President. There is some tough candidates. The results of two new polls out today mean that ten democrats made the cut, no more twonight debates. Those still standing, right there on your screen. Joe biden, cory booker, pete buttigieg, kamala harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, amy klobuchar, and andrew yang. Todays new polls show that joe biden is maintaining that commanding lead, both of the polls show Elizabeth Warren in second place. For many americans, according to usa today, this election is shaping up as the most important of their lifetimes. We break it all down with Nbc News National Political correspondent steve kornacki, former Deputy Assistant secretary of state for Hillary Clinton, and former director of communications for the Hillary Clinton campaign and also an msnbc contributor, and Washington Post opinion writer also an msnbc contributor. Mr. Kornacki, lets start with you. Run us through the numbers. Give it to us on your big board. How do the candidates stand . A very suspenseful morning. Heres the bottom line. These ten candidates who are highlighted here amidst this field of more than 20 democratic candidates, these ten candidates qualified for the debate in september. What does that mean . You had to hit a donor threshold, 130,000 or more dough nations. Plus 2 in at least four polls. These candidates did it. The success spespense this morne were two candidates on the bubble, Tulsi Gabbard, tom steyer. Both of them had reached that donor threshold but steyer, you see he had three polls where he was at 2 , he needed one more. Tulsi gabbard, she hit the number in two, she needed two more. Guess what, last night we found out there were going to be two new polls aannoyanced thnnounce morning. The first poll came out today, usa today suffolk, no. This is everybody 2 and above. You dont see steyers name and gabbards name. When this poll came out we knew Tulsi Gabbard would not make the debate stage in september. This one effectively eliminated her. And then the second pole came out, all of the candidates 2 and above, you dont see gabbard and steyer. Steyer had two shots here. He spent 12 million since getting in this race. He had two shots this morning to get 2 . If he had done it in just one of them, not only would he be in that september debate, but, that would mean 11 candidates, that would mean two nights, to stages, two groups of candidates. But steyer did not reach the number, therefore unless there is some surprise mystery, unannounced poll that randomly comes out before midnight tonight, this will be it. It will be those ten candidates, one night of debating. Everyone on the same stage, no more of this two groups. It will be an interesting thing to look for in september. Whats the Biggest Surprise to you, steve, when you look at the polls and who is in and out . I think that steyer in terms of the money that he put into this to get in here. Tried to move the money with that money. The interesting thing with this with steyer, that 12 million he spent it in the early states. He hasnt spent it nationally. These were national polls. If this had been a New Hampshire poll, he might have hit that poll, they could beat him in head to head matchups. According to the polling, analyst mary snow here, quote, in hypothetical matchups between President Trump and the top five democratic president ial candidates, one key number is 40. Its the sealing of support for trump no matter the candidate. It hovers close to his job Approval Rating which has stayed in a tight range since being elected. That number, felipe, seems to have been the ceiling for some time now. How would democrats best take advantage of that . Are they better off going after the president or are they better going after the rivals for the nomination . Well, its first things first. I think the quinthey had polled people instead of five, i imagine they all would be trump. It just basically means everyones getting sick and tired of him, especially when you look deeper in the poll on how people are feeling about the economy, how people are feeling about trump himself. So these numbers are pretty bad. Luckily for him, the election is not tomorrow, its over a year away. On the flip side, you have polls pretty much consistent with the usa today poll in particular which is a much larger poll than others that have been done with 5,000 respondents. Thats basically confirming yet again that joe biden has a solid lead and that Elizabeth Warren continues to grow and that Bernie Sanders is right there in the mix. Now, if the election were tomorrow, joe biden would be happiest about that. But unfortunately for him, its not until january. So theres plenty of time for this to continue to change, although, you know, these lesser candidates, theyre just not going to make it. So you really have to start asking, its not just bullock and steyer. To be honest, steyer and bullock started late and that might have something to do with it and they might make the october debates because the dnc made the criteria the same. But you have a whole series of people, less than 2 , you have to ask what theyre doing. Well, i mean, does there come a point, felipe, where just sticking around in the race hurts the party . No, it doesnt hurt the party, except its just kind of pointless. I mean, look, i think people should do what they want. And in a weird way i wish one more person had qualified for the debate because then we would have had six and five. These tenperson debates really are not serving anyone. Now the real problem with the way the debates have happened so far is that