Democrats/progressives 2024 election 21 July-

22 October
Bret Stephens: There’s One Main Culprit if Donald Trump Wins
the main culprit: the way in which leading liberal voices in government, academia and media practice politics today
(NYT) The Electoral College. White racism. Black sexism. President Biden.
Should Kamala Harris lose the presidential election next month, those will be among the more convenient excuses Democrats will offer for falling short in a race against a staggeringly flawed, widely detested opponent. There will also be whispers that she was not the strongest candidate in the first place — that the party would have done better to elevate a more natural political talent like Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania or Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.
There’s truth in all of it. But it lets off the hook the main culprit: the way in which leading liberal voices in government, academia and media practice politics today. Consider its main components. …
It remains perfectly possible that Harris will win the election, in which case we will hear a great deal about the brightness of her appeal and the brilliance of her campaign. Wiser liberals might want to press two questions: How did Trump still get so very, very close? And how can we fashion a liberalism that doesn’t turn so many ordinary people off?

Not going back: How Harris failed to turn the page on Trump in her 107-day sprint
(NPR) Harris’ truncated 107-day campaign started with the dramatic exit of President Biden from the race on July 21 after he flubbed a debate and lost the confidence of key party leaders. But it ended with overwhelming setbacks for the Democratic party.
A campaign operation that stayed Biden’s
When Biden dropped out, Harris held on to his campaign staff. That may have been a mistake, several people in her orbit said.
Harris kept in place Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, and other campaign leaders like Quentin Fulks and Michael Tyler. Harris had worked with Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez in the past, but didn’t have a track record with the others.
While Harris had her own team members who merged in, there was a disconnect between the team Biden built and the new candidate they were working with, said Chris Scott, the vice president’s director of coalitions.
“The campaign as it was built was built for a different kind of nominee,” said Scott, who worked on the vice president’s campaign team before she became the nominee in July.
One of the biggest hurdles, Scott said, was that even after Harris became the nominee, voters still didn’t have a grasp on who she was. Biden’s campaign leaders didn’t know her well either and were not as well-equipped to tell her story and play her campaign to her strengths, he said.
Harris’ run started with a jolt of energy and rallies with tens of thousands of attendees, but some staffers felt the lack of cohesion contributed to a slowdown in the campaign’s momentum after the convention in Chicago in August.
“With the energy that came out of the DNC, I just think that full click taking it to that next level never fully happened, until it got to October,” Scott said.

23 October
Here’s where Pennsylvania gets decided
By Charles Mahtesian
Even if you don’t plan to watch tonight’s CNN town hall with Kamala Harris, pay close attention to where it’s being held: Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
There’s a good chance this is where the presidential election will be won and lost.
Not in Delco alone (no native calls it Delaware County), but there and in the other three collar counties that surround Philadelphia. Without a big performance out of these suburban behemoths, Harris has little chance of winning this year’s essential battleground state.
Pennsylvania is marked by a number of distinctive and politically important regions, in addition to the two big cities that bookend the state, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But Delaware, Bucks, Chester and Montgomery counties constitute a force of their own — together, they form a powerhouse that has remade state politics over the last three decades.
Among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, they are among the most affluent and most highly educated. With more than 2.6 million in population, these four suburbs are larger than Pittsburgh and Philly combined and more populous than 15 states.
They made all the difference in 2020, when they powered Biden’s flip of Pennsylvania. The president fell short of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 performance in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia, which could have had fatal consequences for his campaign. But Biden made up for it with his huge margins outside city limits. He ran ahead of Clinton’s pace in all four suburban counties, squeezing roughly 105,000 more votes out of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery than Clinton did. In a state where Biden’s margin of victory was just 82,000 votes, they delivered more than enough to overcome his heavy deficits elsewhere in the state, in places like western Pennsylvania and the so-called Republican T (the central part of the state and its northern tier of counties).

2 September
Why are so many Democratic politicians appearing on Fox News?
As Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders speak on Fox, Democrats could reach just enough swing voters to win
(The Guardian) Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden’s transport secretary, introduced himself to Democrats at their convention earlier last month in unusual fashion. “I’m Pete Buttigieg and you might recognize me from Fox News,” he told the crowd in Chicago.
The comment drew laughter, but beneath it was a certain truth: in the final two months of the 2024 election, politicians and campaign aides are less siloed in their ideologically aligned media bubbles in an effort to poach potentially persuadable voters.
Buttigieg said he is proud to go on conservative outlets to speak on behalf of the Harris-Walz campaign because their arguments and facts might not otherwise be aired to that audience. So too have the Democratic governors Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore and Gretchen Whitmer, and senators Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, John Fetterman and Chris Coons also dropped in on the network.

30 August
Tim Walz isn’t exactly what he seems
How America’s new wonder dad has gilded his record for political gain.
By Kathleen Parker
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has surely benefited from his portrayal as the country’s “football dad.” … I’m not saying that Walz lies, precisely. But he tends to gild his résumé for political gain. …
It’s almost certain that Walz won’t be giving any “big solo interviews” because, according to Politico, he “might not have a full command of where Harris is on every issue.” This is certainly understandable, as Harris has changed her positions on several issues since Democrats made her the emergency presidential nominee five weeks ago.
… Morning show softballs may give comfort to the ill-prepared, but they deny viewers the content they need to be better-informed voters. Nothing about the pair’s first (taped) interview Thursday night, with CNN’s Dana Bash, satisfied that imperative. Although Harris handled the interview relatively well, Walz seemed to be a mixed-up mess.
He answered none of the four questions he was asked, including whether he had misspoken when he said he had carried a gun “in war” when he never was deployed to a combat zone. A simple “yes” might have sufficed, but instead he sputtered evasive nonsense and, to be rhetorically accurate, gobbledygook.
Walz’s Midwestern charm and “tonic masculinity,” to quote a Post colleague, might work for state politics and political rallies, but voters don’t need their tires changed — or a new gutter. They need to feel confident that Walz can capably step into the presidency if need be.

