[Coy Wire, Cnn Sports Anchor:] Madison, take it away. Go.
[Cheersquad:] Let's go Stanford. Let's go Stanford.
[Christi Paul, Cnn:] There they go. Coy Wire, thank you so much. Good luck guys. Nice game today and just want to thank you so much. We appreciate the fact that you take some time for us on the weekends in the morning here.
[Victor Blackwell:] Always good to have you with us. And there's much more ahead in the next hour of "CNN Newsroom". We are passing it over now to Fredricka Whitfield. Good morning Fred.
[Fredricka Whitfield, "newsroom" Anchor:] Have a good day. OK. So do we see a picture of Coy as a Stanford player, in that picture?
[Victor Blackwell:] No. No.
[Christi Paul:] No. We need to do that.
[Victor Blackwell:] Let's google it.
[Christi Paul:] It's there.
[Whitfield:] Google, I would say.
[Victor Blackwell:] Coy with hair is a treat.
[Christi Paul:] But now it feels there we go. It feels much more real when it's on your screen.
[Whitfield:] Wait a minute.
[Christi Paul:] There it is.
[Victor Blackwell:] Still got the helmet on.
[Whitfield:] That one in 22.
[Christi Paul:] OK. Very good. The day is now made complete.
[Whitfield:] There you go. All right. Thanks, guys. Good to see you.
[Victor Blackwell:] Thanks Fred.
[Christi Paul:] Thanks Fred.
[Whitfield:] But we're going to start all over right now. How about that? OK? All right. It's the 11:00 Eastern hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "Newsroom" starts right now. Can you believe we are less than 17 days from election day and we are almost moments away from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivering his closing argument. Live pictures now from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Trump is expected to layout his plans for his first 100 days if in office in the White House if elected. Trump choosing the same city where Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe, made his famous speech uniting the country during the civil war. Trump advisers tell us to expect this, "A lot more details on policy and an outline of the ten principles that Trump wants to get done in his first 100 days if elected." He doesn't plan to name any potential cabinet positions but voters can expect to see a, "real emotional connection with some policies that are near and dear to his heart like trade and sporting police." Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Sunlen Serfaty who is in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. So, Sunlen, do we know anything more about what might unfold today?
[Sunlen Serfaty, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Fred, Trump campaign officials are billing this as Donald Trump's closing message, his closing argument of this long-fought campaign. And as you can see behind me, this is not a typical setting for a Donald Trump campaign event. This is a more intimate setting. Not a big booming campaign rally. Clearly, the Trump campaign trying to put him out in a more formal policy focused speech perhaps, trying to project a little bit of presidential tone as he works to really turn this race around for himself in the last 17 days. Now, we do know that the Trump campaign says he will be outlining what his priorities would be in the first 100 days if he were to go on and win the White House. He gave a similar speech in this summer back in June. He outlined about eight policy proposals talking about immigration reform, talking about repealing, replacing ObamaCare. It's not clear if he will be releasing additional policy specifics or if this will just be more detailed around those already outlined principles. So perhaps just a restructuring, representation of what he already has said. Of course, the setting here, very important. He is very close, Fred, to the Gettysburg battlefield where of course, President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address. Something campaign aides, Fred, say Donald Trump will specifically mention in his speech later today, talking about how President Lincoln unified the country at a time that it was divided. Fred?
[Whitfield:] And Sunlen, what can you tell us about the audience there? You can kind of hear a little hum in the air there seemingly from a lot of excitement. But what can you tell us about how people got their admission there. Who is, you know, making up that crowd, any kind of details like that?
[Serfaty:] Yeah, and some people who live here in the area, as I said, it's very intimate setting. A very subdued setting. There's not loud music playing. There's not thousands of people here. Clearly, very intimate setting for today. People in the community I would say about 200 people here, Fred, certainly interested to know and what Donald Trump will have to say here today and hear his speech of course. You know, the theme billed as a major speech from the Trump campaign heading into the final stretch. This really potentially shaping his message going forward, Fred.
[Whitfield:] All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much. We'll check back with you. All right. So let's talk about Trump's closing argument with our political panel. Julian Zelizer is a Historian and Professor at Princeton University. Rebecca Berg is a CNN Political Analyst and a National Politics reporter for "Real Clear Politics." Also with us, CNN National Political reporter MJ. Lee. All right, good to see all of you.
[Julian Zelizer, Historian And Princeton University Professor:] Thank you.
[Whitfield:] Julian, let me begin with you. Is this kind of cart before the horse in terms of an address of ten policies or is this the kind of address or detail that people have been anticipating, wanting for a very long time?
[Zelizer:] Well, I think they've been anticipating it at many stages including there in some of the debates and I think he and the Republicans certainly feel that this is the moment he has to show, A, he is a serious politician, B, he can actually grow the Republican Party rather than leading it into catastrophic election. And, C, with the site at Gettysburg that he can actually be a uniter in this country and not just someone who is divided. So I think it's a sense that this is essential he takes a step like this.
[Whitfield:] And so, Rebecca, you know, just what, less than 17 days away now from Election Day. Is this a speech that could potentially sway any undecided voters?
