i said virginia and i meant west virginia. vermont for presidentbama. and, ofba course, in west virginia, not virginia, we're waiting on the edge of our seats to see what happens in virginia-- for mitt romney. so that's very early tonight. the two networks, however, have called winners in south carolina, and in indiana. and that takes to us margaret warn who are is at romney headquarters in boston with a guest. margaret? warner: yes, i am, gwen, and i'm here with william weld, ill weld, who was governor of massachusetts here from 1991 to '97. governor weld, thank you for joining us. how do you think it looks tonight? >> it's a pleasure to be back in boston. i think it looks very good for m.i.t. i think right along it has looked that way. i think the feing in the inmpaign is we'll takemp florid, north carolina, and virginia, thank you very much, and go on from there. >> warner: what is it you're counting on? >> myself, i think it comes down to people in the booth. and what they're going to reflect on when they go in there. without casting aspersions in a

voters in northern virginia. you have a large number of african-american voters in northern virginia, and you have a growing number of other immigrant groups as well, particularly asians are very fought over in virginia politics. >> woodruff: it adds up to conventional wisdom that as goes northern virginia, so goes the entire state. that's why both candidates are regular visitors to the area and why romney brought his new running mate here over the weekend. >> you'll make the difference. >> we won loudon county last time and if we win loudon county this time, we will win virginia, and if we win virginia, we will win this election. >> woodruff: local democrats like u.s. representative gerry connolly say they hope the president's right, and point to the area's many government connections, giving it an economic cushion-- an unemployment rate of 5.7%, one of the lowest in the nation-- in the aftermath of the financial crash and the recession. >> i represent for example the highest median household income in the unite

it's not just virginia. it may be the tip of the deciding iceberg as it were. >> we have highlighted a couple of state, starting with new hampshire, the perennial battle dplownd state. it has flipped with several different elections. an example, if you look at the 2010 senate race. kelly ayotte won by 23 point and the two congressional seats flipped. >> ifill: she's the republican senator. >> yes. and that's one we're looking at. then you have new mexico, the crucial area in the southwest that president obama's campaign is very much target upon. he swept the southwest in 2008, and in 2010, this is another example where you can look at suzanna martinez, a republican able to win the governor's race there. there had been a democratic governor, bill richardson before and a congressional seat flipped. you really see a trend and that's why the republicans are trying to target there. the democrats are feeling pretty confident. then pennsylvania, a working class stated state, where you have a lot of voters -- susan

but the key about virginia is this. is it blue or red? in the last two national elections, judy, virginia is the only state that has voted exactly the way the nation did. it voted 53% to 46% for barack obama in '08, 51% to 47% to him in '12. 13 out of the last 14 prior to that it voted republican. the only time they voted democratic was for lyndon johnson in 1964 whenever place -- so it's been -- it's a state that had two republican senators, george allen and john warner. now has two democratic senators, mark worner and tim kaine. it's become, i think, a bluer state and ken cuccinnelli i don't think is the kind of republican who -- and kwame's point is right. robert sarvis, the libertarian, complicated his life and if, in fact, what happens and he has to hope that cucchinelli folks that the third party does better in the polls than election day when people say well, i have to make a choice between these two leading candidate he is has to hope that sarvis voters say cucchinelli is the best chance. >> if mark's going with darwin i'm going w

the great majority of them are up in northern virginia. so we're monitoring that very closely, and, again, we're encouraging people in the northern virginia area to just stay home until these numbers go down a bit. >> reporter: >> woodruff: and in a separate question, governor, which has to do with what's happening in the d.c. area is that we see, as these areas open up in the less populated parts of the country, as in rural virginia, southern virginia, people from the urban areas are going out to these parts of the state and of the country. is virginia prepared for what could happen as people move around the state more? >> we're monitoring that very closely, and we have encouraged individuals that live in northern virginia to please stay home. we've had outbreaks in other parts of the state, as you know, judy, over on the eastern shore where i'm there, we've had outbreaks at our meat processing plants, nursing homes have been affected by this. so this virus doesn't know boundaries of counties and states, and we all have to just really rem

