Im john berman. Im kate bolduan. Less than six weeks to the election, not a moment to lose. Candidates are lighting up the campaign trail. They are in battleground states, shockingly. Donald trump barnstorming the midwest. He heads to iowa and wisconsin later today but first, he is speaking in the great state of illinois before the polish american alliance. We will take you there live. You are looking at the podium at the moment. For Hillary Clinton and her team its like a swing state singalong with all sorts of guests. Michelle obama is in philadelphia in just a few minutes campaigning for Hillary Clinton. Chelsea clinton in north carolina. As for Hillary Clinton herself, she will be in New Hampshire with bernie sanders. Bernie sanders might be her new best friend as she tries to reach out to millenial voters. This as there is a new report of anxiety inside trump world about his debate performance. The New York Times says advisers want to make sure hes more prepared for the next faceoff with Hillary Clinton, less obsessed with tiaras and maybe the size of exbeauty queens, more obsessed with facts, cogent answers and valid points aftof attack on Hillary Clinton. Does donald trump himself think he needs improvement . Last night he said he was unquestionably the winner of the first. Cnns Jason Carroll covering the Trump Campaign this morning in chicago. What are you hearing now . Reporter first of all, lets talk about the beauty queen. The issue that most of Donald Trumps advisers say they wish would just go away, do not want him focused on that. Donald trump still seemed to double down on this whole sort of criticism of the former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado even a day after the debate. They really want him to move on from that. They feel as though there was some missed opportunities. The New York Times reporting that there was much talk about whether or not donald trump was properly prepared to go into this last debate. Roger ailes, former head of fox news, apparently in the beginning there was some sort of effort to do more of a traditional preparation by holding mock debates, perhaps, but that was abandoned when according to the times donald trump had problems focusing in that type of particular format. So moving forward, what are they going to do . More preparation, more focus. According to the times even perhaps holding mock debates. Again, he didnt do that. Hillary clinton did do that. So more focus and hopefully, more of an opportunity to really challenge Hillary Clinton on issues that Trump Supporters say he does well at. Focusing on issues such as the economy, jobs, trade. More focus on that, less focus on the former Miss Universe and her weight issues. All right. Jason carroll for us in chicago. Again, we are waiting to hear from donald trump. He will take the stage there any minute from now. While we are waiting, as we mentioned, the first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, she is on the trail for Hillary Clinton but not just on the trail. You are looking at live pictures from philadelphia so shes going to be there but shes also in the air. The Clinton Campaign has a new ad out featuring the first lady. The message, president s are role models. Listen. Hillary will be a president our kids can look up to, a president who believes in our kids and will fight for them every day. Thats why i believe in her. Joining us to discuss all of this as we have these live events that are about to begin, edward espinoza, Hillary Clinton supporter, former dnc super delegate. Kayleigh mceneny, donald trump supporter, mark preston, cnn politics executive editor and alex burns, cnn political analyst and National Political reporter for the New York Times. Great to see you and have you here. Alex, to the trump saga right now, if nothing else, sources tell the New York Times, you probably heard of the New York Times, this debate did not go the way Donald Trumps team wanted it to go. Does he see that, though . I think thats the biggest open question. What several of my colleagues have reported this morning and what i certainly heard from a number of republicans, in and around the trump universe, is that there was, you say the debate didnt go the way they wanted it to. In retrospect its not clear that there was a crisp enough plan for how they wanted it to go going into it. Its pretty clear that Hillary Clinton knew how she wanted to prosecute the case against trump in that debate and trump was kind of appearing to make it up as he went along which worked just fine for him in the republican primary debates but a oneonone facetoface split screen clash over 90 minutes where you cant just drop back for long periods of time is a totally different beast. Remarkable details in this article about how theres angst about the fact he didnt practice enough or didnt practice certain things enough. Kayleigh, what would you like to see him do differently 11 days from now . I do think he had a very good debate but i dont think either candidate moved voters. In order to move voters i think one of the most important things donald trump should practice for the next debate is taking those moments where Hillary Clinton brings up tax returns or many of the lines of argument she brought up and taking those moments to not play defense but move into playing offense, bringing up emails, the smashing of blackberries with hammers, the Clinton Foundation. We didnt hear Clinton Foundation brought up to my recollection. Those are missed