Choked. Gwen as we enter the dizzying longest days of the president ial campaign in history, the candidates are not waiting for the formal debates to begin the brawl. Hillary clinton is the most dishonest candidate for president of the United States since richard nixon. Gwen we look at the polls, the with dand the politics balz, chief correspondent for the Washington Post, molly ball, National Political correspondent for the atlantic, jackie calmes, National Correspondent for the michaelk times, and shearer, Washington Bureau chief for time magazine. From Colorado College in alorado springs, this is special edition of Washington Week with gwen ifill. Funding is provided by thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. Them, are you completely prepared for retirement . Ok, mostly prepared . 1 more of your income . It doesnt sound like much but saving an additional 1 now could make a big difference over time. Im going to be even better about saving. You can do it. Helps in the long run. Prudential. X. Q. Institute. Additional funding is by boeing. Newmans own foundation, froming all profits newmans own Food Products to charity, and nourishing the common good. The ford foundation. In ethics and excellence journalism foundation. Patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs viewers like you. Thank you. Campus of, from the Colorado College, moderator gwen ifill. [applause] gwen hello. Thank you. Hello, colorado springs. Here. To be for the last two president ial cycles, this state has gone blue for president obama. The two cycles before that, for president red george w. Bush. This year, Hillary Clinton appears to have the edge for now. The color purple, where we come to you from the eding red hart of the heart of the state, el paso county, with major megachurches five military operations. No wonder that Hillary Clinton and donald trump spent the week courting veterans and talking National Security. Along the way, they managed to little smack about each other. Secretary clinton we have never been threatened as much by a single candidate running for president as we have been in election. Mr. Trump Hillary Clinton was emailing about the drone program, among many other extremely sensitive matters. This is yet more evidence that be youris unfit to commanderinchief. Gwen emails, vladimir putin, veterans, Ground Troops in iraq. It seems like once we got past labor day, this campaign went overdrive, didnt it, molly . Molly yeah, its actually been finally seeing to the candidates contrast with each other directly on the same albeit not at the same time. I think were all looking forward to the debates beginning in a couple of weeks with more engagement between the two candidates because it has seemed for so long that they were sort parallelgning in worlds on parallel tracks and as ofeporter if you cover both them, it can be dizzying to go from one to the other. Did this become a commanderinchief debate so quickly, dan . Werein years past, when we engaged in multiple active wars, like it waseel abition discussion . If i dont know if the end National Security will be the decisive factor. Jobs and the economy are still most important issue and National Security is second so Economic Issues will come to the fore at some point. I think one of the reasons the National Security issues have is that theportant basis of Hillary Clintons attacks on donald trump are that he is unfit to be president , be commanderinchief, that he would be a threat to the country if he became president internationalhose issues and she is driving that. Shes trying to disqualify him the best basis for her, she thinks, to go after him. Gwen when we talk about russia, michael, and we talk about the issues about whether or not he loves vladimir putin, thats in metaphor for leadership questions . Michael it is, its also remarkable what hes been saying putin. Ladimir to think four, eight years ago, republican nominee for president would say the russian president is a more successful currenthan the president of the United States is a remarkable statement that we wouldnt would sort of presses in a different cycle but in this cycle, we see it differently. Hes telegraphing that he identifies with and thinks our country would benefit from a very different type of leadership style. Its a much more nationalistic policy agenda and its a much more its a great man theory case. That it takes great men to do this. Vladimir putin is a man who has his shirt off and riding horses and projecting idea gwen and killing journalists. Journalists killing but by being a father figure for his country. Think when trump talks about putin, i think hes broadcasting that. Gwen jackie, whats interesting to me, too, once again, donald trump barreled into this theaign and kind of blew up republican party. No self respecting republican, ert mind. Comes to would ever have praised a russian leader. Is that a sign of how different this campaign has become . You can about farther back than reagan. The cold war, since world war ii, the republicans seized the National Security, anticommunist mantle and never