exposed, trudging through land. turned arid. now isis trying to change the focus of the fight today by attacking the unconnected town of kirkuk, oil rich, held by the peshmerga, too. 30 militants attacking security buildings there. six of them, seven of them killed so far we understand. but a lot of heavy fighting in the sense of that town not part of the mosul offensive here. it really does seem as though these initial stages that were supposed to in the eyes of some tacticians to be a fight against isis to be very difficult indeed. the outlying settlements on the edge of isis territory still places isis are willing to fight for. carol? nick paton walsh reporting live for us from mosul. thanks so much. much more from columbus, ohio, coming up. we made the movie the book of life.
they re going to vote for. one more note about carroll county, ohio, it will be very, very hard to change people s minds there about mr. trump. they are passionate about him. part of the reason for that is their intense distaste for hillary clinton. donald trump won his primary bat until carroll county. so we ll just have to see how how things come out in the general election. still to come in the newsroom, the battle for mosul rages on. isis forces now using drones to keep their city under control. there s no one road out there. no one surface. no one speed. no one way of driving on each and every road. but there is one car that can conquer them all,
battleground state of ohio. thank you for joining me. i spent most of my childhood in stark county, ohio, where steel was king. it s a place that actually represents the old ohio. where i am now very much represents the new ohio. speaking about stark county, whenever i hear politicians say how they will bring back the steel industry, back to my home county, i m skeptical because here s the dirty little secret for you. most people think steel ain t coming back, at least not the way it was. canton, ohio, part of america s rust belt. it s where i grew up. back then it was a place where middle class dreams came true. steel was king and if you listen to the politicians, king steel can make america great again. we will put new american steel into the spine of this country. i will fight for every neglected part of this nation.
that the hope is that this is a signal to republican candidates to republican groups other than the chamber of commerce that it s time. that it s time to recognize that donald trump is really unlikely to win the white house. and the most important thing at this point is to save the majority in the u.s. senate, and that is what this is about, and new hampshire kelly ayotte is in a new public poll down eight points. donald trump is down 15 points. in the state of new hampshire where he s visited a lot it is a battleground president on a presidential level on the senate level so the question is whether other groups, other candidates are going to take this signal and say you know what? it is time. we ve got to fend for ourselves and make clear that as the voters we need to be a check and balance in the senate and in the house. well that s, that s, that s very much happening here in ohio, too, with senator rob portman running for re-election.
just a second. they show no clear winner here in the state of ohio. hillary clinton and donald trump are neck and neck in the latest suffolk poll, tied at 45%. trump losing his three point lead from september after the release of that access hollywood tape. let s talk about why hillary clinton just isn t killing it here in the state of ohio. i m joined by david peppers, chairman of the ohio state democratic party. welcome. thanks. great to be here. why isn t hillary clinton killing it here if the state of ohio where all the mistakes donald trump has made? ohio is always close. we know that. it was close in 08 and 12 and 2002 and 2004. we plan for that. we expect that. if you win ohio by four or five points it s a rout. that s what it s close to getting. we feel good about where things are. we have momentum and a good ground game. but still, he s had the most terrible two weeks, perhaps, in the history of presidential politics so why isn t hillary clinton again just killing