In fact, what you see here is democracy in action this morning in milwaukee. Voters lining up to make sure those masked voices and shielded voices are heard. Nationally new polling from the New York Times and Siena College shows joe biden leading President Trump by nine points. We know National Numbers are nice and all, but remember, it all boils down to those swing states. The snapshot were getting from one critical battleground in just moments. Meanwhile, thursdays president ial debate may be the last chance for both candidates to get their message out to the most voters they can. That is, when the mike is actually on . Theres new rules after their last faceoff, and the candidates are taking their own approach to prepping. Joe biden off the trail. President trump doing more rallies. Weve got a great team of political reporters and political minds with us. Nbcs monica alba is in erie, pennsylvania, ahead of President Trumps rally there. Ali vitali covering the Biden Campaign. The cook political reports david wasserman, also an msnbc contributor, has his eyes trained on those polls. We have Washington Post opinion Writer Jonathan capehart, also an msnbc political contributor. Monica, ill start with you. President trump adding more rallies to his agenda even as covid cases climb nationwide, weve got this new nbc News Survey Monkey polling that shows the pandemic is still front and center. Whats the campaigns thinking going into these final two weeks, this home stretch . You said it, craig. Rallies, rallies, rallies. The president wants to increase his schedule to as many as three to five of those kind of events per day after the debate and in that closing stretch. Thats what were going to see later tonight in erie, pennsylvania. Though it will be an unusual picture. A rare guest is going to be joining the first lady, somebody we havent seen on the campaign trail since last summer in orlando when the reelection bit kicked off for the first time. It comes as there are so many questions the president still hasnt answered about his own health after he and the first lady tested positive for coronavirus earlier this month. A new nbc News Survey Monkey poll shows voters are quite concerned about that. A majority, 52 say they simply do not trust the president when it comes to his own health when it comes to what weve seen and that he hasnt answered questions by our own colleagues as to when he last tested negative before that positive diagnosis. They cant trust the president over his own Health Officials and public experts like dr. Anthony fauci who he continues to feud with. Battleground pennsylvania, the keystone state is probably never going to be more key as it may be this election. Its because of counties like the one were in right now, erie, which the president narrowly won in 2016. Hes hoping to do the same if he has a chance to repeat that victory. Polls right now show him locked in a very tight race here with former Vice President joe biden, craig. Meanwhile, ali, joe biden taking three days off the trail for debate prep. Whats the thinking there . Craig, typically when youre 14 days out from election, this would be the rampup season. We know theres really nothing typical about this moment in which were seeing these Candidates Campaign for both joe biden and his running mate Kamala Harris, safety has been the underpinning of when theyre going on the trail. Theyre going to less states in a day than we see trump and pence doing, doing rallies to people in their cars, if theyre open to the public at all, all trying to abide by the cdc guidelines and be safe while campaigning on the road. That being said, joe biden is off the trail today like he was yesterday preparing for this debate. Thats not to say the campaign trail is devoid of democrats right now. This is surrogate season people like dr. Jill biden is campaigning in michigan. Kamala harris is virtually campaigning in milwaukee today where you mentioned early voting is kicking off. She was in florida yesterday. Weve seen harris try to go to places where early voting is in its early days trying to remind people to get out in the polls. Tomorrow marks a day that Many Democrats have been anticipating for a while which is former president barack obama getting on the campaign trail, making his closing pitch for the guy who was his number two for eight years going to philadelphia for a drivein rally and, again, urging people to vote. This is the time where a lot of campaigns, when they are going out there, the closing message is get out to the polls. Were seeing that be the biden mention both on television, in ads and when they go to these places and try to campaign. The biden team trying to make sure they get every vote out that counts. What weve seen them doing in recent weeks is try to stave off complacenc complacency. Weve seen polls that have biden in the lead. Biden Campaign ManagerJen Omalley Dillon advising supporters and donors they need to be campaigning like theyre trail and the Biden Campaign thinks even though the National Polls show a big lead, in battleground states where this is going to be won and lost, they say its tighter than many people believe right now. Craig. All right. Ali vitali in washington in front of the iconic union station. Mr. Capehart, lets talk about these new rules for the debate. Thursday night this new feature, the ability to mute the candidates microphones. How does that change the dynamic . Does it change it in a measurable way and how does it change the preparation even . It changes the dynamic, craig, in that potentially