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CNN This Morning

Harris, Walz Court Union Vote At Labor Events; Nearly 159,000 Children In Gaza Vaccinated Against Polio; Joey Chestnut Beats Own Record In Hot Dog Eating Showdown. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 03, 2024 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[05:31:08]

PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: It's 5:30 a.m. here in Washington. Here's a live look at St. Louis, Missouri. Good morning, everyone. I'm Paula Reid in for Kasie Hunt. It's great to be with you.

Now, Vice President Harris and her running mate Tim Walz making their case for unions to back their campaign. During events in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania both pitched themselves as the strongest ticket for workers' rights and pledged to build the middle class if they are elected.

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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When union wages go up everybody's wages go up. When union workplaces are safer all workplaces are safer. When unions are strong America is strong.

GOV. TIM WALZ, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every single chance these guys have gotten they've waged wars on workers in the middle class. As president, Trump blocked overtime for millions of workers. Hell, why pay the bills? He doesn't pay his own. Why should we pay somebody for overtime? What are they going to do? That's what they do.

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REID: And the vice president is expected to continue that message as she debuts more of her economic platform at a rally in New Hampshire tomorrow.

Now, joining me not to discuss all of this is Saleha Mohsin, senior Washington correspondent for Bloomberg, and Stephen Neukam, congressional reporter for Axios. All right, thank you both for being with us.

As part of this push for more economic messaging the Harris campaign is releasing a new ad. I want you to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS CAMPAIGN AD: She'll make groceries more affordable by cracking down on price gouging, and she'll cut housing costs by taking on corporate speculators. Middle-class families built America. We need a leader who has their back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: What is your reaction to this ad?

SALEHA MOHSIN, SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: There's a lot of promises there and a little -- very little insight into the pathway to make those promises happen. You need a strong coalition in the -- in the -- both chambers of Congress. Also, no one is talking about the deficit. It's a very boring thing to talk about, I realize it, but Americans do pay attention. And no direct sign of how this will actually bring down cost of living.

REID: Stephen, do you agree?

STEPHEN NEUKAM, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Well look, the campaign is still trying to find their economic footing. I think one thing they're trying to do is spin and flip the message on inflation, right? I mean, that's the -- when you look at the polling -- the pocketbook dining table issues -- that's still one of the top things for American voters.

So the vice president and Democrats -- we saw at the DNC Sen. Bob Casey talk about greed-flation and trying to blame inflation on the greed of corporate entities. So I think beyond the policies there's also this sort of messaging thing that they're trying to do to try and flip that -- the attack that many Republicans are going to launch against them.

REID: And speaking of attacks, Walz has previously been attacked by Republicans for his pro-union stance, and yesterday he tried to flip that using this interesting line. Let's take a listen.

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WALZ: Folks, start thinking about running. I can remember, and this was when Republicans came up to me in one of my campaigns and they said, "Tim is in the pocket of organized labor." I said, "That's a damn lie. I am the pocket. I am the pocket."

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REID: "I am the pocket." Is that going to resonate with voters?

MOHSIN: There's a lot of flipping of the scripts going around here.

Yeah, I think that -- look, it's a little confusing right now because 30-40 years ago unions made up five in 10 American workers. Right now it's down to one in 10.

[05:35:00] The other thing that we're looking at here is that union leadership has picked the Harris-Walz ticket, right? They were with Biden as well. But the rank-and-file supporters, so far, are with Donald Trump.

And so I think that flipping of the script that "I'm in your pocket" and the way Americans think -- we don't -- the average American doesn't think about the economy or inflation. They think cost of living. How much does that cost? What is it going to do to my pocket, right?

And so he is -- he's finding a link to Americans who in these key blue wall states are not sure about Harris' handling of the economy with Biden, so then they're equally not sure about how Harris would handle things going forward with Walz.

REID: That is helpful. I did not -- I did not put that together -- the economic "being in your pocket" -- the pocket. Thank you for helping me further. I understand what he's trying to get at here.

And, of course, President Biden -- last year he made history when he was on the picket line during the UAW strike. He's trying to remind voters that Harris supported him in that.

Will that be enough to get the trust, the support, the votes of the rank-and-file?