The Democratic National Convention
August 19-22, 2024
Chicago

Full Transcript of Kamala Harris’s Democratic Convention Speech
The vice president’s remarks lasted roughly 35 minutes on the final night of the convention in Chicago.
(NYT) Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party during a speech before a packed United Center on Thursday in Chicago
…and we know what a second Trump term would look like. It’s all laid out in Project 2025, written by his closest advisers. And its sum total is to pull our country back to the past. But America, we are not going back. We are not going back. We are not going back.
… And we are charting — and we are charting a new way forward. Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success, and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.
…we will create what I call an opportunity economy, an opportunity economy where everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed. Whether you live in a rural area, small town, or big city. And as president, I will bring together labor and workers and small-business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs, to grow our economy and to lower the cost of everyday needs like health care and housing and groceries.
We will provide access to capital for small-business owners and entrepreneurs and founders. And we will end America’s housing shortage, and protect Social Security and Medicare.

(The Telegraph UK) In an address designed to tackle her political vulnerabilities head on, the US vice president vowed to deliver strong leadership on immigration and foreign policy.

Young Democrats Have a New Favorite Clinton
At the DNC, Hillary Clinton has achieved something approaching icon status among Democrats coming of age.
By Russell Berman
(The Atlantic) Bill has for decades been the more gifted communicator of the Democratic power couple; that wasn’t the case this week. On Monday night, after nearly two minutes of initial cheers from the audience, Hillary Clinton delivered the crisper, more energizing speech.
… As time has eased the Democrats’ anguish over Hillary’s 2016 loss to Trump, the almost-president has become the bigger draw over the former president. That is especially true among the youngest Democrats who have gathered in Chicago this week. Gen Z Democrats have far more experience with Hillary than Bill; those in their early 20s weren’t even born until after he left office. Hillary’s 2016 candidacy, and the Women’s March that followed her defeat, served for many of them as a political awakening.

21 August –Day 3 of DNC
Tim Walz headlines third night of DNC with help from Clinton, Oprah and Stevie Wonder
Walz’s Midwestern, small-town background has been a major theme of his campaign so far and the story he tells voters about himself and his ideas. Walz ticked through his resume: born in the tiny town of Butte, Nebraska, attending a state university, and becoming a schoolteacher.
When he was elected to Congress from Minnesota, Walz said, “I learned how to compromise, without compromising my values,” he said.
Walz also spoke, as he and his wife Gwen have repeatedly, about their struggle with infertility prior to having their two children, and the “absolute agony when we heard that the treatments hadn’t worked.” Their experience has allowed Walz to speak personally to reproductive rights issues, including fertility care, which have become increasingly central for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Who spoke at the DNC: Watch speeches from Tim Walz, Bill Clinton, Oprah and Stevie Wonder

5 things to know about Tim Walz, Democratic vice presidential nominee

If Walz becomes VP, his deputy would become America’s first Indigenous woman governor

DNC Night 3: ‘Coach Walz’, Bill Clinton, Amanda Gorman and Oprah Winfrey address the convention; Before a cheering crowd, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg homed in on the theme of “joy” that the Harris campaign has been leaning into.
How the party left Bill Clinton behind
(Politico) When Bill Clinton steps onto the stage this evening, it will mark his 12th time addressing a Democratic National Convention crowd. Many Democrats can’t even imagine a convention without him. Yet quite a few don’t think he should be there at all.
More than three decades after he was first elected president, his party isn’t looking back at Bill Clinton with nostalgia and adoration anymore. It views him more quizzically, as evidenced by his second billing tonight, not entirely sure what to make of his legacy.
Jeffries, Pelosi among House members slated to speak at DNC
Democrats are trying to highlight their effort to flip control of the House.
Nearly 20 members of the House are speaking at this week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as the party seeks to highlight its efforts to flip control of the Republican-run chamber.
Halfway through the convention, viewers and attendees have already heard from several high-profile members of Congress, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

20 August –Day 2 of DNC
With humor and hope, Obamas warn against Trump, urge Democrats to ‘do something’
(NPR) They also warned, from firsthand experience, of the battle ahead to elect Harris – a path marred by what the former president called the “bluster, bumbling and chaos” of Trump on the campaign trail.
“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us,” Michelle Obama said of Trump’s campaign in 2016. “His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be Black.
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’?” the former first lady quipped to raucous applause.
Obama steps back into the spotlight — and absolutely skewers Trump
(Politico) The former president eviscerated Trump as “a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.”

19 August –Day 1 of DNC
WATCH LIVE: 2024 Democratic National Convention Night 1
PBS News special coverage begins at 8 p.m. EDT.
It’s been mere weeks since Harris leaped into the race, endorsed by President Joe Biden when he decided to step aside. He’ll champion her again when he speaks to the convention on Night 1, capping off a five-decade career in politics that reached its pinnacle in the White House.
Robert Reich: We thank you, Joe
Tonight is for you
(AlterNet) Tonight’s opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will be an opportunity for the Democratic Party and the nation to take stock of Joe Biden’s term of office and thank him for his service.
Biden’s bittersweet moment
The president wiped away tears as he walked on stage to several minutes of thunderous applause.
First Lady Jill Biden helped to introduce President Joe Biden at the DNC with remarks focused on love and “small acts of kindness,” though she saluted him for the very big act of leaving the top of the Democratic ticket
Hillary Clinton gets her Trump revenge moment
She grinned as the crowd erupted into chants of “lock him up.”
Ocasio-Cortez, Once an Outsider, Takes Center Stage at Convention
In a prime-time speech, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave a forceful endorsement of Kamala Harris, saying Ms. Harris was “for the working class, because she’s from the working class.”