gave it up. Itres been nothing like since 1964 and barry goldwater. When Hillary Clinton makes an its really ironic when you think about it that the woman has the more plausible case to be the more credible commanderinchief given what said himselfhas and given the fact that as in but evendwaters case, more so, you have military figures and not just military figures, but senior figures from past republican administrations coming out and saying they for him, they will vote for Hillary Clinton. Gwen and yet, dan, you had a project in the the Washington Post this week about what people believe in all 50 states. We read polls and dont know which is true but i think what is true after labor day is the be tightening ever so much . Dan i think it has tightened somewhat since the conventions. Happened after the convention was she got a bigger bounce out of her convention thattrump got from his and gave her what appeared to be an expanded lead. To settle down and i think were waiting really for the round of polls that well coming over the next week or so to give us a fuller sense of where we are after labor day but number of a battleground states that are close. Any50state survey showed number of states that seemed to be close and competitive. But i think that masks the other and that is that still in the Electoral College competition, she has an advantage. She has many more paths to 270 andtoral votes than he does that hasnt changed at this point. Gwen everybodys watching pennsylvania. Theyre watching ohio. Even though i think in your survey texas suddenly popped up out of nowhere as tightening which i found amazing but i wonder, were here in colorado, known as purple but is bluish year, i wonder if you think to yourself where should i go, as a national reporter, where is story . I think you see clear areerns in the states that and are not in play. In some sense, its the same set of swing states you always get but there are unique wrinkles particularly with the republican candidate. Hes running stronger in rust battlegrounds, places like ohio. Not so much pennsylvania. Wanted to make a play for pennsylvania but opened a wide lead there. Gwen he wants a play for california. You see him performing less in states like colorado and virginia, two similar elect orts. Im from colorado and i live in virginia. Both of these are states where the voting population is heavily educated andhighly doing pretty well economically and colorado especially is a and diversifying state with a large hispanic population. Theres a large asian population. Do well seen trump not with all of those demographics. Educated voters, independents, even republicans hes really underperforming mitt romney with those kind of groups and its a electorate. There was a thought by the Trump Campaign that they could make minority communities. Weve seen them do outreach but not seen minority communities open to that. Gwen i would dare say hes not appealing to minority communities but to people who may be offended that hes not appealing to minority communities and when you go to a black church at the age of 70 after having lived in new york whole life and youve never been to one before, that seems, notnt know maybe unusual for most people but very unusual for a president ial candidate. Dan one interesting thing well watch is whether weve moved persuasion part of this campaign. Most people have ideas of what they think about these and reallyright now what its about is convincing the people who are already leaning your direction to actually come out and vote, in a year where enthusiasm is herhtly better for him than but pretty low. The electorate is not excited election, even if were fascinated by it. To your point, i think what hes is talking to people who are disposedns who to not vote for Hillary Clinton convince them that im not a bad guy and that bad thing which clinton has successfully promoted and i promoteds successfully at points during this campaign, is something hes trying to get away from. Gwen i had a conversation yesterday with a local evangelical pastor who said a arent forembers trump, i am, but i keep telling them, heres your choice, Hillary Clinton. AntiHillary Clinton meme which we say play out at the toublican convention, that me seems to me to be the biggest threat to her. Dan it is the biggest threat to sense its also the biggest threat to donald trump. Theres probably more negative electioning on in this than weve seen in any past election. Majorities of people voting for because theyon dont want donald trump and vice versa. Some of these polls suggest a relatively sizable number of undecideds left. Some of them suggest that. I think the reality is that there are a number of people who they cant quite say openly im really for a or b so they kind of leave open the but i think its i think most people at this point probably know where theyre end up and the key is getting them out. Gwen i asked the audience the air hownt on many undecideds there were and it was a sprinkling of hands, i expected. N i definitely do notice talking to voters on the ground who say theyre undecided