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Tomorrow: DNC Begins In Chicago As Harris Gains Momentum; Harris, New CNN "Road to 270" Electoral Outlook Shows Reshaped Race; Trump Battle On Airwaves In Fight To Define Her. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired August 18, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:07]

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Ionescu putting up 23 points. Stewy adding 18 and Jonquel Jones grabbing 17 boards as well for the liberty, who are a franchise best guys 23 and four through 27 games. Not too shabby for them. And now they are officially in the playoffs.

Back to you.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Carolyn Manno, thank you.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And thank you for being with us this morning.

BLACKWELL: INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Fast forward.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now is the time to chart a new way forward.

RAJU: With just one day until the convention, Harris flips the script.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When we fight, we win.

RAJU: But as Chicago gears up for an historic week and major protests, can Harris keep the momentum going?

Plus, rewind as the race resets, Trump reverts to personal attacks.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm very angry at her.

I'm a better looking person than Kamala.

RAJU: With the fallout felt up and down the ticket.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My only advice to my running mate is be yourself.

RAJU: But as he leads on some key issues, can he still win?

INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.

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(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): Good morning.

Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

We're just one day away from the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, giving Kamala Harris a crucial chance to redefine herself in the eyes of voters after her sudden ascension as her party's standard bearer less than one month ago.

And new this morning, Democrats unveiling their overall theme for the convention for the people, for our future. And President Biden set to kick off the week Monday, followed by other big name speakers like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, as well as Harris's running mate Tim Walz, and the man who wants to be the country's first ever first gentleman, Doug Emhoff.

The culmination will be Thursday, when Harris addresses the nation. Now, meanwhile, CNN has a new electoral outlook this morning, underscoring just how much this race has changed and what Harris's electoral path to the White House looks like at this moment compared to Trump's.

This is brand new polling out this morning shows Harris is leading the race nationwide with registered voters. It's the first major national poll where she has a lead outside the poll's margin of error, since she entered the race last month.

Now, Harris is also closing the margins in the key Sun Belt battleground states of Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina, although the races are still too close to call.

Now, right now, final preparations are underway in Chicago for the celebrations and the protests.

So let's begin with CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who is live for us in Chicago.

So, Jeff, how different will this convention look with Harris at the top of the ticket?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Manu.

The convention will look entirely different. It just has this as this race looks remarkably different than only one month ago, when the Republican convention ended in Milwaukee, the torch for the Democratic Party will be passed here tomorrow night. When President Biden arrives to a hero's welcome. No doubt, and then will be giving his speech about his accomplishments. But looking forward to the rest of the campaign and sitting in the audience, in the convention hall will be Vice President Harris.

After that, President Biden will take his leave, spending the rest of the week outside of Chicago. And it will be all about Vice President Harris. Trying to fill in some of those blanks about her biography and she will have a cast of stars doing that, of course, former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton.

A big question hanging over this: Will Michelle Obama be speaking at the convention? We'll find that out in the coming days.

But this is all about Vice President Harris, her plan for the country, and as you said, Manu, trying to keep that momentum alive, that's really been a remarkable shift in just the last 3 or 4 weeks in American politics.

She's upended this race. No question. But Democrats hope and wonder they can keep that going. But talking to delegates here, talking to Democratic activists, they are just in a celebratory mood, so much different than only a month ago.

RAJU: Yeah. And, Jeff, we are expecting large scale protests over the next week. So how are Democratic officials preparing for those demonstrations?

ZELENY: We absolutely are. More than 200 groups are expected to be gathering here in Chicago to protest tens of thousands of protesters. They are largely going to be held away from this convention hall, away from the United Center. Some will be at Grant Park downtown. Of course, those were some historic images that will be talking about all week long. 1968, as you said.

I was actually talking to the mayor of Chicago last evening. He said, this is an entirely different moment. The police have been trained in a different way. He said protests are a central part of this convention as well.

He said he wouldn't be elected without protests. But of course, the question is, will things get out of hand?

Democratic officials are more concerned about what happens inside the hall. Will there be any uncommitted voters that we've seen in Michigan and other states across the country protesting the Gaza War? Will they interrupt the proceedings?

But look, the Democratic Party is itself united. But these protests certainly will be a central storyline in the days to come.

RAJU: Yeah. No question about it.

All right. Jeff Zeleny in Chicago, thanks for that.

And there's a lot to unpack this morning with our great panel of reporters: CNN's Kristen Holmes, "The New York Times'" Zolan Kanno- Youngs, Annie Karni, also with "The New York Times", and Alex Thompson from "Axios", who in his debut as a CNN political analyst.

Well, welcome to the family, Alex.