NEUKAM: We'll have to see. They're obviously trying in some fashion to sort of recreate the coalition that won Biden the election in 2020. Yes, one out of 10 workers are union members but disproportionately, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio -- those states -- more of those workers are in those states that the campaign absolutely has no choice but to win in November.

So I think talking to those members and obviously the endorsement of pro-union leadership is going to give them a head start in trying to rebuild that coalition in a -- in a couple of months.

REID: And Vice President Harris -- she actually made a bit of news during that rally coming out in opposition to a proposed deal for U.S. Steel to be acquired by a Japanese company.

How could this help her potentially with voters?

MOHSIN: I think voters are right now trying to see where is she like Biden and where is she different. But this is actually somewhere where she is like both Trump and Biden. You know, both candidates had come out with the very sort of key economic populist message that U.S. Steel should remain in American hands.

I think with workers it's going to -- it's going to go over well that there is this at least some kind of continuity on that front in a deal that -- it's not going to come through before Election Day, but it might be a big issue in the start of 2025.

REID: Of course, Trump trying to undermine this message highlighting what he believes his administration did to help unions in a Truth Social post yesterday saying, "We achieved major success to protect American workers by negotiating free and fair trade deals, passing the USMCA," before adding, "But Kamala and Biden have undone all of that."

Is his message going to break through for these voters?

NEUKAM: It could. It's possible.

I think right now so much of the excitement is on the Harris-Walz side. I think that we're still sort of on that high of the end of the DNC and her becoming the candidate.

Will that message -- will the Trump -- the Truth Social post -- the screaming into the social media world break through? Maybe. It broke through in 2016. That's -- and he got his message through. But it seems, at least from my personal point of view, less and less that message is breaking through, especially in a siloed sort of fashion into Truth Social.

REID: Well, critical issues in critical states -- Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.

Thank you both for joining us.

And 159,000 children in Gaza have now been vaccinated against polio. Vaccinations from the U.N.-led campaign will continue today as the U.N. hopes to vaccinate 640,000 children before September 12.

Joining me now, CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir. Nada, what can you tell us?

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the third and final day of phase one of this vaccination campaign, Paula. That is set to continue until September 12. And what we're going to see is three phases, each lasting three days. That first phase taking place right now is focused on central Gaza.

Already, as you mentioned, nearly 159,000 children now immunized against polio, so a significant feat there. But as you mentioned, they are aiming to vaccinate 640,000 children across the Gaza Strip. That equates to over 90 percent of children under the age of 10.

Now, phase two will focus on southern Gaza and that is expected to begin between Thursday and Sunday. And then, of course, phase three will focus on northern Gaza.

And what we've been hearing from the U.N. agencies and representatives on the ground is this has, so far, been successful. And the success of the this campaign is heavily dependent on these pauses in fighting -- area-specific pauses in fighting that the U.N. has called for on both sides of the conflict to ensure that this campaign can be rolled out safely and securely not only for those medical workers on the ground but, of course, for the families and children lining up waiting to get these vaccines.

[05:40:00] And we have seen video showing a huge turnout of families. On the first day we saw families gathering around the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Yesterday we saw aid workers -- relief workers visiting U.N.-run schools which, of course, have become vital shelters for civilians in the Gaza Strip -- visiting classroom-by- classroom, tent-by-tent carrying out these vaccinations.

So, of course, this is a crucial campaign. Gaza has confirmed the first case of polio in a baby. This is the first case according to UNICEF in 25 years.

So there is a significant amount of urgency around this but so far U.N. officials have said that it has been successful. The hope is that will continue as they move to phase two and phase three that we continue to see that pause in fighting being respected and that they can achieve that goal of vaccinating over 600,000 children against polio.

REID: Nada Bashir, thank you.

And coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, barnstorming the blue wall. How the Harris campaign is using President Biden to try to pick up support in key battleground states.

Plus --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four, three, two, one.

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REID: Who other than Joey Chestnut downing more dogs than any human in history? That will be in our Bleacher Report next.

