They do have a right to know where i stand and they have a right to know where i stand before they vote. Just ahead the nights biggest takeaways and the impact on the race with just 18 days to go. Second wave, cases of the coronavirus here in the u. S. Soared to above 8 million. Hospitals once again running out of beds. An outbreak forcing this nursing home to evacuate just ahead, the states seeing the biggest spikes, and growing concerns over the new surge in europe, where the virus is storming back, forcing countries to reimpose harsh restrictions. Scrambling. Weve got to put first things first. More covid outbreaks impacting both the nfl and College Football some of the weekends biggest games, called off. We dont think its appropriate that we try to play the game. Teams now being threatened with fines for violating protocols. Are major changes needed in order to keep the seasons on track . All that, plus staying alive. In the air, center field, hes watching. This is back and its gone a dramatic walkoff home run saves the Houston Astros from elimination. Carlos correa has just forced a game six. As the Atlanta Braves move one game away from the world series. Heres the relay and not in time today, friday, october 16th, 2020 announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza hey, everybody, welcome to today. It is friday were reminding you its a friday morning, thanks for watching savannah, you had a late night, welcome back happy friday tgif just back from miami and happy to be home. We do have a lot to talk about. We are going to get to the president ial race in just a moment but also happening today, that alarming surge in coronavirus cases worldwide. Yeah, here in the u. S. Weve now passed 8 million cases since the start of the pandemic. Yesterday saw the most cases in a single day since july, led by daily records recorded in michigan, missouri, north dakota and ohio were going to have the very latest on the surge just ahead. But we are going to begin with the race for the white house. Just 18 days to go until the election those competing town halls with the candidates nbcs Hallie Jackson is in miami to get your decision 2020 coverage started hey, hallie, good morning. Reporter hoda, good morning to you those candidate town halls aired at the same time but couldnt have felt more different for President Trump, whos waking up here in south florida ahead of a day of campaigning, it was fast paced and wide ranging. One of his last big opportunities to reach a lot of voters before election day he barely talked at all about joe biden, but he did address everything, from covid to conspiracy theories. Take a look at spain and france. Reporter the president pressed about his health, his taxes, and the bogus Conspiracy Theory hes refusing to denounce, qanon. It is this theory that democrats are a satanic pedophile ring and that you are the savior of that now, can you just once and for all state that that is completely not true . Disavow qanon in its entirety . I know nothing about qanon. I just told you. You told me, but what you tell me doesnt necessarily make it fact, i hate to say that. I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia. But theres not a satanic pedophile cult run by i dont know that. You dont know that no, i dont know that. You just this week okay, just this week why are you asking me about antifa, about the radical left why arent you asking joe biden about questions about why doesnt he condemn antifa . Because youre here with me. So cute. President trump also defending retweeting to his 90 million followers another conspiracy about the death of osama bin laden. That was a retweet. That was an opinion of somebody and that was a retweet ill put it out there. People can decide for themself. I dont get that. Youre the president youre not like someones crazy uncle who can retweet whatever. Reporter President Trump also taking questions from voters on a variety of issues. How are you going to get the United States back on track both in terms of the economy and the pandemic if roe v. Wade is ultimately overturned in the future, what protections would be put in place or kept for where the mothers life is in jeopardy in relation to highrisk pregnancies . If you are elected to a second term, do you expect to pursue your previous efforts to cut the daca program after contracting covid19 yourself, has your opinion changed on the importance of mask wearing no, because i was okay with the masks. I was good with it, but ive heard many different stories on masks. Reporter on the coronavirus, the white house has not said when the president s last negative test was before his covid diagnosis two weeks ago. Just to button it up, do you take a test every single day no, no, but i take a lot of tests. And you dont know if you took a test the day of the debate possibly i didnt, possibly i did. The doctor has very accurate infopmation. Reporter President Trump defending his record and his finances after an explosive New York Times investigation say his tax returns show hes personally responsible for 421 million in loans. Are you confirming that, yes, you do owe some 400 million what im saying is that its a tiny percentage of my net worth. That sounds like yes. Reporter as for election day, President Trump is now finally committing to a peaceful transfer of power after refusing to do just that for weeks. But it came after he again tried to question the legitimacy of the election, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Hoda. All right, Hallie Jackson for us in miami. Hallie, thank you. And as voters were talking with President Trump in miami, joe biden was in