New Fox News polls show Trump-Biden race tightening in key states<br>
The 'Special Report' All-Stars react to the latest data and look ahead of Thursday's presidential debate
This is a rush transcript from “Special Report” October 21, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good evening, welcome to Nashville, Tennessee. Side of tomorrow night's second and final presidential debate. I'm Bret Baier. We'll have extensive coverage of debate preparations, the strategies, the predictions here on Belmont Campus also on this evening's program.
But breaking tonight, we are getting a new look at some polling. Our new polling in the presidential race number of key battleground states that really could decide the election in less than two weeks. This is likely voters. The latest Fox survey of likely voters has Joe Biden ahead in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin but President Trump leads in Ohio. A two of those are in the margin of error we should point out. Michigan, Biden is up.
The president is on his way back to another crucial state this evening. He will speak at a rally as you look there live in Gastonia, North Carolina at the top of the hour.
Right now, former President Barack Obama is in Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia actually, campaigning for Joe Biden. We're going to go out to Philadelphia and listen in for just a bit.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And taxes that maybe, just maybe, he might not know what working people are going through here in Pennsylvania. We cannot afford four more years of this Philadelphia.
But the good news is, right now, you can choose change. Right now, you can vote for my friend Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris as the next president and vice president of the United States of America.
Now, Joe is no stranger to here. He's a native son. Scrappy kid from Scranton. You know him and you know he knows you. But let me -- let me tell you how I came to know him and how I came to love him. 12 years ago, when I chose -- when I chose Joe Biden as vice president -- as my vice presidential running mate, I didn't know Joe all that well. We had served in the Senate together, but we weren't super close. He and I came from different places. We came from different generations.
But I came to admire Joe as a man who has learned early on to treat everybody he meets with dignity and respect, living by the words his parents taught him, no one's better than you Joe, but you're better than nobody. And that empathy, that decency, that belief that everybody counts, that's who Joe is. That's who he'll be. And I can tell you the presidency doesn't change who you are, it reveals who you are. And Joe has shown himself to be a friend of working people.
For eight years, Joe was the last one in the room when I faced a big decision. He made me a better president and he's got the character and experience to make us a better country. And he and Kamala are going to be in the fight, not for themselves but for every single one of us.
Look, I get that this president wants full credit for the economy he inherited and zero blame for the pandemic that he ignored. But you know what? The job doesn't work that way. Tweeting at the television doesn't fix things. Making stuff up doesn't make people's lives better. You've got to have a plan. You've got to put in the work. And along with the experience to get things done, Joe Biden has concrete plans and policies that will turn our vision of a better, fairer, stronger country into a reality.
We literally left this White House a pandemic playbook that would have shown them how to respond before the virus reached our shores. They probably used it to -- I don't know, prop up a wobbly table somewhere. We don't know where that playbook went. Eight months into this pandemic, cases are rising again across this country. Donald Trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. He can't even take the basic steps to protect himself.
BAIER: Former President Barack Obama campaigning for his former Vice President Joe Biden tonight in Philadelphia. We'll monitor that. Bring you more of it in the panel if you make some more news while we're following the election.
We're also following the negotiations on a possible new coronavirus relief package should be completed before the election possibly, maybe, maybe not.
Chief White House correspondent John Roberts is here in Nashville tonight with some late afternoon comments from President Trump. Good evening, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Bret, good evening to you as well. Tomorrow night here in Nashville is the last chance for voters across the country to get a measure of the two candidates as they go head-to-head. And late this afternoon as he was leaving for North Carolina, President Trump making it clear he is not happy with tomorrow's set up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: President Trump heading to the battleground of North Carolina again criticizing the structure of tomorrow night's debate including the addition of a mute button to the microphone.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the mute is very unfair and I think it's very bad that they're not talking about foreign affairs, it's supposed to be talking about foreign affairs.
And I think that the anchor is a very bias person. Her parents are very biased but that's my life.
