Named storm to make landfall in louisiana this year. With many still in the region still without power from the last storm, the question is, when will this unprecedented Hurricane Season finally let up . And new numbers on early voting and polling with election day just five days away. The question is, what does it tell us about the state of the race . Its way too early for this. Good morning and welcome to way too early, the show that is already getting your emails about why youre awake. Im kasie hunt on this thursday, october 29th. Well start, as always, with the news. Covid19 cases continue to reach alarming, new records, as outbreaks spread across the country. Yesterday, nearly 81,000 cases were confirmed in the u. S. , setting a record high for daily cases for the third time in one week. Nearly 1,000 deaths were also reported yesterday. Dr. Anthony fauci, the nations top Infectious Disease expert, warned the numbers will only get worse as we head into the colder months. If things do not change, if they continue on the course were on, theres going to be a whole lot of pain in this country with regard to additional cases and hospitalizations and deaths. We are on a very difficult trajectory. We are going in the wrong direction. We are averaging 70,000 cases per week. Weve gone up as high as 83,000 last friday. And if you look at the map that you just showed on the screen, there are a large number of states that are going in the wrong direction. If that continues, were going to be in much worse shape a month from now than we are today. Wear a mask, everybody. In a stunning claim, the white house included, quote, ending the covid19 pandemic, end quote, as the top accomplishment of President Trumps first term. This comes, despite the u. S. Reporting more than 500,000 new cases over the past week. The office of science and Technology Policy listed the claim in a press release intended to highlight the administrations science accomplishments, stating, this administration, quote, has taken decisive actions to engage scientists and Health Professionals in academia, industry, and government to understand, treat, and defeat the disease. A white house spokesman later sought to clarify the release, saying it was, quote, poorly worded, and that trump does not believe the pandemic is over. The intent was to say that it is our goal to end the virus, White House Strategic Communications director Alyssa Farrah said in an interview. While campaigning in delaware, joe biden spoke out against the statement, after calling the president reckless. The White House Science Office and this stunned me put out a statement listing ending the covid19 pandemic as a top accomplishment of President Trumps first term. Infection rates are going up in almost every state in our union. Refusal of the Trump Administration to recognize the reality were living through, at a time when almost 1,000 americans a day are dying, every single day, is an insult to every Single Person suffering from covid19 and every family whos lost a loved one. President trump took his campaign to the Southwestern United States yesterday, making a lastminute pitch to nevada and arizona voters. He held one rally in goodyear, arizona, and an earlier rally in bullhead city, arizona. Thats just outside the nevada border. Nevada had capped crowd capacity at 250 people. Last month, trump broke those restrictions to hold a rally in the state. And nevada officials later fined the county and the airport where the rally took place more than 55,000. While he was campaigning, President Trump attempted a direct appeal to hispanic voters. Im fighting for the dreams of all americans, including millions of truly amazing hispanic americans. Whos hispanic . Whos hispanic . Oh, theyre shocked. They dont believe it. You know, the polls with hispanics are through the roof. Theyre reporting on it. I said, i never had a problem. I always liked hispanic, but theyre really getting to understand me. He was actually, President Trump, the airports were fined 5,500, where that rally was held in nevada, not 55,000. New polling shows joe biden leading President Trump by wide margins, but shrinking margins in battleground states. In the latest National Polling, the cnn ssrs poll has biden ahead by 12 points, 54 42 . While the latest Reuters Ipsos poll shows biden ahead by a tenpoint margin, 52 42 . But lets turn now to that critical battleground state polling. In michigan, the latest the New York TimesSienna College poll, gives biden an eightpoint lead, 49 41 . In wisconsin, the Marquette UniversityLaw School Poll shows biden with a fivepoint lead, 48 43 . Thats a Gold Standard poll right there. In georgia, the Monmouth University poll puts biden ahead by four, within the margin of error, 50 46 . In florida, the latest nbc News Marist College poll, out this morning, shows biden ahead by four, within the margin of error, 51 47 . The latest Reuters Ipsos poll shows biden leading by two, within the margin of error, 49 47 . And in arizona, the same poll finds biden also leading by two, within the margin of error, 48 46 . It is very, very close. According to the u. S. Elections project, early voting numbers are now up to 76 million with returned mail ballots almost doubling the inperson totals. Cnn is reporting that more than onethird of the nations registered voters have gone either to the polls or the mailbox already, as some states wind down their early voting ahead of the weekend. More