virginia is the latest as national attention has focused on a proposed law. a furor gripped virginia's state legislature in recent days, as republicans pushed to mandate ultra-sound testing, which would be internal for many women seeking abortions. on monday, more than a thousand people-- mostly women-- held a silent protest against the bill outside the state capitol in richmond. and, the proposal quickly drew the attention of national television, including the "daily show." with criticism rising, virginia's republican governor bob mcdonnell-- mentioned as a potential vice presidential nominee-- yesterday announced he'd changed his mind. he issued a statement that read: "mandating an invasive procedure in order to give informed consent is not a proper role for the state." instead, mcdonnell said, the bill should "...explicitly state that no woman in virginia will have to undergo a trans-vaginal ultrasound involuntarily." within hours, virginia's house of delegates did just that passing a version that requires the more traditional external abdominal ultrasound

let's look how you divide up the state of virginia. >> when you look at virginia, virginia is made up of many different kinds of communities. as you look at that pie chart, the pie chart shows the vote there tuesday night, some parts of virginia hold a lot more people than other parts. you look at these urban suburbs, urban suburbs, what we think of as northern virginia, mostly, the areas primarily around washington, d.c. there's also one down by richmond. african american south, large black population, military posts, obviously. there's a big military contingent in the state. a work class country. the big parents of the state are the urban burbs that sit outside d.c., and the excerpts this sit beyond that. and there's a big divide in those between liberals-- liberal voting tendencies and conservative voting tendencies. >> woodruff: so as you looked at the vote-- and you have gone back and looked at the numbers and divided in these categories -- why did terry mcauliffe win? what groups did he do well in? >> mcauliffe out of all those groups only one wun three. he won the urban suburbs

virginia, has an enormous amount of work to do to get ready. well, if the insurance pieces or the medicare medicaid or the whole bill is going to be struck down, we're going to have wasted tens of millions of dollars trying to scramble to get ready. mrs. deparle's comment made it sound like you could snap your fingers and be ready on january 1, 2014. there's an awful lot of work that will go into being ready on time and none of it may be left standing when the supreme court hears it. >> brown: the attorney general of virginia, thanks very much, ken cuccinelli. >> glad to be with you. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. the senate moved toward a showdown vote on a nuclear arms treaty with russia. and the prime minister of iraq submitted a lineup of cabinet ministers for a new government, nine months after national elections. belarus forced a crackdown on the opposition after charges of fraud in sunday's presidential election. and to hari sreenivasan in our newsroom, for what's on the newshour online. hari? >> sreenivasan: health

our team visited west virginia and virginia, which made very different decisions about medicaid. west virginia did commit to expanding medicaid through obamacare. but virginia is one of 19 states that did not. the state's republican- controlled legislature voted against expanding the program to 400,000 more citizens because of concerns over costs. tonight, we visit a clinic in the western corner of virginia, a region that strongly supported the election of president trump. >> my name is dr. paula hill. i'm a family nurse practitioner and clinical director at the health wagon. we are at the smitty clinic, in wise, virginia. we actually say that we're the forgotten virginia because we're down in the corner with tennessee and kentucky borders. and we're very rural, very mountainous and very isolated from the rest of virginia and a lot of ways the rest of the country. we have a high rate of heart disease, diabetes, and it's because of the economics here. >> all the mines and stuff is just about closed down. and there really isn't any jobs around here. my name is joyce campbell. i'm f

how are the public officials in west virginia sorting through this right now? >> historically west virginia was a democratic state, this was a place that going back to days of fdr had felt that it was close to the federal government, relied on the federal government for help. the over the last 10 or 15 years as coal industry found it's in economic distress it organized politically very effectively. has supported candidates for government in west virginia who have been -- we can say they have been assertive in making sure that the voice of the coal industry was heard. over the course of the last few years it's now become difficult, if you're somebody who takes a stand against the coal industry to make sure that you're going to get a fair shake. i think this week what we've seen that it changed that debate a bit. has forced people to talk about the fact that the coal industry maybe has more of a say in government than people want it to have in west virginia. there were candidates who i spoke to to said, if i take a stand against the coal industry i know that i'll