How Jill Biden’s DNC speech is a milestone for her as first lady
(AP) — … On Monday night …. Before the president walks across the stage at the United Center to deliver the keynote speech on the convention’s opening night, the first lady will use her address to speak to his character and reiterate her support for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a person familiar with the first lady’s remarks.

Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on the Trump campaign’s response to the DNC
NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including this critical week in the presidential race and the Republican ticket’s efforts to counterprogram the Democratic National Convention.

Democrats open their convention transformed by Harris’ ascendance but facing lingering questions
(AP) — A refreshed Democratic Party will take a look back while it moves forward as its convention opens Monday night, with President Joe Biden preparing a valedictory speech and delegates reveling in the newfound energy that followed Vice President Kamala Harris ′ rise to the top of the ticket.
The national convention unfolding in Chicago this week holds particularly high stakes for Democrats. The party must finalize the unprecedented mid-campaign handoff from Biden to Harris and reintroduce the vice president to a divided country that’s still making up its mind about her.
If successful, Democrats will slingshot Harris toward an election faceoff with Republican Donald Trump, whose comeback bid for the White House is viewed by the party as an existential threat to American principles. But a false step could hobble Harris at a moment when her candidacy has been enjoying a burst of money, momentum and even joy.
Just beneath the surface, real questions loom about the depth of Harris’ newfound support, the breadth of her coalition and the strength of her movement. Not even a month ago, Democrats were deeply divided over foreign policy, political strategy and Biden himself, who was holding on after a disastrous debate by claiming he had a better chance than any other Democrat — including Harris — of beating Trump.
Far from the tone of most party conventions, this week’s event will bring many Americans their first extended look at Harris and Walz. How the Democrats present them will be critical, especially with Trump launching a week-long effort to cut into their message.

16 August
The Big Picture: The Democratic National Convention, Rewritten In Just Weeks
(NPR) It was only two weeks ago that Vice President Harris secured enough votes from delegates to become her party’s nominee. With the Democratic National Convention beginning Monday in Chicago, organizers haven’t had a lot of time to completely revamp and rewrite four days of speeches and sentimental videos.
“The stage is quite literally being set and being built right now,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison said when Harris became the nominee. “Everyone here is hard at work putting together what will certainly be a historic and momentous convention.”
While the blue stage doesn’t change, what’s being said up there does.
Originally the program was built around promoting the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration. …now it’s all about boosting Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
But Harris, even in these early weeks, is running a decidedly different campaign, with a more positive, forward-looking message and tone.
Harris and Walz reintroduce joy to Democrats their first week on the campaign trail

14 August
Harris’s Economic Plans: The Good, the Bad and the Unnecessary
Peter Coy
(NYT) I understand why Vice President Kamala Harris is going hard against inflation. Politically, it’s the right thing to do. Economically, though, she’s like a general fighting the last war.
Prices are rising much more slowly, mostly because economic growth is cooling. On Wednesday the government announced that consumer prices rose just 2.9 percent in the 12 months through July, the lowest annual increase since 2021.
Inflation is headed lower even if the White House does nothing: Economists surveyed by Blue Chip Economic Indicators this month predicted the Consumer Price Index would rise just 2.3 percent in 2025 from 2024. …
The problem is that some of the things that Harris wants to do to protect voters could end up being counterproductive. We will hear more about her ideas in a speech planned for Friday in Raleigh, N.C., but what she has spoken about so far is a mix of pretty good and pretty bad ideas.
On the good side, I’d list an expanded child tax credit, which, depending on how it’s structured, could lift 400,000 children above the poverty line. She may also call for incentives to get state and local governments to build more affordable housing, which is badly needed.

Kennedy Sought a Meeting With Harris to Discuss a Cabinet Post
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was unsuccessful with his request to discuss endorsing the Democratic nominee in exchange for a top administration job, according to two people briefed on the outreach.

12 August
5 major questions facing Kamala Harris now
The vice president has a number of pitfalls ahead.
(Politico) After three weeks of unbelievable momentum, Harris now faces the huge — and historically unusual — challenge of sustaining the energy of a fresh campaign for a 90-day sprint into Election Day. She’s growing into her new role as she faces economic uncertainty, a politically volatile situation in the Middle East and questions about her own ability to meet the challenges of a tough campaign. …here are five big questions facing the ticket in the months ahead.
– Is Harris prepared to go off script?
– Can Harris convince voters to trust her with the economy?
– Can Harris beat back Trump’s border attacks?
– Will Harris try to differentiate herself from Biden on Israel?
– How will the Harris campaign respond to Trump’s kitchen sink?

