Voters are evenly split over which Vice President ial candidate will do a better job in tonights debates in our brand new poll, 38 expect kaine to come out on top. 38 also say pence will come out on top. Of course, you can see the debate right here on cnn. It starts 9 00 p. M. Eastern. Scheduled to last 90 minutes with no commercials. It will consist of nine segments each, ten minutes long after a coin toss, tim kaine goes first. Each segment will open with a question and the candidates will have two minutes for their initial response. The president ial candidates and their surrogates fanned out across the campaign trail today. Hillary clinton and daughter chelsea took part in the a town hall in pennsylvania. Bill clinton rallied supporters in athens, ohio. And comparing in charlotte, North Carolina and donald trump took part in an Energy Roundtable in denver. Bring in our senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny and jim acosta covering the Trump Campaign. So jeff, let me start with you. Tim kaines strategy tonight. What is it . Tim kaines strategy tonight, wolf, a couple things. One, continue the argument or try to continue the argument, against donald trump that has been playing out over the last three days or so about his tax returns and what was in them. He will continue to prosecute sort of all of that. But i think its Something Else as well. It is to get some voters comfortable, try to get them comfortable with Hillary Clinton herself. With her honesty, trustworthiness. His double task tonight, if you will, is to take on donald trump in ways that she has and keep this momentum alive. One thing about Vice President ial debates that can be interesting, they can keep things going, or they can sort of halt things. Republicans would love for the script to be flipped a little tonight. Its tim kaines job to make sure that does not happen. And the jim acosta, what about mike pence . Reverse a tough week for donald trump . Right. Mike pence has been described as trumps explainer in chief, the way that barack obama had bill clinton as his explainer in chief four years ago. You know, from talking to people close to mike pence and close to this process they say he is ready. The indiana governor is ready for the trump tax attacks, hell respond to those and take the fight to Hillary Clinton on foreign policy, on the clinton foundation. On benghazi. You name it. They feel theres a targetrich environment not tapped into because of this pretty negative news cycle theyve been in the last week and a half. Its also a study of in contrast between donald trump and mike pence. Mike pence has been preeparing for this Vice President ial debate since he got the nod from donald trump back in july. Contrast that with the preparation donald trump put into the process before his debate in hofstra. No comparison. Why tonight, you know, people calling this the thriller in vanilla and war of the bores maybe. This could be scrappy tonight because these or two political pros who are going to be prepared. With a lot of experience. Yes. And both prepared. New polls, poll numbers, just coming out this hour, jeff, in key battleground states. I know youve got the numbers. Right. We do. Start with pa. A new Monmouth University poll in pennsylvania has Hillary Clinton at 50 . Donald trump at 40 . That 10point difference between the two of them, one of the biggest margin seen in pennsylvania. It may be a slight outlier. Well see. She definitely has an edge here in pennsylvania, but is campaigning in pennsylvania. One of the reasons is it is one week before the deadline to register people to vote. Why this is so key in pennsylvania. We also have numbers, though, coming in from North Carolina, and Elon University a poll here showing Hillary Clinton at 45 . Donald trump at 39 and of course gary johnson at 9 here. Gary johnson is significant in North Carolina. So many college students, colleges in North Carolina. Keep your eye on that. All after those first debates. A slightly higher edge than weve seen in other surveys, but the Clinton Campaign also focused on North Carolina. Thats why Michelle Obama is there campaigning as well today, wolf. Enk stand by. The first lady, Michelle Obama, shes speaking in a rally for Hillary Clinton in charlotte, North Carolina. Lets live in. Childrens health as first lady for quality child care as a senator, and when she didnt become president in 2008, hillary didnt just throw in the towel. No. She once again answered the call to serve, and earned skyhigh Approval Ratings. She earned skyhigh Approval Ratings as our secretary of state. And for those who question her stamina to be president hillarys resilience is more than proven as she said in the debate last week, shes the only candidate in this race who has traveled to 112 countries, who has negotiated a ceasefire, a peace agreement, a release of dissidents. Who spent 11 hours testifying before congressional committee. Hillary clinton is tough. See, ive watched her. When she gets knocked down, she doesnt complain. She doesnt cry foul. No. She gets right back up. Comes back stronger. For the people who need her most. And lets not forget that hillary is one of the few people on this entire planet and clearly the only person in this race, who has any idea what this job entails. The staggering stakes, the brutal hours, the overwhelming stresses. See, and this is the beauty of it. She knows this, and yet she still is willing to do this job. See because hillary was raised