To the campaign trail for our top story. Five days to go until the president ial election. New National Polls show Hillary Clinton once again pulling ahead of donald trump as both candidates set their sights on swing states in the homestretch. John harwood is live in lima, ohio weather the latest. I want to step back for a minute from this strongly republican county, al lep county where lima is located, to look at the national picture. Donald trump has fallen two points behind in the Washington Post poll. If you look at the nbc news battleground map you can see Hillary Clinton is either solidly or slightly leaning in enough states to get her over the 270 electoral votes she needs to be elected president. Now, donald trump tends to do better when he follows the direction of his Campaign Staff and stays on script. In fact, donald trump yesterday was musing out loud about that. We are going to win the great state of florida, and we are going to win the white house. Were going to win it. I
Metaphorically, there was a lunch for me. It was my duty to name them, president and mrs. Bush, president and mrs. Bush, president carter, and Vice President dick cheney, president and mrs. Clinton. I finished my remarks, walked about, sat beside meredith and said to me, you did not mention nancy. I said, she is not here. She said, yes, she is, she is hidden behind the column. I had not seen her, so im eagerly called ever speech will friend stu spencer who answered by saying, what were you thinking, brokaw . Stu, do you think she noticed . [laughter] are you kidding . Here is her mobile number. Call her right now, which i did. I took my medicine from an aggrieved friend for the next 15 minutes, until she accepted my explanation, and then it was back to square one again, and the way i got out of it was, she had been given a terrible seat, i agreed. What i so admired about nancy was that ability to do just that. She knew how to protect her husband and her president , but also her own pla
Some of you, of course, have been here many times before. I hope you realize, none of this would have been possible without nancy reagan. I do not mean that she was active in fund raising, building the library of course, she was. What i mean to say is there would be no Ronald Reagan president ial Library Without a president Ronald Reagan, and there likely would not have been a president Ronald Reagan, without a nancy reagan. Of course, it may not have happened that way, if she was not made of such stern stuff, she may not have made it all the way to being mrs. Ronald reagan. My dad played hard to get a little bit when they were dating, way back when. He had already purchased a ranch not too far from here in malibu, and he loved to go there and ride his horses and buck hey, generally get dirty and sweaty outdoors. Not the kind of thing that she is really crazy about, my mother. But she was a good sport, and she wanted to participate in this. If he loved his ranch, well, she was going to
Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch, like me i once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now i see. twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved, how precious did that grace appear the hour i first believed the lord hath promised good to me, his word my hope secures, he will my shield and portion be as long as life endures. When weve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, weve no less days to sing gods praise than when we first begun. God of grace and glory, we rumor before you this way our sister nancy, we thank you for giving her to us, her family and friends, give us faith to see in debt to gate of eternal life so that in quiet confidence we may continue our force on earth, until youre called and we are reunited windows that have gone before, amen. Please be seated. Today, we are exactly where we ought to be, standing with this family, and one another before the mystery of life and death, say in our prayers and fare
Remarkable friendship between the first lady and a reporter. It was also a time when i began to appreciate just how much she meant to the man who became the president of the united dates, not just as his wife, but as his best political advisor, as jim baker and others have pointed out. As we all saw in those photographs and videos, she could be the adoring wife in public, but behind the scenes was a politically astute analyst and the keeper of the flame. We stayed in close touch but it was not always easy. Shortly after his inauguration as president , i made some Public Comments about his early years in which i said i thought the poor boy there and it was somewhat overblown. After all, he had been a successful broadcaster in his 20s and then a movie star under contract before he was 30. Nancy was furious, and the word came from jim baker and others, stay clear of the white house for a while. We will let you know when it is safe to go back. [laughter] about two months later, meredith an