6 August
Tim Walz for Vice President!
A terrific choice, on all grounds
Robert Reich
… If this doesn’t convince you of the wisdom of Harris’s choice, the Trump campaign’s immediate attack on Walz as a “dangerously liberal extremist” should.
What are the Trumpers so upset about? Just this: Walz has signed bills protecting abortion access, expanding background checks for gun purchases, and legalizing recreational marijuana. He is one of the nation’s most forceful advocates for tackling climate change — signing a law requiring Minnesota to generate all of its electricity from wind, solar, and other carbon-free sources by 2040, and eliminating the climate-warming pollution generated by coal and gas-fired power plants. He also has one of the nation’s best records on child care — signing into law paid leave, lowering child care costs, and making child care options more available.
Why the Electoral Math on Tim Walz Makes Sense
By Jonathan Alter, Contributing Opinion Writer
(NYT) … Over the years, rural counties in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada have felt abandoned by Democrats. Many went for Donald Trump in the last two elections by 20 points or more, and he remains very popular in those places. But Walz, an authentic rural voice, might change that outcome and reduce Trump’s share to 55 percent from roughly 60 percent in enough counties. If that happens, Harris will win the election.
Is Tim Walz the right choice?
Vice President Harris has chosen the dark horse candidate. What does he mean for the party?
(WaPo) Shadi Hamid with E.J. Dionne Jr. and Alexandra Petri discuss his rise to the national ticket.
Spoiler alert: All three are positive.
Democrats Rally Around Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as Their New Ticket
In picking the Minnesota governor as her running mate, Ms. Harris gets a partner with Midwestern appeal who has lobbed eye-catching attacks at former President Donald J. Trump. The two will make their debut together later Tuesday at a rally in Philadelphia.
(NYT) The Minnesota governor, a former high school teacher and National Guard member, brings to the ticket Midwestern appeal and a plain-spoken way of talking about Donald Trump.
Mr. Walz, 60, emerged from a field of candidates who had better name recognition and more politically advantageous states. But he jumped to the top of Ms. Harris’s list, boosted by cable news appearances in which he declared that Republicans were “weird.” The new, clear articulation of why voters should reject Mr. Trump caught on fast and turned the spotlight on the plain-spoken Midwesterner behind it.
Kamala Harris picks Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as running mate as she looks to boost Democratic ticket in Midwest, AP sources say.
… military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state, including sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families.
Harris hopes to shore up her campaign’s standing across the upper Midwest, a critical region in presidential politics that often serves as a buffer for Democrats seeking the White House. The party remains haunted by Republican Donald Trump’s wins in Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016. Trump lost those states in 2020 but has zeroed in on them as he aims to return to the presidency this year and is expanding his focus to Minnesota.

4 August
UAW president Fain says Beshear, Walz are the union’s top picks for Harris VP
Cooper on withdrawing from Harris VP consideration: ‘Just not the right time’
(The Hill) …part of Cooper’s decision to take himself out of the running for vice president was because it would potentially give North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) a chance to seize power in the state. Cooper said that under North Carolina’s provisions, the lieutenant governor becomes the governor every time the sitting governor leaves the state. He said that was part of the reason he removed himself from consideration.
Cooper excited about flipping North Carolina blue: ‘I got that 2008 feel’
(The Hill) North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said Sunday that he believes his state will vote for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in more than a decade this November.

3 August
Obama-fying Wilmington
(Politico Playbook) The Harris campaign underwent a major transformation yesterday. It added some very high profile names, layered over some important players, saw the departure of its chief strategist, and left some big staffing questions unanswered.
At the center of the shakeup are a group of new senior advisers best known for their work on Barack Obama’s campaigns for president and inside his White House.
The backdrop, of course, is an extraordinary transition — from an operation built to elect Joe Biden to one built to elect Harris. Harris has different demographic strengths, policy priorities and a coterie of her own close advisers who understandably want a larger role in the campaign they’ve inherited.
But the new moves seem likely to exacerbate lingering tensions between a team that has worked thanklessly for over a year to elect Biden while outside consultants — especially those generally associated with Obama — criticized them from the sidelines. Now the former group is watching nervously as some of Obama’s best and brightest from 2008 and 2012 are being brought in for senior roles.
By far the most noteworthy addition is DAVID PLOUFFE, the key electoral strategist behind Obama’s primary defeat over Hillary Clinton in 2008 and Obama’s two general election victories.
His title is unique: “Senior Advisor for Path to 270 & Strategy.” Of course, the only purpose of a presidential campaign is to win 270 electoral votes, so this is a singular role.

2 August

Harris officially secures Democratic nomination for president

She becomes the first woman of color leading a major national ticket, with a chance to become the first woman president in American history.
(WaPo) The more than 4,000 convention delegates had until Monday to submit their ballots, but no other candidate qualified to challenge Harris, making her selection all but certain. Still, the formal nomination ascent of the first woman of color to lead a presidential ticket marks a milestone for a nation long riven by racial and gender issues.
Harris narrows VP search to six finalists, plans to interview them this weekend
The vetting of Harris’s potential running mates — an arduous process that typically takes several months — has been condensed to two weeks.
Those finalists are Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota, as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), the people said. Representatives for Beshear, Buttigieg and Shapiro confirmed that those officials had canceled previously scheduled plans for this weekend.
Harris hires Obama campaign veterans to join 2024 effort, replacing Biden loyalists
David Plouffe, a top strategist on both of Obama’s presidential campaigns, joins Harris as senior adviser for strategy and the states focused on winning the electoral college. Stephanie Cutter, the deputy campaign manager for Obama’s reelection who has been working in recent months with Harris, is the new senior adviser for strategy messaging. Mitch Stewart, a grass-roots organizing strategist behind both Obama wins, will become the senior adviser for battleground states. David Binder, who led Obama’s public opinion research operation and previously worked for Harris, will expand his role on the Harris campaign to lead the opinion research operation.
All of the new hires will report to campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, another veteran of Obama’s two campaigns.