than 25 Million People have voted in person with more than 50 million returning their mail ballots. The project notes that there are more than 40 million requested ballots that have yet to be returned. According to the nbc news decision desk and target smart, a small spark to the surge in early voting are the 18 to 29yearold voters. More than 6 million of whom have cast an early ballot. And thats actually mostly in battleground states. Its three times the number of under30 voters who voted early in 2016. Joining us now, White House Correspondent and associate editor for politico, anita kumar. Anita, good morning its great to have you here on way too early. Lets talk about this swing state polling. Its narrower than the National Polling, clearly, and we all know this is where the race is going to be fought. It seems like the president is in slightly better shape than he was three weeks ago. Its hard to imagine how much worse it could have gotten than that week of the first debate, which was disastrous for him, by all measures. And of course, then his hospitalization for covid19. These final days, because of the pandemic and so much early voting, it seems like, perhaps, any changes between now and tuesday may have a lesser impact than they would have had otherwise, but we always know something seems to happen at this period almost every single time to at least affect the contours of this kind of a race. Yeah, youre exactly right. I mean, the president s team feels a little bit more confident than they were feeling, you know, a couple weeks ago. They kind of felt that it always would get tight. It always does near the end of a race, as people are starting to really think about what theyre going to do, if they havent done that already. So, they are feeling good. They feel like that second debate that he had was really a Strong Performance from him and that it brought to the race a real talk about fracking. And in a place like pennsylvania, that could really, really make a difference. You know, out of those three states that President Trump carried that had been, you know, democratic strongholds before wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania hes feeling better about pennsylvania. Its by far the closest. You mentioned the other two states, not very close. And so, youre going to see the president keep going back to pennsylvania. If he wins that one, he can win it. He does not need to win all three like he did last time. So, thats where youre seeing them really, you know, really now in these final days really look at the map and really look where they need to go. You know, its a good point. And can we talk also about michigan, speaking of the midwest . Because we now know that biden and obama, former president obama, are both going to spend some time campaigning in michigan this weekend, the final weekend before election day always tells us something about what theyre seeing in the numbers and on the map. Does that tell you that, perhaps, michigan is closer or moving, maybe, for the president , and they want to try to arrest that movement . Yeah, it sure does. I think michigan and wisconsin are right up there. You know, ive heard from a lot of democrats in the last week or so that are saying in those states, michigan and wisconsin, and some others, theyre really worried. This is exactly what they felt like happened four years ago. It was a different race with a different candidate, obviously. But if youll remember, right at the end of 2016, the Hillary Clinton campaign went to states that, you know, are republican, had been leaning republican, georgia, iowa. They see joe biden doing the exact same thing and theyre saying, wait a minute, dont do that, please come to these states that you can win back, you know, michigan being one, wisconsin being one. Dont fall into the trap that Hillary Clinton fell into, and theyre saying, please come back and do more events. And then, of course, you have folks like beto orourke, who are saying, hey, down here in texas, Pay Attention to me come here, because we might actually move. Nbc actually just moved texas to a tossup on our political battleground map. Politicos anita kumar, thank you so much, my friend. I really appreciate you getting up early to be here with us. Thank you. Still ahead here, wall street takes a major hit as coronavirus cases soar across the country. Plus, were tracking the path of hurricane zeta. The storm made landfall along the louisiana coast, bringing with it damaging winds and heavy rain. Meteorologist bill karins will have the very latest when we come right back. Very latest whe come right back. Did you know that 70 of the soils on your clothes are invisible . Under u. V. Light, you see the invisible dirt trapped deep down. Try new tide pods hygienic clean heavy duty. For a deep clean, just toss in a pac. Formulated with 10 concentrated cleaning actives, that clean deep down into the fabric to remove invisible dirt. See the difference, after being washed with tide hygienic clean. For a deep clean, try tide hygienic clean with a 100 money back guarantee if its got to be clean, its got to be tide. Asaving 50 vs. Other carriers built just for customers 55 and up. With 2 unlimited lines for less than 30 each. Call 1800tmobile or go to tmobile. Com 55. