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CNN Live Event/Special

CNN's Special Coverage of Election Day in America. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired November 05, 2024 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and thanks for joining me here. I'm Erica Hill. The first election day votes now cast and counted in a small New Hampshire village, continuing their tradition of voting at the stroke of midnight.

In the hours ahead, of course, voters across the U.S. will head to the polls in this incredibly tight and momentous election. Both presidential nominees closing their campaigns in key battleground states.

Vice President Kamala Harris crisscrossing Pennsylvania on Monday, ending the night with a star-studded rally in Philadelphia where she told supporters momentum is on their side while stressing nothing has been decided in what she called the quote "most consequential election of our lifetime."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our campaign has tapped into the ambitions and the aspirations and the dreams of the American people. We are optimistic and we are excited about what we can do together. And we know it is time for a new generation of leadership in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Donald Trump and his closing message in Michigan for that where he spoke for more than two hours weaving, as he calls it, using dark rhetoric focused on immigration while continuing to hurl insults at Democrats, including his political opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Over the past four years, Americans have suffered one catastrophic failure, betrayal, and humiliation after another. Kamala has delivered soaring prices and true economic anguish at home, war and chaos abroad, and a nation destroying invasion on our southern border, invasion of some of the greatest criminals in the world that are pouring into our country. And we're not going to take that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Of course, the outcome of this race, anything but certain, as you see there, the final CNN poll of polls before this election day shows no clear leader.

Joining me now, Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist; Scott Jennings, CNN senior political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush; Lulu Garcia-Navarro, CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist and podcast host; and our very own Mark Preston.

Nice to see all of you dark and early, as we like to say, in this business. As we look at where we stand here, these expected, I would say, yet very different, starkly different closing messages from Trump and Harris.

You know, Scott, I'm going to start with you. I know you were talking to some of your sources earlier who said their real goal was they hoped that the former president would stay on message tonight. He did open with that question of, are you better off than you were four years ago? And then there was a lot of weaving. Overall, is this a winning closing message?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SR. POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I don't know, I mean, look, this is Trump. He speaks for two hours. Some of it's going to be what the campaign wants him to do, some of it's going to be what he wants to do. It's really no different than we've seen him all throughout this campaign, through his last campaign, through the campaign before that. It's his style. He's not a politician.

You know, I don't know that anything about it is rehearsed. That to me is the real contrast between Trump and Harris. You get up there with this weaving method and you can get anything. With Harris, every single gesticulation, hand movement, you know, head nod.

I mean, it is all rehearsed and carefully scripted, and with Trump, none of it really is. And to some people, Trump is more appealing because it feels authentic, and to some people Harris is more appealing because they just want somebody who's basically a politician who does what you would expect them to do. So we'll see what the algebra is on Tuesday night.

I don't really know how to answer your question other than to say, I guess that was probably Donald Trump's last rally, so we won't have his rallies to kick around anymore after this 3 am panel here.

HILL: It did look like he was sort of, you know, even going through that maybe himself at the tail end there, maybe just sort of walking himself through that it was the final one.

You know, when we look at what we heard from Vice President Harris, Maria, look, it was a lot shorter. I think it was about 17 minutes versus two hours plus. And, yes, very much on point which she had said, of course, which we know she said, hey, this is the way I do things, I want to get that message out.

[03:05:03]

How effective is that message at this point, specifically in Pennsylvania, where she spent the entire day and the goal here really now is to rally for both candidates, rally that base and make sure they get to the polls?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's exactly right, Erica. And I think for her, her closing message, which was full of hope and optimism, focusing on voters' dreams and aspirations, is exactly the right one. That's what voters want. Americans want a leader who will, in her words, lift people up as opposed to trying to knock them down.

And she didn't mention Donald Trump's name because she didn't have to. Donald Trump is making this very stark contrast for her as she is up there being positive, talking about unity, talking about a new generation of leadership. And then you have Donald Trump who sits up there for two hours. He looks a lot older. He looks tired.