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[05:45:50]

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've made a lot of progress and Kamala and I are going to build on that progress, and she's going to build on it. I'll be on the sidelines, but I'll do anything I can to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: President Biden hitting the trail in his new role as campaigner-in-chief for Kamala Harris. His focus, the blue wall. After Monday's joint appearance with Harris in Pittsburgh, he'll be appearing in two more battleground states this week -- Wisconsin on Thursday and Michigan on Friday.

Our next guest, Ron Brownstein, of The Atlantic, writes, "No matter what else changes, the most direct path to the White House always seems to run through a handful of blue-collar states in the nation's oldest industrial heartland -- Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin."

Ron joins us now from Los Angeles. All right, you've said it once --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC (via Webex by Cisco): (INAUDIBLE).

REID: -- you've said it a million times, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

REID: Can Biden move the needle for Harris in these key states?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. You know, it really is striking as I -- as I wrote that no matter what else changes in American politics these states always seem to be at the forefront.

When I coined the phrase "the blue wall" in 2009 it referred to the 18 states, actually, that ultimately voted Democratic in all six elections from '92 to 2012. In 2016, Trump famously dislodged Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin from the blue wall. Biden won them back in 2020. And people talk about the blue wall now more often than they talk about those three states that fell out of it rather than the original concept.

Biden's, I think, greatest asset in the 2020 election was that he improved over Hillary Clinton in 2016, not massively but enough among those blue-collar workers in those three states to win them back from Trump after he had dislodged them in 2016.

So if she is going to deploy him -- you know, a president with a disapproval rating of 55 percent or more, as Biden has -- I mean, there's limits to how much he can help you. But if he can help you, it is clearly -- I think his greatest value is going to be among those workers in those states.

By the way, those three states have voted the same way in every presidential election since 1980 except one. And even more remarkably, over the last 30 years they have voted the same way for governor in every election except one. So they tend to move together and that is the key to their influence.

REID: But to follow up, those low poll numbers -- I mean, should she be concerned about Biden's low polling?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that is the biggest headwind she has. Look, you know, 55 to 60 percent of Americans say they are not better off as a result of the policies of the Biden administration, and that is an enormous headwind for her. So there are limits to how much you can use Biden. There was a reason that he was -- with Biden's age, that he was failing in the election before he -- before he stepped aside.

But, you know, I've always thought if there is an epicenter to the enthusiasm -- the positive enthusiasm for Biden in the Democratic Party as opposed to seeing him as a vehicle to stop Trump, it was among the blue-collar construction trade unions in the AFL.

Voters who were enthusiastic about him in 2020 -- now with all of the historic investment in manufacturing construction, the infrastructure bill that has unfolded under him as well, he can be an asset with those voters. But when you've got a president with a disapproval rating as high as his has been you've got to be judicious about where you deploy them.

REID: And one of the big criticisms of the Harris-Walz campaign has been a lack of specifics when it comes to economic policy. Tomorrow Harris delivers a speech in New Hampshire, and she's expected to roll out some new economic proposals.

What are you expecting to hear tomorrow in the Granite State?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, I guess I feel like it's kind of silly to say we don't know what the agenda of a Harris administration would be because we know what the agenda of the Democratic Party is.

[05:50:00]

I mean, there is a bottom-up agenda that is broadly supported across the party. It has do with ending the Trump tax cuts for families earning $400,000 or $450,000 a year or more, which will expire next year if nothing is done. So they have leverage to negotiate some kind of limit on any extension past 2025.

And using the proceeds for a broad agenda that includes incentives for the green manufacturing that we just talked about. That includes subsidies for people to buy health insurance. Expanded childcare help. Resuming the child tax credit that was ended after 2022. So, you know -- and more broadly, on Medicare, negotiating lower prices for prescription drugs and out-of-pocket limits.

I think you're going to hear a lot from here. I think what Democrats have decided is the key economic point they have to kind of impress upon voters is they have tangible, practical, operational policies that will help them with specific costs, whether it's raising children, whether it's dealing with health care costs, whether it's dealing with prescription drugs. And I think that's a lot of what the emphasis is going to be between now and then, as well as access to capital for small business and helping people participate in the economy, as I said, by subsidizing their childcare costs.