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. For j. T. , hes such a huge part of our team and such a huge part of our team for such a long time now. But you know, what i would tell him is that we want him. They cant take that away from us and well get to celebrate at some point, i promise. Time now for sports. That was dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on the today show yesterday, discussing teammate justin turner, who was removed during l. A. s world series titleclinching victory on tuesday night over what was revealed to be a positive coronavirus test. Turner, though, returned to the diamond at globe life field with his wife after the game to celebrate with the world series trophy and pose for a team photo. The 35yearold third baseman is now under investigation by the league and could face discipline. Under an agreement between the mlb and the Players Association on health and safety protocols. In a statement yesterday, the league said, turner was placed into isolation for the safety of those around him. However, following the dodgers victory, it was clear that turner chose to disregard the agreedupon joint protocols and the instructions he was given regarding the safety and protection of others. While a desire to celebrate is understandable, turners decision to leave isolation and enter the field was wrong and put everyone he came in contact with at risk. When mlb security raised the matter of being on the field with turner, he emphatically refused to comply. According to espn, both teams were cleared and flew home after negative test results yesterday. While turner and his wife remained in arlington, texas, after his wife tested negative. The university of wisconsin Football Team has paused all activities for at least a week following a coronavirus outbreak within the badgers program. It means that ninthranked wisconsins game against nebraska on saturday is now canceled. The school announced that, as of yesterday morning, 12 people within their Football Program had tested positive for covid19 in the past five days. Six student athletes and six staff members, including the badgers head coach. The canceled game is going to result in a nocontest ruling from the big ten and will not be rescheduled. Meanwhile, the nfl is already Planning Crowd logistics for super bowl lv, amid the coronavirus pandemic. A League Spokesman tells the Washington Post that its exploring the possibility of a Seating Capacity around 20 but has not yet made a final determination. The big game is scheduled for february 7th at Raymond James stadium in tampa bay, florida, which has a listed capacity of 65,000 to 75,000 attendees. Meanwhile, at least two people are dead after hurricane zeta made landfall as a category 2 storm in southern louisiana. The system is now losing intensity over the gulf coast, but officials are still warning of a lifethreatening surge and strong winds. Storm warnings have extended through north georgia and up into the carolinas. Lets get straight to meteorologist bill karins for more on this. Bill, good morning. Another tough day down on the gulf coast. Yeah, kasie. The damage was extensive, from areas of louisiana, mississippi, through alabama overnight, and now its heading into georgia. We know we have 1. 2 Million People without power, half a million in louisiana alone, including a lot of the new orleans area. When the sun comes up, well see how extensive a lot of the damage was as the storm hit right around sunset last night, just south of new orleans. So, lets get into the latest with the storm. We still have Tropical Storm warnings that are up. We no longer have any hurricane warnings as the winds have weakened. You know, its not often that you so a Tropical Storm warning for atlanta, georgia, asheville, greenville, south carolina, winstonsalem, even into western virginia, but thats the case today because this storm has been racing so fast. Its moving at 40 miles per hour, so its not sticking around long. Atlanta, youre just about done. Your strongest winds have been over the last couple hours, and they should be weakening through the next couple hours. Maximum sustained winds are at 60 miles per hour, so thats still enough to bring down trees, and a lot of trees have been falling on homes, power lines, so its still a danger. And then later on today, this storm races through virginia this afternoon. It comes off the east coast, almost goes right over the top of washington, d. C. , at about 4 00 or 5 00 this afternoon. Its going to be a heavy, soaking rain throughout this area. We have flash flood threats from areas from atlanta all the way through washington, d. C. , and philadelphia. About 48 Million People in those flash flood watches. We can expect about 1 to 3 inches of rain, isolated totals up to about 4 inches. And kasie, as we mentioned earlier in the week, this storms going to end with some snow in new england on friday. It looks like areas in the catskills and some of the mountains of New Hampshire and vermont are going to do a little shoveling with their first snow of the season. I guess well get ready for some rain here in washington. But of course, thinking of everyone whos battling yet another storm down on the gulf coast. Bill karins, thank you so much, my friend. Well see you tomorrow. Still ahead, new bob woodward tapes, this time of trumps soninlaw, Jared Kushner, boasting that the president was, quote, getting the country back from doctors. That story and more, coming up next. Ors. That story and me,or coming up next im kalvin, and theres more to me than hiv. Im a peer educator,. A fitness buff,. And