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11 01 24 NewsNation's Leland Vittert on recent events in the presidential campaign
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I used to live in Denver, one of the great places on earth that I'm so happy to be with you guys. I think the answer is we don't know. Yes, there are lots of things that can and will move the race. You can argue that the trajectory and the momentum is set. We just don't know in which direction. There are reasons right now for Donald Trump to feel really good. And there are reasons for Kamala Harris, the team, to think that they've got a chance and that Trump, in the words of the true political wonks, peaked too early. And at this point, it's very hard in elections to know where we're at in the moment. And because of how it takes a couple of days for news to bake in to how people feel. Layla, and it's November 1st now. Did we ever have that October surprise? I heard some people talking about was the Puerto Rico garbage talk with the comedian at former President Trump's rally and then President Biden speaking back, calling Trump supporters garbage. Was that a little bit of the surprise or is there anything that really moved the needle last month? You know, it's funny. Remember, going back to October 1st and writing in war notes, which is our newsletter that comes out every day, we had three October surprises on October 1st. And I'm thinking to myself, what were the three I don't remember? We've had so many. And so there you go. I think it's crazy how much has happened. The war, you know, Iran strikes on Israel, Israel strikes back. I remember when the pork strike was going to define this election, you know, when the hurricane's coming through North Carolina and Georgia, we're going to change how people voted. So I don't think we know until after the election, if there was anything that really defined things. Leland, does the early voting reveal anything about voter sentiment and maybe a particular candidate? You know, it's a great question, Marty, and we've had so many more early votes that ever before. The Trump people will tell you that their data shows, and rightfully so in the Secretary of State's data shows, the Republicans are doing better in the early vote than they were in 2020 by big margin. What no one knows is whether or not these are additional Republican voters or people who are going to vote Republican anyway, and they just did so early. The Trump campaign, my sources inside, tell me they have data that shows these are new voters, or low propensity voters who tend to break towards Donald Trump. People who haven't voted before didn't vote in 2022. I've asked to see the data, and they go, "Well, we'll get back to you," so I haven't gotten the data yet. I think it's very difficult to read anything into, especially because the Harris campaign will counter and say, "Look, if 55-45 women break predominantly towards Kamala Harris, so Harris is really doing well in early voting. We just don't know." Leland, we've seen a lot of publicity stunts in the last couple of weeks, former President Trump working at a McDonald's, driving into a rally in a garbage truck, and Vice President Harris has really been stacking her rallies with plenty of celebrities and artists and singers, are either of these resonating more with voters than others. I think the McDonald's in the garbage truck moments work because they play counter to the Democrats' narrative about Donald Trump. And by that, I mean, you pointed out the garbage comment, "Donald Trump embraces that he's fighting for his supporters." The celebrity thing, look, I'm old enough to remember when 40,000 people showed up in Philadelphia for Hillary Clinton the night before the election in 2016 with British Springsteen. It wasn't enough. So it is very difficult to tell whether the big Houston rally was because people thought there was going to be a Beyonce concert that wasn't, or because they were there to see Kamala Harris. I think if there's somebody to bet on in terms of a showman, there is no one better than Donald Trump at producing moments. Final question. What should we be looking for? What should we be asking that we have not thought of to ask or maybe haven't looked for? Wow. This is what I give your listeners to think about on Tuesday night. If, when you're watching News Nation, Chris Cuomo, Elizabeth Vargas and I on Tuesday night, we start talking about Virginia and Virginia's close, Donald Trump is going to have an excellent, excellent night. If we start talking about Donald Trump in trouble in Georgia and in trouble of North Carolina, we may not know on Tuesday night. You win the election, but that is bad, bad news for Trump. And I think watching the margins in different states is going to give us an idea of who will win the election, even if we're not able to stay on, on Tuesday night. This is the person who won. News Nation's Chief Washington Anchor and host of on balance, Leland Vitter, Leland, thank you so much for your time this morning. Happy election coverage. We appreciate it. Put another pot of coffee on it. There's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Think of Colorado. There's only one. Member FDIC. [MUSIC PLAYING]