort of all trending her way.
SIMMONS: Yeah.
BURNETT: Now, all of a sudden and look, it's one poll. We don't know, but it's a different story at a Quinnipiac.
SIMMONS: Just want to raise my blood pressure or is that what?
BURNETT: All of a sudden again, it's that margin but still, now you have Harris at 47, Trump at 50. You know, that's obviously a swing. So you're from Detroit. Mike, you're from Detroit, too.
But what do you -- do you think that's real, Jamal?
SIMMONS: Listen, I think it's a dogfight. I think they are battling for every inch they can get mistake. That's what I'm hearing from people on the ground.
The problem is happening that I'm detecting that there is some softness in the organizing and they have -- the capacity of the campaign on the ground in some of these places. And so, the campaign really does have to do what they -- would normally do over the course of several months. They've only had a couple of months to do it and they've got now just three weeks left.
So they've got to get that turnout organization as strong as possible, and as wide as possible in a very short amount of time.
BURNETT: Mike?
MURPHY: Michigan is the new Pennsylvania. It's where the Democrat worries are that weren't there ten days ago. There some bad internal polling next last week.
[19:30:00]
But I always caution one margin of error can jerk us all around.
BURNETT: Yes.
MURPHY: Two, it is very hard to do polling right now. So in this poll --
(CROSSTALK)
I don't want to say we don't trust it, but I think everyone's nervous, nobody knows what our young people going to do. What are they measuring? Are they over or underestimate? Nobody knows.
MURPHY: A poll has assumptions in it about who shows up. Generally, history is the best guide. Different kind of year, though, who knows?
So, Michigan, I think, is in a bit of a danger zone. Pennsylvania's gotten a little better at least in the internal polling, which tends to be a little more expensive than a little more carefully done. But this is a real race and the question which you brought up earlier is can she hedge a problem in what I call the pop states? Because we say pop not soda in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
BURNETT: Oh, that's a new way. All right.
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: A new crosstab, but can she, with African American turnout, which she doesn't have yet, but maybe she gets it. Can she get Georgia as a hedge or hit a double? Arizona and Nevada and she is ahead in Nevada, a little bit. Not in Arizona. That's probably why they're going to make an effort there.
So this thing is as close as it looks and the polls we will see in five or six days will tell us how her media offensive went. Because remember, there's a lag.
BURNETT: Right. That's right. And she has done a lot of media in recent days, Howard Stern, Colbert, lots of different things, podcasts as well.
SIMMONS: I was talking to Chuck Rocha on our podcast "Trailblaze" , and he was telling me he does a lot of Latino vote research and he was telling me he thinks that she can probably the vice president can get back to Joe Biden levels, but probably not better than Joe Biden levels.
So, a state like Arizona, where a lot of Latino voters there, you got Ruben Gallego, who's trending double digits ahead of Kari Lake right now. He might be the vice president needs to pull her across the finish line instead of the way it usually works with the top of the ticket pulls everybody else.
BURNETT: That's interesting.
Governor Pawlenty, what you think of that?
PAWLENTY: Well, I think she is has an underwhelming record when she was before real journalists over the last few weeks. And some of the other more vibey channels, she did better, but she wasn't pushed very hard.
So I think part of this process is reflecting an erosion -- a little bit of erosion in her support because people are getting to know her and some people are not excited about as they were. And I do think there is a possibility that some of their local candidates are going to be more popular than her, and updraft her.
And by the way, don't forget about the Trump historic under polling. So if this race does tied and he under polls again by two to four points, he's going to win in those states.
BURNETT: Right.
ENTEN: I think that's one of the big question which is do we have a polling error like we had in 2016 and 2020? If we do, Donald Trumps in great shape. If we have a polling error like we had in 2022, in fact, what we'd see is that Kamala Harris is going to win this election rather easily.
BURNETT: All right. And as we're just saying, were under the foreign president is walking out here now, you can see him. You know what I love about moments like this, and I remember being when he and Michelle Obama were at inauguration and dancing. And I said, put your dam phones down and actually see it.
Like it wasn't even that people were on -- you know, looking themselves and threw their phone. They actually because anyway, they're doing it here because of course he is such a celebrity.
SIMMONS: If it doesn't happen on social media, it never happened.