a champion for my own health. I talked with my doctor. And switched to. Fewer medicines with. Dovato. Prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv1 treatment or replacing their current hiv1 regimen. With. Just 2 medicines. In 1 pill, dovato is as effective as a 3drug regimen to help you reach and stay undetectable. Research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed. And get to and stay undetectable. Can no longer transmit hiv through sex. Dont take dovato if youre allergic to any of its ingredients. Or if you take dofetilide. Hepatitis b can become harder to treat while taking dovato. Do not stop dovato without talking to your doctor,. As your hepatitis b may worsen or become lifethreatening. Serious or lifethreatening side effects can occur, including allergic reactions,. Lactic acid build up, and liver problems. If you have a rash and other symptoms of an allergic reaction,. Stop taking dovato and get medical help right away. Tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis b or c,. Or if you are, may be, or plan to be pregnant. Your doctor may prescribe a different medicine. Than dovato if you plan to be pregnant or if pregnancy is confirmed during the first trimester. Dovato may harm your unborn baby. Use effective Birth Control while taking dovato. Most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping,. Tiredness, and anxiety. So much goes into who i am. Hiv medicine is one part of it. Ask your doctor about dovatoi did. Unstopables inwash scent booster hiv medicine is one part of it. Downy unstopables welcome back. Wall street took a major hit yesterday as the dow jones and the s p 500 both suffered their worst losses since june. The dow closed down 943 points, a 3. 4 drop. The s p 500 and the nasdaq composite also sank more than 3. 5 apiece. This marks the worst day for the dow and the s p since june 11th, which, of course, was at the height of the pandemic. It comes as Investors Show concerns about a global uptick in coronavirus cases and the potential for new lockdowns here at home. Speaking of lockdowns, as europe faces a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, france announced it will reimpose a nationwide lockdown until december 1st. It starts tomorrow. People will have to stay in their homes, except to buy essential goods and seek medical care, and they will also have up to one hour for daily exercise outside. Schools, however, expected to stay open. In his address, french president Emmanuel Macron said, the virus is circulating at a speed that not even the most pessimistic forecasts had anticipated. On tuesday, france recorded its highest daily death toll at just over 520 people since last spring. Germany, meanwhile, moved to impose a partial lockdown, keeping open both schools and shops, while shutting bars, restaurants, theaters, and gyms for the next month. In announcing the new restrictions, german chancellor Angela Merkel said, we must act and now to avoid an acute National Health emergency. Yesterday, germany reported its highest daily infection rate yet, over 14,000 new cases. And country reportedly has about 25 of its icu beds available. Yikes. In the middle, meanwhile, of our steep rise in covid cases last spring, white house Senior Adviser and president ial soninlaw Jared Kushner told bob woodward that the president was, quote, getting the country back from the doctors. That comment was made in an april 18th taped interview with the Washington Post reporter while he was working on his second book about the Trump Presidency titled rage. Cnn obtained a copy of the tape. The last thing was kind of doing the guidelines, which was interesting. And that, in my mind, was almost like, you know, it was almost like trump getting the country back from the doctors, right . In the sense that, what he now did was, you know, hes going to own the openup. There were three phases. There was the panic phase, the pain phase, and then the comeback phase. I do believe that last night symbolized kind of the beginning of the comeback phase. That doesnt mean theres not still a lot of pain and there wont be pain for a while, but that, basically, was, weve now put out rules to get back to work. Trumps now back in charge. Its not the doctors. Theyve kind of we have, like a negotiated settlement. Kushner had several conversations with woodward for the book that the white house says he believed were on background and not for quoting. Taking the country back from the doctors. Wow. Still ahead here, joe biden takes his campaign to florida today, where brandnew polling shows him with a slight lead over President Trump in that critical battleground. Nbcs mike memoli joins us live from the sunshine state. But before we go to break, we want to know, why are you awake . Email us your reasons to waytooearly msnbc. Com or drop me a tweet kasie. Use waytooearly, and well read the best answers coming up later on in the show. Darrells family uses gain flings now so their laundry smells more amazing than ever. Isnt that the dogs towel . Hey, me towel su towel. More gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze in every gain fling. However, there is one thing you can be certain of. The men and woman of the United States postal service. We are here to deliver your cards, packages and prescriptions. And also deliver the peace of mind knowing that whats important to youlike your ballotis on its way. Every day, all across america, we deliver