The only thing coming out of his mouth are insults. His messages are dark, dystopian, full of division. And frankly, the vice president's message of, we need to find a new way forward, turning the page on all of that darkness and that division, that negativity, I think exactly what Americans want to hear.

And so, I think for what she needs to do in Pennsylvania and in all of the battleground states, this is exactly the right message. And I also think it shows the confident, cautious optimism of the campaign because, Erica, as you know if a campaign is confident in where they are in the race, they don't need to go negative.

They can focus on the positivity, they can focus on their candidate, what their candidate will bring to American voters. And we know that when a campaign is more desperate, more worried about how they might not even have locked up their base, they have to go negative. They have to do the red meat, which is what we're seeing Trump do.

HILL: Mark, as I noted our latest CNN poll of polls, the final CNN poll of polls, actually for this campaign season. We're still neck and neck at this point. But there was new polling out from NPR-Emeris, which showed Harris at 51 percent, Trump at 47 percent. There have been, and it's not the only one this week, right, to show a little bit of a shift. How much are you reading into this polling at the 11th hour?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, at this point, I think it's a little dangerous when you see these polls come in at the last minute and you see this sudden shift. And you see them move en masse. You have to wonder, are we seeing something here, or are we just seeing a course correction amongst those who do the methodology amongst all the polls? I think the bottom line is, Erica, we don't know what is going to happen.

I think we all learned a big lesson back in 2016, for those of us old enough here on the panel. Remember, we certainly didn't learn our lesson after 2000, because we had our problems in 2016. But I do think you're going to see a very careful -- careful.

The attention that the news media, that the impartial observers are going to pay to this election and to ensure that there isn't any kind of an early call on this election, I think is going to be critical. And I do think the next 24 hours are really going to be critical for the country. We don't know what's going to happen in this election.

There's a good chance we're not going to know who the president-elect is going to be within the next three days, could be four days, could be five days, having said that we may know we may all have it wrong and somebody one of these candidates could perhaps like walk away with it kind of handily. So I think we all just need to just take a deep breath, take a step back and just let the voters have their day and just see how this plays out.

HILL: So as we step back and look at this Lulu is as we will start to see some of those early results come in some of the earliest polls close at 6 pm Eastern time. Where is your focus? What are you going to be watching throughout the day Tuesday and frankly in the evening as we start to see a little bit start to get a sense of where some of the voters have landed?

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, "NEW YORK TIMES" JOURNALIST, AND PODCAST HOST: I think one of the most interesting things for me is seeing where Harris chose all day to spend her time and that was Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania. And that says to me that Pennsylvania is the state which may be the key to this election for her, certainly you know the blue wall states as we've been saying throughout this election are the states that are really going to matter for her it's the quickest way for her to get to 270 and so that's going to be where everyone's going to be focused on.

But of course, the earliest states to bring in the vote are going to be in terms of the swing states are going to be Georgia and are going to be North Carolina they close at 7, 7:30pm and when you look at the suburbs around there, how many women came out, what were the numbers that compared to 2020, did Harris match Biden, did she surpass him, did we see some weakness?

[03:10:09]

I mean, we're going to have some early clues as to where this is headed, if there's momentum for former President Trump or for Vice President Harris. And that might not come from a place like Pennsylvania, Michigan, etc. It might come from those early states, which will we be looking at when the polls close.

HILL: Speaking of women, we've been talking so much over the last 100- plus days or so since it was these two candidates, right? We've been talking so much about this gender gap. We know that more women than men are registered voters.

Typically, women turn out in larger numbers for elections as well. I was struck by some of this polling out of Iowa when we looked at not only women breaking for Harris, but the fact, Maria, that it was older women. Women over 65 plus 35 for Harris. CARDONA: You know, Erica, this is one of the things that I have been

saying from the very beginning of this campaign, even when Biden was our candidate, that what clearly we didn't learn our lesson in 2022, even though in 2022 I also knew that this was not going to be a red way for Republicans, because what pollsters have not learned to take into consideration, they haven't learned how to ask this question, is a question about reproductive rights.

And ever since the Dobbs decision, ever since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, Democrats have massively over performed in every single election that has happened since then. And the reason they have over performed is because of this energy and this mobilization amongst women and a lot of older women at that.

