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Inside the Final Days of the 2024 Campaign
CNN One Thing
Nov 3, 2024
As polls remain tight heading into Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have been blitzing the battlegrounds trying to turn out every vote. A group of CNN reporters tell us what it’s been like tagging along for the ride since the beginning.
Guests: Ebony Davis, Katherine Sullivan, Kit Maher, Aaron Pellish – CNN Embeds
Episode Transcript
David Rind
00:00:00
It's worth remembering what a crazy presidential campaign this has been. What started as a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump that many voters were dreading turned into an election no one saw coming. July alone featured the first of two assassination attempts against the Republican frontrunner and an unprecedented switch at the top of the Democratic ticket. Like so many of you, I've been following all these twists and turns closely. I've spoken to voters and officials along the way covered both conventions and the two presidential debates. And yet, as I record this, I have absolutely no idea how this is going to play out on Tuesday. No one does. The polls have more or less shown a dead heat across most of the major battlegrounds for months now. But that doesn't mean it'll end up that way. Anything from a Trump blowout to a Harris landslide is possible with all kinds of closer permutations in between being just as likely. But it's in those battlegrounds where Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump have spent their final week on the trail with CNN following every step of the way.
Kate Sullivan
00:01:14
We're getting on our plane at about a hundred yards away from Trump's plane, and we're heading for a third stop of the day. This next plane is going to be a very short one. It's actually only 12 minutes, we've been told.
Ebony Davis
00:01:25
How are you going to continue to draw the contrast with former President Donald Trump, specifically...
Aaron Pellish
00:01:31
At the event my laptop broke out of nowhere unexpectedly.
Kit Maher
00:01:36
We're waiting for Senator J.D. Vance to take the stage in Racine, Wisconsin. Whenever you're waiting for a candidate. You have to listen to the playlist, sometimes listed at Y.M.C.A. multiple times. But that's just part of being on the trail.
David Rind
00:01:54
Today, our campaign reporters, the embeds who have followed these candidates since the very start. Take us behind the scenes of the campaign's closing arguments from CNN. This is one thing. I'm David Grind.
Kit Maher
00:02:15
This is Kit Maher. I cover J.D. Vance on the campaign trail for CNN as an embed.
David Rind
00:02:20
First, a quick primer on campaign embeds.
Kit Maher
00:02:23
So I'm here in Milwaukee, was about to take off and the pilot gets on the announcer and says, we're deplaning and there's a maintenance issue. Instead of wasting time at the airport, I'm driving to Vance's next event in Holland, Michigan. He has to.
David Rind
00:02:37
When I say they follow the candidates, I mean it literally. They're hopping between planes, cars, busses at all hours to see Trump, Harris and their running mates at campaign events.
Aaron Pellish
00:02:48
Hey, David, this is CNN's Aaron Pellish. I cover Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
David Rind
00:02:56
Some of them are planted in certain key states like CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi in Arizona and Ali Main in Michigan. Sometimes these embeds are the travel pull producer, meaning not only are they filming stuff for CNN, but the footage they get is shared by all the broadcast networks. Really important job.
Aaron Pellish
00:03:15
You can probably hear it in my voice that I'm quite tired.
David Rind
00:03:19
After the events. They write up the news for all the rest of us at CNN, and then it's on to the next.
Aaron Pellish
00:03:25
My car keeps beeping at me, telling me to, quote, take a break.
David Rind
00:03:34
It is incredibly tiring, grueling work, but it's crucial for our coverage. And as a result, nobody knows these candidates better. And that is why I wanted to hear from them as this campaign comes to a close.
Ebony Davis
00:03:51
You know, it's definitely the one job that people tell you that you'll love but you never want to do again. Like, I have hit that point where I'm like, okay, now I understand what people meant by that because it's taxing and it's exhausting.
David Rind
00:04:05
Like, this is great, but I'm good.
Ebony Davis
00:04:07
Yes, exactly.