by luck of the draw Elizabeth Warren has yet to be on stage with joe biden or kamala harris. And thats just appalling. So thankfully if we stick with ten that wont happen. But you have some candidates, look, if mirrium williamson wants to stay, i dont see a problem with that. Gillibrand is spending money on ads trying to get her into a debate that she didnt get into. Now she could pull out and give that money to the dnc or the senate arm. So what everyone is telling people you should drop out and Steve Bullock was just asked on your air whether or not he would drop out and run for senate. There are many ways to help the party, including giving all your cash. And i think thats something senator gillibrand should think about. Adrian, usa today poll not one person literally, not a Single Person polled said that they were supporting Steve Bullock, bill de blasio, john delaney, gillibrand or amy klobuchar. Klobuchars already made the next debate stage of course. But this idea that felipe is floating that at many point you are hurting the argument could be made youre hurting the party because thats money and resources that could be diverted. What do you make of that . I think felipe is exactly right. At a certain point you have to take a long hard look at your campaign and say is it worth to for me to stay in this race . Theres been criticism of the candidates running of the dnc for whittling the field and creating thresholds that are to unattainable. The field is starting to whittle itself. People are not supporting people who are polling, i mean, i guess if youre polling at 1 theres one out of one hundred people supporting you. But thats not going to get you elected and make you the nominee. At a certain point your moneys going to start drying up, your burn rate is going to be out the roof. Somebody like senator gillibrand has taken a lot of money from her senate account, transferred that to her president ial account and thats one of the reasons why shes able to stay afloat. But at a certain point i think you have to take a long hard look at your candidacy and decide is it worth it for me reputationwise . Is it worth it from the standpoint of being a team player with the Democratic Party . Is it worth it for me to stay . . A and what youre seeing from these polls is the field is starting to gel. That, you know, there was four to five people who are going to be vying for the nomination. Were starting to see that field be set. Sure, there may be somebody thats polling around 4 or 5 who may jump into the top two or three. But its starting to look highly unlikely. Thats why i think its great to see owl ten candidates on the debate stage. This is where im going to disagree with my friend felipe because i think its important that we see the front runners altogether having a real conversation. And so we will see that in september and its going to be pretty interesting. Jonathan, in a recent column that you wrote you cite your colleague Jennifer Rueben who wrote stop the craziness. Does the party need some sort of rallying cry . Some sort of catchphrase to motivate its members for this election . Craig, we all know in talking about it since President Trump was elected, the Democratic Party is energized. Its activated. Its angry and its been showing up at the polls and special elections since trump was inaugurated. It was almost at president ial year levels. So the party doesnt need activation. But, it does though crystallize why President Trump needs to be made a oneterm president into three words or into a catchy phrase. And so Jennifer Rueben proposed stop the craziness. And i propose latch on to senator harriss impromptu late night las vegas utterance of dude gotta go. And it crystallizes everything. Just judging from my twitter feed, folks not only love it, but they want the tshirt, as do i in medium in black. It needs a you cant just do ddg. You need an o for dog. Oh. Senator, you covered it from the beginning. According to this poll shes at 7 . She hasnt moved a great deal according to most of the major polls over the last month or so. Do you think that her moment has passed . Oh, no, not at all. Remember, now former president barack obama was senator obama from illinois around this time in 2007 and no one gave him a chance. People thought he was interesting and intelligent and all of that and, hey, lets see what he can do. But no one thought that he was going to win the nomination because Hillary Clinton was in the race. And we all know how that turned out. And so to adrians point, i also think its great that were going to have all ten on tag, because it takes me back, speaking of the 2008 president ial election, it takes me back to all the debates that happened in 2007 and 2008 when you had at that time ten candidates on the stage. And out of those giant debates, as we thought of them then, came a seasoned candidate in barack obama who went on to win two terms as president of the United States. Adrienne, the president of course, President Trumps been touting the nations economy. This is what i would contend is probably the most interesting nugget from this poll. Quote, for the First Time SincePresident Trump was elected, more voters say that the National Economy is getting worse than getting better. 