The reason for that, Erica, and I hear this with people who are going door-to-door and women that I have been talking to across the battleground states, and they say it's this. They say, Maria, yes, the economy is important to me, but the economy is coming back, costs are coming down, but when I go into that ballot box and I think about the possibility that my daughter or granddaughter are going to be growing up in a country where they have less rights than I did. That is not something that is at all acceptable to me.

And that is what we are seeing. I think that's what we saw in the Iowa poll. I'm not saying that Harris is going to win Iowa, but that trend, Erica, is what we are seeing across the country. You have Republican women, moderate women, who, you know, according to anecdotes, and I've talked to them too, are not telling their husbands that they're voting for Trump, that they're voting for Harris, and they're voting for Harris.

Young women. We are seeing droves of young women coming out to the polls to vote for Harris because of the issue of reproductive rights. So you know Lulu is right, Mark's right, we don't really know what's going to happen but those trends have been alive and well since 2022 and I don't think that 2024 is going to be any different.

HILL: Mark, I would imagine in the, there will be a lot of post- gaming, obviously, once we have the results of the election. And one of the points that I imagine folks will drill down on is how Republicans had such a tough time finding their messaging and their footing on this issue. The former president had a tough time.

PRESTON: Well, it's always been a tough issue for Republicans, right? I mean, it's something that, you know, Republicans have struggled with because you have different factions of the Republican Party that believe different things in how you handle this situation, this issue.

What I'm really struck by is how Donald Trump throughout this whole campaign has embraced this whole issue on choice and has acted as if he is the one giving people that choice, you know, to make that decision, which isn't necessarily what is happening.

But still, he is effectively, if you say it enough and you say something forcefully enough, people are going to start believing that. So I do wonder, will that at all, neuter a little bit of the expected, I think, turnout we're going to see from young women because of that issue. But as we're talking right now, I mean, I do have to say this because it just gives you a little bit of color for our viewers out there at this morning hour.

Right now, I'm texting with a Trump campaign senior official at this hour right now talking to him about what he thought was interesting over the past couple of hours. And I've got to tell you, he's basically saying the same thing off of the same song sheet as Donald Trump, talking about how Donald Trump has reached out to low propensity voters that he says that have voted early.

We don't know if they have. If these low propensity voters, these white male 18 to 29 year old guys have decided to vote early and they've never voted before, that's going to be a good sign for Donald Trump.

[03:15:00]

However, if this early voting number, this high tick-up we've seen from Republicans, if that is from Republicans who have voted traditionally on Election Day, then that's not going to help them. So it'll be interesting to see as they're trying to suss this out themselves, both campaigns, about where these votes are going to come from.

But I will say the Trump campaign, as we are talking about the Harris campaign, as bullish as they are, the Trump campaign's pretty bullish as well, which is why this is really going to be a crazy roller coaster ride over the next 24, 48, maybe 72 hours.

HILL: Yeah, buckle up, my friend. And speaking of low propensity voters and those younger male voters, the Joe Rogan endorsement, which we'll get into a little bit later this morning. Be interested to see how that plays out as well for Donald Trump. Mark, thank you. Maria, Scott, Lulu, I know you're all sticking around for a little bit longer.

Much more ahead here, a new president, of course, will mean new changes for international diplomacy. Just ahead, what impact could a Harris or Trump presidency have on the rest of the world, and how are they preparing?

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[03:19:52]

HILL: The outcome of today's election has the potential to reshape the way the rest of the world sees and frankly deals with the United States. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump both have very different approaches to foreign policy. Either one could improve or complicate relations with foreign leaders.