we will not see in the first debate, and that is debate moderator asks a question of joe biden and President Trump jumps in while the Vice President is trying to answer the question. By having the mics muted for the first two minutes of the answer, it at least allows biden and also the president to answer questions that are asked of them. What im going to keep my eye out for is that the president doesnt follow rules. So even if his mic is muted, will he try to speak in a way that gets picked up so people can hear him try to heckle biden or try to talk over biden while hes speaking. Even if his mic is muted, that doesnt mean that Vice President biden cant hear him and cant possibly be rattled by him. If the president breaks the rules, it will be more of the same. We all have watched campaigns and covered campaigns, watched debates and covered debates for a long time. When you are an incumbent aany candidate, particularly a sitting president who is trailing in National Polls and battleground state polls, the idea that you wouldnt change up your strategy to try to appeal to more people to at least try to swing the pendulum the other way, it would be kind of crazy, right . But this is your typical Election Year as we all know. So tomorrow night thursday nights debate is going to be a debate to watch because i dont think the president is going to follow the rules no matter what. It is easy to lose track of days, Jonathan Capehart. Lets dig into this new abc news Washington Post pole of North Carolina, tar heel state, a key battle grund. President trump won it in 2016 by a little more than three points. Here is the poll. It finds joe biden at 49 , President Trump at 48 among likely voters, not registered voters, likely voters. Here is a poll within the margin of error. Noteworthy the president s approval margin slightly better in North Carolina than it is nationally. What does the polling that were seeing here say about this race right now, dave . Craig, its worth keeping in mind that North Carolina is a mustwin state for the president. Its not a mustwin state for joe biden. The states that are tied or close in polls are states like florida, North Carolina, georgia, iowa, ohio. These are places where if joe biden won any one of them, its game over. The states likelier to be the tipping points that decide this election are still michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin and arizona. Joe biden has leads in all of those states. Its also worth keeping in mind the new New York Times siena poll that came out this morning show joe biden expanded his lead among seniors, a pattern weve seen from september to october. His average has gone up from five to nine. Also noteworthy in addition to the size of Bidens National lead which is around ten, is the fact there are so fewer undecideds than there were in 2016. 52 to 42 adds up to about half the share of 2016. That means theres less potential for late volatility or late break towards one candidate. Thats good news for biden. Dave, you just mentioned these Third Party Candidates. Are there Third Party Candidates in any of the states youre looking at that seem to be taking a significant number of votes away from either the president or Vice President biden . Depends who is on the ballot from state to state. Clearly, there are places where Joe Jorgensen or Howie Hawkins are going to take 2 , maybe 3 of the vote. Were looking at a far reduced third party share. Clinton and trump were the two least popular president ial histories in president ial history. This time around trump is more popular with his own base, and joe biden is more popular nationwide than Hillary Clinton was. Not only will voters like the candidates a bit more this time around, but also theyre cognizant that this election has real consequences. Theyre more reluctant to throw away their vote by supporting a third party candidate. Jonathan capehart, President Trump made a point to tell reporters on monday, quote, im not running scared. I think im running angry. That includes attacking everyone and everything, dr. Fauci, the press, the polls. His messaging at this point and in this home stretch, what do you make of it, Jonathan Capehart . I think hes running scared and running angry, and i think this is he has one gear, and he has always been angry on the campaign trail. Hes always been about grievance. So i think the fact that the president wants to have three rallies every day after the debate is just a way for him to get out and be in front of his crowd, his base and to throw red meat and to go down the greatest hits of anger and grievance and putting the blame on other people for any of the issues that are facing the country. The economy, the coronavirus, you name it. He wants to put the blame on someone else and make his base feel like im not the one. Its somebody ems or id joe biden. Were going to find out, craig, in two weeks, two weeks from tonight, maybe a few days after that, whether that message of anger, of fear, of racism and misogyny and all the other things that the president is peddling in the final two weeks, whether that works and whether the American People under the Electoral College citizen chooses to go that route as opposed to go down the route that joe biden and Kamala Harris are pushing, and that is one that is certainly much more open, much more inclusive and one that looks forward and has a rationale for the next four years as opposed to clinging to the grievances of a narrowing base. Jonathan cape harlt, well leave it there. Thank you. David wasserman, thank