Watch live at 7 00 eastern on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen on the free cspan radio app. Join us from his home in washington dc is political reporter dan balz. Good sunday morning. Thank you for being with us. Only october 4. What a year it has been it. Guest its been an unbelievable year. Nobody could have written the script for this year. As though not every week but every other day something dramatic happens that shakes the country. Weve had unrelenting bad news for most of the year. Pandemic, terrible economic collapse, a recovery that is uneven where the people were stuff are having it the worst at this point. Ande had racial protests violence in the streets. Violence from both sides in the street. We had the death of john lewis, ruth bader ginsburg, now we learned just a couple of days ago that the president of the United States has tested positive for the coronavirus. Get aoes the country ever break from any of this . We are 29 days from the election. Its an unbelievably important election. They see it and almost apocalyptic terms. Weve never gone through in my memory many of us live through 1968. This year is difficult for everybody. Host here is how you frame it this morning on the front page. As you look ahead based on all that has happened so far, has this changed the dynamic in the election . Guest nothing so far has changed it. Perhaps the president s illness will have some effect. I dont know which way that will go. He might get a sympathy vote or there would be a backlash against him because of the way he has downplayed the virus. None of the big events have had any effect. Vice president died has led the National Polls for months with a decent leader. The key battleground states, many of them tilt toward biden. Tossups, states the trump won the last time around. We get these events and we think that something will change things. They havent so far. The president s illness came so quickly on the heels of the debate the other night. We are dealing with both of those and trying to understand politically what impact they might have. I think its too soon to know what kind of impact the president s illness will have. The debate was not a good site for him. I dont think its going to change any minds. Touchhave you been in with either of the campaigns and how they are adjusting to this . Guest i have not been directly in touch. Our team has been doing that. I have had some contact with the Biden Campaign over the last few days. The president hat is going through is difficult. The Biden Campaign took down negative ads. The campaignpaign,anager has contracted positive these campaigns are navigating through what everyone else is navigating through. They have very large staffs. People know what they need to do. Think what happened to the president is a reminder that its almost impossible to do politics in the normal way. Has been campaign trying to be on the ground. Campaign went all virtual for months and months. They are beginning to start to do some traditional doorknocking. The kinds off serious campaigning we see, the Trump Campaign has done some of that. I wonder what that will be like. Which ther in campaigns of set their course and are now executing. Certainly, the president s Campaign Needs to find a way to change the dynamic or change the directory. Trajectory. Campaign moved late in his direction. 2016body who went through is mindful of that. Point, the Biden Campaign feels as though they are in a pretty good place. They are not slowing down. Host the october surprise came on october 1 when the president was transported to the hospital for treatment. Extensively,tten its a fight for the house and senate. I want to share you some overnight developments. Senator graham and Jamie Harrison meet for the first senate debate. These are some of the details. They have destroyed fundraising records in South Carolina, accusing each other of being in the pocket of powerful special interests. They remind voters of their meager upgradings upbringings. This exchange in a debate the we carried live. Sometimes listing to senator graham reminds me of playing monopoly with my son. He changes the rules every time he gets. You said you my words against me. You set it after the kavanaugh hearings. That nomise was judicial nominee should be considered or proved in the last year of an election. You even made president named President Trump. Manrandfather taught me a is only as good as his word. How good is your word when you made a promise to the american people. You made a promise to the folks in South Carolina that you wouldnt be doing what youre doing right now. Thats the problem. You can dot heresy is a Public Servant is to betray her at the trust of the people. Be a man instead of and say i changed my mind. Dont go back and blame it on somebody else. If an opening comes about, we will see with the market will bear. Shes going to get confirmed because the president has the authority to do it. When president obama was president i honor the fact that he won the election and i voted for two people i wouldnt have chosen. Ive watched the party try to constrict destroy one conservative judge. He chaired on the destruction of brett kavanaugh. Amy barrett is highly qualified. Im the committee of the committee. The president has every right to do this. You can count on me. From last night. The senate races surprisingly close. Guest it is surprisingly close. I dont think anybody anticipated Lindsey Graham would be in the fight of his life in this campaign. Raisedarrison has amazing amounts of money for a challenger. South carolina is not a state we look to to be a battleground. The fact that senator graham is in such a tight race and he is literally pleading for contributions to keep up with his challenger. That is one of the surprises of the year. There are a slew of Competitive Senate races. Host what is the strategy of Senate Democrats . Three have coronavirus. The senate doesnt meet until october 19. A week from tomorrow, the confirmation hearing will begin. Guest the democrats are going to do whatever they can procedurally to try to slow the train down. Its not clear that they have the wherewithal to do it. If the republicans can get everybody in the chamber to vote , thats the key issue at this point. We will have to wait and see what the medical condition is of people to decide whether thats possible. Thats the only hope that democrats seem to have right now, that the republicans will not be able to get everyone in the room to have the vote. Thoughainly appears as this confirmation is going forward. Host a native of free point, illinois. The is one of the sites of lincoln doublets bates. 