E.J. Dionne: Harris’s VP picks are seeking paths out of the Trumpian wilderness
I interviewed many of them in 2023. I’m not surprised they’re on her list.
The candidate tryouts for the role show Democrats are blessed with a lot of talent.
… They each give off different vibes but are all practical progressives intent on reaching new constituencies. They don’t think winning over some of Donald Trump’s voters means selling out Black, Latino or younger progressive voters. It’s the right way for coalition-builders to think.
“You’ve got to show up everywhere, and you’ve got to speak to everyone, and you’ve got to speak in plain language and in practical terms,” Shapiro told me last August. “I went to counties the Democrats had written off a long time ago and spoke about workforce development and spoke about how we’re going to bring back the economy and talked about it in very tangible, practical ways.”
… Yes, being a governor means accentuating the practical, but it can also mean being visionary. Walz, whom I interviewed in June of last year, spoke to me about the avalanche of progressive legislation — “the Minnesota Miracle” — passed with just a two-vote Democratic majority in the state House and one-vote advantage in the state Senate.
[Gov.Tim Walz of Minnesota] and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg may be the biggest winners in the audition period for their contributions to Democratic messaging. One of Walz’s gifts: His skill at pushing back hard against labels such as “big government liberal.” He’s been at this for a while. “There’s nothing extreme about feeding kids,” he told me. “There’s nothing extreme about women making their own health-care decisions. There’s nothing extreme about saying don’t demonize these trans children. Just make a place for them. We’ll all be okay.”

27 July
Embattled Democrats Express New Hope With Harris at Top of Ticket
Incumbents who had feared President Biden would drag them down to defeat say the electoral environment has improved rapidly since he left the race.

The Interview
Pete Buttigieg Thinks the Trump Fever Could Break
By Lulu Garcia-Navarro
(NYT) This past month has been one of the most consequential and dizzying periods in modern American politics. It began with President Biden’s disastrous debate in late June. Then came an assassination attempt against former President Trump. A week later, President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris. And now Harris is already the de facto Democratic nominee.
At warp speed, the dynamics of this entire election have changed — not just for voters but for party leaders like Pete Buttigieg, who went from being a top Biden campaign surrogate to a top Harris campaign surrogate in hours.

26 July
Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris, giving her expected but crucial support
(AP) — The endorsement, announced Friday… , comes as Harris builds momentum as their party’s likely nominee.

Heather Cox Richardson July 25, 2024
… Democrats appear to be generating significant enthusiasm among younger Americans. Yesterday, for the first time in their history, the March for Our Lives organization endorsed a presidential candidate: Kamala Harris. Students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, organized March for Our Lives after the shooting there in 2018. Executive director Natalie Fall said that the organization “will work to mobilize young people across the country to support Vice President Harris and other down-ballot candidates, with a particular focus on the states and races where we can make up the margin of victory—in Arizona, New York, Michigan, and Florida.”
Andrea Hailey of Vote.org announced that in the 48 hours after President Biden said he would not accept the Democratic nomination, nearly 40,000 people registered to vote. That meant a daily increase in new registrations of almost 700%.
People are turning out for Harris in impressive numbers. In the hours after she launched her campaign, Win With Black Women rallied 44,000 Black women on Zoom and raised $1.6 million. On Monday, around 20,000 Black men rallied to raise $1.2 million. Tonight, challenged to “answer the call,” 164,000 white women joined an event that “broke Zoom” and raised more than $2 million and tens of thousands of new volunteers.

