Everybody. If he had stayed the voice and the vision for those people who have been left behind, this race would be a lot different than it is right now. Dickerson you say recriminations. Do you think its over . Do you think hes going the lose . I dont think its over. If you look at polling numbers in key states, there are enough people still undecided. Hillary clinton in almost, almost every poll is below 50 . I dont think shes going to get a majority on election day. But it requires a level of discipline that the Trump Campaign has not had. This is about the voice of the voters, not the voice of donald trump. Dickerson is it the campaign or is it the candidate you think where the signal is getting lost . I think its both. And in the testing that we do, donald trump scores really well when he talks about changing the budget and Holding People accountable. But he scores really badly when he starts attacking Hillary Clinton on personal terms or even goes as far back as bill clinton. John, i have never seen a campaign that has less discipline, less focus, less of an effective vision at a time when more americans are demanding a change in the way their government works. This should have been a slam dunk for the g. O. P. Dickerson all right. Frank luntz, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. Thank you. Dickerson we now go to democratic strategist and cnn political consultant David Axelrod who is also in chicago. David, we must congratulate you first, a little history for the cubs. We wish them well next week in the world series. Onl 71 years, john. Dickerson now that weve gotten that out of the way, give us your sense of where this race stands right now. Look, i dont know any consultant on either side, any strategist who privately believes that Donald Trumps going to win this election, i think that Hillary Clinton is in a very strong position now. And you can see it with the fact that shes pressing into these normally republican bastions. Your own poll in texas was shocking. Shes got a lead in the aggregation of polls in arizona, and shes doing well in virtually every being state, traditional battleground state. So the question now that you hear is what impact will it have down the ballot. Thats where i think the focus is going to be for the last couple weeks. Dickerson in those house and senate races. Youve been in one of these. You know about early voting, the voting taking place right now. How does the campaign, if its doing as well as the Clinton Campaign appears to be doing, how do they know it from looking at the early voting and what can they do strategically in the next 16 days that we should be looking at as we watch this campaign . Well, this is one of the places where they have an advantage because they have invested in the acutements of modern politics, in at it an lettics. Who is voting early . They assigned scores in these battleground states to these voters to assess the likelihood that theyll be voting democrat or republican. And through those techniques you can get a sense of how you are doing. They know who hasnt voted, who should be voting for them, and theyll be pressing those people. Theres no comparable operation in the Trump Campaign. The Republican Party has it, but the Republican Party has to make a decision as to whether they bring out voters for their Senate Candidates and congressional candidates, notwithstanding where they think those voters are on donald trump. Dickerson do you think the fact that Hillary Clinton is now talking about she took on senator pat toomey, the republican in pennsylvania, and is spending, as you say, more of her attention on trying to help democrats get elected in congress, is that something they can do because theyre seeing this early vote come in, or is it just simply theyre looking at the National Polls and thinking they have that freedom to move a little bit off of their attack directly at donald trump . I think you can assume theyve got pretty sophisticated polling, and each of these battleground states. But i think there is a potential trap for the democrats and for Hillary Clinton. If she partisanizes her appeal in the final weeks too sharply, because the voters who are drifting from republicans are republican, collegeeducated republican, independent voters who might lean republican. If you partisanize the race too sharply, you may drive some of those voters back. So she has to be careful about how she makes her appeal in the final weeks, trying to get people out, trying to get people to vote, but talking more broadly about how shes goings to bring the country together rather than turning it into a partisan fight. Dickerson weve talked over the course of this election about message at the center of the Clinton Campaign, one of those hacked emails that came out this week is a conversation inside the Clinton Campaign back in february, her pollster who you know well, writes in one of those emails, do we have any sense from her, her meaning the candidate, what she believes or wants her core message to be . Is that still a challenge for her campaign . What that core message is . Well, yeah, i think it is challenge for them, but its completely overridden by the things that frank luntz just talked about. Donald trump has become the issue in this campaign. He has made himself that. He has made himself the center of discussion. And that has overwhelmed every other issue. So even though shes going into this election with historically high liability in comparison to donald trump, she is doing quite well. Dickerson Oprah Winfrey tried to make the case for Hillary Clinton saying, you dont have to like her. Thats not a. What do you make of that . Well, i think the people. This is a binary choice. One of these people is going to be president of the united states. What people have concluded, and