philadelphia fielding questions from voters at a town hall of his own. Nbcs senior washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell joins us with more on that story. Hi, andrea, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah in his town Hall Joe Biden was happy to talk about policy details and draw contrasts with the president from everything from the pandemic, to the economy, to Climate Change with their last headtohead faceoff a week away, joe biden saying on nbc he believes President Trump will take a coronavirus test before that debate. Yes i believe he will do that. Look, im going to abide by what the Commission Rules call for. I was prepared to debate him remotely, which was supposed to happen, and he said he wouldnt do that. Reporter biden slamming the president for his handling of the pandemic, including mr. Trump repeatedly mocking him for wearing a mask. When a president doesnt wear a mask or makes fun of folks like me when i was wearing a mask for a long time, then people say, well, it mustnt be that important. Reporter the former Vice President also committing to take a vaccine if one is approved. The body of Scientists Say that this is what is ready to be done and its been tested, its gone through the three phases, yes, i would take it and id encourage people to take it. Reporter a woman who voted for trump in 2016 asking biden about his now controversial crime bill. Whats your view on the crime bill that you wrote in 1994, which showed prejudice against minorities where do you stand today on that well, first of all, things have changed drastically that crime bill when voted, the black caucus voted for it, every black mayor supported it across the board. The crime bill itself did not have mandatory sentences except for two things it had three strikes and youre out, which i voted against in the crime bill, but it had a lot of other things in it that turned out to be both bad and good. Reporter biden still refusing to clearly tell voters whether he would pack the Supreme Court. They do have a right to know where i stand and they have a right to know where i stand before they vote. So youll come out with a clear position before election day . Yes depending on how they handle this. Reporter and what if he loses . What does that say about America Today . Well, it could say that im a lousy candidate and i didnt do a good job but i think i hope that it doesnt say that we are as racially, ethnically and religiously at odds with one another as it appears the reporter biden clearly enjoying the town hall format. Put on his mask and stayed long after it was over to take even more questions from the audience his next big test, of course, the final debate with President Trump next week. Savannah. Andrea, thank you very much. Craig joins us now with more president wants us to be. Reporter biden clearly enjoying the town hall format. Put on his mask and stayed long after it was over to take even more questions from the audience his next big test, of course, the final debate with President Trump next week. Savannah. Andrea, thank you very much. Craig joins us now with more on both town halls good morning to both of you as we just heard there lots to unpack on this friday morning. To do that lets bring in nbc political analyst and former democratic senator Claire Mccaskill and rich lowry, editor of the national review. Good morning to both of you. Senator, ill start with you two candidates, 1,200 miles apart roughly, perhaps, an apt metaphor for where our politics are right now in this country. Any hearts and minds changed in either town hall last night . Im not sure. I think most people watched the candidate they were supporting if there were undecided voters that watched both, i think they saw quite a startling contrast i think the president S Performance stood out for everything he doesnt know he doesnt have a plan for health care to protect preexisting conditions. He doesnt know if he owes 421 million to foreign banks he doesnt know whether he took a test as the rules required on the day of the last debate he doesnt even know what qanon is, even though his supporters show up with those tshirts and those signs at every single one of his rallies it was, frankly, you know, once again, showed that the president has a very tortured relationship with the truth rich, one of the things that i found striking in the trump town hall, how little the president mentioned joe biden. He didnt really seem to go after the Vice President directly as much as he has in the past what were your takeaways from both of the town halls i agree with that it really goes to a key paradox and dynamic of this race the trump town hall much better tv you understand why this guy was a tv star before he was president of the United States, hes just a very compelling figure and usually in president ial politics, in any political race, you want to be the more compelling figure, but in this case you dont he doesnt want the race to be a referendum about him but inevitably it is all about him so biden on abc was detailed, but also dull and meandering theres nothing really of interest there or to get your hooks into and i think thats one of the key problems for this president and his reelection campaign. Rich, to claires point there, last night the president talking about qanon at first saying he didnt know what it was and then admitting he knew a little bit about what they stood for. Two weeks ago the proud boys the president seems to continue to have difficulty just full stop denouncing fringe White Supremacy groups why is that . Why does he have such a hard time doing that . Is there political