22-25 July
Who should Kamala Harris choose as her vice president?
What does she need in her running mate to govern well?
… Perry Bacon Jr.: I live in a red, rural state, and I felt at times that the Biden-Harris administration was not very plugged into what was happening outside of Washington, elite college campuses and a few regions of the world (Europe, Middle East). Project 2025 has already been happening in about half the country. Govs. Andy Beshear (Ky.), Tim Walz (Minn.) and Roy Cooper (N.C.) have been governing in states that I doubt Harris or her top aides (or Biden’s) have spent much time in. They have not spent their careers largely in D.C. They know the importance of state and local government and policy and where the feds can help. And they would bring knowledge of rural America.
Matt Bai: That makes a ton of sense. I like a few of the governors. I guess my fear would be that they aren’t nearly as well-vetted or covered by the media as they were, say, 25 years ago. It’s no longer like jumping from AAA to the majors, in terms of the national spotlight. More like High A to the majors. (I like baseball metaphors.)
Eugene Robinson: …one reason I like Beshear over, say, Josh Shapiro. Beshear at least has been governor for a while and been through two election cycles. Shapiro just got to the governor’s mansion in Pennsylvania.
Matt: What if I suggested to you that she might need a bridge to the business community? Businesses matter, and I don’t think they necessarily trust her. That was a problem for Barack Obama, in my view. …
Perry: This is an ideological statement but I think business will always have access to the government and the president. They get two Cabinet appointments (Treasury and Commerce) essentially designated for them. I would much rather have a person who is a real spokeswoman for nonurban people, who have a powerless secretary (Agriculture) and not much else. Beshear acts like a kind of mayor for Appalachia, and I think that is useful.
Gene: I don’t know if you can leave aside the fact that choosing Warner would guarantee losing the Senate, because Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin would appoint a replacement, right? Bennet is an interesting idea. Perry is right, though, about speaking to nonurban people. That may be the Democratic Party’s biggest weakness, and there are so few Democrats who really understand life in America outside the metropolitan areas.
… Matt: I think we all agree, anyway, that Harris seems best served by a governor.
Kamala Harris’s first important decision: Her running mate
Who’s her best bet for vice president? All the pros and cons.
Jennifer Rubin
(WaPo) Vice President Harris’s first major decision as the putative presidential nominee will be her running mate. She will need to balance a variety of considerations — personal compatibility, capacity to step into the presidency, geographic and ideological balance (or, conversely, ideological reinforcement, as Bill Clinton did in picking another moderate Southerner, Al Gore), ability to deliver a key state, media and campaign skills, and, finally, a background to complement the top of the ticket. While many names have been bandied about, four seem to be the most likely to make her short list
As a preliminary matter, I suspect she is unlikely to pick a lesser-known House member or another member of the Biden administration, such as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. She likely wants to convey both that the Democratic ticket is in every way more qualified than the GOP duo and that she will pick her own administration, not simply inherit President Biden’s.
… If Harris wants to play it safe, she might be more inclined to go with Shapiro. If she wants to rebuild the Obama coalition, reinforcing her party’s standing with Hispanic voters and recapturing men who might be impressed with his military career, she might go with Kelly. Truth be told, any of these would be a capable No. 2 for her. And any of them would match up well against the awkward, extremist and unaccomplished Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
As you might have noticed, the Democrats have an exceptionally deep bench. Another benefit of Harris’s ascension to the top of the ticket: A new Democratic star can emerge onto the national stage.
Ian Bremmer: Why Biden’s exit gives Democrats a fighting chance
… Harris may not have been the best possible candidate Democrats could’ve put forward a year (or four) ago, but she was the most viable candidate to replace Biden, unite the party, and avoid a down-ballot bloodbath at this late stage.
What can be, unburdened by what has been? The question now is not whether there was a better Democratic candidate than Harris, but whether Harris can beat Trump. And on that front, the jury is still out. We simply don’t have enough recent polling data on this matchup yet to get a decent idea of where things stand today.
… Harris is no Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, or Ronald Reagan. … But off the bat, she has dramatically better odds than Biden because she solves the president’s biggest electability challenge: his age. And she has more upside than Trump, who remains a historically unpopular candidate with a hard ceiling of 45% of national support. By contrast, nearly 10% of Americans don’t even have an opinion of her yet, so she has room to define herself.
… She’s neither a proven national candidate nor a distinguished campaigner … She has plenty of weaknesses for Republicans to exploit, including unpopular Biden administration policies (notably on the border) for which voters may blame her. And there’s a chance she could lose more older, white, and moderate working-class voters relative to Biden than she picks up young, nonwhite, and progressive ones.
But at 59, Harris is able to string together full sentences, give cogent stump speeches, campaign vigorously, and effectively deliver the abortion and democracy messages that worked well for Democrats in 2022. She can also play offense on Trump’s age – he’s 78 – and mental fitness, now an exclusively Republican liability that 50% of all voters found disqualifying in the former president nary a week ago.
Historic flood of cash pours into Harris campaign and allied groups
Democrats reported raising more than $250 million since Biden announced he was leaving the presidential race and endorsed Harris.
Weeks of pent-up Democratic panic gave way to a historic flood of campaign cash for likely presidential nominee Vice President Harris this week, as allied groups reported massive fundraising hauls amid donor elation.
The coordinated Harris campaign reported Wednesday morning that they had raised more than $126 million from 1.4 million donors between Sunday afternoon, when President Biden announced he was stepping aside, and Tuesday evening. FF PAC, also known as Future Forward, the largest outside group supporting Biden, announced $150 million in commitments in the first 24 hours after Biden’s Sunday afternoon announcement.
Heather Cox Richardson July 23, 2024
Today more than 350 national security leaders endorsed Harris for president, noting that if elected president, “she would enter that office with more significant national security experience than the four Presidents prior to President Biden.” As vice president, she “has met with more than 150 world leaders and traveled to 21 countries,” the authors wrote, and they called out her work across the globe from her work strengthening partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region to her historic trip to Africa and her efforts to expand U.S. relationships with nations in the Caribbean and North Central America. In contrast to Harris, the letter said, “Trump is a threat to America’s national security.”
Those signing the letter included former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden, former director of national intelligence James Clapper, national security advisors Susan Rice and Thomas Donilon, former secretaries of defense Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta, and former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

Who might Kamala Harris pick for VP? Three favorites emerge
Governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and Arizona senator Mark Kelly, are reportedly on the shortlist
The trio are understood to be among 10 Democrats – nearly all of them elected officials – identified by a vetting team led by the former attorney general Eric Holder. Holder’s law firm Covington & Burling LLP has been charged with the responsibility of scrutinising the personal finances, public statements and family histories of likely candidates
The vetting process, which normally takes months, will be accelerated to conclude before the start of the Democratic national convention, which opens in Chicago on 19 August.
While Shapiro, Cooper and Kelly were the first three to be publicly identified, it emerged on Tuesday that Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, had also been asked to submit vetting information.
Harris’s campaign will have to contend with DEI, culture war attacks
In the wake of Biden’s announcement that he would not run for a second term, attacks based on Harris’s racial identity were the most common form of criticism of her on X, according to recent data.