In the meantime, that's the White House standing behind me, right?
ROBERTS: As the president tries to shore up support in the swing states, his aides still working on more support for people financially squeezed by coronavirus. Optimistic they can reach a deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I can tell you that the negotiations have entered a new phase which is more on the technical side of trying to get the language right if we can agree upon the numbers. We're still apart. Still, a number of issues to work on but the last 24 hours have moved the ball down the field.
ROBERTS: The ball may be moving down the field, but getting it across the goal line is another thing. White House officials believe Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to give President Trump a win by getting something passed before Election Day.
This afternoon, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows warning the chances likely won't improve after the election.
MEADOWS: We started out at $1 trillion. We went to 1.3, we went to 1.5, 1.6. We're now at 1.9 trillion. At some point, Speaker Pelosi has to take yes for an answer.
ROBERTS: And they were still sharp differences over bailout payments to states that were in financial trouble long before coronavirus hit.
Then, there's the problem of Senate Republicans choking on a package as big as the White House is pursuing. The president insisting Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will come around.
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA): Why would we even be having these discussions if we didn't think the president had some sway as to whether the Senate would take this legislation up?
ROBERTS: At he's North Carolina rally tonight, President Trump again expected to lean into the Hunter Biden controversy. And it is fully expected that he will go there at tomorrow night's debate. But some Republicans are cautioning the president not to go too far down that rabbit hole.
MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: The average person doesn't understand it, it's too complicated. And frankly, it doesn't matter to them. They care about their health care costs. They care about their taxes.
They care about safety in their neighborhood, on their block, and in their yard. Focus on that, he wins the election by a landslide.
ROBERTS: President Trump is also keeping up his feud with the CBS program
"60 Minutes" after what White House officials called a very hostile interview with correspondent Lesley Stahl.
The president posting a number of White House photos of the interview on Twitter today. White House officials wondering if Joe Biden will get the same treatment.
ALYSSA FARAH, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: She was absolutely hostile. And listen, I've got respect for her as a journalist, but this was not how she would question Joe Biden. I think your viewers would be very interested to see the difference when it airs this weekend of the type of questions he got asked versus how the president is just berated by many journalists.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And Bret, as you begin the program tonight, you show some of the results of our new Fox News battleground polls. Well, those polls find that the economy continues to be the president's strongest suit. He and Joe Biden are pretty much even up in the state of Michigan but the president holding a clear advantage in the other three states, which is why many of his Republican colleagues believe that for the most part, tomorrow night here in Nashville, the president should focus on bread and butter issues and tell the American people what he will do to put this economy back on track, Bret.
BAIER: Something tells me Hunter Biden's going to come up though. John, thank you.
Stocks were off today. The Dow lost 98, the S&P 500 dropped eight, the NASDAQ fell 32.
Joe Biden is talking about the e-mail scandal involving his son Hunter. The Democratic nominee says it's garbage.
The FBI is also talking about not talking. Senior political correspondent Mike Emanuel has the latest tonight from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Senior U.S.
officials say there is no evidence Hunter Biden's laptop and e-mails are part of a foreign influence campaign. And Fox has confirmed the FBI is in possession of a laptop, but the FBI will neither confirm nor deny Hunter Biden is under investigation.
Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson has been demanding answers from the FBI. Now, the FBI is responding in a letter echoing what DNI John Ratcliffe said on Fox Monday that the Intelligence Community doesn't believe this is part of some Russian disinformation campaign.
The FBI saying it has nothing to add at this time. "If actionable intelligence is developed, the FBI in consultation with the Intelligence Community will evaluate the need to provide defensive briefings."
Johnson is frustrated saying the FBI has been slow and incomplete in addressing his concerns.
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Withholding all these documents from Congress which means from the American people is completely unacceptable.
So, you know, one more time we -- you know, we ask some specific questions really, really got no response.