you see it in every poll, is that Hillary Clinton has the competence and then she has the temperament to be president. They have questions about donald trump on both those things and thats whats making it impossible for him to make progress. Dickerson David Axelrod from chicago, thank you so much for being with us. Great to be with you, john. Christa well be right back with our politics panel. This portion of face the nation is sponsored by b. P. Its not a banner that goes on a wall. Its not something you do now and then. Or when its convenient. Its using stateoftheart simulators to better prepare for any situation. Its giving offshore teams onshore support. And its empowering anyone to stop a job if something doesnt seem right. At bp, safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. Atof bad breath germs. Being satisfied. This is 100 useful for a 100 fresh mouth. Just ask listerine® users. The very people we studied in the study of bold. People who are statistically more likely to stand up to a bully. Do a yoga handstand. And be in a magicians act. Listerine® kills 99 of bad breath germs so you can feel 100 in life. Bring out the bold™. Go to boldpercent. Com to join the bold percent for the chance to win a trip of a lifetime. Thank you for bringing up my email, chris, and im very clarify to happen whats in some of them. Sorry. What, carol . Im sorry. I thought i heard my friend carol. Anyway, back to your question about the way that donald treats women. [laughter] and that is how you pivot. Dickerson that was Kate Mckinnon playing Hillary Clinton from last nights saturday night live. For some analysis on the reallife moments in the debate and more, were here with wall street journal column fist and cbs news contributor peggy noonan Jamelle Bouie is here, Jeffrey Goldberg is here, we congratulate him on his new role at the atlantic. He was just named editorinchief of the magazine. And ed okeefe covers politics for the washington post. Well kick our conversation off from Kate Mckinnon. Well run a clip of Hillary Clinton answering a question or not answering a question from a debate. Well, everything i did as secretary of state was in furtherance of our countrys interest and our values. The state department has said that. I think thats been proven. But i am happy, in fact, i am thrilled the talk about the Clinton Foundation, because it is a worldrenowned charity, and i am so proud of the work that it does. Dickerson that was a question, peggy, about allegations and proof in emails both hacked and also found through freedom of information requests of a closeness between the Clinton Foundation and the state department. She was asked about that closeness and her pledge to make sure there was no appearance of closeness, and she went and just talked about the great things the foundation was doing and didnt answer the question at all. In politics, they say if youre explaining, youre losing. She decided just not to explain. Thats one way to look at it. You might say that was avowing to the fact that she has no argument to make here that is going the really make you think, oh, there was no pay for play, and if those allegations are wrong. I did think it took a special maybe gumption is the word to say, and we know i have only done the best work for america, after all, that is what my state department said. That is like, you tell me you did something wrong and i say, oh, no, i didnt, and i know i didnt because me said i didnt. It was her state department. So what can she do but pivot away from something that i think is a serious charge that even people in your focus group were talking about. Its just out there. Everybody knows what they think. Dickerson its out there, jamelle, but she seems to have come through the three debates in a much stronger position, so maybe she hasnt paid. People dont penalize her for not answering a question and donald trump helps her by taking the bait and going off and doing his own thing. Right. I think part of the problem for donald trump in trying to capitalize on allegations of pay for play are really is with the scandals around clinton, you can find a similar problem around trump. Clinton pivoted, but she pointed out that trump also has a foundation, and at least our Foundation Helps people, his just seems to purchase portraits of himself and that dynamic exists for so many allegations against clinton or scandals against clinton that she can just avoid the question by turning it become on trump. And thats given her i think a real rhetorical advantage, even as voters still have a lot of questions about her honesty, her trustworthiness, et cetera, et cetera. Dickerson another time when she pivoted from a question asked about open borders, she went back and said, these wikileaks emails are coming from the russians and the intelligence agencies have said the russians are responsible and donald trump called her out for pivoting and then answered the russian question. What did you make of. He had first half right but the second half went to embrace russia. What do you make, jeffrey, of Donald Trumps. The safe space he creates for russia when he talks about russia and the fact that the Intelligence Community say russia was involved in the attack but donald trump is kinder to him than others . Speaking of safe space, nothing triggers donald trump like a criticism of vladimir putin. Its quite remarkable to watch. We saw it the other night. This is historic and it represents a Seismic Shift in the way american politicians talk about russia. And large authoritarian countries in general. I mean, its not entirely explicable to me, but generally the pattern in american politics and American Life is we tend to side with small, besieged democracies over authoritarian superpowers. Donald trumps sympathies seem to lie in a completely