official portrait Thursday, March 4, 2021, (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Harris leans into her prosecutor background and draws contrast with Trump
By Will Weissert
Vice President Harris is honing the political message she plans to use to seek the White House in November.
Rallying staffers at Biden’s campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, now hers to inherit, Harris emphasized her professional background as a prosecutor. She contrasted that with Trump, who has been convicted on 34 felony counts in a hush money case in New York.
“I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” Harris said, adding, “I know Donald Trump’s type.”
Robert Reich: What we must do now
Now that Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee, we must all unite behind her.
We must unite behind Harris so she has time to introduce herself to the nation as the Democratic candidate for president, organize her presidential campaign, and select a vice president* — all the while mounting a sharp and sustained attack on Trump.
This means that:
– Democratic donors who withheld donations while Biden remained the candidate must now turn on the spigots for Harris.
– Chattering-class opinion writers whose columns and punditry drummed Biden out of the presidency must now do what they can to support Harris.
– Activists who have devoted long hours to abortion rights, voting rights, civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, labor rights, fighting climate change, fighting poverty, and seeking a more just and equitable society must now unite behind Harris.
– Others who have only occasionally and haphazardly been involved in politics must now become activists, talking with neighbors and friends, knocking on doors, putting up signs, passing out literature, on behalf of Harris. …
*My recommendation for Harris’s vice president is Mark Kelly. Kelly is the perfect response to JD Vance. Kelly has served America as a U.S. Navy combat pilot, as a NASA astronaut, and now as a U.S. senator for Arizona. He is the son of two police officers. He attended public schools from elementary school all the way through graduate school. His wife, Gabrielle Giffords, was a rising member of Congress when shot and almost killed by someone who should not have possessed a gun, and she is now one of the nation’s leading advocates for responsible gun regulation. Arizona is an important battleground.
The Harris Gamble
She may be the last best hope, but don’t deny the risks.
By David Frum
The attacks on Harris will operate in a dual universe. In the more obscure and disreputable parts of the right-wing media system, the sexual and racial fantasies will be elaborated. The former Fox News star Megyn Kelly declared Harris’s intimate history “fair game” in a social-media post today. In the more public and more careful parts of the right-wing media system, the fantasies will be referenced and exploited without ever being quite explicitly stated.
Democrats are taking a risk with Harris—and it’s not only their risk. If she does secure the Democratic presidential nomination, then she becomes the only hope to keep Trump out of the White House for a second term. She becomes the only hope for Ukraine, for NATO, for open international trade, for American democracy, for a society founded on the equal worth and dignity of all its people. Anyone committed to those principles and ideals, whatever his or her past or future political affiliation, now has everything riding on the chances of the nominee chosen by some 4,700 Democratic delegates in Chicago next month.
Democrats Are Making a Huge Mistake
The error is not the choice of Kamala Harris. It is the sudden rallying behind her.
By Graeme Wood
(The Atlantic) …the Democrats are making a colossal error and ensuring that they will reap as little advantage from Biden’s decision as possible. The error is not the choice of Kamala Harris. It is the sudden rallying behind her, the torrent of endorsements, right after Biden’s self-removal. Biden’s senescence was only part of the party’s crisis. The other part was the impression that Democratic politics felt like a game rigged by insiders to favor a candidate of their choice, and to isolate that candidate from the risk associated with campaigning. For 27 minutes, between the time Biden announced his withdrawal and the time he broke the seal on Harris endorsements by bestowing his, the contest felt thrillingly, bracingly wide-open. The Democrats should have kept it open all the way into the convention next month, in Chicago.

Harris Praises Biden’s ‘Big Heart’ as She Moves to Clear Path to Nomination
(NYT) Six key Democratic governors endorsed Vice President Harris’s bid after President Biden dropped out. Ms. Harris spoke at a morning event at the White House after scooping up endorsements from would-be challengers, including Governors JB Pritzker of Illinois, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Wes Moore of Maryland, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Tony Evers of Wisconsin. Several of them have been talked about as possible running mates.
… Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California and the former House speaker, has issued a statement endorsing Harris:
Many Elected Democrats Quickly Endorsed Kamala Harris. See Who Did.

BIDEN STEPS ASIDE

In stunning decision to end his reelection bid, the president endorses Vice President Harris
Text of Biden statement
Obama endorses open nominating process while Clintons endorse Harris
Former President Barack Obama endorsed an open Democratic primary process at the convention next month — less than an hour after former President Bill Clinton endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
“I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” Obama said in a statement, which did not mention Harris. “I believe that Joe Biden’s vision of a generous, prosperous, and united America that provides opportunity for everyone will be on full display at the Democratic Convention in August.”

Biden’s decision changes the calculus for 2028 hopefuls
Their path to a White House run was clear. Now it’s anything but
Things just got a whole lot more complicated for 2028 hopefuls.
Democrats have no shortage of rising stars who were just four years away from a potential run for the White House. Now they are faced with an urgent question: Do they throw their hat into the ring now that President Joe Biden has stepped aside, or do they rally around Vice President Kamala Harris — holding out for their moment, even if it could now take eight more years?
By choosing to endorse his vice president rather than backing an open process, ambitious Democrats face a whole new host of political calculations. Harris is at a major advantage, set to inherit a built-out campaign infrastructure and millions in funding, as well as a slew of endorsements from across the Democratic Party. And another big thing on her side is that Democrats are ready to redirect their focus from intraparty squabbles to the fight to take on Donald Trump.
Harris is no doubt best positioned to secure the party’s delegates in the weeks ahead. After the president’s announcement on Sunday afternoon, Biden campaign aides were told in an all-staff call that they would keep their jobs and pivot to helping Harris beat Trump, working to expand the president’s 2020 coalition that sent him to the White House. She also inherited the tens of millions of dollars that filled Biden’s campaign coffers, with the campaign moving quickly to rename itself “Harris for President” on Sunday.
But a number of top Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t explicitly throw their support behind Harris on Sunday, raising questions about which route the party will take in the days ahead. Obama said he had faith that the party would create a process that would allow for an “outstanding nominee,” in a statement that didn’t mention Harris.