EMANUEL: Fox News has obtained a series of alleged Hunter Biden e-mails including this one from May 2017 correspondence with Chinese energy executives. A source on the e-mail chain verified its authenticity. It discusses payment for six people including a reference to 10 percent of the equity in the deal to be held by H., presumably Hunter for the big guy.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz jumped on that today.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): The China e-mails are offering to pay over a million dollars to the big guy, to Joe Biden himself, cash in his bank account.
EMANUEL: The Biden campaign notes Joe Biden has released his tax returns and financial disclosures, unlike President Trump. Joe Biden dismissed the controversy during an interview Tuesday.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the same garbage Rudy Giuliani, Trump's henchman, it's a last-ditch effort in this desperate campaign to smear me and my family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
EMANUEL: As John Roberts reported, President Trump is expected to go after Biden on this issue tomorrow night.
In anticipation, the Biden campaign tells Fox the president's obsession over right-wing conspiracy theory suggests he is running away from his own record. And if the president recycles the same strategy he did in the first debate, they argue he will also lose this one, Bret.
BAIER: Mike, thank you. Joining me now, Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn.
Senator, thanks for being here. I feel like you should be here on the campus of Belmont.
SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): Yes, absolutely.
BAIER: It's a gorgeous place.
BLACKBURN: I'll be there tomorrow.
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: Well, I want to ask about the story we just heard. There are Republicans who are worried that the focus on Hunter Biden in the closing days of this campaign takes away one of the advantages for President Trump as we've seen our new Fox News poll on the economy in states that he needs to win. How do you feel about this closing argument kind of focused on the Hunter Biden e-mail scandal?
BLACKBURN: You know, Bret, I think tomorrow night of what the president should do is focus on his record and how much he has gotten done in 47 months. Because the American people are focused on themselves and on their personal economy, their health care, the education of their children.
And the president has done a fantastic job building on economy, lowering poverty rates, helping get everyone to lift through this economy. He should be out there talking about it. He should talk about what he's done for seniors and health care. He should talk about the successes in the Middle East. That Abraham Accords getting us out of the Iran deal and jobs, the economy. This is what people want to hear.
BAIER: Yes. Senator, I'm hearing from your answer that he should do in your mindless about Hunter Biden and that scandal even though he talks about it and tweets about it a lot than more about substance and policy, that's what you're saying.
BLACKBURN: Yes. I would put the focus on substance and policy because this president has an incredible record. People are concerned -- I will tell you, they're very concerned about what they've heard over the Hunter Biden story. They think there should be a special prosecutor. They think they should be investigated. They want to know what happened that -- and how many years back does Biden incorporated go? Was it during the vice presidency? Did it precede that?
So, they're curious and they want answers to that and if there is criminal conduct, they want it dealt with.
Tomorrow night, what they want to hear from the president is what have you done with your 47 months? What are you going to do with the next four years? How is that going to affect my family and me?
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: Yes.
BLACKBURN: What are you going to do about continuing to grow the economy, and dealing with health care costs, and rebuilding our military, keeping our community safe?
And Bret --
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: Yes.
BLACKBURN: You know, one of the issues we hear from women is school choice and giving families more choice in how to educate their children.
BAIER: Senator, obviously, the negotiations are still continuing on a possible COVID stimulus bill, again, between the House Speaker and the treasury secretary.
There's real concern though about where Senate Republicans are. Here are a couple of Democrats talking about that today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): This is a foul play, and it's there in this -- in the Senate, is a foul play between the Senate and the White House. And I think both of us know that Mitch McConnell is playing a very cynical game.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Republican majority sets up a fake vote on COVID relief because if God forbid, the Senate actually considered a real bill to do something real about this overwhelming COVID crisis, it might delay their Supreme Court nominee that they are rushing through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: So, Senator where are Senate Republicans if this deal somehow gets there? And I will say, it's sort of like Charlie Brown, Lucy, and the football. You know, it seems like it's there, and then it's pulled away at the last second.