we've made the decision in virginia. i think it's right for our state. >> woodruff: governor bob mcdonald of virginia, thank you so much. >> lehrer: this is pledge week on public television. we'll be back shortly with a look at the high-level resignations at npr. this break allows your public television station to ask for your support. that support helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> brown: finally tonight, npr's c.e.o. departs amid a growing storm. >> from "npr news" in washington, i'm craig wyndham. the president and c.e.o. of npr, viivian schiller has abruptly resigned today..." >> brown: news of vivian schiller's departure followed yesterday's release of this hidden-camera video. it showed npr fundraising executive ron schiller-- no relation-- at what he thought was a meeting with potential funders. among much else, he was heard disparaging tea party republicans. >> they believe in sort of white, middle america, gun toting, i mean, it's scary. they're seriously racist, racist people. >> brown: and he also co

he supported mcdonnell's transportation bill in virginia. in some ways he embraced mcdonnell's governing style. he prefers to hang back and sort of let other people do that. >>suarez: julian, the current united states senators from virginia happen to be the last two democratic governors of the state, tim kane and mark warner, are they of value to the democratic candidate, terry mcauliffe? >> certainly any time you have a high ranking official holding office, has already appeared at a kickoff really that terry mcauliffe did this spring. they also may help terry mcauliffe in so much as they can present terry mcauliffe as kind of heirs to their legacy. successful candidates for governor in virginia have been able to court successfully the business community, the kind of main street chamber of commerce vote and typically in recent virginia gubernatorial elections you see the candidate that is able to get those kind of prominent and influential business and thought makers on their side, those tend to be the successful candidates. so if they can h

on the newshour tonight, a moment of reckoning-- as controversy swirls around the draemc governor of virginia and those who might succeed him, we look at the limits of fblorgiveness in pu life. then, the u.s. has pulled out of a major nuclear weapons treaty. what this means for the furore of arms coand our relationship with russia. plus, a priceless donation: making tsense long- reaching effects when people give kidneys to complete strangers. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newsur has been provided by: >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience american cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> babbel. a lasnguage app that teac real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. oa>> and by the alfred p. foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations

but also in virginia, and gwen, you ask about virginia, we are disproportionately dependent on defense dollars. in fact, 9% of the employment in the region of hampton roads, virginia beach, is dependent on d.o.d. dollars up and think about the area up around washington and the pentagon and northern virginia, that's going to make a huge difference for virginia and i believe will add to the prospects for a romney-ryan win. >> ifill: it's precisely this kind of standoff that makes so many american voters impatient and look at congress and say a poxspoz all of your houses. how do you win an election this close is when you're doing things or not doing things that exasperate so many americans. >> i think what you can show is there have been no results on the part of this exprt this administration. and you have in mitt romney a republican governor in probably the most democratic state in massachusetts, someone who said,un what, i can set aside differences and try and find commonality and he produced results. that's going to be the alternate toif what's been going on in washington with the whi

ralph is a healer, the governor elect of virginia. he's talking about healthcare the right for all and not a privilege for the few. the number one issue for voters in virginia was healthcare. they understand that ralph is going to help them expand medicaid and not take away their access to healthcare. same thing in new jersey. real concerns on that area. >> woodruff: what is your advice, tom perez, though, for democrats running next year. we know right now for example you got democrats in the senate talking to president trump. there was a meeting just yesterday and his people about tax reform. should democrats especially democrats in red states, states that donald trump won, should they try to work with this president to get things done or should they oppose him at every step? >> well listen, if we can work in a bipartisan fashion, we've always been for that. the affordable care act is a great example. patty murray and lamar alexander is working on a bill to stabilize the markets. what the republicans have been trying to do is just re