David Rind
00:04:11
This is CNN's Ebony Davis. She's our Kamala Harris in bed. When the campaign started way back in early 2023. She was actually assigned to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley's Republican primary campaign. Once Haley dropped out, Ebony moved over to cover President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. And we all know how that turned out.
Ebony Davis
00:04:33
My God. David like I have gotten very lucky with following this campaign in the sense that it was my first time on Air Force Two and literally maybe 3 or 4 hours later, Biden dropped.
David Rind
00:04:45
She was the candidate now.
Ebony Davis
00:04:46
Yeah, she was launching her presidential campaign.
David Rind
00:04:53
Has this week felt different than previous weeks as we get closer to Election Day?
Ebony Davis
00:04:58
Yes. What's today? So Thursday is that we're five days out a year. I'm starting to feel almost anxious. Like obviously everyone's anxious to see what the outcome is, but it also is just marking a new time on the trail for us. Everyone keeps asking how I'm feeling and it's just like a multitude of emotions. But it's weird to think that it's almost over in the sense that I've been doing this for almost a year and a half. But it definitely, even with travel, just feels just it just feels very aggressive right now.
David Rind
00:05:31
Would you say the campaign is feeling anxious as well?
Ebony Davis
00:05:35
Yeah, I could see that. I feel like everyone's just feeling the pressure and we everyone knows it's going to be a tight race. And I think that, you know, at this point of the campaign, there's little to no room for error. So everyone's just kind of like on their P's and Q's with, you know, what's being communicated out and making sure that everything's kind of like tight lipped or buttoned up as we approach Tuesday.
David Rind
00:06:04
But if Harris and her team were trying to cut down on headaches, her boss wasn't helping.
President Joe Biden
00:06:10
'Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island garbage. Well, let me tell you something. I don't I don't know the Puerto Rican that I know or Puerto Rico or I'm in my home state of Delaware. They're good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is your supporters. Is this demonization seen as unconscionable And it's un-American.
David Rind
00:06:36
The way Biden paused after saying, The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters had some comparing it to when Hillary Clinton said half of Trump's supporters in 2016 belonged in a, quote, basket of deplorables. Biden went into cleanup mode right away. And, of course, keep in mind that Trump regularly uses attacks and vulgar rhetoric to demean his opponents. In fact, he even suggested on Thursday that former Republican Congresswoman and current Harris supporter Liz Cheney, who he called a war hawk, should be fired upon. His team later said Trump was talking about Cheney being a warmonger who is quick to start wars and send people to fight rather than going combat themselves. Regardless, it seems clear that the closing arguments are becoming, at least in part, a war of words.
Vice president Kamala Harris
00:07:30
Good evening America!
Ebony Davis
00:07:36
In that moment like we were with the campaign, it was on Tuesday.
Vice president Kamala Harris
00:07:40
Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is. But America. I am here tonight to say that is not who we are.
Ebony Davis
00:08:02
And we know that she did her speech at the Ellipse. And so I remember us ushering out after she wrapped her remarks.
Vice president Kamala Harris
00:08:09
Thank you all. God bless you and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
Ebony Davis
00:08:17
'And when we were at the Ellipse, I had like no service. And so I was trying to rush to my phone to get some Wi-Fi. And I remember seeing one of the first emails was that Biden comment about garbage. And so I remember reading that email and I'm like, wow. Like, the timing's crazy because, you know, she had just wrapped her remarks. So I'm like, this is interesting. So I remember we walked over back to the stakeout position at the White House, and I was walking with some of her staffers, and I had mentioned it all. A few journalists had mentioned it to them, like, what's up with the Biden comment? Like, how are you guys feeling? And honestly, it was not much commentary, but kind of like eye raising. And I remember when.
David Rind
00:09:00
They were like, uhhhh...
