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00:00The U.S. presidential election is now just six weeks away, and every Monday from now
00:04until Election Day, November 5th, we're going to check in with our Washington correspondent,
00:08Fraser Jackson, to get the very latest from the campaign trail.
00:11Fraser, welcome.
00:12It's very early there.
00:13Welcome.
00:14Good morning to you.
00:15There was a lot of talk about will or won't the two candidates go face to face in a new
00:19presidential debate after the one earlier this month.
00:23Kamala Harris says she wants the debate.
00:25How's that going down with the Trump campaign?
00:28Yeah, well, Kamala Harris accepting an invitation from CNN to hold a debate on October 23rd.
00:34Donald Trump, however, using his line once again that only a loser of the first debate
00:39would ask for a rematch and said at a rally on North Carolina on Saturday that he isn't
00:46actually up for a second debate.
00:50So instead, he is deciding to stay away from that kind of debate and said that basically
00:56his reasoning was because basically the voting has already started and that people are already
01:02going to the polls and therefore it's too late to go for a second debate.
01:06That was the reasoning Donald Trump sighs anyway.
01:09His reasoning, it must be said, not really holding water.
01:12There, of course, have been debates normally in normal election cycles this late into the
01:18game.
01:19Donald Trump himself, as Kamala Harris pointed out, at least her campaign points out, in
01:252020 took part in election debates that took place on the 22nd of October, so just a day
01:31before this one would take place, and also saying that Trump himself has never actually
01:36been somebody to care that much about early voting either.
01:40He's never, he's actually been somebody who's questioned the legitimacy of early voting
01:45and opened baseless claims that, in fact, early voting is more open to fraud than normal.
01:52So Donald Trump then staying away from the debate, Kamala Harris' headquarters, the campaign,
01:59reacting by calling him a chicken and posting videos of him where he praised CNN for their
02:04debate performance between him and Joe Biden.
02:07And it must be said that debate that we might look forward to on October 23rd would look
02:11the same as the debate that CNN did between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
02:15So we're talking about no studio audience, we're talking about potentially mics being
02:21closed while the other person comments.
02:24That was something that actually worked to Donald Trump's favor against Joe Biden, but
02:28didn't really work in his favor in the last debate against Kamala Harris.
02:33The debate would likely also favor Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, because realistically
02:39she's somebody who needs more of the national spotlight.
02:42A lot of the polls that we're seeing in those key undecided voters who are the ones who
02:46are going to decide this election, they say that they need to hear more from Kamala Harris,
02:51they already know who Donald Trump is, so it's arguably more in her favor and more in
02:56her interest to do this debate.
02:59But Donald Trump, again, is a showman, he's somebody who knows the value of television,
03:03somebody who always cares about his viewing figures, and the fact that the last debate
03:07was seen by just under 70 million people is likely something Donald Trump won't pass up.
03:13So for the moment he's saying he doesn't want to debate, but we'll see whether that changes
03:17within the near future.
03:19In news from the campaign over the weekend, Kamala Harris raised a lot of money and Donald
03:25Trump said or suggested that he wouldn't run again if he loses in November.
03:29Tell us about that.
03:30Yeah, he spoke to Free Measure, which is an online publication, and said that basically
03:39he wouldn't be running again if he loses in November.
03:42Of course, Donald Trump would be 82 years old if he did run again and decide to go ahead
03:48and run in 2028, but he says that basically he's not going to do that.
03:53But again, Donald Trump has been known to be somebody who changes his mind, so whether
03:56that does indeed happen, we'll remain to be seeing lots of what-ifs on that front.
04:02But the one sure thing really is that Kamala Harris' campaign is vastly out-raising and
04:08out-spending Donald Trump as well.
04:10We just got the latest filings for August with the Federal Elections Commission that
04:14show that Kamala Harris' campaign spent three times what Donald Trump spent but raised so
04:21much money that still grew its cash advantage over Donald Trump.
04:26Kamala Harris raised $190 million in August.
04:31Now, to compare that to Donald Trump, he raised just under $45 million and also Donald Trump
04:37spent more than he raised.
04:39Kamala Harris also spending big, well over $100 million of the money raised went on
04:44ad buys and those slick media advertisements that we are seeing run across many battleground
04:50states as well.
04:51But the Kamala Harris campaign also saying that although the cash advantage looks big,
04:56they also need to remember that Donald Trump has a lot of powerful political action committees
05:00standing behind him who have donors that have very deep pockets, so they're still painting
05:05themselves as the underdog in this fight as well.
05:09Kamala Harris' campaign outspent Donald Trump $174 million to $61 million in August, but
05:17despite that, she still ended the month with over $100 million more in the coffers than
05:22Donald Trump.
05:23And on Sunday, she continued to grow that cash advantage when she raised $27 million
05:30just in one day on Sunday at an event that is the largest single-ticket fundraising that
05:35we've seen from Kamala Harris since she took over the top of the ticket and there was also
05:39a massive spike coming back to the debate.
05:42In the wake of that September the 10th debate, we are learning that she earned $47 million
05:48for her campaign in the 24 hours after that debate.
05:51So therefore, another reason that Kamala Harris is likely wanting that debate to go ahead.
05:56But of course, the cash advantage needs to be converted to votes and that's what Kamala
06:00Harris is really hoping will happen here.
06:03She's hoping that big ticket spending will convert to votes, especially in key battleground
06:08states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.