because theyre conflicted. Year,ly in an election you would see a relatively small number of people who are undecided because they usually vote the same way but those tend to be those who late bute in until this year its those with high amounts of information that are because they feel pulled between two choices that are unappetizing so i hear a lot voters saying theyre conflicted in how to vote and a interest in third party candidates. A lot of voters want to know gary johnson. Gwen which might be a high water state for gary johnson, colorado. Jackie, as weve watched campaigns over the years, weve seen the traditional way they play out. There are ads, there are debates, there are the ways in which to break through. Of thate know that any is cutting through this year . Jackie i think its become increasingly hard to know, in because of the internet and social media. And campaigns have completely transformed from when we started and its whoever is on tv and thenst what was going on generally the networks isroadcast what determined things but now you can just target and they do people they want to reach with video that we may see and weve seen people are now self selecting their that they consume by virtue of whatever this is especially true on the right, far less true on the left. Gwen molly has a piece on the atlantic magazine in which she makes the case that all of this microtargetting, the obama victory, the bush victory, the karl rove fascination, the george carvilleoulos, james fascination, thats bunk now. World where jeb bush with spend 100 million and win four delegates and donald trump can spend almost nothing and not build a Campaign Organization at just a guy with tweets and rallies, and win the primary. That has to tell you something all this money is being spent on and whether or not its having an effect. Startedrump has just airing his first general election ads. As of a couple of weeks ago, Hillary Clinton was outadvertising him on television 52 million to zero winninge clear, she is this race at this point but we do still see a pretty close race. Her in colorado, hillary hern colorado, Hillary Clinton is field offices number 20 to 23 this weekend. Donald trump has six or seven, r. N. C. And were opened recently. Gwen including one run by a 12yearold. Molly the one in Jefferson County run by a 12yearold. Have never seen a Campaign Organizationally so lopsided, experimentntrolled in how many votes you would get if you didnt run a campaign at all . Michael im interested in the afteraction of all of this. Primary, youre going for a relatively small portion of the electorate. Not a lot of people turn out in iowa or New Hampshire to vote in any single partys primary. My suspicion is that a lot of the lead we saw this summer conventions, into september, where clinton was really pulling ahead. Of northing out carolina that showed her eight or nine or 10 points up, insane numbers, were reactions to what we know about tv ads in traditional cycles which is if they work. Pposed, if theyre opposed, if you see the republican ad, then the democratic ad, watching the same show, they cancel each other out unopposed, your thinking changes and you have different thoughts. Is thes extraordinary amount of free media donald trump has gotten. Positive. Ot all jackie thats the thing, why wouldnt he be leading . In the free media, the coverage is of things hes said that have backfired on him. Coverage really since he became effectively the republican nominee has been he had than it was when opponents in the republican race. Gwen does it feel to any of you were stuck still in the primary campaign . Especially on the republican did so spectacular well without having to have spent any money, that he thinks campaign inhe same the general election but its different, not to mention the fact that were counting electoral votes. Michael the answer is what day is it this week. Came out of the primary believing that the people at his rallies could make majority of the country. He was talking about winning in inhigan and huge numbers pennsylvania and new york state because he knows these people and he was talking to people he sees when he goes to an arena and that group is not enough ofn weve all been to a lot arenas on the night before a loss that were packed. Michael and the people who want to chant build the wall, are not enough to win the election. Is very clear now. Gwen is it clear to him . Michael it depends on the week. Him some days hell be very president ial. Some days hell go to the black church. Next day hes in phoenix giving them red meat and it dramatically day to day. I think it surprises anyone aat he didnt pivot more to more general election message and audience but i think gwen its early. Jackie it is but one thing to keep in mind is that theres been a lot of attention to the democrats have demographics on their side looking forward. The diverse electorate in a lot of states are going to play to democrats playing tond are democrats advantage, fewer white people. Afterere was a theory mitt romneys defeat in 2012 that on the right and especially fever