The economy a central issue in the cam paint but a new book by the Washington Posts bob woodward is allowing his rival to keep the coronavirus pandemic front and center amid charges that the president purposely downplayed the threat from covid19. He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months. He had the information. He knew how dangerous it was, but while this deadly disease ripped through our nation, he failed to do his job on purpose. Paul lets bring in columnist karl rove, Senior Adviser to president george w. Bush. So, karl, nice to see you. Thank you, paul. Paul so you wrote this week that joe biden in the home stretch is, has the edge on the election right now. How big an edge is it . Well, enough that if the election were today, he would win a clear victory. But the race also, as i said in the knecht sentence, is tightening next sentence is tightening. Democrat politicos are anxious that they could have a second election in a row in which somebody wins the Electoral College and comes in second in the popular vote. Thatses what they fear about trump. Paul so you dont think the president at this stage going to win a popular vote majority . Well, he could because, look, this race could have lots of twists and turns. I think the odds of that are small, but he could, absolutely. Look, the absence of regular campaigning forced upon us by the coronavirus means things are, you know, weve got the partisans dug in. But among that group thats actually up for grabs in this election whether its 12, 14, 15, 20 , maybe 18 maybe at the most paul do you think its that large . I think its got to be under 10 at this stage, doesnt it . I dont know. It depends. If you say youren decided, youre under 10. But if you look at the people who are week lu linked to either biden or trump, that number grows, and in some states depending on, for example, if you have a large latino population, that tends to make it a couple of points more robust. But it could be 12 the15 1215 in a number of the battleground states. And among those people the race could turn, it could turn on something unexpected, on something in the debates, on something that they ultimately the cumulative effect of things being said about a particular candidate ultimately caused them to move in one direction or the other. Paul let me ask you about this notion of the shy, socalled shy trump voter; that is, somebody who is supporting the president but doesnt tell a pollster that because theres some social stigma attached to that or maybe because they just dont like pollsters or dont like to pawk to pollsters. To talk to pollsters. Do you think thats real, number one, and how big of a cohort are we talking about . Well, i think it is real. We saw it in 2016. The average in the National Polls which were, you know, a large number of them so that, you know, the good polls and the bad polls together showed we got a good picture, suggested Hillary Clinton was going to win a 3. 5 popular vote margin. It was actually just 2. So just over 1 of the voters who, you know, who voted for trump who were anticipated to vote for hillary. I think its probably slightly larger this time around because weved had three and a half years of relentless attacks on the president that have caused some of his supporters perhaps when they get anonymous phone call from an unfamiliar polling organization to i say none of your business. But it is small. Its, you know, 1. 52 at the most. Paul at the most, okay. So the other issue thats come up, and im hearing this from more than a few republicans, is this concern about whether or not president Trumps Campaign is short on cash. Because as we know, joe biden has been rolling up huge fundraising numbers. And you travel in some of those fundraising circles. Is this a real problem for the president . I think its a real concern, yes. In august biden and the dnc raised 345 million, and the republicans raided, i think, 210 or Something Like that. And at the end of july the cash on hand for the Trump Campaign was 105 million, my suspicion its lucky to be 200 million at the end of august, the first of september. Paul thats not enough to fight through the rest of the election in a fair fight. Well, it depends on how much has been invested in data and infrastructure and how much of that has been spent on perishable items like media. But having said that, my gut tells me that when it comes down to the end, the last two months are going to be a biden spending advantage. But i think theres going to be sufficient trump money for advertising particularly in the last month. The question will be did they do themselveses some damage by not being on the air in august and september, early september. Theres an outside group called preserve america which is running more ads in defense of or attacking biden and in defense of trump than the Trump Campaign is running itself. Thats not a good place to be. Paul okay. So if you are add vising the Trump Campaign advising the Trump Campaign, if you were, what would you say . Stick to this economic message the president laid out in michigan . Is that, should that be the focus . Well, i think the economic message is important coming down to the end. I think theyre actually doing, they did a smart thing by raising the issue of law and order and framing it as a question of weakness and judgment. And then the question is, is by the end of the campaign they have to be in a place where theyre making the economic argument. I think the president was wise to do it in michigan. I, frankly, in politics ive learned its a lot harder to say what youre for than what youre against, and i think the president laying out what hes going to do, you know, protect the tack cuts, focus tax cuts, focus on fair trade, keep the regulations low, you know, dont burden us with a bunch more government regulation and red tape and spending program, you know, progrowth policies, if he would i nonesuate that, thats almost as important as saying that bidens going to do bad things. Youve got to be careful not to go over the top. He paul karl, thanks very much. All right, appreciate you coming in. When we come back, as states gear up for a Record Number of mailin ballots, growing concern mailin ballots, growing concern that our next president could be incomparable design makes it beautiful. Stateoftheart Technology Makes it brilliant. The visionary lexus nx. Lease the 2020 nx 300 for 339 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. 