MURPHY: And, by the way, a little advice to him, be good. Don't be that good, don't upstage her.
BURNETT: Don't make people wish that they had year while under --
SIMMONS: We got polling out that has him winning because if people would vote for him.
BURNETT: Well, here he is. Let's listen to the former president here speaking in the state of Pennsylvania.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Are your ready to go?
It is good -- it is good to be back in Pennsylvania.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: It is good to be back in Pittsburgh.
I love Pittsburgh. You know, I -- I love the people of Pittsburgh. I love the food in Pittsburgh.
I don't usually do this but this is a little bit of a Yelp rating. Just had some of Pamela's pancakes. I -- I first had those like years ago when I was running and I was all like I need some of those pancakes this time out, and -- and even though I'm from Chicago, some of you may know when I was a kid I was a Steelers fan.
So -- and watching the Steelers this season it seems I'm not the only guy from Chicago who likes being in Pittsburgh because, so far, Justin Fields is doing pretty good.
Now, before we get started, we have a little bit of work to do here.
[19:35:02]
All right? So I want everybody to be, you know, just settle in. We got some work to do.
Before we get started, I didn't want to say that we are, you know, heartbroken about the loss of life in Florida, North Carolina, states across the Southwest. We are thinking about people, families, whose lives have been upended by the storms over the last couple weeks. I could not be more grateful for the first responders and FEMA professionals who have put themselves in harm's way to try and help.
You know, it -- it's times like this when you realize having honest competent leadership in government really matters. It makes a difference and today I'm asking you to vote for some of those leaders, including some folks we need working with your outstanding governor who you just heard from, Governor Josh Shapiro, we need them in Harrisburg.
So we need you to vote for your next auditor general, Malcolm Kenyatta. Your next attorney general, Eugene DePasquale. Your next state treasurer, Erin McClelland and my buddy, your outstanding United States Senator Bob Casey.
Now here in Pennsylvania, there are three ways to vote. You can vote early in person at the county election office or at a satellite office. You can also vote by mail. And if you need to figure out how to do that, just go to Iwillvote.com PA, to find a place to vote early or to request a ballot. And, of course, you can vote at your polling place on Election Day, November 5th.
But if you're at this rally, let's face it, you're probably voting, unless you are 12. So you also have to help your friends and family make a plan to vote, and even if you're 12, you can do that talk to your mom and dad and aunts and uncles because together we have a chance to choose a new generation of leadership in this country and start building a better and stronger and fairer and more hopeful America.
Now, you've already heard tonight, this election's going to be tight, because there are a lot of Americans who are still struggling out there. They're still striving to make life better for themselves, for their families and for their kids, and let's face it, as a country, we've been through a lot these last few years. We had a historic pandemic, wreaking havoc on communities and businesses, disruptions from the pandemic then caused prices to spike, and that put a strain on family budgets.
And in many ways, it's felt like the aspirations of working people have taken a backseat to the priorities of the rich and the powerful. So I get it why people are looking to shake things up. I mean, I am the hopey-changey guy, so I understand people feeling frustrated and feeling we can do better.
What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania. I don't understand that because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself.
I've said it before Donald Trump is a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago. I -- you -- you've got the tweets in all caps, the ranting and the raving about crazy conspiracy theories.
[19:40:11]
The two-hour speeches word salad just, you know, it's like Fidel Castro just on and on, constant attempts to sell you stuff. Who does that? Selling you gold sneakers and a $100,000 watch and most recently, a Trump bible.
You know, he wants you to buy the word of God, Donald Trump edition, got his name right there next to Matthew and Luke. I mean, you could not make this stuff up.
If you saw it on "Saturday Night Live", you'd say -- well, no, that's -- I mean, that's going too far. No, he's doing that. It's crazy and the reason he does it is because all he cares about is his ego and his money and his status. He's not thinking about you.
Donald Trump sees power as nothing more than a means to an end. He wants the middle class to pay the price for another huge tax cut that would mostly help him and his country club buddies, doesn't care if he costs more women their reproductive freedoms because it won't make a difference in his life. Do -- do not boo, vote.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: They can't hear your boos, but they can hear your votes.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: Most of all, Donald Trump wants us to think that this country is hopelessly divided between us and them, between the, quote/unquote, real Americans who support him and the outsiders who don't, because having people divided and angry, he figures boosts his chances of being elected and he doesn't care who gets hurt.