BLACKBURN: Yes.
BAIER: But are Senate Republicans going to go along with a $2 trillion package if it gets negotiated to that?
BLACKBURN: Well, we gave them the opportunity to come to the floor and vote for a $600 billion package today. That would have done another round of PPP, it would have plused up unemployment, money for vaccines, for testing
-- money for schools. Because the goal is to get people back to work and to get children back in school. And Bret, they chose to vote no.
They are saying if you don't give us everything we want: bailing out the blue states, money for marijuana research, money for all these other things. Then, we are just going to vote no. They would rather have zero and have people suffer than to address PPP for small businesses, unemployment insurance for people that are hurting, that are still out of work. And I find it just unconscionable that --
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: Yes. So, you're pessimistic.
BLACKBURN: Yes. You know, why would they continue to hold the American people at bay and use them as a bargaining chip to go bail out states like New York and California and Illinois? But they're willing to do that because they think it will help them win an election.
BAIER: I have 10 seconds here, but if the president and the secretary of treasury negotiate with the House Speaker, and say, this is what we're bringing to the table, are you voting for it?
BLACKBURN: I am going to continue to support what we voted on today. It was repurposing $350 billion of CARES Act. It is being a wise steward of the taxpayers' money focusing, targeting, getting help where it is needed.
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: Right. So, that's a no. Senator, thanks so much. I appreciate your time.
BLACKBURN: Good to be with you. Thank you.
BAIER: Next, a look at changes to debate rules. But first, we're going to bounce around all over Nashville in this show. A little bit of a look at the life on the farm first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Farming is a big deal here in Tennessee, as it is in the heartland of America. And we have to remember that all the battles back and forth in Washington and Hunter Biden's e-mails, it's the story of the day. But here the word about the harvest, milking the cows, making ends meet. We have to remember that. SPECIAL REPORT continues after this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Welcome back to Nashville. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take its vote on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett tomorrow. But Democrats on the panel are saying they will boycott that vote.
Today, Barrett was making the rounds on Capitol Hill. She met with senators Lamar Alexander and Roy Blunt this morning and was scheduled to meet with several other Republican senators in the afternoon.
One of the big headlines about tomorrow night's debate here concerns what will not be said or heard. Organizers say they will be able to cut microphones during some parts of the event to avoid the kind of free-for- all that occurred in the first debate in their words.
Correspondent Peter Doocy is with us tonight here in Nashville for a look at the ground rules.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: We already know how one candidate reacts when his microphone cuts out.
TRUMP: Whoever the hell brought this mic system, don't -- the son of a --- to put it in. I'll tell you. These people. No, this mic is terrible.
DOOCY: But tomorrow night, he knows what's coming, a muted mic for the first two minutes Joe Biden gets to talk in each of the six segments. And when it's Trump's turn to talk, Biden's mic will be muted for all six of the president's opening answers too.
BIDEN: I think it's a good idea. I think there should be more limitations on us not interrupting one another.
DOOCY: So, Biden gets two minutes uninterrupted, Trump gets two minutes uninterrupted. Then, what? There are nine more minutes per segment. The Commission on Presidential Debates, writes, "During the times dedicated for open discussion, it is the hope of the Commission that the candidates will be respectful of each other's time, which will advance civil discourse for the benefit of the viewing public."
Will Biden even use all his uninterrupted time? During the primaries, he was often reluctant to fill the 60 or 90 seconds he had.
BIDEN: My time is up, I'm sorry.
And lastly, my time is going to be up shortly.
My time is up, I know, but I'm not going to go over like everybody.
DOOCY: Although, sometimes he did.
BIDEN: I'm not out of time. You spoke over time and I'm going to talk.
Here's the deal.
DOOCY: Last cycle, President Trump accused the Commission of messing with his microphone.