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Im a delivery Operations Manager in san diego, california. Weve had a ton of obstacles in finding ways to be more sustainable for a big company. We were one of the first stations to pilot a fleet of zero emissions electric vehicles. The amazon vans have a decal that says, shipment zero. Were striving to deliver a package with zero emissions in to the air. I feel really proud of the impact that has on the environment. But were always striving to be better. I love being outdoors, running in nature. We have two daughters. I want to do everything i can to protect the environment to make sure they see the same beauty ive seen in nature. My goal is to lead projects that affect the world. I know that to be great requires hard work. Paul with a Record Number of voters expected to cast mail hundred ballots this year, theres growing concern that the outcome of the president ial race will be left for the courts to decide. A recent wall street journal poll finds supporters of joe biden are significantly more likely to vote by mail with just 26 of biden voters planning to vote in person on election day compared to 66 of trump voters. All this raising the possibility of parallel president ial elections with no clear winner on Election Night or for days, perhaps even weeks afterward. Lets bring in wall street journal columnist and deputy Editorial Page EditorDan Henninger, columnist kim strassel and editorial page writer Kyle Peterson. So, kyle, youve been following this in the states. Explain the scenario by which this thing is settled by the courts. Well, start in georgia. Georgia has a very clear ballot deadline. Your absentee ballots has to a arrive by election day, but last week a federal judge ruled if theyre postmarked by election day, theyre still valid. Theres a similar case in the pennsylvania Supreme Court, theres a case in ohio challenging that states process for verifying signatures on ballots, theres a case in minnesota challenging whether absentee ballots have to be signed by a witness, and there will be more cases as ballots get rejected for one reason or another. So there have been 560,000 ballots rejected in primaries, and just to give some context, in al gore won the popular vote but 540,000. Paul one issue is deadlines. Deadlines that are too close to the election to get the votes counted even on election draw. Thats one, right . Is that it . Thats part of it. Thats part of it. The second one allows you to request a ballot on november 2 for an election on november 3. Some states dont even start counting, processing absentee ballotses until election day which could result in very serious delays, and then theres the process of rejecting ballots. There was a survey, study of florida in 2018 that said that black and hispanic voters by mail have their ballots rejected at about twice the rate of white voters. Paul so as those ballots are counted and lets say 20,000 in a state like pennsylvania or 40,000 are disqualified for one reason or another, legitimate reasons under the current statute, thatll be challenged in court, and then the judges will end up deciding, saying, well, you need to count those ballots or you cant count those. Is that the scenario you see playing out . Right, precisely. If the election is close, there is certainly that risk. The statistic that you cited by trump voters voting more in person, if that hold, that means more mailin ballots will be provided. And if there are a lot of them that come in late whether its the voters false, the post offices fault, there will certainly be a Court Challenge to try to get those counted. Paul kim, this sounds like a recipe for election month, maybe election two months. Are you as concerned about, kyle, if this is a close election that this is exactly the scenario well see . Yeah, i am. By the way, paul, weve seen this before. I am old enough to remember bush v. Gore and the fight down in floridaover hanging chads. I also remember a 2008 race in minnesota when al franken basically litigated his way to a senate seat against norm coleman. When you have these scenarios, the lawyers love it because you can end up after an election having fights over ten ways from sunday about how you read a ballot and whether or not its legitimate and whether or not the process was fair. And the lawyer end up taking over. It has very little to do in the end with the votes on the ground especially in chose elections, and the real problem, paul, is it completely undermines peoples belief in the integrity of the vote. Paul yeah. And, dan, on that point there was a startle piece in the Washington Post by something called the transition integrity project which laid out is narrows basically from the antitrump left saying heres what were going to do to be able to force trump to vacate in a contested election or force him to concede, and it included scenarios where there were protests in the streets and even calling in the military if trump refused to leave. You wrote