202 7488000 if you are a supporter of the president. 202 7488001 if you are a supporter of Vice President biter. We will go to howard in florida. Caller i didnt see the phone lines. The 01 number. I have two points. Positivityne, i see out of the president getting this. There is so much confusion in the media. Lets step back when this first happened. Trump spoke about it and closed down the country. That, youas saying had all of the left saying how he was wrong. Even de blasio said this is no worse than the flu. Thats true. 98 of the people that catch covid recover with no problem. That 2 are the Vulnerable People with low immune systems that are already sick anyway or have problems. Made a statement about this being no worse than the flu. How me decades have we gone through with the flu, we all get it. We all get over it. This is the same thing. Sense,look at it in that go get well. You cannot sit back in a corner in your house and be afraid to walk out the door if you catch it. Host thank you for the call. Guest i think we do know that deadlyonavirus is more than the normal flu. I think thats one point that his been proven by the experience the country has gone through. This virus is killed many more people then died during a normal flu season. The second point is there are flu vaccines. Falle get flu shots every in order to protect themselves as much as possible against the latest reign of the flu. There is no vaccine for covid19. Those are two important points that people need to keep in mind as they think about the risk factor. Host i want to go back to your column. We talked about this earlier. My question is as we hear that from you, why has this remained status quo . Guest i think weve known for several years that this election would be a referendum on President Trump. Is toreelection campaign some degree or another a referendum on the incumbent. Every income it seeks to make a choice between himself and his challenger. In this case, the president has not been able to do that. Most people in this country have made up their minds about what they think about President Trump. Very loyal supporters who are enthusiastic about supporting him for reelection. They will do Everything Possible they can. He has as many or more motivated too are do everything they possibly can to deny him a second term. If you talk to the people in the if you talk to friends , whatuaintances or voters you find is people have very firm opinions. There are very few people who have not made up their mind about what they want to do. The percentage of undecided seens is as small as weve in any recent campaign. Thats the reason it is so difficult for any event to move the polls one direction or the other. The lead has been fairly steady. The problems for the president have been out there for some time. Repeatedly and with different strategies to go after Vice President biden. Hes used different lines of attack. None of them seem to stick in the way that Trump Campaign hoped. Settled country with people already voting. See if there is anything in the last 30 days that can move the campaign significantly in the direction it hasnt already. Host you have written four ands, including the 2008 2012. If you were to write a title for campaign 2020, what would it be . Think about that. We will go to illinois. Good morning. Caller good morning to you. Quandary about whether to attack trump or to tell you why i am going to vote for biden. I get an angry feeling inside when i hear these trump discounts totally truth. I recently wrote on facebook why face. Th so hard to recently, a friend of mine who was a trump supporter watched the debate. When we were talking yesterday, she said im not even going to vote. I cant even vote for trump now. Shes a republican. Was it the policy . If said i dont even know there is any policy left. Host thanks for the call. Guest im hearing the frustration of a lot of people who are biden supporters about what they see on the others as a denial of truth. Weve heard this repeatedly. We sought in the debate the night when the Vice President went after the president for the way he is handled the pandemic. This is part of the discourse. Argumentart of the going on. There are people who are distinctively different about the severity of the pandemic and the nature of the disease. That cuts across in all kinds of ways. There are distinctly different views of the what the state of the country is. You see again going back to my thoser point, people have positions and feel them passionately. They are looking to vote with that in mind. Host in talking to so many of your colleagues, youve been working from home since march. Guest thats correct. To go to our homes on march 11. Weve basically been here ever since. There are people who are out and about. There are reporters who are working around the country. People travel with the president when he goes out. People travel in the joe biden pool. We have some people who are out on their own in different places. We are not in the newsroom. Ive been in the newsroom once to do a taping with their video people. Ive not been in the newsroom. Ive walked up to the main floor. It was like a ghost town. It was kind of sad. Daily zoom meetings. We are in communication with one another. Its a different way of operating. Both done a lot of president ial campaigns. It is frustrating to do a president ial campaign from my home. Reach voters by telephone. Its a frustration. My guess is we will be out of the newsroom much longer. Lets go to anthony in las vegas. Caller good morning. Yourread a few of articles. I used to be a democrat. I would like to know, im sure you consider yourself an honest journalist. Have you ever written an article and admitted that you used to work for joe biden . I dont hear people talking about that. Have you ever written an article that admits this . Guest that admits what . Scully used to work for joe biden. Host i can take that one. Caller i read his bio online. Week i had a six internship in the mailroom 42 years ago. It was a class for credit. I worked in his Office Monday and friday in the mailroom sorting out constituent mail. Sents back when people letters to congress and you would split them up. Lets go to mark in california. Caller good morning. Question really pertains to your previous caller. I think he was going on both of you guys. Is more general about trusting the media. 