So let's start with you. You know, what is the -- your sense? You obviously talk a lot to the Harris campaign. You get a sense of what's happening with Democratic officials. That's what you cover for "Axios".

So give us a sense on what you're hearing about Harris's strategy, her tactics, her thinking about how she wants to present herself this week.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, she's going to try to present herself as basically the candidate of the future. And that you're hearing this in the rallies where we're not going back has been this rallying cry.

Now, it's interesting, even though the party is united, a lot of the people at the top are not united. The top of the Democratic Party is sort of fractured. And you're also going to see that on Monday night. Joe Biden is going to frame Kamala as basically his successor, as one that's fighting for democracy.

Now, you've already seen that Kamala Harris has really ditched a lot of the democracy January 6th rhetoric that was really at the forefront of Joe Biden's strategy. She's going to talk about freedom. She's going to talk about abortion rights. She is going to frame herself as sort of a different candidate, as in some ways, a non-incumbent trying to get some of the advantages of incumbency, but really trying to make herself the change candidate.

RAJU: You mentioned that, the change candidate, but also the fact that, look, she is the vice president for the president, who is in office right now, and he is kicking off the week of speakers, he's talking on Monday. And you see the list down the line from Tuesday on till the end of the week with Kamala Harris closing it out.

But that's going to be really the interesting thing to watch about. Look, she wants to embrace parts of the Biden agenda that are popular. But she also serves under an historically unpopular president who's kicking off this convention week. It's a balancing act.

ANNIE KARNI, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: I think it's a balancing act. And she -- look, she was very loyal through the three weeks where Democrats were trying to oust their own president. She wants to talk about their shared agenda. And this is, you know, they want to say he's been a historic president, even the -- even the Democrats. I mean, now that he's gone, it's easy to say Nancy Pelosi said he belongs on Mount Rushmore.

I mean, they want to act like this is one of the most historic presidents we've ever had. They will deal with him Monday night. They will give him his moment and then they will move right on.

I mean, this is like a real goodbye. I mean, he --

RAJU: That's why he's speaking Monday instead of Thursday before, when she's --

KARNI: Exactly where, you know, and Monday night is sort of the past. Another big speaker I'm looking forward to seeing on Monday night is Hillary Clinton. The last time she was on the stage, she thought she was going to be the first woman president.

I think that's going to be a really interesting address to see. You know, how someone only want two other people faced off against Trump, only one other of them was a woman. I'm really interested to see how Hillary Clinton plays the moment.

But at the end of the day, Harris is a change candidate in a way that Biden and Hillary Clinton both were not. So I think Monday night is a look back and then they move on.

RAJU: Yeah.

KARNI: Yeah.

RAJU: And, Zolan, you've been doing a lot of reporting about Harris getting to this moment. You have a big story in "The New York Times" with your colleague Peter Baker this morning. Just detailing her role, her evolution as the VP. This is what Ron Klain, who is the former White House chief of staff under Joe Biden, said to you guys.

He said, we were all united behind the idea she should be successful. We just didn't find the path to do it. People really liked her. There's a lot of enthusiasm for her, and I don't think we did a good enough job of selling her.

So what did you learn in reporting that, you know, informs this moment for her as she addresses the nation?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, people might look at these rallies that Kamala Harris is having now, and forget that the first two years it was pretty rough.

I mean, she had some stumbles, you know, the trip to Guatemala, the interview with Lester Holt. I remember just interviewing allies of the vice president back in, in California from, you know, that watched her win the D.A. election and then the A.G. election, that were frustrated over her portfolio and sort of a assortment of intractable sort of assignments that she had.

So it's interesting to now see this arc. And I think the former chief of staff was speaking to that.

[08:10:00]

The fact that the first two years, he's now saying that the White House, the West Wing didn't do a good enough job of selling her, amplifying the work that she was doing, and she was doing work behind the scenes. But it's interesting to now see sort of the moment here.

You can't talk about sort of the moment now for the vice president without looking at the first two years and really remembering just how much her allies were concerned that she wasn't just being used as an asset, but maybe an afterthought for the -- for the president.

RAJU: It's such an interesting look. And it also comes as she has to figure out, you know, how much to talk about what she's done, how much she's going to talk about the future and how what kind of voting groups, the blocs of voters that she will reach out to come November, and what she'll have to do on this week.

That includes -- just a snapshot of that is in "The New York Times"/Siena poll about how she's doing with some of these groups of voters. It's very clear that since coming into the race, she has consolidated the Democratic base. She's a better than Biden with Black voters, with female voters, with younger voters ages to 18 to 29.

So the base is starting to come home. But the difference is the independent numbers for her at this moment are not as strong as perhaps she would like. And those that same poll had the battleground states testing Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina. She's still struggling in some states and independents with Trump.