Ebony Davis
00:09:01
Yeah, and they were obviously aware of it, but like I said, complete composure like at this point of the campaign, like just complete composure, not much commentary, but definitely could tell that it was had to be some type of rapid response in in that moment or coming soon because they just kind of had no words. But I could tell that they were all very anxious about it. And so it was the end of our day. So the next morning you could feel that they were just on cleanup mode because it is I wouldn't say it's rare, but, you know, when something's importantly trying to get out for the campaign, if they're telling us that she's going to gaggle before we go on Air Force Two and so we get ready.
David Rind
00:09:45
She's going to say something.
Ebony Davis
00:09:45
Yeah. And so we we knew it. I mean, we were already asking, but we all were just like, she's going to say something. And that's exactly what happened. She got off of Marine two. She walked over to the cameras, and the first thing she did was talk about her speech at the Ellipse and said it was a good night.
Vice president Kamala Harris
00:10:01
I think that the turnout last night and the kind of feedback that we are receiving.
Ebony Davis
00:10:07
But then she obviously took questions. And the first question out of the gate was obviously about the garbage comments. And we saw that she obviously tried to distance herself from those comments with Biden saying that she disagrees with, you know, any type of rhetoric against voters. I believe that.
Vice president Kamala Harris
00:10:24
The work that I do, it's about representing all the people, whether they support me or not.
Ebony Davis
00:10:30
And it's a lot considering that we're just days out from the election. And I don't think the campaign saw that one coming soon.
David Rind
00:10:40
Harris is really looking to boost turnout in the final days, get out the vote. And emotions run the gamut among her supporters in Georgia and North Carolina.
Cedric Smith
00:10:50
I'm excited because I think she will edge him out.
Aaron Pellish
00:10:55
You sound confident.
Cedric Smith
00:10:56
I am.
Aaron Pellish
00:10:58
Why?
Cedric Smith
00:10:58
I have to be.
Aaron Pellish
00:11:00
Explain that. What do you mean by that?
Cedric Smith
00:11:01
I lived through the 60s. I grew up in the 60s. I saw it all as it unfolded. Born 1956, Civil Rights Act came into play. On November 5th, I will be 68. The best present I can ever have would be for them to win.
Johnathan Laney
00:11:19
I'm anxious. I'm I am. I am desperately concerned that Trump has more of a shot than he should. It's going to be razor thin and are a few thousand votes in Georgia can make the difference.
David Rind
00:11:38
And to that point, Harris is planning to hold events all across battleground Michigan on Sunday and then will blanket Pennsylvania on Monday, culminating in a big rally in Philadelphia just hours before voters go to the polls. And where is she going to be on election night?
Ebony Davis
00:11:56
She will be at her alma mater. She is going to be at Howard University in Washington, D.C. So full circle moment for her. I think that it holds a lot of significance. It's not a battleground state, but her holding it at her alma mater, which is also an HBCU, I think holds a ton of weight among a lot of voters, specifically black voters.
David Rind
00:12:16
Yeah, I mean, that's an interesting to me because, you know, we've covered on this podcast a lot about how she has not made her her race, her gender, the history making nature of what her presidency would be a part of the campaign. But it seems like being at Howard, obviously she has the personal connection, but there is some kind of leaning into, you know, just what this would look like if she were to win.
Ebony Davis
00:12:39
Right. And and to that point, coming from myself, who also attended HBCU, I went to Hampton University in Virginia. But if it's anything about the HBCU attend, a lot of it has to do with just feeling like you're at home or like a part of a community. And so I think that going home, quote unquote, to Howard could be a comfort zone for her. It's unreal that this is ending in a couple of days, but it's been exciting. And even though I know a lot of people that I talked to specifically and they're feeling, you know, a lot of different emotions, I even though this is coming to an end, I'm excited to just see what the next step is.
David Rind
00:13:24
I mean, I'm sure you're going to get more sleep, right? You're not going to be.
Ebony Davis
00:13:27
Yeah. I mean.
David Rind
00:13:28
Lugging cameras around every hour of the day.