calculation there . Well, i think hes repeatedly denounced White Supremacy. What we saw last night is completely irresponsible where he wouldnt denounce qanon, this poisonous Conspiracy Theory. I think the reason is that he knows a lot of these people like him and support him and he doesnt want to do anything to alienate anyone on his side, even if theyre beholden to a crazy theory so that was not a great moment senator mccaskill, this idea of Court Packing, adding seats to the Supreme Court to tilt the balance of power, weve talked about this over the past few weeks. Vice President Biden has gotten the question a few times senator Kamala Harris has gotten the question a few times they havent figured out how to answer the question. Last night mr. Biden said promising an answer before the election but after the senate votes. Whats the thinking here whats the strategy . Well, first of all, its a tough question second of all, i think joe biden has mixed emotions about it. He said over and over again hes not a fan of Court Packing its happened various times in our history when one party has gotten carried away or there has been some kind of gross imbalance. And i think hes trying to wait to see what the American People think of the idea that for the first time in history, the senate is blowing up every rule they have to ram through a nominee thats main views are out of step with most americans. Next debate its not a tough question its not a tough question. This would be one of the most radical measures in american history. The Supreme Court has been nine since the 1860s. Fdr at the height of his power tried to pack the court, was rebuked by congress. So he should just be able to give a straight answer and he wont. He showed a little more leg last night and said hell actually do the American People a favor of telling them whether or not hes going to support this before the election, which is certainly nice, but the past if youre going to be a candidate of norms in our institutions, your answer on this has to be no, i will not destroy the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. He just refuses to do that. Rich, we are six days away from the final debate. As you know, President Trump trailing in just about every National Poll thats reliable, trailing in most of the battleground state polls as well what does the president need to do on thursday to try and close the gap with mr. Biden well, he needs to shake up the race he needs to have a strong and aggressive performance but nothing like the first time, which again made it all about him and was repellent to a lot of people. And get this race get the race closer and hope that the polls are wrong. And senator mccaskill, what does the Vice President need to do to get the race closer . I think he needs to do exactly what hes doing right now. By the way, if america makes up their mind on which candidate supports the norms and institutions of the presidency, i dont think this race will be close. I think joe biden would win in a landslide. Senator mccaskill, rich lowry, enjoy the weekend thank you both. Thank you very much savannah, hoda, over to you guys. 7 15 now, time for a check of the forecast. Hows the weekend shaping up depending on where you are, its going to be pretty darn nice right now weve got wet weather making its way into the northeast thanks to a cold front thats going to bring heavy rain through tomorrow up into new england and parts of the Midatlantic States but then clears out quickly weve also got behind that front 65 Million People under some sort of frost advisory, freeze watch or freeze warning, much cooler air coming in look at these temperatures today. Buffalo only 53, chicago 4 degrees cooler, dallas even down to 71. And then you move out west and it is hot. I mean were talking heat advisory, heat warnings for 29 Million People from santa rosa all the way down to san diego. And in fact we could see records from tucson, phoenix, escondido, lancaster, all the way up to eureka thats right well get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. squirrel noises fake squirrel noise squirrel noise fake squirrel noise jif peanut butter. Its that jifing good youd dress up like a squirrel for it. And we still have that red flag warning in effect, but it will expire at 11 00 a. M. On tap for today another hot afternoon. Microclimate highs could be near record breaking yet again. Daily highs in san jose in the 90s, in through concord 96. Around the coastline we saw some 80s in the forecast. Warm this morning when you are outside at any point. The winds begin to diminish in the afternoon. And that is your latest weather. The winter outlook coming up in the next half hour. Winter . Oh, boy did someone say winter . Thank you. Coming up, the chaotic football weekend ahead as the nfl and major colleges confront new cases of the coronavirus among them, one of the games most successful coaches. Will it take major changes to carry this season over the goal line and then an inside look at one battleground state with a tale of two very different economies. We are in arizona talking with voters, some thriving, some struggling how that is shape get way they te vo proposition 16 takes on discrimination. Some women make as little as 42 of what a man makes. Voting yes on prop 16 helps us fix that. Its supported by leaders like Kamala Harris and opposed by those who have always opposed equality. We either fall from grace or we rise. Together. Proposition 16 provides equal opportunities, levelling the Playing Field for all of us. Vote yes on prop 16. Im voting yes on prop 19. Nineteen limits taxes on seniors. It limits property tax