On Monday Trump claimed he could swiftly correct multiple global conflicts, as he has said often in the past, which he claims only happened because he wasn't in office. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will end the war in Ukraine, which would have never started if I was president. And I will stop the chaos in the Middle East. And we would have had peace in the Middle East. You would have had peace. Instead, you have all of the death that's taking place. It's terrible. And I will prevent World War III because you're just around the corner from World War III. And this will be a war like no other. This will be a nuclear war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Vice President Harris in Michigan on Sunday called for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas while pledging support to both Palestinians and to Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And as president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza. To bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Joining me now is Thomas Gift. He's director of the Center on U.S. Politics at University College in London. Good to see you this morning. When we take a step back and we look at where things are, the world and world leaders, as we know for some time, have been watching anxiously as the campaigning played out and now today watching Election Day to see what will happen. They are very careful, of course, what to say publicly. Privately, what is the sense of what the difference would be between a Trump and a Harris presidency?

THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, CENTER ON U.S. POLITICS AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Thanks so much for having me, Erica. It's great to be with you.

Both Trump and Harris represent diametrically opposed visions for not only the future of the United States, but also the future of the world. With Kamala Harris, it very much is going to be continuity, status quo, pursuing many of the same policies of the Biden administration.

For Donald Trump, it's a return to turbulence, chaos, mayhem on the international stage. I mean, Trump really has pursued this America first forum policy, which many have described as kind of a belligerent isolationism, very skeptical of international institutions, very skeptical of dealings with world leaders. And so I think throughout the West, many are hoping privately, as you said, that Kamala Harris will be elected, but publicly they're really staying mum.

HILL: There's also, in terms of that America First policy, what we've also seen from the former president over the years is cozying up to strongmen and to more authoritarian leaders, right? He talks often about Putin. Of course, there's Viktor Orban. When we look at it from that angle, there's also a question of what that could open up in terms of U.S. relations and how that could change if, in fact, there is more alignment with, in fact, world powers who were not typically, you know, someone that the U.S. would be aligning themselves with. How much preparation is there, specifically in Europe, for that possibility?

GIFT: Well, I think you're absolutely right that some of this cozying up to dictators and expressing favorability toward individuals like Putin, Kim Jong-un, and others is really worrying. And I think throughout the West, world leaders are concerned about what that means.

You know, I think actually, though, it may be more of a concern within the United States, because Trump has talked about purging the enemy from within, using the military or other apparatuses within the federal government to go after political adversaries. I think the fact that Trump may try to mimic what some of these authoritarians do in their own countries really has to be worrying sort of domestically inside the U.S.

HILL: What about the election itself? You know there's so much made of for a long time, decades plus, the U.S. has been seen as really this beacon in many ways of democracy and works to uphold democracy around the world. The former president has been laying the groundwork to question the election for some time now and there are real questions about how safe this election is.

We were told it is the most secure. And even these early allegations, there is no proof there that there have been issues with the voting. But that too has an impact globally.

GIFT: Of course. I mean, you're absolutely right that the United States for a long time has been known as this beacon of democracy, the longest running continuous democracy in the world. I think people sort of outside of the U.S. don't necessarily now view it in that way. And that's absolutely very concerning. At the same time, I do sort of have confidence in the strength of U.S. institutions.

[03:25:07]

They did hold in 2020. I think they're likely to hold again in 2024 if we do have Trump challenging the election result. We've had the bipartisan electoral reform act. We've had other reforms sort of at the state level that will make it more difficult to challenge the election results. But just the fact that we can't count on one of the two leaders of the major parties not to concede if he doesn't win is extremely concerning and it does damage the U.S. reputation abroad for sure.

HILL: Thomas Gift, joining us from London. Good to have you. Thank you.

GIFT: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: You're watching CNN's special Election Day in America coverage. The closing message is from Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, as the first ballots are already counted. Just ahead.

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HILL: Thanks for joining us for CNN's special coverage of Election Day in America. The poll is set to open in just a few hours for millions of voters across this country.

[03:30:00]

Donald Trump wrapping up his campaign with a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Monday night and really he only wraps it up in the last hour or so. He was joined on stage by his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, as well as his daughter Tiffany.

Vice President Kamala Harris is spending her day crisscrossing the state of Pennsylvania, her final rally on Monday night in Philadelphia, and featured remarks from Oprah Winfrey, as musical performances by Lady Gaga and Will.i.am.