different direction. Sometimes we do that well. Sometimes we this that not well. Sometimes president s are criticized for not doing enough, ukraine and obama is an example, but this is not entirely explicable but its revolutionary. Weve had three debates. After the three of them, whats the final conclusion . His bottom fell out and yet she did nothing to answer those questions about emails, about the state department, about transparency, and she seems perfectly fine with that. I think they have gambled that theyre ahead by enough comfortably that thats something that can be dealt with when shes president or shell have to demonstrate through her actions that she can win back the trust of the american people. But look, if she had faith and if she faces a stronger republican candidate four years from now, should she win, its going to be very hard for her because i think a lot of the other guys who were running were very well prepared to just prosecute her day after day after day. And it would have been a very different race. She got lucky this time frankly. Dickerson lets talk about the homestretch, peggy. The debates are over. The finish line is within sight and some states are already voting. Where do you see the race right now . Is it over . People are behaving like its over . How do you feel . I feel like the surprises can happen. But i think we all agree that the trendlines suggest it will not work for mr. Trump. You never know. And youve got to keep an open mind, and you have two weeks here. But i think it looks rather difficult for him, and i think for the reasons that frank luntz really laid out. He has at the end of the day done a poor campaign. He has not talked enough about the perceived problems, the problems as they perceive them by the american people. He has talked much more and more impressively and more engagingly about his own issues with women, with the rigged media, with the rigged risk. And, you know, its. It doesnt make a good impression or leave a good taste. It should have been bigger than that. He goes the gettysburg to deliver a policy speech and the headlines that come out are complaining about the rigged election. Talking about suing women who are suing him falsely. This is the opposite of big. People are left with bad taste. Hes not been able to ever stop being donald trump in that sense. Thats the fatal flaw. Whats striking about this is this is clear from the beginning. If you observe trump closely from 2015 or summer 2015 to the present, you would have predicted this exact course, but Something Like it. This is weirder than the exact course. But the general fact that trump has never been particularly interested in policy, never been particularly interested in talking about always premised his candidacy about the idea that he wasq unique force that through himself could make everything better, and the limits of that are maybe much more apparent than we would have thought they were. But thats always been there in the trump meth message. But hes had more than a year to learn how to be a passable candidate, not a really great one with a political gift, but an adequate one, and that hasnt happened, and i wasnt sure that would be so. ni i disagree with you a little bit in that i think he has some political talent, because he isolated important issues to the Republican Base that electrified this political year, and well well they will have to be worked out by the Republican Party in coming years. Im just saying that he doesnt have any of the discipline you would need to become president of the united states. Even your relatively inexperienced candidates like eisenhower have 20 years of political experience in one way, shape or another. Trump has none of them. Except for writing checks, perhaps. Dickerson in our focus room, there was a lot of talk during the debate when donald trump wouldnt embrace the idea of an election outcome. In the know cuss group, we talk the people who are not necessarily trump fans. This is not a big deal to me. I picked up on a lot of that, too. I think everyone there who covers this saw it as a galling and really historic moment for a candidate to say that. But i am reminded over and over again in talking to Trump Supporters and people who dont like trump that voters across this country, a lot of them dont take him seriously. They understand that a lot of this is in their view designed to catch attention, which this obviously did. Dickerson i think ed who was part of your focus group said ultimately hes going to come around and hes just teasing it out a little bit. Thats what a lot of people i think have thought. Others like jeffrey think its astounding and its horrifying. And i would agree, its unprecedented and really irresponsible probably of a president ial nominee to say it. But over and over again iveco d voters that that they just dont take it seriously. Dickerson one other thing, Trump Supporters also say they want to blow up the system. They think the system has failed them some who cares if donald trump doesnt Pay Attention to the niceties of this system that fails me. New york i think this is an interesting debate about whether 70yearold people can change anyway and whether this particular 70yearold person can change. But i thought one of the truest moments of this last phase was the very large question about the future of the Supreme Court, and donald trump could have gone anywhere with with that question, and instead he pivoted to making the assertion that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the justices was mean to him. It all comes down. This is the essence of who he is. Its all about. Theres nothing else but him in this. He relates to the Supreme Court through the fact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg said something mean. That was his answer. And theres noth