Electoral Map Gives Edge to Clinton; Russian Media Watching U.S. Elections; China Weighs in on U.S. Elections; Thousands Call for South Korean President to Resign
HOWELL: Welcome back. To our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. It is good to have you with us. I'm George Howell.</s>ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our top stories this hour. We want to take you live now to South Korea. Thousands are gathering in Seoul right now for a rally. Critics are calling for the president to step down over an abuse of power scandal. President Park Geun-Hye apologized to the nation for the second time in as many weeks, saying she takes responsibility.</s>HOWELL: Getting inside Mosul for the first time in two years. Iraqi troops are trying to drive ISIS militants out of that city. Out of the eastern most neighborhood, officials say that the battle for Iraq's second largest city will be waged street by street, house by house. The U.N. warns that ISIS is using young boys as human shields at the battlefield as fighters.</s>ALLEN: Donald Trump's campaign office in Denver, Colorado, was vandalized twice on Friday. Police say they have one person in custody after a rock was tossed to a plate glass window Friday evening. Earlier, someone had painted anti-Trump graffiti on the exterior brick wall.</s>HOWELL: And all right, we are in the final push. The presidential candidates trying to head to the -- trying to get voters out to the polls come Tuesday. Again, three days away before Election Day. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton also hitting those swing states all weekend. New national polls give Hillary Clinton a slight lead over Donald Trump. Again, national polls showing -- polls showing Hillary Clinton with a slight lead, but the final outcome of this election will depend on a handful of swing states. That is the big focus right now as this election gets close. Three days away.</s>ALLEN: That's why you'll see both campaigns hitting those states that are popular right now hard over the next three days. CNN's John King takes us through the electoral map.</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So we're into the final weekend. Hillary Clinton at 268, Donald Trump at 204 in the electoral votes. The gold states are the tossups. Donald Trump is in the hunt. Advantage Hillary Clinton. Let's ask this question. How does she look compared to President Obama four years ago? Is she in the position the president was in when he won a big victory back in 2012. Well, let's look at some way to judge. First way to judge is the national polls. That's much better than where the president was four years ago. A lot of people forget this because of the outcome, the finish on Tuesday. But heading into the final weekend, this race was a dead heat, 47 percent to 47 percent. That's the national perspective. But we pick presidents by states. So let's go back to the map and think about the key battleground states. Compare Clinton then -- Obama then, excuse me, and Clinton now. Let's look at the states. In states where Clinton is running just about even with where the president four years ago, they include Nevada and Arizona, they include these important blue Midwestern battlegrounds, Wisconsin and Michigan, and they include one of our tossup states, New Hampshire. Now the gold states are tossups heading into this final weekend. President Obama won one, two, three and Nevada, four of these states. Hillary Clinton in the same position the president was heading into the final weekend. She thinks she can win all four of these, too. We'll see what Tuesday brings. But she heads into the weekend about even with four years ago. These are the states Clinton has to worry about. She's underperforming President Obama significantly in big battleground Ohio and a smaller but important Midwest state, Iowa. We lean these to Donald Trump because he is running much better than Mitt Romney did four years ago. He has a lead heading into the final weekend. Clinton is underperforming Obama in those two states, and just by a bit in Pennsylvania. She still has a lead in Pennsylvania, it's just not quite as big as President Obama's was heading into the final weekend four years ago. But even though she's underperforming in those, she's over performing, she's stronger than the president was heading into the final weekend in Colorado by a little bit. In Virginia by a bit. And significantly in North Carolina and Florida. This is very important. President Obama trailed in North Carolina in 2012 heading into the final weekend. He trailed in Florida by a bit heading into the final weekend. He ended up winning Florida by a tiny margin. The closest race in the country, state by state perspective. He lost North Carolina a bit. But again, he was trailing heading into the final weekend. One of those two, she's ahead in both of them. And that's a big deal as we go back and look at the map and say, how does Clinton get to the finish line? How does she compare to the president four years ago. Well, she thinks she's going