34 of americans have a great deal of faith in our media institutions. If you look at the other polling data and you see joe biden leading in the polls and others are 55 of americans expecting trump to win. Shows joeg data that biden is across the country. Shows they data that expect trump to win is across party lines. As far as the lack of faith in the media, how do you feel about that . How do you address that . Host thank you for the call. Its a very good question and one that is when we get constantly these days. I think we start with the idea this is a divided country. Informationet their from specific news sources that tend to reinforce their view on politics or the world in general. That has contributed to a division in the country. There is a perception the media is unfair if it doesnt conform to the view people have. This is something that has changed over the time ive been in journalism. I think the country was more united in the way they received information years ago. We have a more fractured media environment. We have more places people can get information. A reality thatbe there is a conversation people have among people who are likeminded. Is one of thent functions of the free press is to hold people in power accountable. One of the things we are prideful of is we try to get to the truth. I know on any given date we dont get the full story. We keep digging. We are looking for facts and reality. When we are accused of making up stories or using people who dont exist in our stories, thats not the way we operate. We take a lot of criticism. We keep doing the job we were trained to do in the way weve tried to do it in the past. We are in a much more contentious environment. Its harder to do the work the way we normally do. What are you looking for wednesday in Salt Lake City . Guest its a very important debate for the obvious reasons. Interestld always be firstebate for the africanamerican Vice President ial nominee is on the ticket. Illness and the fact that both nominees are in their 70s is a reminder that the two people debating it could end up as president of the United States. Tension thiss the debate is going to get. Given what happened in the debate in cleveland last week, which was noisy and a lot of people turned away from it. Christie said he was too hot in the debate. Given the tone of that debate, people will be looking for more of a real debate about the issues and the ideas the two campaigns have about where these nominees and their running mates want to take the country. We didnt get as much of that as you might have hoped. Vice president ial debate gives an opportunity to have that happen as well. Coverage gets underway at 8 00 eastern time. The debate itself will begin at 9 00 p. M. Is joining usdy from ohio. Caller i had a question for you. You are a journalist. I just wanted to know if they are going to be investigating when he tested positive or new he had been exposed. Ive heard that he went to a fundraiser at his golf course. Of people. A lot is he going to be liable for that . Is there any specific drill down time when he knew he was positive and what he did after that . That plays out today in the front page of your newspaper. Question as you know in terms of the timeline, when did he know he was ill . Guest thats a very good question and the lighthouse did very little to answer the question. They modeled that. Thestatement the came from doctor was contradicted by the chief of staff. There was another description of what happened. There are many things we do not know, including when they knew he was testing positive. We got that word late thursday night. Went to thefore he fundraiser in new jersey that hope hicks had tested positive. There were some people who were on the manifest who were supposed to go to that fundraiser who did not go. They pulled some people off that. We dont know know if they knew the president had the coronavirus at that point. They say that didnt happen until he got the test thursday. One of the things the doctor was asked yesterday, when did the president have his last negative test. Doctor would not answer that question. We dont know. What we do have clear suspicions of all is the rose garden ceremony for the unveiling of judge barretts nomination appears to have been an event where the virus spread. Any number of people have tested positive. The president was at that event. There were events inside the white house that day where the virus couldve been transmitted. There are people who were in the debate preparations ahead of the cleveland debate that tested positive, including governor christie and the campaign manager. One would think the president exposed in those events. When they actually knew and when they were taking tests that showed him to be negative, we dont know the answer to that. We did not get an answer from the doctor. Oxygen atent was on some point friday. Of being forthcoming has been significant. Having said that, this is not the first time the white house has been protective about information about the president s health. This goes back years and years. In this environment, there are basic questions they werent willing to answer yesterday. Your question is excellent and we are trying to find out. In 1918, president wilson had the spanish flu. Have you given any thought to a book title for 2020 . About i had a book title the campaign. Title was stress test. Host lets go to al in georgia. Good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. Do offer myhat i thoughts and prayers