TRUMP: I wonder was that on purpose? Was that on purpose? But I had a mic that wasn't worked properly with -- working properly within the room.
DOOCY: He was right that something was off. The CPD later explained there were issues affecting his audio in the debate hall. Now, on the eve of the final debate this cycle, Trump's got mic's on the mind, and last night, he is mysteriously dropped.
TRUMP: I wonder who did that to our mic. I don't believe it was Joe. You know who it was? Crooked Hillary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOOCY: And we've got some new reporting on this tonight. Both campaigns have the option tomorrow night to monitor the man with the mute button. I have spoken to both sides, the Trump campaign says they will definitely have somebody in there with the technician controlling the audio levels.
The Biden side, so far, has not committed to doing something like that.
Bret.
BAIER: Peter Doocy, outside the debate hall. Peter, thanks.
Up next, we will look at some of the rules, and also take a little -- a little bit more in-depth about the strategy for the debate with the panel.
First, here is what some of our Fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight.
Fox 61 in Hartford, Connecticut, as Purdue Pharma agrees to plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of the settlement of more than $8 billion. That company makes OxyContin, the powerful prescription painkiller that experts say helped touch-off obviously the opioid epidemic.
This is a live look at New York, from Fox 5 our affiliate there. The big story there tonight. A judge rules transcripts of attorney interviews with the former girlfriend of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein must be released by Thursday morning.
The order allows the public release of transcripts of two days of depositions in 2016 of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. One of Epstein's alleged victims is suing Maxwell, accusing her of aiding Epstein and the abuse.
That is tonight's live look "OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY" from SPECIAL REPORT.
We're outside the beltway too, as we head to break. A little bit of Middle East here in Nashville.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: When you think about Nashville, you think about honky-tonks and country music. Nashville is a diverse place, in fact, it's the number one place in the United States for the population of Kurds.
People from Kurdistan escaped persecution in the 70s, in the 90s from Saddam Hussein in Iraq. They kept coming from the Syrian Civil War and persecution from ISIS in that region.
This shopping center is actually the epicenter of what's called little Kurdistan. This is the place that is the American Dream. Country music talks about it a lot. Little Kurdistan is in the center of Nashville.
SPECIAL REPORT continues after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Welcome back to Nashville. A look inside the debate hall as they get ready for tomorrow night. Coronavirus cases are surging, nearly 75 percent of the United States. The CDC cites the Midwest in particular as people spend more time indoors because of lower temperatures. Out east, Boston schools will switch to all-remote learning tomorrow in response to a rising number of coronavirus cases in the city. North Dakota's governor is deploying the National Guard to notify people of positive test results. It has been taking health officials up to three days to give people the news.
And "Bloomberg" reports the chief of Operation Warp Speed expects U.S.
trials of vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson to resume as soon as this week.
This evening we begin a series of in-depth examinations some of the big issues in this race. Our latest nationwide FOX poll ranks the topics with coronavirus and the economy sharing the number one spot, followed by health care, racism, the Supreme Court, and violent crime. The voters in four key battleground states prefer Biden to handle the epidemic. Correspondent Kristin Fisher is part of our team here in Nashville. She takes a look at how the pandemic is affecting your vote.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's definitely number one.
KELLY CHRISTINE DELANEY, BIDEN SUPPORTER: Pandemic.
KRISTIN FISHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: In an election year where the world has been turned upside down by a pandemic, it's no surprise that the coronavirus is the top issue for many voters.
DELANEY: I think one has a plan and one has been flying by the seat of their pants, not really changing anything. Both of us are no longer employed due to the pandemic.
FISHER: But while 68 percent of likely voters for Joe Biden say the coronavirus is the most important factor in deciding who gets their vote, only 29 percent of likely voters for the president feel the same way.
KAE BALDWIN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: God is in control. It's up to the individual. I still am an American and I have a right to make a decision for myself.