37 say its getting worse, 31 say its getting better, 31 say its staying the same. How do democrats capitalize on that kind of information . Well, craig, this is a very damaging statistic for President Trump because hes been riding high on the economy and saying this is whats going to get me elected, the good economy, and were already starting to see signs of a recession and people are starting to feel that. What i think, craig, that what matters what im going to be looking for, rather, is how do Democratic Party voters respond to this . Do they take more of a risk as the economy continues to downturn . Do they take more of a risk and support candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders as opposed to joe biden . Because thats typically what happens. When the economys going down when they think the incumbent president , in this case President Trump, is not going to get reelected because of the economy on top of Everything Else, im will to take more are of a risk as a voter in terms of who im supporting. I think thats going to be the real interesting thing to look at. If youre a candidate running on the democratic side, you make the economic downturn one of your platform issues. You talk about his failed tax cut plan. All the promises he made in 2016 to workingclass voters in manufacturing swing states saying im going to improve your lives. Im going to make the economy so much better for you. Well it hasnt happened and now theyre starting to feel it in their pocketbooks. This is a real opening for democrats, but its also going to be interesting to see how this particular statistic plays out in a democratic primary. Felipe, always good to have you. Jonathan, you could do dugg, dude gotta go. I know he was deflated when i said it didnt work. It still works whether an acronym or full out. Thank you. All of these great political minds, so many in one place. President trump so eager to complete his border wall hes reportedly directing aides to take private land to get it done. Details on how far hes willing to go to deliver on one of the cornerstones of his campaign. And marianna is live in puerto rico as that island braces for Tropical Storm dorians impact. Marianna. Reporter craig, puerto rico preparing for impact as the Tropical Storm is expected to make landfall later today. A lot of people in the eastern part of the island caught off guard as the storm shifted track overnight. Well be talking to a concerned couple seven months pregnant when we come back. Concerned couple seven months pregnant when we come back. Disease is out there. And the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Join the fight with the Alzheimers Association. You get more than yourFree Shipping. Ir, you get everything you need for your home at a great price, the way it works best for you, ill take that. Wait honey, no. When you want it. You get a delivery experience you can always count on. You get your perfect find at a price to match, on your own schedule. You get fast and Free Shipping on the things that make your home feel like you. Thats what you get when youve got wayfair. So shop now hey i live on my own now ive got xfinity, because i like to live life in the fast lane. Unlike my parents. You rambling about xfinity again . Youre so cute when you get excited. Anyways. Ive got their app right here, i can troubleshoot. I can schedule a time for them to call me back, its great you have our number programmed in . Ya i dont even know your phone anymore. Excuse me . what . I dont know your phone number. Aw well. He doesnt know our phone number you have our fax number, obviously. Todays xfinity service. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Ill pass. We continue to follow this breaking news right now, puerto rico bracing for Tropical Storm dorian as it churns southeast of the coast there. Its expected to make landfall today. Could become a hurricane by this weekend and its bringing with it some dangerous rain, strong winds to an area that is very much still in recovery. Nbc meteorologist Michelle Grossman is with me now. She has an update that we just received from the National Hurricane center a few minutes ago. And marianna is live in puerto rico with people are being told to get shelter. Michelle, let me start with you. What did we learn in that new update from the National Hurricane center . Pretty big updates. This has been a storm thats been very unpredict able and it will continue to be unpredictable over the next couple days. Were expecting a category three storm over the next couple days. This is the enhanced satellite. Were impacting the virgin islands, the eastern part of puerto rico. This is the key. When it passes over this land is it going to kind of decrease it a bit or is it going to maintain its strength in thats what well watch over the next several days. And theyre another big, big update as of the 11 00 advisory, 70mileperhour winds, it jumped up 10 Miles Per Hour. Thats very, very close to a category one Hurricane Storm. Were going to see this increase over the next several days. So we could see Hurricane Storm force winds as we approach puerto rico. Right now the location is 25 miles south of the saint croix. Were moving pretty quickly, thats the good news. Well go over puerto rico pretty quickly. I anticipate the strength or at least the speed to maintain itself over the next several days and then it may stall as it gets closer to the u. S. Coast. Here fortunate watches and warnings. We have a hurricane watch in puerto rico. Were anticipating it to pass over as a Tropical Storm, but we could see gusts higher than 74 Miles Per Hour, so we could see those conditions really picking up. Then as it passes north of the dominican republic, we do have a Tropical Storm watch. This is the big key, and this is the big change as of the 11 00 advisory. Were going to watch this all day long because well see this jog back and forth. The biggest difference is wer