Joining us now from Washington, CNN senior White House producer Betsy Klein. Betsy, good to see you. So a real interesting contrast from these two candidates in their final messages and as they make their final push.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Certainly, Erica, and it was an intentional shift from Vice President Harris in these final hours of her campaign as she's closing it out. She has not referenced former President Trump by name, and that is intentional.

Sources say she's looking to project optimism and a more positive forward-looking tone casting herself as the change candidate now we'll see if voters agree with that at the ballot box today. But certainly talking about some of those key issues, the Affordable Care Act bolstering abortion rights and affordable housing. And we also just saw a message of unity from her in that closing rally in Philadelphia. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: America is ready for a fresh start, ready for a new way forward, where we see our fellow American not as an enemy, but as a neighbor. And we are ready for a president who knows that the true measure of a leader is not based on who you beat down, but based on who you lift up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now the Harris campaign looking to tout its diverse coalition, expanded coalition, starting with that star-studded rally in Philadelphia where we saw Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga, but also in Pennsylvania earlier in the day as she was campaigning with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive congresswoman, and on "The View" on Monday as Liz Cheney made a case for her, the conservative former congresswoman there.

But really on the other side, Former President Donald Trump darkening his rhetoric. We saw him try to sow doubt in the election outcome, casting blame on Democrats for cheating unfounded. And he also said he shouldn't have left the White House in 2020. And he began to air grievances against some of his political rivals, like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Over the past four years, Americans have suffered one catastrophic failure, betrayal, and humiliation after another. Kamala has delivered soaring prices. economic anguish at home, war and chaos abroad, and a nation destroying invasion on our southern border, invasion of some of the greatest criminals in the world that are pouring into our country. And we're not going to take that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now Trump's allies have implored him to stay on message in these closing days, and he did offer this question from the Reagan playbook, are you better off now than you were four years ago? Erica?

HILL: So he did get that in. We saw him get that in on Monday night before going back to a little bit of the weave. Betsy, appreciate it. Good to see you. Thanks.

Well, as Betsy laid out some of his rhetoric there, for several days now the former president has been on a bit of a tear, using particularly inflammatory language to insult familiar foes and targets, but it's not just Kamala Harris. He's been taking aim at migrants, Democrats, the media, even the former first lady.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We can't let these animals come in for other countries. They come in and they take them out, and then they're protected by the radical left. Today you get a little slap in the wrist when you kill somebody. You kill somebody. Now if you fight for a fair and free election, then they throw the book at you.

Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage? I'm seething, I'm working my ass off with this stupid mic.

She came at me the other day. That's not nice of her to do. And I think we're going to start having a little fun with Michelle.

To get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don't mind that so much, because I don't mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Harris, meantime, has made a shift in the past few days to simply stop using Trump's name, referring to him instead as the other guy, and really doubling down with voters about what she sees as his efforts to divide the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: You know, this whole era of this other guy. You know, but what it's done with all that talk that's been about trying to have us point fingers at each other and divide each other, it makes people feel alone. It makes them feel like there's nobody standing with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:35:07]

HILL: Our panel of experts is back with us. Nice to see all of you. We've also brought in Ron Brownstein. And Ron, since it's your first showing in the panel, I'm going to kick this off with you. As we look at the rhetoric, as we look at the tone, the tenor of what we've seen throughout the course of the campaign, but really in the last week, it does, Ron, set up this very clear and stark difference, both of them in many ways, trying to play to their base, as we noted, because the goal right now is to get everybody out to the polls.

But there is this push from the Harris camp to perhaps bring more people in when it comes to Donald Trump's rhetoric and we know this right from the campaign they want him to stay more on message as Scott noted he's not necessarily known for that it happens you never know what you're going to get how damaging though could that be?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST AND SR. EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Oh I think it's been very damaging. You know a canary in the coal mine all year for Democrats has been the retrospective job approval for Donald Trump has been rising. It's at many points in many polls. It's higher than it ever was when he was president. And the reason for that is that voters were primarily judging him through the lens of what they don't like about Joe Biden, primarily inflation and immigration.

And all the things that Donald Trump did that he was president, when people were actually living through that economy, they now say it was better, that kept him from getting to 50 percent approval. The only president who never reached 50 percent approval. All of those things were fading in people's minds. What they were remembering was that gas and groceries were cheaper.