I mean, think about it, just the other day, we learned that on January 6th, a couple of years ago, Donald Trump was told that Mike Pence was in the Capitol about 40 feet from an angry mob chanting hang Mike Pence and his response was, quote, so what?
Don't boo.
If Donald Trump does not care that a mob might attack his own vice president, do you think he cares about you?
AUDIENCE: No!
OBAMA: Pennsylvania, we do not need four more years of that. We don't need four more years of arrogance and bumbling and bluster and division. America's ready to turn the page. We are ready for a better story, one that helps us work together instead of turning against each other.
Pennsylvania, we're ready for a President Kamala Harris.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: And the good news is Kamala Harris is ready to do the job. This is a leader who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a champ. Somebody who was raised in the middle class, who worked a summer job at McDonald's while she earned a degree, who believes in the values that built this country, somebody who has served with distinction in every office that she has ever held.
I think we probably had a fainting spell back there. So let's make sure make space for the emergency folks. This happens sometimes. Everybody bend their knees a little bit, you've been standing for a while. You can dance if you want, I just suggest to bend your knees. But she'll be okay.
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Kamala is as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been. That's who Kamala is.
And in the White House, she will have an outstanding partner in Governor Tim Walz.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: Tim is a veteran. He is a teacher. He's a coach. He's a hunter. He's been a great governor working with Democrats and Republicans to get stuff done.
He can also take a vintage truck apart and put it back together again. You think Donald Trump can do that?
For that matter, do you think Donald Trump has ever changed the tire in his life? I just try to picture it.
But the point is, if you elect Kamala and Tim, they won't be focused on their problems, they'll be focused on yours. They understand that too many folks here in Pennsylvania and across the country are struggling to pay the bills.
Even though wages are steadily growing and inflation is finally slowing.
The price of everything from health care to housing to groceries, it's still too high and that takes a real bite, of the paychecks. It hurts.
So the question is, who's really going to do something about it that's what you should be asking yourself.
Now Donald Trump's plan is to do what he did last time, which was give another massive tax cut to billionaires and big corporations, and then -- don't boo, I'm going to break you of this habit.
And the reason some people think, well, I don't know, I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good. Yeah, it was pretty good, because it was my economy.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: We had had 75 straight months the job growth that I handed over to him. It wasn't something he did. I had spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me the last time. So just in case everybody has a hazy memory, that that -- what -- he didn't he didn't do nothing except those big tax cuts. His other big economic plan now is the slap tariffs on everything, from food to TVs.
Now, understand what tariffs are. Anything that's coming from out that that's made elsewhere and comes here, you slap extra money on top of it. And if other countries are cheating in some cases, it makes sense because you want to have a fair playing field, but what he's proposing is basically a Trump sales tax that could cost the average family almost $4,000 a year.
So if you're concerned about higher prices that is not the way to get lower prices, that's going to come out of your pockets. You think -- you think prices are high now the Donald Trump's message basically is you ain't seen nothing yet.
All right. So that -- that's as far as you can tell that's his plan, right? Because it's not written down anywhere. When it comes to health care you heard it in the debate Donald Trump's got one answer, ending the Affordable Care Act that 45 million people rely on.
The other day, his running, J.D. Vance, had the -- had -- you got to vote. The other day his running mate had the nerve to say, Donald Trump salvaged the Affordable Care Act.
I -- I mean, Donald Trump spent his entire presidency trying to tear it down and by the way he couldn't even do that right.
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And now, eight years after he was elected when he was asked about what he was going to do, he says he's got concepts of a plan for how he'd replace it.
Now I want you all to think about this for a second. Let's say your boss gives you an assignment, a project. He says I need this on Friday and Friday comes around, and he says, so -- did you finish that project I asked for? He said, well, I actually haven't started but I have a concept of a plan.
Or you could try it at home. Honey, did you do the dishes? I have a concept of a plan to do the dishes. How's that going to go over?
If it wouldn't work for you, why in the heck should it work for the president of the United States? But the good news is Kamala Harris, she doesn't have concepts for a plan, she has an actual plan, to make your life better.