[Rebecca Berg, Cnn Political Analyst:] Well, you know, I personally doubt it, Fred, because these are points that Donald Trump should have made over the course of this campaign and points that really should just be a reminder at this stage for voters, not introducing new ideas, not fleshing out new policy ideas. If as it sounds like he is actually fleshing out some of the policy that he would seek in his first 100 days as president, it's a really late stage to be making those arguments. And I would also be interested to hear in this speech today how he plans to get anything done with Congress when he's going out and actively attacking Republican leaders in Congress. It's not the sort of unity message that you would expect from a nominee at this stage in the election. And so I don't think that these messages are really going to be what sway voters at this stage and, frankly, Donald Trump has a very challenging path ahead if he's going to try to win the presidency at this point. You look at the polling across the country and it's very favorable for Hillary Clinton and as we saw in the debate in Las Vegas, he didn't do a lot to really shift the trajectory of the campaign at this stage.
[Whitfield:] And so MJ at Pennsylvania, battleground state. How much went into, I guess, how strategic this might potentially be for Donald Trump to craft this speech there today?
[Mj Lee, Cnn National Political Reporter:] Well, look, the entire focus r right now is the battleground state, especially because over the last couple of weeks we have seen the map really tilt in favor of Hillary Clinton in just a short span of time. We've seen states like Florida, states like Nevada really move more towards Hillary Clinton's column and then states like Arizona and Utah, which really should have been easier states for Donald Trump to win. Those states are actually become competitive. And that is why we are seeing really both candidates focus their efforts in the last 17 days on these battleground states. And this is also why we are going to be seeing an interesting split screen in Pennsylvania today with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigning in this very important state.
[Whitfield:] And so Julian, what's the association that you see with Donald Trump's speech today about possibly outlining, you know, ten policies there at Gettysburg and the historical reference of being made Abe Lincoln's Gettysburg address at that city?
[Zelizer:] Well, obviously, one is to associate himself with great leadership which has become a fundamental question that Democrats have raised about him for months now. The second, again, is to contradict what many people think of him. Most people including his supporters think of him as divisive figure. And some people love that, some people don't like it. But to speak in Ggettysburg is to evoke a different kind of leadership, a leader who wants to bring people together. But this comes so late in the campaign. In some ways he is desperately seeking to hold on to this state, to do well in this state where the polls don't suggest he can win it. So the math is very unfavorable. And it's doubtful a speech like this can really change the dynamics.
[Whitfield:] And, Rebecca, are you in agreement with that, too little too late to change I guess the narrative, especially as he continues to talk about an election being rigged if he doesn't win?
[Berg:] Absolutely. I mean, the fact of the matter is for Donald Trump that most voters have already decided how they feel about him and about this election. The polling shows now that the vast majority of voters feel he doesn't have the judgment, doesn't have the temperament to be president. Two categories I should note that Hillary Clinton has had some trouble with as well, especially on the honesty question that we see in so much polling. But she's at a point now in this election where she is consistently outpacing Donald Trump on all of these important metrics and for him now at this stage to change people's minds, change peoples' perceptions about him. It's really quite late to be doing that, especially if you don't have the organization in terms of grounds game or advertising to really re- enforce those messages and get your supporters to the polls. This is the part of the election where campaigns begin to focus on getting out the vote as opposed to persuasion. And if Donald Trump is still in the persuasion phase, that doesn't really bode well for his results on Election Day.
[Whitfield:] And so, MJ, you're in Chappaqua which is, you know, where Hillary Clinton lives but she is going to be making appearances in Pennsylvania today. What do you know about her goal today and why Pennsylvania is a battleground state that she does not want to ignore at this juncture?
[Lee:] Yeah, that's right. And first of all we should note, really without a doubt Hillary Clinton will mention Donald Trump in her speech in Pennsylvania today. She has been doing that in virtually every campaign speech. And in those speeches, in the portions where she mentions Donald Trump she is hammering home this message that Donald Trump is simply not qualified and doesn't have the temperament to be president. And I should also note when she talked about Donald Trump she's really trying to seize on sort of the vulnerabilities that have opened up in this race, whether it's because of the "Access Hollywood" tape where we all know that Donald Trump was heard making very lewd comments about women, whether it's the, you know, allegations that have come after that tape was released. She sees an opening and that is why she is really sort of hitting home this message that Donald Trump simply is not qualified to be president. And really we should be listening in her speech today to really make an appeal not just to Democrats but independents as well as Republicans. We heard her do this in Cleveland yesterday. She specifically said, if you are a Republican in this crowd and you still have questions for me but you are reconsidering your support for Donald Trump, I want to answer your questions and I want to earn your support. This is of course her recognition and her campaign's recognition that if she does want to expand her map winning over these undecided Republican voters could really be key.
[Whitfield:] All right. So neither candidate feeling like it's too late to try to persuade voters just now 17 days away from Election Day. All right, MJ Lee, Rebecca Berg, Julian Zelizer, appreciate it.
[Zelizer:] Thank you.
[Berg:] Thank you.
[Whitfield:] All right, coming up next. Red or blue in some states the political colors have not changed in decades but this Election Day things could be very different.
[Alberto Mosqueda, Husband:] If it wasn't for the candidate that's running now I probably would have voted for the other candidate rather than Clinton.
[Nick Valencia, Cnn Correspondent:] You would have voted a Republican?
[A. Mosqueda:] That more than likely.
[Whitfield:] Why one Republican state could be making a big switch, straight ahead.