to believe that she has an obligation to use her talents to help as many people as possible. And that is why shes running. See, now, for me, thats dedication. Thats what love of country looks like. So when i hear folks saying that theyre just not feeling inspired in this election i really have to disagree. Because right now we have an opportunity to elect one of the most qualified people who has ever endeavored to become president. Hillary, i remind people, hillary has been a lawyer, a law professor, first lady of arkansas, first lady of the united states, a u. S. Senator, secretary of state see, charlotte, that is why im inspired by hillary. Thats why im here. Im inspired by her persistence and consistency, im inspired by her lifelong record of service. No one in our lifetime has ever had as much experience and exposure to the presidency. Not barack, not bill, nobody. And, yes, she just happens to be a woman. [ cheers ] so as someone who is experienced this, trust me, experience matters. Preparation matters. Temperament matters. And Hillary Clinton has it all. She is the real deal, and i have come to know her very well over the years. And i know that she is more than ready, more than able to be an outstanding president for us all. So we cannot afford to squander this opportunity. Particularly given the alternative. Because we know that being president isnt anything like reality tv. This is not an apprenticeship. Its about whether someone can handle the awesome responsibility of leading this country. So, really, take the time and think about this. As you prepare to make this decision and this decision is yours, i urge you to ignore the chatter and the noise and ask yourselves, which candidate really has the experience, the maturity and the temperament ho handle this awesomely hard job . Which candidates words and actions speak to the values we all share, values like inclusion, opportunity, sacrifice for others . Because your answers to these questions on election day will determine who sits in the oval office after barack obama. And i want to be very clear elections are not just about who votes, but who doesnt. So for any of you who might be thinking that your one vote doesnt really matter, or that one person really cant make a difference, i want you to consider this, and i share this with everyone, because its the same in every election, every election. Not just the presidency. But back in 2008, barack won North Carolina by about 14,000 votes. [ cheers and applause ] and that sounds like a lot. But when you break that number down, the difference between winning and losing this state was a little over two votes per precinct. Do you do you hear that . If just two or three forkes per precinct had gone the other way or stayed at home, barack would have lost this state. But then lets not forget what happened in 2012. Barack actually did lose this state by about 17 votes per precinct. So i just want you all to think about it. Everybody in this room who didnt vote, everybody that didnt pick up the phone who thought, i didnt feel good. I forgot. I didnt talk to my mother. I didnt pick her up. It didnt matter. What does it matter . It matters. Do you hear me . It matters. So the fact is that each of you, just in this hall could swing an entire precinct and win this election for hillary. Just by getting yourselves, your friends, your family, thats it, out to vote. Just take care of you. Find a neighbor, find a friend. You can win this. But you could also help swing an entire precinct for hillarys opponent were going to continue to follow the first lady of the united states, Michelle Obama speaking in charlotte. You see on the right part of your screen, mike pence, the republican Vice President ial nominee just arrived here at Longwood University in farmville, virginia. Hes going to be doing a little walkthrough. Go up on the stage, getting feeling for that as both of these, the republican and the democratic Vice President ial candidates will have an opportunity to do. Its a very important part of the predebate preparation. I want to get Quick Reaction to what we just heard from the first lady. Jeff zeleny, jim acosta are still with us. Even before we started to listen to her live, she made three points about donald trump, jeff. She said, he cant be trusted with nuclear codes. He has no problem mocking womens appearances and he doesnt understand soldiers and their issues. Very strong words, very political words from the first lady. Incredibly strong words from her and words shes been making as shes been campaigning across the country for Hillary Clinton and its both a good thing and a bad thing, i think, for the Clinton Campaign, that the first lady is out there. One, its a sign they know that they need more enthusiasm among their democratic base. So that is why shes in North Carolina, one week to go before voter registration, but i was struck by how she was breaking down the map there at the end. 17 votes per precinct would have flipped it the other way. She is really trying to get people engaged, and it will take a village tovoters enthused about the election. Shes one of the most popular messengers out there in all of politicians. A big asset for Hillary Clinton and in North Carolina. A poll, Hillary Clinton 49 , trump 39 . If if goes for the democratic candidate a huge win. Hashed for donald trump to figure a way to win this Electoral College map if he doesnt have North Carolina. Polls showing up until this debate in hofstra, this