To bring down the cost of things like groceries, she'll go after corporations that are jagging up prices, just like she went after big banks and for-profit colleges when she was an attorney general in California and believe me, when she does, nobody's going to want to stand in her way. I remember after -- after the home mortgage crisis, Kamala pushed me and my administration harder than any other attorney general in the country to make sure homeowners got a fair settlement. It did not matter that she was pushing a Democratic administration, she was not going to let anybody stop her from winning as much relief as possible for the families who deserved it. And because of the work she did those families got billions more than they would have otherwise got.
That's the kind of President Kamala Harris will be. To lower housing costs, Kamala will cut red tape and work with governors like Josh Shapiro, as well as the private sector to build 300 million new homes and she'll give first time home buyers up to $25,000 to help with a down payment, plans, concrete plans and for a lot of folks that could be the difference between watching their dreams pass them by, or finally owning a place of their own.
To lower health care costs, Kamala already worked with Joe Biden to take on the drug companies and bring down the cost of insulin and hearing aids and more than 50 prescription drugs, and as president she will never stop working the limit out of pocket cost and protect your care. That's who Kamala is. She's got a track record of doing it.
And here's -- here's a big one. Instead of giving more tax breaks to billionaires and raising prices on working families, Kamala will give a tax cut to 100 million middle class and working people here in America.
So I -- if you're a new parent, you could qualify for a $6,000 tax credit during the first year of your child's life, because I don't have to tell a lot of you, raising kids is hard, and she wants to make it easier to afford stuff like a crib or a car seat or diapers. I remember buying diapers. I remember the first time I went in the store, right after Malia was born. I was like what, that's how much diapers cost? I remember changing diapers.
You think Donald Trump ever changed the diaper?
AUDIENCE: No!
OBAMA: Yeah. I almost said that but I decided I shouldn't say it.
[19:55:05]
If you're starting a small business, Kamala Harris will give you a $50,000 tax credit to help you get it off the ground. That's who Kamala Harris is. That's what she stands for.
So with Kamala, you've got actual plans. Trump, concepts of a plan. Now if you challenge Trump to elaborate and enumerate his concepts, he will fall back on one answer, J.D. Vance does the same thing, doesn't matter what the issue is, housing, health care, education, paying the bills, their only answer is to blame immigrants.
He -- they -- they want you to believe that if you let Donald Trump round up whoever he wants, by the way, and ship them out, all your problems will be solved.
Now, we've got real issues at the border. We are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. We have to make sure it's fair. There are communities at the border that can be overrun. We've got to actually solve a problem.
But when I hear Donald Trump talking, I've got one question, as I recall Donald Trump was president for four years and if rounding up and deporting millions of desperate people and building the beautiful wall and didn't matter whether some of those folks you rounded up were women and children, if that's the answer to everything, well, why didn't you solve the problem? Why were the number of immigrants basically the same when you left office as when you took office?
I'll tell you why? Because he didn't have a real plan. He had talking points. He had concepts of a plan, and the plan was mean and ugly and it was designed to enhance his politics and make people angry, not to solve the problem.
You know what you -- you know what would actually help bring order to the border and fix our immigration system, the bipartisan deal that Kamala Harris supported even though it was written by one of the most conservative Republicans in Congress, the same bill that Donald Trump tanked on purpose, because he thinks fearmongering is how he's going to win this election. He told Republicans, even the ones who had originally supported don't vote for it, because he doesn't want the problem solved.
We don't need a president who will make problems worse just to make his own political circumstances better. We need a president who actually car is about solving problems and making your life better and that's what Kamala Harris will do.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: And to help her do it, she will need a Senate full of serious public servants like Bob Casey.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: I'm going to talk about this man just for a second. I've known Bob for almost years. I've watched his daughters grow up. I know his brothers and cousins and let me tell you, there are a lot of brothers and cousins.
And I can tell you that no one is more humble and more honest and more rooted in his community and has more integrity than Bob Casey.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: You know, in Washington, in Washington, folks make a distinction between workhorses and show horses. And Bob Casey's -- he's not a show pony. All the guy cares about is doing the job and looking after you, the people he was elected to serve. That's the kind of --
