[Carol Costello, Cnn Anchor:] We were looking at the people celebrating in the bar in Chicago. I'm sure they have been on a bender for the last several weeks. Andy Scholes thanks so much. The next hour of CNN "NEWSROOM" starts now. And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. The presidential race tightens as time runs out. With just five days to go, Trump and Clinton using very different tactics.
[Donald Trump,  Presidential Candidate:] Stay on point, Donald. Stay on point. No side tracks, Donald. Nice and easy.
[Hillary Clinton,  Presidential Candidate:] Right now across country, people are doing just that. They are rejecting his dark and divisive vision.
[Costello:] They do share one goal, though. Lock in those battleground states. Both candidates trying to clinch critical votes in places like North Carolina today. And the Clinton campaign rolling out major surrogates again, making crucial stops in places like Florida and Ohio. Donald Trump is looking to gin up support with a boost from his own kids in a rare stump speech from his wife, Melania. We are covering all the angles with our team of political reporters. But let's start with Jason Carroll. He's in Jacksonville, Florida. Good morning.
[Jason Carroll, Cnn National Correspondent:] And good morning to you, Carol. You know, this is a state that this candidate, this campaign, must win. That's why we saw them making multiple stops here in Florida yesterday, another stop here today. This is a very tight race here in the state of Florida. And the campaign is encouraged by some of these numbers. Take a look at on poll, the CNN Poll of Polls, shows that it's basically a dead heat here in the state. Clinton at 45 percent, Trump at 45 percent as well. So, they know they've got to hit these battleground states hard. They also know that they have to stay on message. This is something that Donald Trump publicly reminded himself of yesterday telling the audience he's got to stay cool and stay on point.
[Trump:] We have got to be nice and cool, nice and cool, right? Stay on point, Donald. Stay on point. No side tracks, Donald. Nice and easy. Nice. Because I've been watching Hillary the last few days, she's totally unhinged. We don't want any of that.
[Carroll:] Donald Trump has had some problems, actually trying to stay on message throughout the campaigns, at times stepping on his own message. Now that we are in the final stretch, the campaign wants to see Donald Trump stay focused on the issues. Another thing they have to do, Carol, is make inroads into some of these blue states. They're going to have to flip a blue state in order to get to that magical number of 270. That's why you're going to see folks like Mike Pence and Ted Cruz for the first time out campaigning for the top of the ticket in states like Michigan. They will also be in Iowa. Melania Trump for her part, she will be doing her part for the first time in the state of Pennsylvania, campaigning later today. Trump says he will be watching from North Carolina. He's going to be making two stops in North Carolina later. Carol?
[Costello:] All right, Jason Carroll reporting live from Jacksonville. Thank you. Chelsea Clinton, kicking off a busy day for the campaign and she's not the only one, major surrogates for Clinton, fanning out across the country.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] All of you are uniquely qualified to make sure this guy who is uniquely unqualified does not become president. You just got to vote. You just got to vote.
[Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Clinton's Daughter:] Donald Trump consumes so much oxygen with what he is saying and in how he is demeaning huge swaths of our country.
[Bill Clinton, Former President Of United States:] Our future is bright. But we can't get there if we choose anger over answers and if we choose fantasy over facts.
[Costello:] So, our senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns has more on the Clinton campaign. Good morning.
[Joe Johns, Cnn Senior Washington Correspondent:] Good morning, Carol. Hillary Clinton's closing argument, to get out the vote in battleground states sounding much more somber than her campaign would have preferred. Though they say they are hoping to get back to talking about the candidate's vision for the country before it's all over. She is expected to have two stops in North Carolina today, wrapping up tonight with an event featuring Pharrell Williams and her opponent in the primaries, Bernie Sanders. Her top surrogates fanning out across the country including of course the surrogate in chief, President Obama. You just saw there, he was in North Carolina on Wednesday. He's going to be in Miami today. And as you listen to what the surrogates are saying, it's pretty clear they are pushing to try to get out the vote. Today, Hillary Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine is in Arizona. Bill Clinton is in Las Vegas. And Chelsea Clinton is in Wisconsin. Carol?
[Costello:] All right, Joe Johns reporting live for us this morning, thank you. So let's talk about Senator Ted Cruz. Senator Ted Cruz is with him, the man who once called Donald Trump a pathological liar and serial philanderer, will hit the trail for Trump. That breakfast meeting back in July where Mr. Cruz refused to endorse Trump for insulting his wife and his father, you know this one
[Sen. Ted Cruz,  Texas:] I don't get angry often. But you mess with my wife. You mess with my kids. That will do it every time. Donald, you are a sniveling coward. Leave Heidi the hell alone. I'm not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father.
[Costello:] Oh, my, how things have changed. All is forgiven, apparently. Cruz will not only vote for Mr. Trump. But he will also campaign for him, actively campaign for him today in the state of Iowa. So let's talk about that and more. With me now, Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and Patricia Murphy, columnist for "The Daily Beast" and "Roll Call." Welcome to both of you.