for you. And we always will. Latonight, silence it with newd byzzzquil night pain. Because pain should never get in the way of a restful nights sleep. New zzzquil night pain. Silence pain, sleep soundly. Silence pain, sleep soundly. Others see cracked concrete, broken backboards,here. Rundown courts. I see a way to bring pride back to communities. Art can change it all. Bright colors, a bold vision, and it can be somewhere that brings people together. For games or hangouts or whatever. A place that makes people proud like this is my neighborhood. Thats why i made project backboard and a site with godaddy. How will you make your mark . Make the world you want. Welcome back to way too early. Its 5 30 on the east coast, 2 30 out west. Im kasie hunt. With both president ial candidates out on the campaign trail, with now just five days until the election, yesterday, former Vice President joe biden called out the Trump Campaign for leaving hundreds of supporters on a nebraska airfield in freezing temperatures on tuesday night after a rally. Biden said it was a symbol of President Trumps approach to the pandemic. The American People deserve so much better than this. Just look at what happened last night in omaha, after the trump rally ended. Hundreds of people, including Older Americans and children, were stranded in subzerofreezing temperatures for hours. Several folks ended up in the hospital. Its an image that captured President Trumps whole approach to this crisis. He takes a lot of big pronouncements, he makes a lot of big pronouncements, but they dont hold up. He gets his photo op and then gets out. He leaves everyone else to suffer the consequence of his failure to make a responsible plan. It seems like he just doesnt care much about it. Biden and former president barack obama will make their first joint appearance of the 2020 campaign this weekend. The former president and Vice President will visit michigan on saturday, just three days before election day. They havent announced the exact location yet. The real clear politics average has biden ahead by 8. 6 in michigan. They are apparently not taking any chances. Back now, though, to florida, where a new poll just out this morning gives former Vice President joe biden a fourpoint edge over President Trump. Bidens lead within the margin of error. The latest nbc news marist poll also breaks down several key demographics in florida. Biden leads among independents, 55 41 , and among seniors, 53 46 . But President Trump is ahead among florida latinos, 52 46 . Joining us now, nbc news correspondent mike memoli, who is live for us in ft. Lauderdale. Mike, thank you so much for getting up early with us on this fifth day good morning. Before election day. Give us your sense, frankly, of the broad state of the race. How is the Biden Campaign feeling . I mean, clearly, its not as bad for trump as it was three weeks ago, which was sort of, sort of a low point for them. But that doesnt necessarily mean that the map is trending all the way in trumps direction, shall we say. He had a lot of ground to make up after that low point three weeks ago. Hows the Biden Campaign feeling this morning . Well, kasie, if you look at all of the sort of National Polling averages, they all have the former Vice President hovering around doubledigit leads, but every democrat remembers four years ago when they had a similar advantage a few weeks out and theyre looking at bidens Campaign Schedule and wondering if he should be doing more. That event yesterday in delaware, where he made note of what the president the scene after his rally in nebraska, was a little bit of a message, i think, just about all of the challenges of campaigning in this covid era. But it was interesting. 70 days since the democratic convention. That was the eighth out of those 70 days where bidens only Public Events were in the state of delaware. Hes had about a third of those days with no Public Events at all. But no matter what your battleground map, if you think he should be playing it safe in michigan, in wisconsin or pennsylvania or trying to expand the map in georgia and texas, everyone agrees florida is the most important potential Election Night state for so many reasons. It could actually give us a real sense of where this is heading. And on the Biden Campaign side, theres very much a trusttheprocess mentality. Theyve been at this for months, trying to plan a campaign for this pandemic era, running all the numbers, running their strategy, and they feel like theyre closing strong and have the money and the message at the right time to do so. Mike, speaking of florida, i mean, why is it, do you think, that former Vice President biden has this problem with hispanic voters . What are they trying to do about it in the final couple days . Yeah, its really interesting when you talk to the Biden Campaign advisers. They talk about the latino vote and then they talk about the latino vote in florida. Theres very unique challenges here because of especially the cubanamerican population and the conversation about socialism, about, you know, a strongman mentality that theyre trying to use as a counter to the socialist attack on the part of the Trump Campaign. We saw them launch a number of spanishlanguage ads just the other day, all very different style of messages, a lot of testimonial messages. Its very clearly a challenge here for them and one theyre working to overcome. But youll see with the former