Some people want Joe Manchin to re-register as a Democrat and run for president
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is fielding calls from Democratic donors and officials encouraging him to re-register as a Democrat and run for the Democratic nomination, CBS reported on Sunday. A person familiar with Manchin’s conversations confirmed it to POLITICO.
Manchin, a Democrat turned Independent, called on Joe Biden to step aside this morning, before the president eventually announced he was dropping his reelection bid. Manchin initially planned to speak out about Biden’s political fate earlier this month but was asked to hold off.

9 possible running mates Kamala Harris could pick
Here’s a snapshot of some of some potential running mates.
Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina are both being considered as running mates, according to a person familiar with the conversations. And a Democratic strategist close to the White House said that Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is also under consideration.
… Kelly, who easily won his reelection in a state Biden carried four years ago, is being eyed for his unique biography, having flown combat missions in the Navy and commanded the International Space Station as an astronaut. His wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, has become a hero to grassroots Democratic organizations fighting gun violence after she was a victim of it at a campaign rally for her reelection. … As a border state Democrat, he has more authority to speak on migration issues — a big plus as Republicans attack Harris over the border.
If Harris were to pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, it could bring in some extra votes from a swing state that Democrats desperately need to hold if they want to hold onto the White House.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been considered a potential 2028 successor since she won the gubernatorial race in 2022 by nearly 11 points in a battleground state. Michigan was a key part of Biden’s pathway to the presidency in 2020. … She also reportedly threw her support behind Harris Sunday.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear was elected governor in 2019 and recently won reelection in November in a five-point victory, a significant win for Democrats in a deeply red state.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, 67, has served as North Carolina’s governor since 2017 and is prevented from running again due to term limits. After Trump won North Carolina in 2020 by less than two percentage points, the Biden campaign has moved to target North Carolina with the hopes that it could become a swing state once again.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is often discussed as a potential presidential candidate but would face a huge hurdle serving as Harris’ running mate for one simple reason: They both hail from California. Under the 12th Amendment, Electoral College members vote for the president and vice president but one of them “shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.” So that means if Harris picked Newsom as a running mate, they would forgo all of California’s 54 Electoral College votes.

The California Democratic Party has started pushing its delegates to back Harris
State party delegates had put together a “KDH Endorsement” Google form.
State delegations lining up behind Harris
Convention delegates in four states voted on Sunday to support the vice president as the nominee.
One important caveat here: Even those delegates who were pledged to Biden were not required to support him at the convention, just as those who are pledging their support to Harris now are not locked into voting for her next month.

How Biden will be replaced and what’s next now that he’s dropped out
President Biden decided to end his reelection campaign in a statement released Sunday. Here’s a look at what happens next.
(WaPo) Biden endorsed Vice President Harris moments after announcing that he would no longer seek the Democratic nomination for president. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” Biden said in a post shared on X. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
The coming days will prove pivotal as Democratic leaders try to unite the party’s many factions around Harris, its new standard-bearer. Here are some details on how the process could unfold.
Vice President Harris is the likeliest candidate to replace Biden at the top of the ticket as Biden has endorsed her and many in the party have already signaled they’d accept her as the nominee.
But Harris’s nomination isn’t guaranteed just because she has Biden’s endorsement and is his vice president and former running mate. The Democratic Party is free to tap a different replacement — a governor, perhaps — if its members coalesce around another candidate. Even then, the nominee won’t become official until delegates vote.
How will a new nominee be chosen?
Unlike a president’s resignation, which automatically promotes the vice president, Biden dropping out of the race does not mean Harris will be at the top of the ticket. Most Democrats and strategists expect that she will be his replacement, but delegates who select the presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention are free to vote for any candidate they like.
If Democrats fail to coalesce behind someone, it sets up the potential for an open convention, which the party hasn’t had since 1968. Then there would be tremendous political jockeying behind the scenes as would-be nominees seek support from individual delegates. However, Democrats would probably try to avoid this by attempting to solidify support behind one person before the convention, and many delegates, if not most, would be likely to back the party’s preferred candidate.

What to know about how the nominating process could play out
Ethan Cohen
Despite Biden’s backing, it remains unclear whether Harris will become the nominee, or what process the party will take to select an alternative.
(CNN Live) Here are some answers to frequently asked questions:
Does Harris just become the nominee? No. While Biden has already endorsed his vice president for the nomination, there’s no succession protocol for the presidential ticket in the way there is for the office. Harris will have to win a majority of the convention just like anyone else.
What’s the “virtual roll call”? Democrats are in the process of setting up a system to conduct their presidential nomination vote remotely before the party’s convention next month.
Under a plan presented Friday, delegates would get 24 hours’ notice before voting begins, and voting would take place via digital ballots emailed to delegates.
However, the party did not take any steps to approve the plan at Friday’s meeting. It’s not yet clear whether the party will stick with the remote vote plan or scrap it and allow the formal vote to happen on the convention floor.
How would other candidates get into the race? Under party rules, candidates must meet certain requirements to have their names placed into nomination to be the party’s presidential candidate.

Harris thanks Biden as she receives growing chorus of endorsements
Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Former President Bill Clinton and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also endorsed Harris.
“We are honored to join the president in endorsing Vice President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her,” the two said in a statement on X.
California Senate candidate Rep. Adam Schiff endorses Harris
Schiff is a prominent ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who praised President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out but has not yet endorsed a replacement nominee.