damaging week for donald trump, he was inching towards getting ahead in North Carolina. Very good news for the Trump Campaign. Back to what jeff said about what Michelle Obama was talking about, donald trump said out on the campaign trail yesterday he did not mean what beam saying with respect to soldiers coming back with ptsd and not being strong enough. He said he did not mean that. Those words were taken out of context. We should point out, this is the most political weve heard Michelle Obama sound in her last eight years of first lady. Shows you ow concerned the white house is about winning this race. They are nervous at that white house about Hillary Clintons chances at this point. Certainly are and why theyre out there in full scale. Absolutely. Thanks very much, guys. I want to get the republican take on tonights debate and more. Sean spicer is with us, chief strategist, Communications Director for the Republican National committee. Thanks very much for coming in. Thanks for having me. Your Quick Reaction what we just heard from the first lady of the united states. Donald trump cant be trusted with nuclear codes, mocks womens appearances doesnt understand soldiers and their views . I agree with what jim said. I think the white house realizes that they are aware Hillary Clinton has an Enthusiasm Gap. People are not excited the way they were for barack obama, especially the first time, never mind the second. Getting minority voters young voters excited about a Hillary Clinton. In general a problem with voters who dont trust Hillary Clinton. They recognize that and are going as jeff and jim pointed out, you see a first lady largely thats been policy and issue focused getting out there swinging harder than ever. That really epitomizes how concerned they are Hillary Clinton cant deliver. Since that first president ial debate her numbers have gone up. Got an nice boost. Right. His numbers have gone down. Seen a back and forth in the last week. Two polls out, l. A. Times poll and show donald trump ahead two and five points respectively. I admit, were in a neckandneck race. Statewise and nationally, gives us an opportunity to draw the contrast. What mike pence will do tonight. Get in there talk about the differences of accomplishment between him and tim kaine and frankly the difference in philosophy between he and donald trump and Hillary Clinton and tim kaine. A bill difference. The first lady interesting when talking was reading off a litany of how long basically Hillary Clintons been in washington, and one of the things interesting is i think they believe that thats a strength. They believe that 30 years of washington insider is a positive thing, and thats the same with tim kaine. Governor, senator, mayor of richmond. They come into this believing that more time in government is good. I think that the pence trump team believes being the agent of change, talking about shaking things up is actually what voters are looking for and thats where the disconnect is right now. Mike pence, Vice President ial running mate, he spent a lot of time in government, too. Member of congress for a long time. Member of congress. One de oneterm governor. They talk about the accomplishments they have, not the time served. Tim kaine governor the virginia, taxes went up. Under mike pence in indiana, taxes gone down, unemployment gone down. Talking about his accomplishments as governor, things he delivered for the american people. Tim kaine and Hillary Clinton are stuck on how many years in washington theyve served. Look at this pennsylvania. Monmouth University Poll out this hour. In pennsylvania. He has worked hard. Thinks he can taurn thurn that n his favor pap tenpoint advantage in pa panchts i dont think its that much and i i groo with jeff, an outlier poll. I think shes probably a couple points ahead now, but he is putting in more and more time. Youll continue to see him and governor pence out there. The ground game we put together in pennsylvania ensures we know who are voter, where potential persuadable voters are and a reason pennsylvania is where it is on the map. Really interesting thing is, because its in a, its an election day, they dont have a robust early vote program, that we know that we can go in there and continue to fight hard all the way through election day. Have you been involved in helping mike pence get ready for tonights event . I have not. In president ial debates, involved at all . Tangentially. What does that offer . Out offer up advice when asked. Is donald trump doing a better job getting ready for the sunday debate . He is. He did a good job last time. He has spent a lot of time with his, the issue advisers and political advisers preparing for the debate. I admit theres a lot of things we probably could have hit her harder on last time or missed opportunities. But when you look at by and large what the Clinton Campaign wanted out of that last debate, wanted him to make a gaffe. Talked where he was on issues. Stood firm on trade. She didnt. I think its, you know, if anyone was graded on a curve it was was Hillary Clinton. Donald trump stood strong. All the polls, not outlying polls are not svg and polls, surveys, really, all the serious polls, state polls, you well know, National Polling showed she won the debate decisively. Okay. But if you look at that, you have president kerry and president gore. I mean, john kerry won every single of those debates against george bush. Three in a row, mostly fairly wide margins and di