swamp that trump inhabits, that there were i mean, there are credible people this, too, that the trick is to get more white people out there. Be had, white people to and they need to get them out. Hes therump believes man to win this with white votes. Dan i think the difference in this campaign and the issue that tested is the White College educated vote, molly earlier, i think thats the makeorbreak part of trump. E for donald mitt romney won that vote with 42 forhe population to president obama. Donald trump is losing that vote and particularly White College educated women and i think all of these other moves hes made appear to be doing outreach is aimed at that but so far hess no evidence that making any inroads with that part of the electorate and if he doesnt, he cant win. I dont think there are enough of blue collar white, noncollege educated voters, even if more come out, to offset that. All win or lose, there are these double edged swords out bashing the media, turning questions about his accuracy into questions about to him and yetut we have this responsibility and frustration that we have to hold him accountable. We, dear friends, manage that . Michael i think we keep doing what were doing. Candidates bash the media as a tactic because they know we might be the only people in america less popular than politicians depending on the day. So, you know, i think this is also nothing new for media. Tes to bash the trump may have taken it to new levels by an order of magnitude. Clinton to her credit put out a media bashing sodraising email this week its not just donald trump. Molly exactly. Weve all been hearing this for years. After us because they dont like the thing they did that we reported on. But tough. Yeah, we can take it. Im not worried about our feelings but you do have a think isat i increasingly distressed by feeling they dont know who to trust and the reason these attacks on the media resonate is tornse people do feel between so many sets of not just opinions but sets of facts in landscape of the internet where you can choose your own news and so i think the taking advantage of that. Dan theres no sort of arbiter people trust anymore. Balz. Except dan dan not according to my emails, molly. I mean, it used to be that the media was seen, in a sense, like game,es in a football that theyre there to enforce the rules. To call penalties when they happen. We continue to do that but for electorate orhe another, were discredited in part because the candidates and to try tos help discredit us. Michael at the same time, the penalties this cycle are so much more glaring than in last cycles. This isnt a debate over whether figuredynamic scoring to out the Deficit Impact of a tax plan. Whats interesting about campaign the last couple of months, her major message has been quoting donald trump. Ads are just quotes of donald trump. Tim kainees, when gives speeches, hes quoting donald trump. Gwen he gives her a lot of material. Michael and vice versa, theres things shes said, handling the email, where she stumbles over herself. Press, were fact checking, sometimes its difficult because theres so go butcts to check as we really i think most voters are going to get beyond the, is the swing this, to just look at what theyre saying. Gwen i have to end this by this weekend marks the 15th anniversary of the 9 11 people ask youn whether its possible for you to vote, whether its necessary to vote, its important to remember of people rushed into the fire when the rest of us away to make our lives possible. Thank you, everybody. Especially thank you to our generous audience and hosts here at Colorado College and at Rocky Mountain pbs. Stay tuned. Well take questions from our audience on the washington extra. Ebcast colorado edition, which you can find on most pbs stations and atine pbs. Org washingtonweek. And well see you back in the nations capitol, next week on Washington Week. Good night. [applause] funding for business wan is provided by thousands of people came out today to run the race for them, are so we asked you completely prepared for retirement . Prepared . Of youru save 1 more income . It doesnt sound like much but saving an additional 1 now make a big difference over time. Im going to be even better about saving. You can do it. Helps in the long run. Prudential. Additional funding is x. Q. Institute, newmans own foundation, donating all profits from own Food Products to charity and nourishing the ethics and, the excellence in journalism foundation, the ford foundation, and Patricia Yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for public broadcasting and by pbsributions to your station from viewers like you. Thank you. Hello and welcome to k. Reporter coming up one on frankly about what is working and whats not in his city and upclose look at late robin williams. Personal photographer robert grace will join me. From discrimination from airbnb hosts and drivers. But first major developments in Sexual Exploitation scandal that rocked several bay area agencies. Nancy omalley amounsed criminal charges against several officers, stemming from