[Patricia Murphy, Columnist "the Daily Beast" And "roll Call":] Good morning.
[Larry Sabato, Director University Of Virginia Center For Politics:] Thanks.
[Costello:] OK. So, just to further refresh our memories, Cruz's anger was sparked by a re-tweet from Mr. Trump, one that compared the looks of the two candidates' wives. Remember that? In an earlier tweet Trump threatened to "spill the beans on Heidi Cruz," whatever that meant. And of course, Mr. Trump also, seemingly accused Mr. Cruz's father of taking part in JFK's assassination. So Larry, this is quite an about-face on Mr. Cruz's part.
[Sabato:] Well, that's a nice way to put it, Carol. You know, politicians are known for turning on a dime but this one has got to go into the hall of fame. What it's about, obviously, is that Cruz still has presidential ambitions. He hopes to run in the future, 2020, if Trump loses, and it's going to be very difficult for any candidate to do so, who has held out on Trump, who didn't support the Republican nominee in 2016, and there are people in and out of Texas in the Republican Party who are trying to produce a strong challenge to Cruz when he runs for re-election to his senate seat in 2018. So Cruz has lots of political motives to do this. But I just have to add one thing, Carol. You know, you studied the 1960s enough to know this. There was no greater crime really in the 20th century than the assassination of President Kennedy. And there is no question that Donald Trump essentially accused his father of having been involved in the assassination of President Kennedy. To forgive something like that when Trump, to the best of my knowledge, has never apologized or taken that back in any way, shape or form, is stunning.
[Costello:] And plus, Patricia, the Republicans always call themselves, you know, they are way into family values. It just seems that Sen. Cruz, like, maybe sold out his wife and dad because he wants to continue his political career.
[Murphy:] Yes, with Ted Cruz, there's kind of family and there's values and it seems like in this decision, the value is getting re-elected and reserving the right to run for president in the future. After Ted Cruz decided not to endorse Donald Trump at the Republican convention and that convention hall went absolutely bananas. And Heidi Cruz had to be escorted out by security. Ted Cruz's own approval ratings among Republicans cratered from about 60 percent to 35 percent among Republicans. I think it was a big risk for him. I don't think he anticipated the fallout of it and the backlash. And he's been trying to peddle his way back into Republicans' good graces ever since. But I don't think that laying down this moral obligation not to support a person and then reversing it. And never even explaining really why it's now OK that Donald Trump accused your dad of killing JFK. He's never really squared that circle. And I think it will continue to be a real significant problem for him in the future, with Republicans and anybody else who might be voting for him.
[Costello:] So, Larry, does this mean that Republicans are coming home, as Mike Pence wants them to, because Sen. Mitch McConnell, he's been laying low, right? But just yesterday, he spoke out in favor of Trump. Reportedly telling Kentucky voters, "We need a new president, Donald Trump. We need Donald Trump to be the most powerful Republican in America and we must support him." So is that a sign that Republicans are coming home?
[Sabato:] Well, Mitch McConnell is from Kentucky. And Kentucky will very predictably vote overwhelmingly for Trump. So, that's part of the calculation for Mitch McConnell. But yes, Republicans are coming home. It's a normal process. You have reluctant partisans. They are called reluctant partisans, for whatever reason they don't like the nominee and they tend to come home right at the end because partisan fervor intensifies in the final days of a campaign. And never has it been more true, that there are loads of Republicans who don't like Donald Trump. But at the end of the campaign, they also focus on the opponent and they don't like Donald Trump but they hate Hillary Clinton. Therefore, they reluctantly vote for Donald Trump. And that is the source of the tightening of the polls. It isn't so much that Clinton has dropped. It is more that Trump has consolidated that party base.
[Costello:] Interesting. OK. So, in light of what you just said, Larry, what Mr. Trump said on the campaign trail about, you know, sticking to the script, kind of makes sense. Let's listen.
[Trump:] And this guy is a liar.
[Costello:] OK. So, anyway, let me paraphrase as much as I can remember. But Patricia, he said that he's going to stay on message. And he was sort of like, giving advice to himself at a rally.
[Murphy:] I could almost hear Kellyanne Conway's voice saying don't go off script, Donald. Don't do it. Because you know that's what she's been saying to him for the last several weeks and whenever Donald Trump stays on script, his numbers improve. And particularly when you have so much ammunition against Hillary Clinton as the Trump campaign does, it has driven Republicans absolutely crazy when Donald Trump would go off on some weird tangent about a woman or somebody he did or didn't attack. He was his own worst enemy. And so he had certainly getting this kind of advice from Kellyanne Conway and from other Republicans. Even Mitch McConnell said, just get on script. Just stay on the prompter. He's doing it and it's working for him. But I think, we all know that the next five, six days are going to be an absolute eternity for anybody watching Donald Trump and having his eyes wander off the prompter and where is he going. He could still really blow it wide open for himself.
[Costello:] OK. So Larry, Patricia, stick around because we have much more to come. Coming up in the "NEWSROOM," the polls are tightening. We'll take a deep dive to tell you what they really mean, next.