a column this week with some awe Lance Armstrong about alarm about a really dangerous scenario for less electoral legitimacy. Yeah. I think we could since weve had these protests going on for over 100 days now. And, you know, that piece, that attitude idea of a military coup to get trump out of office basically represents the sort of emotional, almost neurotic animosity that many in the democratic establishment have towards this president. And my fear is that they are willing to let the system rip apart over the mailin ballots to get him out of office. Just, you know, devil take the high most. And we could see a a situation, theres an election a lot of us werent old enough to remember, but in 1876 the hayes tilden election wasnt settled until two days before the inauguration. And there are serious people writing about the possible scenarios that could push this mess into january. You could end up conceivably with nancy pelosi temporarily president of the United States. I i just dont think this is a result that new of us want to see any of us want to see happen. Paul quickly are, kyle, to prevent this kind of outcome whats the most important thing states can do . Well, they can move their deadline for requesting absentee ballots back, make them earlier, and they can decide that theyre going to count, theyre going to start processing if not counting absentee ballots before election day. Paul yeah, okay. Good. Thanks, good advice, kyle. When we come back, democrats block republican efforts to advance a scaleddown Coronavirus Relief package in the u. S. Senate as the stalemate over a new round of spending continues. So can the parties still strike a deal before the election . A deal before the election . i need it so bad dont call it a hobby. Its way more than just a job. This is how we live every single day. Can we go and play . roaring of engines i needed to try needed to fall i needed your love im burning away i need never get old im burning away if i could, baby id how can i, when you wont take it from me you can go your own way go your own way your wireless. Your rules. Only with xfinity mobile. Muck. Its not a skinny bill, its emaciated. It doesnt help state and local brokers at all. I think that mcconnell is being such a cynical self by saying ill just put something on there thatll look like were trying to do something while weeing mother the needs of the american people. Paul House Speaker nancy pelosi thursday criticizing the socalled skinny Coronavirus Relief bill republicans introduced this week. Democrats blocked the scaleddown 500 billion measure on thursday, casting doubt on whether congress can pass another package before the november election. 52 out of 53 republican senators voted in favor of moving forward on the proposal, a win for Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell after weeks of internal division and a lifeline to a handful of republican incumbents facing tough reelection campaigns. Kim, let me ask you first, the republicans were very badly duded for a while on this. How did mcconnell wrangle them all together . Well, he did it by agreeing to skinny down that bill, because a lot of the republicans that were opposed were very concerned about the level of spending thats been going on, what it means for our debt. And, by the way, nor comparison to gdp. And so this was the, ended up being a better bill both on policy and on politics because by stripping it down some, getting rid of some of the spendier items, making it more foxed and tailored on focused and tailors on Small Businesses, liability protection, some money for schools and more testing, enhanced unemployment, he was able to bring along those reluctant republicans, and republicans are always better when theyre unified. So theyre now standing on this legislation and throwing the ball back to the democrats, and its on them to explain why they blocked it. Paul you know, dan, only in washington do you call a bill thats half a trillion dollars skinny. Yeah. Paul so my question is why did democrats block this . Because it included, as kim described, some priorities democrats want. Why not pass it in the senate in the house has already passed a 3. 2 trillion bill, and you go to conference, and the democrats cant be accused of blocking anything. Yeah, thats right. Well, the authority on this, of course, is speaker nancy pelosi, and we just heard her statement calling the bill i maceuated i maceuatedded, a half trillion dollar bill. Maybe in her world. But i was struck by how pro forma her response was, shes barely putting any energy into criticizing because she doesnt want a bill, paul. I think she wants the political issue going into the election. She wants to argue theres no money in there for state and local workers, and she thinks she can run on that. I frankly dont understand the political strategy myself. At the end of the day, the democrats will be leaving billions of dollars on the table unspent that could have gone out to people. And the state and local workers shes talking about are mainly in what are already blue states that joe biden is going to carry. So its a little truckee for me tricky for me to see how nancy pelosi sees this as a plus for her party paul the president still wants a bill, i think our reporting shows that. Theyre hoping this united front by the republicans puts pressure on some of the swing district democrats in the house to pressure nancy employees city to come back to the negotiating table. How like lu do you think that is . I dont think its very likely right now, because nancy pelosi is in slouch. I mean, shes telling those members reportedly dont be a cheap date. Shes basically saying that if the democrats hold together, they hold fast, then they can