Ebony Davis
00:13:31
Yeah. Packing for three weeks at a time, hoping that, you know, you'll make it home to repack. Yeah. I mean, sleep is going to be a big thing. I'm excited for that vacation. Everyone tells me that will go on after this is done. But like these, that it's almost weird because as little bit of sleep as I get, I still feel like this adrenaline every day. So I never like even though I'm exhausted, I still have that energy to keep going, if that makes sense. So I think that a lot of us are going to feel kind of crazy after this is over when we're not, you know, on the run. Like I'm used to doing a million things a day, waking up at 5 a.m., stalking her Twitter, stalking my emails, you know? So once that ends, I think that'll kind of be like a stark difference. But, you know, we'll see.
David Rind
00:14:17
Well, good luck and enjoy the skies.
Ebony Davis
00:14:20
Thanks so much, David.
David Rind
00:14:25
When we come back, the Trump campaign.
Kate Sullivan
00:14:42
Hey, David.
David Rind
00:14:43
There she is. Where are you right now?
Kate Sullivan
00:14:45
I am in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We just landed about ten minutes ago.
David Rind
00:14:50
Wait, so you. You sent me a message and you said you had been to 200 Trump rallies.
Kate Sullivan
00:14:57
That is right. I have been covering him since he launched his campaign in November 2022. And my job has been to just go to every single Trump rally. And so it's now I lost count. But it's it's above it's more than 200 at this point.
David Rind
00:15:17
This is CNN's Kate Sullivan. I tried to catch up with her before the first of three Trump rallies on Thursday, but finding a quiet spot at one of these can be challenging.
Kate Sullivan
00:15:28
Sorry. I'm so sorry. Secret Service is here. I'm so sorry.
David Rind
00:15:31
Luckily, she was able to find a few moments throughout the week to fill me in.
Kate Sullivan
00:15:40
Hey, it's Kate, and I'm currently at an event in Glendale, Arizona. This is our third stop of the day. It's been a very, very long day on the drumbeat. We started in Florida, and Trump then had campaign events in New Mexico, Nevada, and now we're ending up in Arizona. And the only reason it's a lot to wrap around and do that and the only reason I was able to be at every one of those events was because two weeks ago we got a campaign press plane. So the reporters traveling with him are in this smaller plane that travels in tandem with the Trump plane. We take off a few minutes before he does, and then we land a few minutes before he does. And then we get folded into the motorcade and we drive with him in his motorcade to every event that he goes to. And it's made it a lot easier logistically. And it's an absolutely exhausting and grueling schedule. But one thing that's really nice about it is that there's a really wonderful sense of camaraderie on the plane among all the reporters from all the different networks. Basically, at this point, we're spending every waking moment together. We were you know, I think we've all collectively slept like ten hours in the past ten days. We are rolling up to an event. Let's see.
Former President Donald Trump
00:16:52
It's I'm thrilled to be back in this incredible state with thousands of proud, hard working American patriots.
Kate Sullivan
00:16:59
And when it comes to Trump's closing message, one thing that I do think is interesting is to a certain extent, he really is ending up exactly where he started by focusing on illegal immigration.
Former President Donald Trump
00:17:13
375,000 children are dead, missing or slaves right down through our open border. And they don't even write stories about it. This is the worst thing that I've ever heard of, I think.
Kate Sullivan
00:17:27
And something he's been doing at a lot of his rallies is bringing out and inviting family members of victims of violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. And he has them on stage with him and they speak He's recorded videos with them as well.
Video
00:17:45
We've got wrenching new details in the murder of Georgia nursing student Lincoln Riley, the illegal immigrant suspect who cops say committed the heinous murder, is a Venezuelan national who crossed the unsecured southern border back in 2022.
Kate Sullivan
00:17:56
And it's all part of this broader messaging about his immigration plans. You know, Trump from the very beginning has been planning mass deportations. If he wins and he's been using dehumanizing, inflammatory, disparaging language when he talks about people who are undocumented as he tries to push these very hard line immigration policies. But he's going to take the stage in just a moment. So I've got to go, but I'll keep you posted.