protests in virginia target new moves to limit firearms. plus, on the ground as australia is burning. miles o'brien explores the threats of a future ofre wide wildfires. >> it's difficult to say we're in recovery while we still have a fire that could but out anywhere over the next six weeks and actually cause a similare devastation wh's not burned now. >> woodruff: and, our politicsay moeam is here to break down the upcoming impeachment trial and the latest from the 2020 campaign trail. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> before we talk about your investments. >> what's new? audrey's expecting. twins. garnets. we want to put money aside for them so change of plaigns. >> all, let's see what we can adjust. >> change in plans. okay. mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plan a at fidelity,hange in plans is always part of the plan. >> the william and f hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institut

est virginia and arlington, according to poll information. so, you know, 20 heading into california. it's remarkably impressive, 2.4 million contributors and all the rest of it. but in a strange way, hillary clinton's likabilities, the lack of incitement, the long resume, the predict and stability could become great assets in a general election running against this material, flamboyant figure. it's going to look like, wow, that's bedrock i think to a lot of american voters, even ones right now who don't like her, don't intend to vote for her, she is going to look like the beacon, the island in a contest if it is a trump-clinton race, and i think it is a strength of hers, her stability and predictability and stole id commitment to policy and facts and background. i think that in a strange way what has been a liability could be a great asset. >> woodruff: could that work to her benefit? she still has to deal with sanders. >> candidates generally vote for the candidate of order, the one who seems safest, and next to mr. thermonuclear, self-implo

one is the virginia 5th district. this is a race between tom perriello and right now the republican robert hurt is projected to win this by a small margin. and this is significant primarily because he was... this is a very tough district. tom perriello was a freshman congressman. he took by barack obama and president obama trieded to support him just recently. finally we just have the associated press has announced that andrew cuomo democrat in new york will be the next governor there over carl paladino. not that big of a surprise. that's the results. we'll probably have a few more later in the hour. jim? >> lehrer: here with now are syndicated columnist mark shields and new york time columnist david brooks the big one thus far on the to do list the blow-out list for the republicans was to win in west virginia. the senate race. but joe manchin the democrat won. is that... can that be considered an indicator in. >> the senate for sure. i mean if you take the connecticut result, the delaware result and the west virginia

can you tellinous brief what you take from what happened at virginia? what does it speak to for wherevers like-- universities like yourself? >> obviously these are pressure times for universities and i think this is evidence of the fact that there are a lot of changes taking place, external to the universities, internal to the universities, and how one aligns that between boards, faculties, staff, student, alumni, and friends. this is an early example of a number of the kind of pressures i think we're going to face. this is a fundamental resetting of the american economic system, as you well know. >> brown: anne neal, you told us earlier you generally were supportive of the board at virginia. what do you think is the most important factor now facing public universities? what is the problem, exactly? >> well, i want to say, first, clearly the process was deplorable in terms of its lack of transparency, but i do think it's very important that we not let the process eclipt the more important issue, really bthe future of public higher education. and i think

it doesn't work in a state like virginia. so the trump piece, while it was critical when trump was in the white house -- >> woodruff: right. -- using trump as a lightning rod doesn't work when he's not there. >> woodruff: and james carville, we heard some of your prescription for what democrats need to do or not do going forward, as we look to the 2022 midterms. but what about president biden is saying today that if you will just pass build back better, if you will just pass this infrastructure bill, people will be helped and that will make a difference. how much difference will that make? >> i think it can make enormous difference. by the way, it seems to me and a lot of other people, that the numbers are getting better. there's a ton of pent-up and in in this economy. i'm not one of these people that thinks we're necessarily doomed in 2022. we could have a roaring economy. this build back better is going to give people a lot of confidence, and as long as we talk about things that are relevant to people and understand what's