opportunities. Thats something he needs to work on. At least have an answer. At least have a prepared answer for questions you know are coming. Right . Right. And learn how to prosecute Hillary Clinton effectively. And make the pivot. Maybe donald trump has had a hard time with that throughout the election. These are a couple lines that stick out as pretty astonishing. They need to convince him he can do better than he did in the first debate which indicates that they realize that they have got a problem, one, but also indicates that maybe donald trump himself, does he he doesnt think he needs to change. They need to convince him he needs to do better . Thats pretty amazing. Yeah, but lets look at who we are talking about. We are talking about somebody who for all his life has been larger than life. He probably is not surrounded by people who tell him no and we know in politics that the smartest politician is somebody who surrounds himself with people who are smarter than themselves. Thats when you see successful president ial administrations. The defense secretary knows more than the president. The hud secretary knows more than the president. But donald trump is somebody when it comes to those issues. But donald trump is somebody who i think says things so many times over and over and over that he believes it so when he goes out and says the polls are showing that i have won, those polls are not scientific to the nth degree. My sixth grader could draw up one of those polls and put it online. I think he says it enough times he believes it and his supporters believe it which makes it difficult for his staff to get him to change his mind. Which is why any journalist will tell you they leaked like circumstan sieves to the New York Times. We heard going back to the primaries trump himself doesnt understand the methodology of polling or what makes a scientific or nonscientific poll. When hes out there talking about the applause meter essentially on drudge, thats not just some act. He really thinks thats a moo g meaningful statement. Howard dean, former chairman of the Democratic Party, watched the debate and commented on what seemed like sniffles donald trump was making during the debate and he tweeted during the debate, he said coke user, question mark. And hes a doctor. Hes a doctor. Dr. Howard dean said that. Coke user, you see right there. That was during the debate. Yesterday, he went on tv with kate snow and didnt back off. Lets listen. But i dont think this is a ridiculous idea. Something funny was going on with trump last night. Do i think its cocaine, probably not. But again, the sniffling, the grandiosity, the delusions, the pressured speech. This guys already proven himself to be unstable. The question is why is he unstable. You know, come on, howard dean. You cant say that. The question is, does he need to apologize and does the Clinton Campaign need to come out and say look, this is ridiculous, we disavow this completely . First of all, i dont know that he should have said it but in a year where lots of people have said lots of things they shouldnt have said, i dont know that it necessarily stands out any more than any of those other things. Plus, i think that but the Clinton Campaign lights its hair on fire appropriately when donald trump or those close to him supporting him say outrageous things and say you need to come out and denounce this. Sure. I dont think that howard dean should have said Something Like that, especially from a Doctors Point of view. Plus i think its important that america knows that donald trump was completely sober when he said the things he said the other night. I think that that actually has merit to it as well. So think of these things in larger context and that was a good spin. But if you cant visualize his way during the debate, if he cant visualize his path there, clearly and coherently, how is he going to do it when we are in a time of crisis, when he has to make quick judgments in the situation room during an Important International situation . The problem is right here is that howard dean just did what we are criticizing donald trump for doing every day. Doubling down on but howard dean is not running for president. Donald trump is. Donald trump needs to be able to make hes a leader in the Democratic Party, former dnc chairman, almost became the democratic president ial nominee. A decade ago. Lets talk about talk a little more about last night. Donald trump is at this big rally. He said that he was holding back, he did not want to embarrass Hillary Clinton. Then his Deputy Campaign manager came out this morning and went there, and said after well, lets also say david bossi has been going after the clintons for years but used the word enabler, called her an enabler. Is this where this conversation is headed going into the second debate . Is this where they are going to go . This is maybe one of the most divisive debates within the trump universe and among republicans in washington who dont want to see him go there. This notion that you turn the final six weeks of the campaign into the great est hits of bill clintons personal scandals of the 1990. There are people very close to trump and certainly people, thousands at his rallies who would love to see him go there and bring up Monica Lewinsky and the host of scandals we lived through and remember well. What republicans who have run against Hillary Clinton in the past are really quick to remind trump and folks around him is that Hillary Clinton