REID: All right. Quickly Ron, I want to go back to the blue wall -- Michigan, Wisconsin --

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

REID: -- Pennsylvania. If it doesn't hold for Harris, does she still have a path to victory in November?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, but they're all hard, right?

Look, I think what's happening is that she is establishing some separation in Michigan and Wisconsin, which means Pennsylvania with its 19 electoral votes is the most likely -- I think most people in both parties agree is the most likely to beat one state.

If she doesn't win Pennsylvania, in theory, she could compensate for it by winning one of the southeast states, either North Carolina and Georgia, plus one of the southwest states, either Nevada or Arizona. But you would like your odds much better on either side if you can just win Pennsylvania.

If Harris, though, is able to establish a separation in Michigan, Wisconsin, and also Nevada, which polling is suggesting, suddenly it's Trump who has pull the inside straight. At that point he would have to win all three of Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania in order to win.

The most straightforward path -- you know, we're kind of ending where we started, Paula. For both sides the most straightforward path to 270 is through those former blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

REID: Ron, thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

REID: And turning to sports, the Florida State football team goes from a national title contender to last place in its conference all in the span of just 10 days.

Coy Wire has this morning's Bleacher Report.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: What's up, Paula?

A huge upset in Tallahassee. The Florida State home crowd absolutely shocked as down goes number 10 FSU. Unranked Boston College crushing their playoff hopes.

New head man Bill O'Brien, former NFL head coach, has his squad looking strong. Quarterback Thomas Castellanos rumbling for a touchdown and 73 of their 263 yards rushing. He also had two passing TDs.

And their defense, tenacious. FSU had just 21 yards on the ground and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei intercepted by Max Tucker, completed just 50 percent of his passes.

FSU now 0-2 following their previous loss to Georgia Tech. BC wins 28- 13 with Coach O'Brien leading his team to a massive first win of the season that had FSU fans headed for the exits early.

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MIKE NORVELL, HEAD COACH, FLORIDA STATE: I'm sick to how this -- how the season started. Obviously, tonight, I failed in preparing the team to be able to go out and respond tonight. And I apologize to our fans. I apologize to everybody associated with the program. I mean, that was extremely disappointing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WIRE: Dodgers' superstar Shohei Ohtani moving closer to an historic 50-50 season -- 50 stolen bases, 50 home runs. The reigning NL MVP running wild against the Diamondbacks last night stealing not one, not two, but three cases. That gives him 46 for the season. Ohtani is now just four steals and six home runs shy of becoming the first player ever to record a 50-50 single season.

Now, Teoscar Hernandez -- he went five for five. But how about Freddie Freeman? He says don't forget about me -- hitting two home runs.

The Dodgers win 11-6. They won three of four in the series with Arizona, and now with a six-game lead over the D-backs.

American sprinter Hunter Woodhall hoped to match his wife by winning a gold medal in Paris but instead, the 25-year-old Paralympian finishes in sixth place in the 100 meters. Still a great accomplishment.

Costa Rica's Sherman Guity won gold in the Paralympic record time of 10.65 seconds.

You remember Hunter was in the stands watching his wife Tara Davis- Woodhall become the Olympic long jump champion just two weeks ago.

[05:55:04]

Finally, keep your hands away from Joey Chestnut. He wolfed down a world record 83 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes yesterday outeating his biggest rival Takeru Kobayashi of Japan in the process. Kobayashi only managed to put away 66 hot dogs. This is the first time they had gone head-to-head in 15 years.

Chestnut was unable to participate in the iconic Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on the Fourth of July due to some sponsorship with a rival meatless hot dog brand.

And I apologize, Paula. I should have given a disclaimer that if you haven't had your breakfast yet avert your eyes, or if you have, probably, because that could be a potentially dangerous situation having to watch that.

REID: The part was keep your hands away from him. That was great. Thanks, Coy.

WIRE: You got it.

REID: And ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, President Biden says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage release deal as the White House makes a new push to strike a ceasefire and hostage agreement in Gaza.

Plus, in a matter of hours, Kamala Harris' campaign kicks off a reproductive freedom bus tour making their first stop in Donald Trump's back yard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: And let's be clear about how we got here. Donald Trump handpicked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom, and now he brags about it.

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