David Rind
00:18:29
Another part of Trump's dark closing argument is that the election is about to be stolen. Analysts say he is laying the groundwork so that if he loses, Republicans will have cheating from the other side to blame. In fact, part of their get out the vote messaging is the slogan too big to rig.
Former President Donald Trump
00:18:48
We've set an all time record in the early voting, by the way. So if you have a mail in ballot, get that damn ballot in place immediately because. Because they've already started cheating in Lancaster. They've cheated. We caught him with 2600 bucks. Now we caught him cold.
David Rind
00:19:11
Now, officials in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, continue to investigate what Trump is talking about there. They identified, quote, incidents of suspected voter registration fraud and have separated about 2500 voter registration forms for further review to see if they're fraudulent. And again, this is just about voter registration, not actual votes. All of that nuance is often lost on his supporters.
Kit Maher
00:19:40
Are you skeptical at all about early voting or no?
Voter
00:19:45
Uh, maybe a little.
Kit Maher
00:19:45
How are you feeling going into Election Day?
Susan Nicholson
00:19:48
Um stressed a little bit about all the the ways, the different ways we can vote and the the boxes that have been burned and the ballots found in different areas...
Woman
00:20:03
I didn't want to vote early. I like voting and voting day. But they want us to I'm going to do it.
Larry Shattuck
00:20:09
And I'm just hoping they get the the true votes on there really concerns me that we're seeing a lot of things happen where the vote is not real clean...
Kate Sullivan
00:20:19
We were down in one part of my job that has been very difficult at times, but I think is so interesting and just absolutely essential when it comes to covering Trump and understanding his supporters. And the MAGA movement is talking to people at Trump rallies. And you know, when you introduce yourself to someone at a Trump rally and say that you're a CNN reporter, I have only ever gotten a negative reception. And there's one interaction with a voter in Pennsylvania that has really stuck out to me and really stayed with me because I think it's so emblematic of a lot of these interactions that I've had with Trump supporters over the past couple of years.
Former President Donald Trump
00:21:00
I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family.
Kate Sullivan
00:21:15
You know, and I asked this man, I said, you know, Trump has promised to appoint a special prosecutor to go after, you know, quote unquote, go after Biden and his family. And what do you think about that? And he said I don't think he said that. I don't believe you. I don't think he said that. I said, he did. I mean, can I? I can show you a video or how can I, you know, I mean, he was like trying to figure out a way to prove to him that he had said this. And he said, listen, I don't believe you. I wouldn't believe anything you show me. I wouldn't believe a video. Because how do I know that it's not a lie? How do I know that it's not edited or you've manipulated it in some way? And we sort of got to this point where I realized that this was this conversation wasn't really going anywhere. And he said, Listen, you have your reality and I have my reality. And that's just the way it's going to be. So it's just that's been definitely a really challenging part of this job, is sort of navigating all of those dynamics. But I think that I've definitely come away with a much better understanding of just how people are thinking, like people at these rallies, how they're thinking, how they're thinking about politics and Trump and the media.
David Rind
00:22:39
Many thanks to Kate, Ebony, Kit, Veronica, Ali and Aaron for keeping us all informed from their front row seat to history. Here's hoping they could all catch a nap sometime soon. Remember, CNN will have live coverage of election night on Tuesday from the TV to our live blog on CNN.com. The CNN app, which features a version of John King's magic wall that you can use. We'll have you covered all night long. And then first thing Wednesday morning, we will be right back here with another episode of One Thing Breaking down everything we know up to that point. So be sure to follow the show wherever you're listening so you don't miss. One thing is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Paola Ortiz and me, David Rind. Our senior producers are Felicia Patinkin and Faiz Jamil. Matt Dempsey as our production manager. Dan Dzula as our technical director. And Steve Lickteig is the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, John Dianora, Leni Steinhart, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Kyle Blaine, Wendy Brundage and Katie Hinman. And as always, special thanks to all of you for listening.