FISHER: The different ways the candidates have responded to the pandemic is as easy to see as how they're campaigning. While Joe Biden has opted for virtual or small socially distanced events, the president has returned to his trademark rallies with thousands of people.
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: On Friday we saw the highest numbers of new case cases in one day since July, yet Trump said in one of his rallies we have turned the corner. My grandfather would say this guy's gone around the bend.
FISHER: But the president accuses Joe Biden of hiding in his basement and argues he would take the economy down with him.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is an election that's a choice between a Trump recovery at the highest end, or a Biden depression. But this is all a choice between getting a safe vaccine or really a lockdown.
FISHER: President Trump's plan to fight COVID hinges almost entirely on a vaccine. His administration has poured billions into Operation Warp Speed and is promising a vaccine by the end of the year, 300 million doses by this January. Joe Biden doesn't put a date on when a vaccine will be ready.
His plan emphasizes a federal response as opposed to the president, who has left it largely up to governors. It calls for expanded testing, creating a racial and ethnic disparities task force, and using the full authority of the Defense Production Act to make more masks and face shields. The president did invoke it in march, but has used it sparingly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FISHER: Another difference between the two candidates, Joe Biden says that he will actually listen to the nation's top infectious disease expert Dr.
Anthony Fauci, while President Trump says that if he had done that the nation would now be in a depression. Bret?
BAIER: Kristin, thank you.
Up next, one of the big Senate races that could tilt the balance of power is in Iowa. We will take you there for a status report when we return.
As we head to break, a look at Nashville's most famous street.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: This is Broadway in Nashville, home to honky-tonks and bars. A lot of great country music. In fact, this place is the start to a lot of entertainers that got their start right here. It's called the Honky Tonk Highway back in the 1930's. Now it is home to the debate tomorrow night here in Nashville. SPECIAL REPORT continues after this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Welcome back to Nashville, the capital city of the beautiful state of Tennessee, another middle American state, home to one of the key Senate races this election cycle. Tonight correspondent Garrett Tenney in Davenport looks the race for the seat from Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARRETT TENNEY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The battle for control of the Senate could be decided in Iowa. Republican Senator Joni Ernst is trying to fend off a challenge from political newcomer real estate executive Theresa Greenfield. For months the two have been locked in an essential dead heat, and a new poll by Monmouth University has the candidates at 47 percent apiece among registered voters. Two of the biggest issues for Iowans, health care and the coronavirus.
THERESA GREENFIELD, (D) IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: Washington has failed us during this crisis, and of course, Senator Ernst has failed us, too, early on.
SEN. JONI ERNST, (R-IA): We know that we have to protect preexisting conditions. I have never heard anybody argue that we shouldn't. So that's a bunch of false smears that are out there.
TENNEY: Ernst has been a rising star in the Republican Party since becoming the first woman elected to federal office from Iowa six years ago.
The Greenfield campaign is trying to use that its advantage, arguing Ernst hasn't lived up to her promise to drain the swamp and make Washington squeal.
ERNST: Let's make them squeal.
GREENFIELD: Senator Ernst has had six years, and she's forgotten Iowans.
She sold out our farmers. She sold out our seniors. She sold out our hardworking families.
ERNST: My entire six years in the United States Senate have been out there fighting for them, whether it's our farmers, our veterans, our working families, I have been fighting for them.
TENNEY: The top of the ticket is expected to be a major factor and in this race, and in Iowa, President Trump and Joe Biden are neck and neck. With high turnout expected and only two percent of voters undecided, the state's independent voters are expected to be a key factor.
TIMOTHY HAGLE, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: Those independents, they are concerned less with the political process thing, and a lot of that is all talk or gamesmanship, and they don't care. They're going to care about more about kitchen tables issues, jobs, the economy, health care.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TENNEY: In politics, money talks, and the stakes of this race are clear.
It is now the second most expensive Senate race in history, with more than
$195 million spent on ads according to the firm Advertising Analytics, and that figure is expected to go up over the remaining days of the campaign.