for the wellbeing of the president and the first lady. Voted anything except republican. I am 54. Im really struggling. Mehink the primary issue for and its very personal to me is been isthis virus has handled and mismanaged from the get go. Isave an elderly mother that in a longterm care setting. You to ask the two of use your platform to look into the politics. In the last week of these facilities opening up their south ifknow in the im not mistaken it, the governor of alabama, georgia, month of thethin a election have relaxed restrictions. The facility my mother is in has been in the midst of an outbreak since the end of july, the total is 100 25 plus if you factor in the staff. It just seems there is no clarity. We hear from the task force are taking care of the vulnerable. Families have been stressed. Able months without being to see their loved ones. Host good luck to you and your mother. Saying,ear what how is this is front and center in the minds of voters. Guest i would echo your comments about his mother. Is good andything will continue to be that way. We are in the middle of a very difficult time. People have different views about how much should be open or closed. Some of that has become highly politicized. Thats exactly what one would not want. We would want this to be done in a more dispassionate way. We are in an environment in which almost everything becomes politicized. What should be open and what should not, those decisions are primarily at the local level. Different political leaders have chosen different paths. Thoses been criticism of who have opened too soon and had to close back down. Theres criticism from the president of states that have been more cautious about keeping things close in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus. Facilities are highly vulnerable. Everybody wants to make sure. Eople who are in those these decisions are made not uniformly. There will be continuing controversy as we go through the fall and winter and get back to the regular flu season with the coronavirus still on top of that and the absence of a vaccine. , we getu mentioned zoom to see where people work and live. Is this where you do most of your writing . Guest this is where i do all my writing. This is my office. Its on the second floor of our house. We live in bethesda, maryland. Where the room where it happens in terms of the writing. Host your wife is downstairs. She is in charge of bringing the coffee. In minnesota. Thank you for waiting. Caller im glad to be able to get through to you. I want to thank cspan for being here. This virus is real. In january. K i was getting some antibiotics and sent home because they didnt know what i had at the time. President informed us that the virus was here, they would have checked me for that. I have scars on my liver. I have stomach problems now. I cant smell a thing. I havent smelled anything since january. Now, im handicapped. Thats a sad place to be in. Its about 30 . Are 13 of the population. We dont get the treatment we need it, even though i paid for my health insurance. Can barely help my grandkids who have underlined health care. They cant get their diabetes medicine. The insulin costs 700 a month. I do blame this president for not doing what he was supposed to do. Knowt you to let people this is no joke. Myave to go out and shop for mother. My daughter has a kidney transplant. Not wearing are masks or anything. Thats just what i want to say this morning. I thank you for giving me the opportunity. I asked the washington journal to keep letting them know there are those of us in these desert islands in the city. On top of each other. I just thank you very much. Good luck to you and your family. My wife who is a nurse can attest to the longterm implications of this. What you are hearing from her and the president and others who are dealing with this, your overall thoughts . Guest one of the points she highlights is the degree to which this is a deadly disease. It has longterm implications even for those who contracted and recovered. They may recover for the most part, they can have longterm implications. Aspect thats another that weve learned more about over many months. This is not just a question of who thats and who recovers. What are the consequences of having contracted it . Is other point she makes this disease has disproportionately killed africanamericans and latinos. Think its recognition that we have disparities in our Health Care System. This, weet through will need to be looked at and dealt with. Careof the Chronic Health problems and the lack of health is something as a country we will be needing to address. You can hear that from members of congress and governors. You can hear that from Public Health officials. This has exposed the multitiered Health Care System we have. There are terrible consequences to that. The the headline to washington post, somehow are terrible year keeps getting worse. What you looking for . Guest we are looking for what happens to the president. Everybody hopes he has a speedy recovery. We are hoping to see the degree to which this has changed his ability to campaign. The points i make in the piece, this has affected the shortterm trajectory of the campaign. As we watch more and more people be trying toll discern whether there is any real tightening in the race. We may begins to happen, have a different race than it looks like today. Thats the thing we are watching. We are watching the battleground state polls. We are watching the National Polls. Threshold in of a terms of a National Vote margin which would make it nearly impossible for President Trump to win the battle grounds and the electoral college. Both poles are relevant. We are trying to talk to voters as much as you can. This is a very intense time. Its a very consequential election. Weve got a lot of work to do over the next month. , his work isz available online. You can follow him on twitter. Thank you very much for being with us. Guest its always a pleasure to be with you. Washington journal continues. Host henry olsen is a senior fellow. Thank you so much for being with us. Not only do we have the final month of this campaign, we have the Senate Battle over the