Well, what Donald Trump has done over the last eight or nine days is in a distilled and unrelenting pile driver way, remind people of everything else that comes with electing him as president: Island of garbage. I will protect women whether they like it or not. RFK Jr. is going to have control of public health and women's health and yes, we might take fluoride out of the water and ban vaccines. Liz Cheney should face rifles.

You know, Michelle Obama needs to be targeted. People should be shooting through the press. He has reminded voters, I think, in a very profound and ongoing way of everything that there's more that comes with electing him than the idea that gas and groceries, as I said, might be cheaper now you know there's a lot of discontent with the direction of the country that keeps him in the game no matter what.

But that the way this campaign is ending I I've always felt that for the final days of the campaign the question is what is the question and you know Republicans at hope the question would be whether you are better off than you were four years ago as you noted but in many ways the question is are you willing to take the risk of putting him back in power again? And that is not an effective way for him to be ending the campaign.

HILL: Lulu, how much do you think the discussion of this past week and the rhetoric that we've heard has impacted this race?

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, "NEW YORK TIMES" JOURNALIST, AND PODCAST HOST: I think it has impacted this race, as Ron says. This is clearly not the way that the Trump campaign wanted to end this final push to the end. It's what sticks in people's mind. There are undecided voters, how do you persuade them?

And he really hasn't done an effective job of selling himself. I mean, he's almost 80 years old, he looks tired. You know, we use the word weave, it's often rambling, frankly. And so there is this sense that is this the man that you want to leave the country, but at the same time, you know, the reason that it's so close is that people really do care about the economy, inflation, immigration. These have been the top polling issues in this country for quite some time. And we haven't only seen that here in the United States.

In other countries, we've seen voters punish incumbents because of the economy. And so his strength, I think, cannot be underestimated. And he very well may win this election. It is a toss-up. He is his own worst enemy. If he loses this election, he will have no one but himself to blame, weave or not.

HILL: The chances of that happening, if he would actually blame himself, Scott, I'm going to be honest, I think are slim to none. That is not the way that the former president operates. What has struck me in all of this is, and even as we were talking about women in just a little bit ago, but a half an hour ago, the fact that Donald Trump has not brought in Nikki Haley.

She wrote an op-ed this week in the "Wall Street Journal" where she wrote, those who liked his policies but not January 6th tone and can't condone his excesses, she still believes they're the ones who are going to determine the election. Is she right that even the people who can't stand those things about him, a lot of that is baked in, even the outrage? Are those going to be the deciders, those voters?

[03:39:58]

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SR. POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Yeah, she could be right, actually, because that makes up a huge chunk of the Republican Party. Heck, I'm one of them. I mean, I was none too pleased with Trump after January the 6th.

And you know, there's really two wings of the party. There's the MAGA wing of the party. And then there's kind of the normie, you know, old school Republican wing. We've been Republicans, our entire lives and we've ridden this roller coaster. I wrote a piece for the "L.A. Times" about this a few days ago.

I mean it's been a roller coaster. Sometimes he does things that thrill you and he accomplishes objectives that no other Republican could accomplish and sometimes things go off the rails and you wince and then you know what's happened in this election is a lot of Republicans are taking it all in, you know, the good, the bad, and the cringe-worthy.

And they're asking themselves, as Ron just said, do I want to do this again, or do I want to have four more years of Harris? And I think a lot of Republicans, to Haley's point, are going to wind up back with Trump because Harris has given them absolutely nothing. There's nothing in the Harris pitch for even a moderate Republican.

There's certainly nothing in the Harris pitch for a conservative Republican. For all this talk this morning about how she's been closing on a positive message, it was just a few days ago she was on the ellipse painting a very negative and sort of attack-laden speech against Donald Trump. Heck, even at her rally last night, Oprah is out telling everybody they'll never get to vote again if they don't vote Democrat.