has typically been seen as sympathetic when those issues get raised and an election thats already expected to have just an enormous gender gap, the idea of staking your campaign on highlighting a female candidates husbands infidelities and her response to that, by any conventional political logic thats a really dangerous place to go. Its one thing if donald trump does or doesnt choose to bring it up next time and i suppose thats a decision they have to make. What i cant figure out is why theres this public vetting of the notion that trump himself and trump advisers are doing. How is it helpful for david bosse to go out and openly muse about Hillary Clinton being an enabler . It is an important topic. I would rather see the women come out and speak like Juanita Brodrick who said she was bullied by Hillary Clinton, Monica Lewinsky who made a horrible mistake but was on the verge of suicide after the comments made about her. I dont think the candidates should go there. I do agree she does tend to look sympathetic in that scenario. Outside of the women making it themselves, i dont think the candidates should go there. The signals from the Clinton Campaign, they are happy for him to go there or anyone to go there, because they think they can prosecute that counter attack very effectively. Something they have prosecuted for decades. This is not a new issue for them. For donald to bring Something Like this up, by the way, his surrogates bringing it up in the media right now is their way of getting it out without him having to get it out. We are talking about it right now. Or changing the subject from him not having a good debate . We have seen this tactic in the past. This is the version of changing the subject that worked for trump so well, he ended up down 12 points in august. When you careen from one fight thats charged with issues of race and gender from the next all summer, thats not what hes been doing the last few weeks when he has drawn closer in the polls. To return to that because it changes the subject and feels good in the short term, the people who see him as having made progress in the race, badly do not want him to go there. Guys, stick around. A lot more to discuss. Coming up next, donald trump is getting ready to speak in chicago. We will take you there live when it happens. But once again, he continues to attack the weight of a former Miss Universe. We will talk to a different contestant from that pageant about what this means coming up. Also, moments from now, president obama could be faced with the first veto override of his presidency. We will take you live to capitol hill. Whats at stake. And Michelle Obama is getting ready to stump for Hillary Clinton on the trail. It has to be a coincidence or absolutely not that she also appears in a new ad for Hillary Clinton. Michelle obama live in pennsylvania very soon. I absolutely love my new but the rent is outrageous. Good thing geico offers affordable renters insurance. With great coverage it protects my personal belongings should they get damaged, stolen or destroyed. [doorbell] uh, excuse me. Delivery. Hey. Lo mein, szechwan chicken, chopsticks, soy sauce and you got some fortune cookies. Have a good one. Ah, these small new york apartments. Protect your belongings. Let geico help you with renters insurance. Happening right now, you are looking at live pictures of fbi director james comey testifying before the house judiciary committee. What he is talking about is russia and the idea that russia may be meddling in u. S. Elections. Listen. Obviously, as you know, we are doing an awful lot of work through our Counter Intelligence investigators to understand just what mischief is russia up to in connection with our election. That is work that goes on all day, every day, about which im limited in terms of answering questions, but i wanted you to know thats a part of our work we dont talk about an awful lot but its at the core of the fbi. This all comes as the fbis announced its investigating a possible hack of cell phones belonging to some Democratic Party staffers. Cnns chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto is following all of this story for us. A lot coming out. We have been talking about the hack into the dnc and the fbi investigation but james comey is giving more information about what they think is going on. Reporter i cannot underestimate the level of alarm and concern not just in Law Enforcement, the fbi, u. S. Intelligence agencies as well as law makers that have been briefed on the intelligence, the level of concern about russian activity tied to this election. They have been saying it in private for some time, the fact that you are hearing it now, comey on capitol hill, adam schiff and Dianne Feinstein last week releasing a statement pressuring the white house to really out russia on this, you are hearing that now as we get close to the election because that activity is not abating. In fact, its getting more serious. We heard jeh johnson yesterday on the hill saying that some 18 states have now reached out to the department of Homeland Security for protection from attacks by foreign hackers, and really, the number one culprit, although they have not publicly identified russia, and despite donald trump saying it could be china, could be a 400 pound man in his basement, the number one culprit, this is a unanimous nonpartisan judgment from the folks i have talked to, is that it is russia and they are extremely concerned, guys. Jim sciutto, unless th