Vice President today trying to address it head on as well. All right, nbcs mike memoli, thanks for getting up early with us, my friend. Its hard to believe this campaign is yeah. What a weird year. Its been the longest and shortest campaign, i think, ive ever covered. Still ahead, your chance to dive into the northern atlantic for a look at perhaps the worlds most famous underwater wreck. Those details coming up next in the cooler. Way too early back in just a moment. Way too early back in just a moment alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. Say hello to your fairy godmother alice. And longlasting gain scent beads. Part of the irresistible scent collection from gain you power through chronic migraine15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. Botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. So, if you havent tried botox® for your chronic migraine check with your doctor if botox® is right for you and, if samples are available. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a lifethreatening condition. Side effects may include allergic reactions neck and injection site pain fatigue, and headache. 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And those new insulin savings hundreds of plans, 35 a month. Thatll save you money. So uh, mark . On medicare. Gov now. Open enrollment ends dec 7th. Comparing plans. Really pays. Paid for by the u. S. Department of health human services. Paid for by the u. S. Department Gillette Proglide and proglide gel. Five blades and a pivoting flexball designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. So youre ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. Time now to gather around the water cooler for some of the things that will have people talking today. Have you ever wanted to see the titanic up close and personal . Nows your chance. Oceangate expeditions will be taking, quote, Mission Specialists down 2. 4 miles below sea level to explore the famous wreck in a private fiveperson submersible beginning this may. Each dive will take three people at a time and last up to eight hours. Snacks and water are allowed, and theres even a tiny bathroom on board. Each journey costs, get this, 125,000 per person. It requires an interview, and youll have to set sail from newfoundland. Go be the king of the world . Pretty interesting. Anyway, how about this for dad goals . A denver man set a new world record this week, running a mile while pushing a stroller with a child in it, in under five minutes. Andrew voss, twotime collegiate track and field champion, got the idea when he was out running with his kids and contacted the Guinness World record book to learn that the Current Record of five minutes, to which andrew said, thats doable. To beat that record, he would need to keep at least one hand on the stroller, all three of the stroller wheels on the ground, and keep his youngest son seat belted in place. Andrew beat the record by three seconds with a time of 4 minutes and 57. 1 seconds. Wow tell my husband hes got a new life goal. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys have given up a leagueworst 243 points in just seven games this season. The teams defensive coordinator, mike nolan, was feeling the heat during his News Conference with reporters this week. Obviously, the frustration for him as well is just, you know, look, when he misses them, nobody whoops, excuse me. Ive got something in my eye. Just had some tabasco on my finger and it went in my eye. That wasnt good. Oh. Thats terrible. Geez. Im sorry. Hang on, guys. Well be right back. Give me one second. Oh, thats awful nolan rubbed hot sauce in his eye and had to step away from the call. He was eventually able to rinse it out and return. Ah i cant imagine. Ah so bad. Still ahead here, congressman Brendan Boyle joins the conversation to discuss the state of the president ial race in battleground pennsylvania. And as we go to break, lets take a look at this date in history. In 1998, then senator john glenn at age 77 roared back into space aboard the shuttle discovery, retracing the trail he blazed for americas astronauts 36 years earlier. Three, two, one. Booster ignition and liftoff of discovery. The smiling began as discovery thundered into flight. Heres the view inside. Glenn is in the middle. Now the Missions First milestone, the shuttle reaches orbit, and with crewmate steven robinsons handshake, glenn officially becomes the worlds most senior space traveler. Ing e easier than ever. brokenhearted guy i thought you loved me. [brokenhearted guy sobs] apartmentsdotcom. The most popular place to find a place. burke stomer happy anniversary. customer for what . burke every year youre with us, you get fifty dollars toward your home deductible. 