That's A, a complete lie, and B, I can't think of anything less joyful than trying to scare the bejesus out of everybody about the idea that we might be not having another election in the United States. So, look, I think a lot of Republicans, even some who wound up departing from Trump on an issue or on a moment, are going to come back to him because the Democrats didn't give them anything.

They think there are enough people in the country who either hate Trump or may be willing to fear Trump to put her in the White House. That's it. That was their whole pitch. They put all their chips on that pitch, and maybe they're right, we'll find out too. I don't know if they're right or not, but that to me is how it all came out.

They think there's just enough people who hate or fear Trump to win, and you don't have to do much beyond that. I personally think there's more to being president than simply not being Donald Trump.

Maria, I'll give you the last word here.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'll say that there is a sliver of Republicans that are responding to Kamala Harris' message that we need to turn the page, we need a new path forward, and that we need to put country before party.

Liz Cheney is one of them. There's a whole slew of former Republicans who worked for Donald Trump, and I think this has been so powerful because, Erica, we're not talking about Joe Schmoes. We're talking about four-star decorated generals, one of them who used to be his chief of staff, his closest advisor who knew him best and was with him during the decision-making processes and so many important situations he has come out to say this man is dangerous.

Americans, please do not re-elect him. Do not give him four more years in the Oval Office. He's the one who called him a fascist. Let's remember, it was not Kamala Harris. It was his former Chief of Staff, John Kelly. He's got other former advisors, General Milley, who are saying the same exact thing.

So there is, it's not the majority by any means, but in an election that is so close and you have important voices, respected voices that are telling Americans just how dangerous another four years in the Oval Office Donald Trump will be, Republicans are responding to that.

And so I do think that we're going to see in the final numbers a slew of Republicans who turned over and said, you know what, this is too important of a decision for me to be partisan about this. I'm going to put the interests of my country before my party and focus on somebody who actually wants to bring us together and who has put out their policies for working class voters, for middle class voters, and who wants to actually solve the problems before the American people and to bring people together and give Republicans a seat at the table. And I think that's resonating.

HILL: Maria, Scott, Lulu, Ron, thank you all.

Well, some of the biggest names in entertainment, as we've noted, showing their support for Harris and for Trump just hours before the polls open today. But what role, if any, does this star power really play as voters prepare to cast their ballots? That's next.

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[03:45:00]

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HILL: A lot of Americans may be dreaming about casting that vote later today. But the first handful of votes, it turns out, have already been counted and tallied. That happened right at midnight, thanks to a quirky tradition in a small New Hampshire town. Gary Tuchman is live in Dixville Notch with all of those details. This is actually one of my favorite traditions, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I agree with you, Erica. You know, think about it this way in your city or town where you live, or where any of our viewers live. If you invited everyone in your city or town to come into your living room to vote for president. Would that work? Would that at all be practical? Probably not.

But here in DixvilleNotch, it's very practical because only six people live in Dixville-Notch. And this is a living room. This is a house in this little village, but it becomes a voting precinct for 10 minutes every four years because Dixville Notch New Hampshire is first in the nation to vote.

It has received authorization, like a couple of other towns in New Hampshire, to hold voting at 12 midnight on election day. But the other towns aren't doing it anymore. Dixville Notch has done it since 1960, 17 straight presidential elections now. Six people here, the earliest votes on Election Day in the country and the first results in the country and the results are right on this board. First in the nation. Dixville, New Hampshire. Harris received three

votes. Trump received three votes. Not that surprising, I guess, because we know how close this race has been. Very symbolic. 50 percent-50 percent. 3 to 3.

[03:50:05]

It all took place in this living room like I told you. And it's literally an official voting precinct for about 10 minutes. It's all took from midnight to 12:10. People cast paper ballots and they put them in this box. This box has been used since 1980 during the Reagan and Carter election and they do it every four years for the New Hampshire primary in January and the general election today.

So, we talked to the voters afterwards, three men and three women. We're going to show you what a couple of the men had to say. One man is a Republican who voted for Trump, one man is undeclared, and he voted for Kamala Harris. Take a listen.

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SCOTT MAXWELL, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: In the past I would vote for character. I didn't want to vote for him, but I felt he was the lesser of the two evils for my thinking. And so I had to vote for Trump.