now, back to jeff. >> brown: a tragedy gripped virginia tech again yesterday. but this time, the response by the university and police was different. "newshour" correspondent hari sreenivasan has our report. >> reporter: there were still few details today about the man who shot and killed virginia >> he shot and killed virginia tech police officer yesterday afternoon and apparently took his own life. police would only say that the gunman worked alone and was not a virginia tech student. they found no motive for the shooting or connection between the gunman and the victim. officer crouse had pulled over a driver in a parking lot on the campus near mccomas hall, cassell coliseum and lane stadium. the shooter shot crouse at close range while he was in his vehicle. crouse did not have time to return fire. the gunman was found a short time later in another parking lot. police chief wendell flinchum: >> from what you've heard, read, crouse described as swat officer, received awards. derek more than that, was a friend to many of our department, husband, father. police

also ahead, virginia gets ready to elect a new governor. a look at the high political stakes, as voters weigh the role of president trump. >> i really understand that everything that's going on has to do with the republican train and the trump train. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to talk about virginia, the russia probe indictments, and the g.o.p. plan for tax reform. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> collette. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the

we've made the decision in virginia. i think it's right for our state. >> woodruff: governor bob mcdonald of virginia, thank you so much. >> lehrer: this is pledge week on public television. we'll be back shortly with a look at the high-level resignations at npr. this break allows your public >> hiern i'm david with ingrid. join for another evening of the pbs newshour. we're taking a few minutes now to ask you to do something very important. financially support the pbs newshour and all the public affairs programs you enjoy right here on weta. no matter what is happening in our world, the pbs newshour is sure to cover the stories of the day in in depth informative manner. it takes a lot of talent and commitment but they do it every day just for you. you can feel especially proud that the pbs newshour is produced right here at weta. this great programmingest made possible by membership support. weta and the pbs newshour depend on you to keep us on the air every day, every year. it is no easy task but we can do it with your

west virginia at mnt bank stadium. virginia visits in october. as does syracuse in november. all right. lamont peterson believes boxing has a drug problem. so the d.c. native wanted to do something about it. he did. he took an olympic-style drug test and he failed it. lost a title belt in the process, but feels like a greater purpose was served on friday fright, he won the only title he had left. today he stopped by wusa9 studios to show off his hardware and i asked him once again, was taking that volunteer test worth it? >> i'm glad you asked that. it was well worth it. at this point, you know, vital was the company we used and you know, already they have changed a few of their rules because of my failed drug test. >> a man with a bigger purpose, how about that? all right. >> that's it for us. good night.

reports today said new york, texas and virginia were listed as possible targets. but officials warn, the information has not been corroborated. three u.s. military trainers in jordan were killed today outside a military base. it happened near the southern city of mann. the americans were fired on as their car tried to enter the base. it is not unclear what prompted the shooting. u.s. and jordanian officials say they are investigating. the political purge in turkey took another sharp turn today: police rounded up a dozen top kurdish lawmakers as part of what they're calling terror investigations. the arrests sparked protests from istanbul to ankara, and police used pepper spray and water cannons on the crowds. supporters of the kurdish lawmakers called the arrests "political genocide". >> ( translated ): these operations are politically designed by the state. as you know, the parliament was by-passed after the coup attempt. and now, the parliament's operations have been officially stopped in illegal and anti- democratic way. the government is trying to create an au

this one hasn't gotten as much in virginia. the polls have shown a high single digit or low double ticket lead over republican jack who has not been able to erase his name in state. murphy has good marks because of coronavirus, that's driving the race. >> reporter: in this year where former president trump has gotten so much of attention, how much a factor is he turning out to be? >> mcauliffe is hoping he is a factor and one that will motive democrats to come off the bench. this has been another key thing in the virginia race is that republicans are more engaged, they're more energized and, so, he has tried to paint youngkin as a trump acolyte. now trump endorsed him, said he accepts the endorsement and would back him if he is the nominee in 2024. it's hard to paint him as trump, like,. he's a suburban dad that wears felicia, he doesn't tweet. mcauliffe hopes this energizes democrats the way it did in california in the recall but we'll see if that works. >> woodruff: embraces the ideas but tacking in another direction. you wil