Bret?
BAIER: Garrett Tenney live in Iowa. Garrett, thanks.
Up next, we'll bring in a new panel to talk about the races, the emails, the polls, our latest poll.
First, beyond our borders tonight, Pope Francis endorses same-sex civil unions for the first time as head of the Roman Catholic Church. This came during an interview for a document which premiered today at the Rome Film Festival. The Pope says, quote, "Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God."
Just one story beyond our borders tonight. We'll be right back. But first, why Nashville is known as music city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Election into the Country Music Hall of Fame is really country music's highest honor. This is the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum in downtown Nashville. It's like the Smithsonian of country music. This year Dean Dillon, Marty Stuart, Hank Williams Jr. all inducted. Hank Williams Jr., actually, 59 years after his dad was inducted here.
Nashville is all about country music, but Joe Biden and Donald Trump hope it punches their ticket to the White House four more years.
SPECIAL REPORT continues after this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Looking live, Gastonia, North Carolina, President Trump will be there at the top of the hour. We expect Air Force One to arrive there shortly. We'll bring that to you when he gets there.
As you saw at the top of the show, former President Obama making an appearance today for his old running mate. Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich is in Philadelphia tonight with his message to voters. He's wrapped up now.
Give us a wrap-up. Good evening, Jacqui.
JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bret. Former President Obama was animated tonight. He ridiculed the president over how he has governed, and at least made a pointed reference implicitly contrasting criticism of President Trump with allegations around Joe Biden in an apparent nod to those allegations about Hunter Biden's business deals, the question of whether Biden was involved. Obama referenced reports that President Trump has a secret bank account. He said, can you imagine if I had a secret Chinese bank account. FOX News would be interested. They'd be calling me Beijing Barry.
He also laid into the president on the economy. He really made it personal.
He said like everything else the president inherited, he messed that up. He also touched on the coronavirus response and chided the president for contracting the virus himself. He said if he can't take steps to keep himself safe, then he can't keep the rest of the country safe. He added that Joe Biden wouldn't host a super spreader event at the White House or screw up testing. So really didn't spare any criticism tonight here.
The last half of his speech was focused on possibilities for what the country could look like with President Trump out of office, and he placed full faith in his former V.P. Bret?
BAIER: Interesting choice to go to Philadelphia for the former president.
Jacqui, thank you.
Let's bring in our panel, Mo Elleithee, executive director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics, Susan Ferrechio, Chief Congressional Correspondent for the "Washington Examiner," Bill McGurn, columnist for "The Wall Street Journal." Bill, you look at our polls, and we chose basically Joe Biden with a bigger lead in Michigan than we had before, but pretty much close in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, with Trump in the lead in Ohio. How do you see this race now less than two weeks away?
BILL MCGURN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Look, Joe Biden still is the presumptive favorite in a lot of these, but I think it's narrowing. It's narrowing very slowly, but a point here and there. And, of course, you know that the president did this before in 2016, and he's in a slightly better position than Hillary Clinton was at this time in some of these states. The question is whether he can do it again.
And there is so much about this election we don't know -- shy voters, mail- in ballots and so forth, and with the tight margins I think it's still very competitive up till the end.
BAIER: Mo, I'm going to put up the first poll, and that has the list, there you have on the screen, the battleground states. The second one I want to put up is the handling of the economy, and in this poll, even in the states that Trump is trailing, he does -- as far as handling the economy, do better against Biden. It's really his strongest suit as you look at these numbers. That is why some Republicans are saying that should be his focus, his message tomorrow night on the debate stage.
MO ELLEITHEE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGETOWN INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: Yes, historically throughout the Trump presidency his -- voter perception of his handling of the economy has always been better than voter perception of how he is handling the job overall. It's the one thing that has kept him in the game.