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The gop asked the Supreme Court to roll back the deadline for a second time, hoping that Justice Amy Coney barrett would weigh in. But she sat out this case. In issuing the unanimous order, justices clarence thomas, samuel alito and neil gorsuch said there wasnt enough time for the Supreme Court to decide on the issue before the election. Joining us now, democratic congressman Brendan Boyle of pennsylvania. Congressman, good morning to you always great to see you. This ruling, obviously, gives the democrats who were pushing it a bit of a sigh of relief, and we should also underscore, of course, that this allows more pennsylvanians to have their voices heard, no matter what party they may hail from. But im curious about your sense of the state of the race across the board. I mean, i grew up in the philadelphia area. You and i both know that the state is in many ways, three, maybe four separate regions that all are pretty divided right now. What do you think the Biden Campaign is doing right, doing wrong, in pennsylvania, and how do you think were going to see things play out on Election Night . Yeah, great to be with you again. You know, i think that our home state is a great microcosm of the rest of the country. And thats a reason why we are a perennial battleground state. In terms of where we are nationally, i believe that were ahead, and i think thats the case here in pennsylvania. I do think pennsylvania tends to have more swing voters, or political scientists would say we have higher elasticity with our electorate than in other states. I just wanted to show i knew that word, but thats pretty much the extent of my vocabulary. Very impressive for this hour of the day. Thank you, thank you. I dont have the best words, as donald trump once said. But be that as it may, i do think we tend to have more swing voters than your average state, and thats the case from northeast philadelphia and bucks county all the way to the opposite end of the corner of the state in erie county, where you saw a doubledigit obama win followed by a doubledigit trump win. So, its always a state that has to be paid attention to. And i think the Biden Campaign has done a fantastic job. I believe theyve had more events here than any other state. The suburbs around philadelphia in particular, i mean, there used to be a strong sort of, i dont know if i want to call them country club republicans, but certainly more traditional Republican Voters who, you know, were willing to vote for candidates that didnt look and sound like donald trump and who have been turned off by the way he presents himself. Do you think those people are permanently gone from the Republican Party . And do you think theyve become democrats instead . Or do you think they may just not show up . Its amazing to think about that back in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was running, the most republican county in pennsylvania was montgomery county, right outside philadelphia. Today that is absolutely unthinkable. Wow. Its about 21 democratic. Indeed, in 1990, when bob casey, the father of current senator bob casey, when governor bob casey was winning reelection in 1990, he won 66 of the 67 counties. The one county he didnt win was montgomery county, because it was so republican. That was just 30 years ago, but in political terms, it seems like 300. Beginning in the early 1990s, the suburbs of philadelphia began the change. While you cant take anything for granted in politics, i do think those are permanently gone for the Republican Party. Your native Chester County certainly seems to now be going the way of montgomery county. The areas, though, that arent gone for either party and that are very swingable tend to be those bluecollar pockets of the state, again, that swung heavily in 2017, swung back to us in 2018, and im confident will be with us in 2020. I think those continue to be up for grabs, frankly, for grabs for either party. Well, i think its more likely than not that were all going to be focused in on pennsylvania on Election Night especially if we do not get an answer out of the state of florida thats clear and decisive. Congressman boyle, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. Hope to see you again today. Earlier an in the show we asked why are you awake . Mary says awake headed into the 12hour shift in my hospitals covid icu. Mask up, people. Thank you, mary. Youre one of our heroes. From marcia, im up way too early, actually, way too late because i was baking corn bread and corn cookies and now im watching you before i get to sleep. Though ill probably watch a bit of morning joe first. Yeah, stick around. Matthew tweeted these puppy pics of theo and homer. We love puppies here. So cute. We have an email about someone is being awake because they ate too many bologna sandwiches so im going to leave that right here. Coming up next, a look at the axios 1 big thing and coming up on morning joe, Stacey Abrams will discuss the show and talk about joe biden. Plus another record year for lgbtq candidates. Three of them will join and talk about the expanding representation in congress. And k about the expanding representation in congress [man] uh, mine. Why . Its just that its. Lavender, yes it is. Old spice, its for men. But i like the smell of it. [music playing] with the ninja foodito intellismart xl grill. Illing eliminate the guesswork with the smart cook system. Just pick your protein, select your doneness and let the grill monitor your food so you dont have to. And because its a ninja foodi, it also turns into an air fryer. Bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the ninja foodi smart xl grill, the grill that sears, sizzles and air fry crisps. Unlike ordinary memory want supplementster . Neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. Latonight, silence it with newd byzzzquil night pain. Because pain should never get in the way of a restful nights sleep. New zzzquil night pain. Silence pain, sleep soundly. With two new haunted houses, the screams are just getting started. Wear your favorite costumes and the fun never ends. Come get your halloween on, happening now at universal orlando resort. Welcome back. Joining me with a look at axios a. M. , the editorinchief, nicholas johnston. 