TOM TILLOTSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: His character is just anathema to what I think a leader should be. Kamala Harris compared to Trump was certainly ranked a much higher, my estimation. That being aside, Trump has a number of policies that I drastically disagree with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: So ultimately about 80,000 people will vote here in the state of New Hampshire. But as of now, Donald Trump, three votes once again, Kamala Harris, three votes. It's a draw here in this little town. Back to you, Erica.

HILL: All right, Gary. Thank you. I mean, it really does tell us where the country is, right? It's a dead heat, just like it is in Dixville Notch. Thanks, Gary.

How will the Harris team rolling out quite a stacked roster of musical heavyweights in the final campaign stops across Pennsylvania on Monday? Ricky Martin, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, just a few of the artists taking the stage for Harris on election eve. Trump's team also celebrating a late win with an endorsement from the popular podcast host Joe Rogan that came in on Monday night. And it comes not too long after his interview, of course, with Donald Trump on his podcast, the "Joe Rogan Experience."

How could all of this play out when the polls open just a couple of hours from now? Bob Lefsetz is with me now. He's the music writer behind "The Lefsetz Letter," joins us from Los Angeles. Great to have you here.

You know, there was a study earlier this year out of Harvard, the Center for -- the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation that looked at the influence of celebrities, maybe not on specific candidates, but their ability to raise awareness, to get people out, calling them powerful advocates for social and political causes. Just how powerful are they when it comes to the 2024 election?

BOB LEFSETZ, MUSIC WRITER, "THE LEFSETZ LETTER": They're not powerful at all. Let's separate musicians from celebrities. Joe Rogan does have some impact, but when you talk about Taylor Swift coming out or Beyonce or Springsteen has no effect whatsoever.

Taylor Swift got 400,000 people to click to a registration website. They then had to fill it out. They then had to show it out, show up. How many of those people are going to show up and vote? It's the minimists (ph). As the Eagles said, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

Yes, in the '60s and '70s. Music for the culture what a musician had to say would be important in today's online world. We're all celebrities, especially people in television and movies have been revealed to be two-dimensional.

People think they know as much of the celebrities. There's no effect whatsoever and in this world where they don't know what to talk about where everything's been played out and it's 50-50. They're just focusing on this to fill airtime.

HILL: It's so interesting because one of the things that struck me, I have to say, when we look at this and we look at the roster of people coming out is, I thought it was interesting that a number of the celebrities, musicians or not, who were sort of getting out of the backlash that you would see, oftentimes in an election cycle, saying, hey, you know what, I'm speaking out not just in my role as singer, actor, what have you.

I'm an American. I vote. I'm also a parent. I'm a child. I care about these things. Really saying, I'm doing this because I care about the process and this country. Less about, listen to me because of what you know me for. That I thought was an interesting shift.

LEFSETZ: Well, you know, the ultimate question is whether it has any effect on the electorate and does it move the needle in terms of election. I'm a firm believer. Celebrities can use their power in order to speak about who they're going to vote for and other issues. But the question becomes, does it move the needle? And it doesn't.

[03:54:59]

You know, listen, we live in a world, Taylor Swift, the biggest act in the world. Most people can't even name two songs from the latest album. But the media loves the story. Whereas people don't listen to musicians. I mean, Bruce Springsteen is Democrat. The guy used to be governor of New Jersey is a big Springsteen fan and he's not voting Democratic.

HILL: I got to say, I could name all the songs on that album, although I'm still not able to get tickets. So if you could hook a girl up, let me know.

LEFSETZ: I could hook you up on that. Okay, you can name--

HILL: We'll talk offline.

LEFSETZ: Name two.

HILL: "Down Bad," "Guilty as Sin," "Fortnite." How about three?

LEFSETZ: Okay, okay, that's pretty good. I give you credit.

HILL: Bob, good to talk to you, thank you.

LEFSETZ: You bet, bye.

HILL: That's going to do it for us this hour. I'm Erica Hill, thanks for joining me, but you don't need to go anywhere. Our coverage of Election Day in America continues after a quick break.

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