you. Monica, ali, thank you as well. We are following breaking news this morning. The Justice Department is suing google. It is the largest antitrust case against a tech company in two decades. Theyre accusing the tech giant of violating antitrust laws. The suit claims that google has been abusing its dominance as a Search Engine to stifle competition in the search and advertising space. It follows a yearlong investigation by the doj and it could open the door to more suits against other Tech Companies like apple and facebook. Infecting people with covid to fight covid. Scientists just announcing big new steps in the worlds battle against coronavirus. Also from the court to the tv now, nba star cj mccollum joining me as he gets ready to launch a brand new show with a pretty biggest, senator Kamala Harris. Were going to talk about cjs conversation with the democratic Vice President ial nominee, the election and the leagues activism. Ilure. Understanding how to talk to your doctor about Treatment Options is key. Today, we are redefining how we do things. We find new ways of speaking, so youre never out of touch. Its seeing someones face that comforts us, no matter where. When those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. The first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Theres resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. When we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. When we understand whats possible, we wont settle for less. The best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. Managing Heart Failure starts now with understanding. Call today or go online to understandhf. Com for a free hf handbook. As of right now, more than 3 in 100 americans have had coronavirus. Here are the latest facts on this pandemic. 40 u. S. States and washington, d. C. Are seeing an increase in cases over the last two days. 28 states are experiencing increases in coronavirus deaths. While the number of cases, for states like kentucky, nevada, iowa and arkansas, new cases are going up while testing is going down by more than 18 . In wisconsin, new cases are increasing at an alarming rate. The number of coronavirus hospitalizations hit a new record high, leaving just 15 of the states icu beds left open. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is there, in milwaukee, wisconsin. Right now early voting is also starting while these cases are on the rise. Gabe, whats the latest on the ground in milwaukee . Reporter its a story of long lines, both for early voting and also for covid testing. The line behind me is not at a polling place, but actually outside a drivethrough testing site that opened yesterday. It doesnt open for another 45 minutes or so here. You can see theres a long line of cars that steps all the way down the street, very similar to what we saw yesterday. This is home of miller park, home of the milwaukee brewers. You see that tent behind me. This drivethrough testing site will be open into the evening. We expect hundreds, if not more than 1,000 people to be tested here. Craig, as you mentioned, its an increasingly dire situation here in wisconsin which is seeing about 3,800 new covid cases each day. As you mentioned, more than 80, 85 or so of the hospital beds in the state of wisconsin are filled. Yesterday a court upheld the governors order restricting capacity at indoor bars and restaurants to 25 following a lawsuit here. Craig, very controversial here in the state of wisconsin. Early voting beginning today. Were already starting to see long lines at polling locations here in parts of milwaukee. This comes after that april primary that had so many problems with people waiting hours in line to vote here. Again, this drivethrough testing site here in wisconsin outside of miller park just opened yesterday, and we expect another very busy day here today, craig. Gabe gutierrez in milwaukee, thanks as always. This morning were also following a potentially critical new development in the search for a vaccine. For the first time ever, a team of scientists in the United Kingdom are planning to deliberately infect volunteers with covid19 to fight covid19. Its part of a coronavirus challenge trial. Nbcs chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel is in london. He is following this part of the potentially search for solutions. Richard, take us through how this would work and what it would mean for the volunteers. Reporter it is risky for the volunteers. Theyre all young. There are thousands of people who have raised their hands for this, but the initial batch, and its important to say this hasnt started yet, just the plans are being put in place to start this process. But right now they are moving forward as if this is going to happen so they are preparing a secure facility at a hospital here in london. The volunteers would enter this secure area. It would be fitted out so that its more comfortable, looks Something Like a hotel room, a cross between a hotel room and a hospital bay. There they would get infected with the coronavirus. A tiny amount of the coronavirus will be delivered to them through the nose and then they would be monitored. What is happening the first stage that would commence is to determine what exactly is the correct amount . How little of the virus can you give someone to make them just sick enough so that you can see if the vaccines and treatments work. So you want them a little bit sick otherwise you dont get a result of trying to test the vaccines, but you dont want them so sick that you risk their lives or compromise their hea