1 big thing is joe bidens closing blitz which includes this ad. Lets watch. My name is tristan vance. Im a College Student as well as a Football Player here in arizona. I have been working my whole life towards a dream to play professionally. Missing this season puts the dream in jeopardy. Donald trumps lack of vision is why we cant play now. I dont blame trump is hundred for for the virus but i blame for the response to the virus. We need a leader that can construct and build and i trust joe biden to do that. Im joe biden i approve this message. Nick, lets talk through more about the final strategy here from the Biden Campaign, their ad spending. They certainly have plenty of money to make sure there are a lot of voters who see that message in these closing days. Yeah, theyll be deploying more in the days to come. This is tens of millions of dollars for online ads. Taking over the youtube home page in coming days and sort of focusing a lot of nationally and on swing voters in like the usual list of states, like pennsylvania like you just talked about. Florida, arizona, colorado and iowa. Theyre going to be zeroing in on specific swing groups particularly africanamerican and latino voters and the big messages theyre bringing out is focusing on the administrations response to the pandemic and tying trump to the failure, to reel in covid. I mean theyre looking at the same polls that were looking at. The pandemic remains one of the top issues and theres a clear line between those who put them as the top issues and how likely theyre likely to support Vice President biden. So the Biden Campaign very much zeroing in on that trying to draw a clear distinction between whats coming next and you see a lot at President Trumps rallies, this will soon be open, hes calling for the states to reopen. And joe biden is timing it for the opposite message, theres a long way to go. That people need to wear masks and practice social distancing and theres somebody who cant play football and theres other ads featuring the Senior Citizens who had to change the way theyre living their life to avoid the infection and other swing voters. They want to show the impact that the virus had on the voters. Well, we dont have to rely on the Biden Campaign to tell us how bad this is. I mean, you guys have this map going and the reality is that cases have soared to an alltime high and some of the places that are the biggest hot spots are also swing states like wisconsin. I mean, how do you think those two things play go together . I think those are definitely clearly linked. We have been doing this map for many, many months. This is our last one before the election and there are no bright spots in the United States right now as far as rising coronavirus cases. Theyre hitting records in a lot of places like you mentioned in wisconsin. A very important swing state, those are hitting new highs in hospitalizations no sense that the virus is under control. We are seeing record numbers of new cases, up to 70,000, close to 80,000 remember dr. Fauci said we need to get it down to 10,000 cases a day if we were to be able to control it going into flu season. Its a grim picture whether its under control or not and the Biden Campaign is making it a campaign issue. If youre not happy with the response to the pandemic and getting it under control, then the message is you should vote for former Vice President biden. When youre the incumbent president people blame the circumstances on you. For those who have been totally tuned out of politics that represents something of a problem for President Trump. Can we talk about florida for a second, nick, because this is one of the places where, you know, were talking about the sunbelt broadly as the place where President Trump can potentially win this election if he can pull together arizona, florida, North Carolina and then just pick off one of those midwestern states. He would be in pretty good shape and, you know, florida has a republican governor. There seems to be a lot of people who are willing to tolerate the rallies that the president is doing. I was talking to some sources yesterday who basically said, you know, while democrats say these rallies are unpopular with democrats and with their independent voters for republicans, that simply is not the case. Does that explain the president s rally strategy here in the final week . I mean, 100 . Well have dueling Campaign Events in florida, both joe biden and trump there. The Trump Campaign looks at the rallies as encapsulating sort of their message, not cowering in fear, not listening to all of the naysayers, not sort of shutting down our life in the face of the pandemic and still coming together. Its an approach and focusing on the base, look at the Television Appearances hes doing, focusing on the core element of how to rally the voters. So he can get as many of those as possible, thats what the rallies are focus on. All right. Nicholas johnston, thank you very much. Well be reading in a little bit while and you can sign up at signup. Axios. Com. I think on this with just five days left to the election, Jared Kushner now admitting saying that President Trump freed us from the doctors back in april and here we are five days out with the third coronavirus spike potentially the worst, that