to hold these blues up here. She hopes to turn Ohio. Let's see what happens. We still lean that one in favor of Trump. There's some talk in the Democrats they can pull back in Iowa. We're going to leave that one leaning Donald Trump. We'll see what she does on Tuesday. But significantly, they believe especially because of early voting they can win out in Nevada. Most Republicans in Nevada are starting to think that, too. That would get Clinton over the finish line. That's enough. But they also think again because she's in better position than the president was four years ago, they think she can possibly win both of these. And they still think, even though this one has become very close at the end, and Trump is closing here, they think they can win that. If that were to happen, if Clinton could win Florida and win North Carolina, and add New Hampshire, that puts her in the ballpark of where the president was four years ago. Now is that guaranteed? Absolutely not. Donald Trump is fighting in those states to the end. But if you're asking the question, how does she look now compared to the president then, especially because of these two states as she enters the weekend, sure. In a contested race with Donald Trump, but confident the outcome will look a little bit just like it did in 2012.</s>ALLEN: John King, very used to doing that part of the story. He'll be in front of that map all night on Tuesday, on voting day. Well, there are concerns about whether Russia will try to tamper with the U.S. election. Another thing, though, is how our election is being reported in the Russian media. It's no secret and you're about to see this, which candidate is favored. Here's how Russia is looking at our election. Clarissa Ward reports.</s>TRUMP: The American dream is dead. Bing, bing, bing. Bong, bong. Ding, ding.</s>CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia's media is relishing every minute of this U.S. election, presenting it as an epic failure of American democracy. And it's not hard to see who the favorite is here. The Republican candidate is presented as a maverick underdog, a political outsider, who speaks truth to power. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is cast as a dangerous Russia hater, whose election could lead to World War III. Russian media frequently labels her a witch, with one tabloid even calling her, "Evil Incarnate." State TV anchor, Sergey Brilev, says it's a response to Clinton's aggressive attitude.</s>SERGEY BRILEV, RUSSIA TV ANCHOR: They've been on the streets over the course of years. Clinton is someone hostile to Russia because, while she's being hostile, she's done all those anti-Russian statements be it about hacking or about Putin or Russia, just rhetoric statements.</s>WARD: President Putin has dismissed allegations that Russia is playing favorites in this race, but as the polls have tightened Russian media is now suggesting that the election is rigged and that the establishment won't let Trump win. One channel has predicted bloody social unrest if Clinton becomes president, followed by the overthrow of the corrupt regime.</s>KONSTANTIN VON EGGER, RAIN TV ANCHOR: It is a very effective message for the Russian audience because Russian audience is very suspicious of America, is very suspicious of Western democracy and American democracy. And someone who rebels against the system definitely is very good in the eyes Russia.</s>WARD: Which is why media here is happily milking this election for all the propaganda value it can get. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Moscow.</s>HOWELL: And it's not just Russia that's watching the U.S. presidential election. Matt Rivers gives us a look from Beijing at how China views the race for the White House.</s>MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Matt Rivers in China, one of the countries most mentioned on the campaign trail, though one candidate certainly uses stronger language than the other.</s>TRUMP: We can't continue to allow China to rape our country. And that's what they're doing.</s>RIVERS: It's rhetoric like that and China's consistent mentions in the debates that have people talking about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.</s>ERIC HUANG, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Regardless of Trump's slogan of "Make America Great Again," I think Hillary definitely will be a better leader.</s>HUNG RONG, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER (Through Translator): I prefer Donald Trump because he's funny and interesting. But it really doesn't matter to China. We're just outsiders.</s>RIVERS: A Pew Research report released in October found that 37 percent of the Chinese public viewed Hillary Clinton favorably. For Donald Trump, it was just 22 percent. And while the Chinese government doesn't officially comment on foreign elections, state-run newspapers said the campaign proves Western democracy is dangerous. In October, the "People's Daily" wrote in part, "All this weirdness points straight at the corrupt practices of the U.S. political system."