But there are a couple of red flags for him. Number one, yes, he's got a narrow lead, but it's a narrow lead. Joe Biden is doing better on the issue of the economy than Democrats typically do in a presidential race.
Number two, to the point you were making, Bret, this is the only thing that's keeping him in the game. If he's not out there talking about it -- if he's talking about all these superfluous issues, he is squandering time.
He's already at a disadvantage compared to where he normally should be, where a normal Republican president should be on this issue, but it's getting worse by the fact that he's out there talking about all this other stuff.
BAIER: All right, Susan, take a listen to both candidates with a little debate preview of their own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the mute is very unfair, and I think it's very bad that they're not talking about foreign affairs. They're supposed to be talking about foreign affairs, and I think that the anchor is a very biased person.
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I hope he's going to come prepared to talk about what he's for. But my guess is he's signaling that it's all going to be about personal attacks, because he doesn't want to talk about why he's taking away health care at the very time we're in the middle of a pandemic. But I'm going to try hard to focus on the issues that affect the American people and talk to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: The president there talking about the mute, that they'll be silenced when the other one has two minutes, in an answer, and Susan, also talking about that he expected it to be about foreign policy, but that was never the deal going in. Anyway, your thoughts?
SUSAN FERRECHIO, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Well, this is an opportunity for the president for the last time in a debate format to really try to connect with the voters on these really important issues that he's having a hard time with that are really important, such as the handling of the coronavirus, and really getting the message across about his handling of the economy so that he can help bolster those numbers, because that's his strong point. But I think it's going to be really hard for the president to get through this entire debate without raising the issue of the Hunter Biden laptops, which many in the media are ignoring, it's true.
And we don't know if that will come up as a question. A lot of people are predicting it won't. And if that is the case, I believe the president will bring it up. It will start a back and forth between the two of them. I think there will be a lot of that tonight even though we have this supposed mute button, which I don't think is going to be as much of a mute button as people thought. I think there is going to be debate allowed. So the president said, according to his aides, that he was going to say less and let Biden speak more. It's going to be a challenge for him to do that, and I think if he can, if he can stick to the positive messaging that I think Mo was just talking about, he will come out ahead.
BAIER: We're getting more and more, Bill, about the Hunter Biden emails story, and eventually it will be, the weight of it will be impossible not to cover, and we understand there are few big stories getting worked on currently. How much is this translating? How much is it breaking through, or not?
MCGURN: I think that's going to be the big question Thursday night. Like it or not, Donald Trump is going to make that debate in part about the Hunter Biden emails. The two questions are, will he do it in a way that makes it an issue the way Vice President Pence did an excellent job of making Kamala Harris's and Joe Biden's avoidance of the court-packing issue a real issue? Drove it home. The question is whether the president will do that or whether he will turn off people by being too aggressive.
The even bigger question for me is whether the moderator or whether Joe Biden will be forced to give clear answers instead of just an angry denunciation or talking about a Russian disinformation campaign that the DNI and FBI have now disavowed. This is a big story. If it's a Russian disinformation campaign or if it's false, we should know who did it and who put it out there.
But it's amazing to me that the vice president isn't asked about this when they haven't denied the emails. They just haven't denied it. They're just saying one meeting wasn't on an official schedule.
BAIER: All right, panel, thank you very much.
Whether we come back, helping others Nashville style. As we head to break, another look, live look at the crowd waiting for President Trump to speak in Gastonia, North Carolina, a big flag there, big crowd. It looks like it's a little cloudy, but Air Force One will make it in. Keep it here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BAIER: "Six Feet Apart" by Luke Combs, not about COVID, surprisingly.
Finally tonight, going once, going twice, sold. Country music's biggest stars auctioning off some of their prized possessions to raise money for those struggling to make ends meet during this time, from guitars played by Taylor Swift and Keith Urban, to boots worn by Clint Black, Miranda Lambert, items being sold to help everyday workers in the music industry as you can -
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