i m ari melber. here is how you know we re in new territory in this year s midterm home stretch. look who it is. barack obama will be visiting, georgia, michigan, wisconsin, today adding nevada. the former president is the surrogate most in demand in his party right now, but there are other names who we know can galvanize crowds like this. you re looking at some of the large young and often diverse crowds that we saw gather for bernie sanders on his campaign trail. you see this is him out back on the presidential primary. i want to give you the context of why some democrats are excited about this announcement. when you look at crowds like that in so many parts of the country, bernie announced today he ll hit eight states for 19 events in this last stretch. the 81-year-old showing his stamina. meanwhile republicans siamak crow trends they think can matter far more than any surrogate or any big crowd. massive economic problems continue to top voters minds. forecasts favor repu
democrats frame it as transformative. republicans say it s government run amuck. i call upon my republican colleagues to stop their march madness and show some compassion for their constituents who are less than wealthy. i ve heard people across the country say this bill today is costly, corrupt, and liberal. it s a laundry list of left-wing priorities that predate the pandemic and do not meet the needs of the american families. that deal will head to the president s desk just as country arrives at a familiar coronavirus crossroads. the biden administration just this morning just last hour announcing a new agreement to buy 100 million more doses of the johnson & johnson single-shot covid vaccine. more vaccine means the country should get back to normal more quickly. but here s the concern at the white house. states are already relaxing restrictions even as dr. anthony fauci says, quote, we re not out of the woods yet. listen here, a similar warning from the cdc director
he said, to get back on his feet. a lot of people thinking about jay leno today. let s talk about an interview with lester holt and pete buttigieg given the holiday travel season and a big question on whether folks will deal with the headaches we saw over the summer and in that exclusive for nightly news, listen carefully to what buttigieg has to say. could i asked you about the upcoming holiday travel season, what you learned from the summer and what adjustments have been made since the summer of delays and cancellations. what do you predict. we saw cancellations and part of that is demand returning, people buying tickets as the economy came back and that is good news. but the airlines have to be ready to meet that demand. a number of steps have taken place. i ve urged the airlines to make sure their schedules are realistic, to move forward on
the situation. certainly a cold wind blowing from the east at this point and a lot of concerns about the russian expansion. obviously geneva where you are now is the site where president putin and president biden met. is there any sense on the talks coming up later in the week and coming months? reporter: they ve been speaking by phone as well. the bigger question, why would president putin sent a deputy foreign minister if he could have come himself. he has over 100,000 troops on the border of ukraine. they ve been there for weeks. it s been suggested if there were to be an incursion, it would happen in mid-january or end of the month, survivorly before the ground gets too soggy for it to work for the russians. a big question on whether president putin wants to move on
democrats. establishing a forceful rule for government and setting the terms of the economy. then a republican. what was your response to that? donald j. trump has led the republican party become the party of the working class and it s a beautiful thing. this president represents mainstream and he is doing it beautifully and there is no culmination in 2019, there is a continuation in 2020 of his policies. i think the history books will show you the best president on the economy in modern history and he still got a year to go in his first term. sandra: going to be a big question on whether or not they can last. a lot of wall street analysts out there right now. let s ask about the trade deal because it has been the big uncertainty of 2019. you just said you re waiting on the translation for phase one, so the chinese delegation to come over and sign that. what can you tell us this