caller: what is the current poll -- host: what is the current polling suggesting? >> the public polling you suggest you tightening race. a recent poll showed the advantages only anywhere from maybe two to four, maybe six points. if you average the polling, maybe in the high single digits. there are legitimate complaints about some of these polls being of only registered voters, which in texas, there is an important distinction between registered voters and likely voters. traditionally in texas, it's a state that has struggled with turnout and more so than other states. you are less unlikely to see a different pool of voters when you switch from register to likely. in any case, a two-point race among registered voters in public polling this close to election day in texas is remarkable and even if you add a crack debtto that to correct for whatever problems there are with the methodology, it's remarkable we are talking of a single-digit statewide race in texas at this stage in the game. host: how has senator cruz countered against a rourke? the traditional playbook as rolling him to liberal for texas. things like gun control for example and talking about how he has the issues border security and immigration and i think ted cruz as far as the strategy is concerned is focusing on a lot of issues that will rev up the republican base in texas. these are issues that i think there's a lot of intensity within the republican electorate in texas and it makes a lot of sense because he has spoken very openly about the fact that he things complacency is his biggest challenge in this case. among of republican voters. he is focusing on some issues that i think are really designed to try and re-create the enthusiasm we are seeing on the democratic side, but on the republican side. that's why you're are seeing them focus on things like gun control, border security, o'rourke's comments addressing support for impeaching the president, things that will fire up the republican base. host: we will show a couple of ads. ads is over aurora taking an , this is based of a weekend rally in el paso. >> we are in our 34th day of 34 days on the road straight across grateful, so happy to be back in el paso. the city in which i was raised. [applause] the city where i met amy on a blind date. , i probably took her over to have a drink in the kentucky bar. things have worked out, we are about to celebrate 13 years of marriage. >> we are raising three extreme area children. all of whom are being educated at the same amazing public school that i got to go to as a kid. , i coming back to el paso always feel this way. so proud of this community. , ofroud of those students those amazing public school educators and teachers in the classroom, the counselors and therapists, vice principals and principles. the bus drivers, those who work in the cafeteria, the janitors and custodial staff who clean up . this community, making the most of the fact that we are one of, if not the largest binational community anywhere in the world. as far as the approach of this ad, him speaking to a crowd , not necessarily a tailored or manufactured at, what do you think? >> it is in line with what the campaign style has sought to be from the beginning which is this raw peopletic, centric campaign that is focused very much on his travel throughout texas. every ad or digital or tv ad so far has basically been the livestream footage from his campaign stop stitched together into a compilation showing the places he has been. does contrasthere thereto cruise is pretty obvious which is that he has not been as visible in the state as some folks would like him to be. he ran for president for a healthy chunk of his first term and so that implicit contract does contrast there. rourke doesn't turn it into an attack, but i think that goes without saying in some cases. host: here is ted -- ted cruz's ad. >> he is showing up across texas sharing his wit. >> his wisdom. >> what the -- are these guys doing. >> and his character. if he shows up in your town, keep the kids at home. he is showing the -- up. a decidedly different approach. >> it is, trying to be funny there, little more lighthearted than the previous ad we saw. i think if you look at some of the digital ad like that, they are trying to pull the this is night deficit is serious person who could be a serious represent of of the people from texas and that he is something of a lightweight either when it comes or maybe on actual substance or policy. i think that the message they're trying to convey there. i think that's one of the more lighthearted approach is to it. some of the outside forces backing both of these candidates up in the next few weeks? >> on the cruise side there are two super pac's already in the race. once formed by former crew strategist and then you have the national group that took a big gamble on him in 2012 at first and helped him have that huge victory in the 2012 primary in texas and so they are coming back to the table and they said they will spend seven figures going against o'rourke and educating texas voters about him. so you're a have those two super pac's actively involved. on the o'rourke side he is try to swear off outside support. there haven't been a lot of groups that have come in for him yet. obviously at the end of the day taking control of some of those groups do despite what he said. host: we highlighted texas senate race. >> "washington journal" continues. host: this is nancy scola, the technology reporter for politico. there is a picture of two people appearing at these hearings -- tell viewers about who was on capitol hill and why they were there? guest: sheryl sandberg, the chief operating officer of race book testified on election security and the use of platforms by foreign adversaries in the u.s. election process. she was joined by the ceo of twitter, jack dorsey. jack then travel to the other side of capitol hill to the house for the energy and commerce committee where he testified so low on the idea that twitter may be biased. host: what is the significance that you had the ceos of these platforms to talk about these issues? guest: it has been a long time coming. the companies are in the spotlight for they didn't do enough in the election by russia. in their own definition they were slow to take action in that. a lot of their testimony was acknowledging they were slow to act. so it is significant to have them with push and pull. jack dorsey's first testimony and he has been the ceo for quite some time. so to have him up there answering questions was significant. google was also invited. the decline to send a representative. which lawmakers did not enjoy. host: what did they resolve to do because of that? is a rolling process by their own admission. one of the things they have done is to hire humans and work on technology to determine fraudulent accounts. i have figured out ways to detect signs that accounts are not coming from people they want to have on the platform and thwarting them when they try to register to use the platform. they put a lot of attention into that. and they have also done more for transparency. one of the complaints was that ads would be placed on the sites pay for theng who add. those are additional steps they've taken. they have resisted the idea of having regulation around that sort of transparency but they are eager to take those steps voluntarily. so they don't have to be regulated. what is their thinking on that currently? guest: we are in a push and pull phase that washington goes through. police yourself or we will step in. and we are seeing conservatives theyepublicans say that will not take a hands-off approach. host: calling in to join us on of discussion on the ceos facebook and twitter. if you would like to ask a ,uestion, it is (202) 748-8000 democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8002, independent voters. you could also post a comment on our facebook page. interference piece done, jack dorsey went to the house to talk about another issue? guest: there has been a complaint raised by conservatives with the the last month which has ramped up in recent weeks because trump has embraced the issue. an idea that social media platforms are making decisions about what content to allow and what advertisements to allow. that they are biased against conservatives. there is a debate about whether there -- about whether this is intentional or not intentional. in some ways, >> watch "washington journal" every morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. we'll leave this segment as the u.s. house is about to gavel in for legislative business today with members debating a natural gas exports bill and voting on a conference with the senate on a $154 billion spending bill interior, treshry, r, treshry, transportation, housing and urban development, and agriculture department for 2019. live coverage of the u.s. house here on c-span.

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