So if you're Harris, who do you read your -- look, you obviously need the base to come out in the election. But is this an effort this week to sell herself to the middle of the electorate rather than play to the base?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, and I do want to just note one thing. When you show those polls, that is what Donald Trump's team is holding on to.

When you talk to senior advisers on the campaign, they point to the fact that Harris is just winning the base back, that Biden was losing in all of these categories that have just been key Democratic voting blocs. And now, she has just gone back to the point of a baseline. And that's what they hold on hope to.

Now, who is she going to reach out to? That's obviously a question for you guys. But I can tell you from the conversations that I'm having, when you talk about Joe Biden at the beginning of the week, they want -- they being the Trump campaign -- want her to be continued to be linked to the -- to the current president. They believe that they can paint her as an incumbent.

Now, the campaign and the candidate are obviously two different people. The candidate himself can't seem to wrap his mind around the fact that she is now at the top of the ticket. He is clearly still fixated on Joe Biden. He obviously cannot stay on message even when they give him running long runway to just focus on the economy.

He manages to veer off into these personal attacks, but their focus is painting this week as a week about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, that this is their joint administration and these are their policies.

KANNO-YOUNGS: I do think it's worth noting, though, that any progress made in the Sun Belt states is going to be met with a lot of enthusiasm. By the campaign, I mean, folks in the campaign were really anxious when Joe Biden was at the top of the ticket over just how low their number -- their numbers were in Nevada, and the Sun Belt states. So, any sort of increase there, which it appears that there is some

increasing momentum now that Harris is at the top of the ticket, that's going to be met really positively.

RAJU: Yeah. Go ahead, yeah.

THOMPSON: Well, you're already seeing the Trump campaign already pivot in terms of where they're spending money. They originally it was all about Pennsylvania and it was really the blue wall states. They are investing much more money in places like Georgia and North Carolina. Now in response to Harris's strength with some of those voters, you pointed out.

HOLMES: And just to be clear about Georgia, I mean, Republicans had all but written it off as a win until Harris is at the top of the ticket. I mean, they were not planning on spending any money there. You've barely seen Donald Trump there. They thought 100 percent it was a fluke in 2020. It was given the times that they were walking into a win in Georgia.

There is -- no one believes that now.

KANNO-YOUNGS: It's also emblematic of just the diverse sort of coalition that Harris has. I know you were talking about independents and sort of the concern there, but I mean, the concern when Biden was at the top of the ticket was also some of the low numbers that he was getting with Black voters and Black men specifically.

I mean, we're seeing some -- some of that grow as well with Harris at the top of the ticket, that's got to be met, possibly.

RAJU: Yeah. Annie?

KARNI: I think there is an effort this week, though, to target those independents. I expect we will hear from some sort of Republicans for Harris spokesperson or prominent Republican who will take the stage that that's the sense I'm getting from conversations I've had that they do want to make that case that we are for everyone, for those double haters who hated Biden and hated Trump, like, here we are, we want your vote.

RAJU: That's so interesting.

KARNI: Yeah.

RAJU: There's been some teasing of some big name Republican coming and speaking.

KARNI: Yes.

RAJU: Who is that big name Republican? There's a lot of speculation. I don't want to speculate right here, but we'll see what actually comes, and transpires. It should be an interesting week

KARNI: Yeah. RAJU: All right. Coming up, with the race tighter than ever, the electoral map is shifting as we speak. The new states that could be in play. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:19:18]

RAJU: New this hour on CNN, in the latest installment of CNN's "Road to 270" electoral map, CNN's political team has moved several states in a positive direction for Kamala Harris. In this new electoral outlook out this morning, four states are moving from leaning Republican to toss up. That includes Michigan, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.

CNN rates seven states as toss ups. Those four plus three others Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona, as well as Nebraska's second congressional district, which awards its states by congressional district, electoral votes by district.

Now it's just a snapshot of the current landscape as we assess the map.

Our panel is back.

So this is a shifting electorate obviously, shifting to Harris.

[08:20:03]

But is this a honeymoon phase or does the Harris team actually think that this is going to grow in the weeks ahead?

KANNO-YOUNGS: They certainly hope it'll grow. I mean, that's --

RAJU: But, look, they could get the balance that they could be -- they expect to get post-convention could be they could have already had it during this honeymoon phase. Maybe she's reached her peak and we've reset to a neck and neck race.

I think the main one of the primary questions for reporters covering politics and Vice President Harris at this time has been, is this excitement that's driven by the fact that Joe Biden is not at the top of the ticket? Or is it the fact that actually it's for the Vice President Harris exclusively?

Look, going into it, the good news is you're going into the DNC. You can get a boost off of that. She had this really hasn't been a campaign of policy outlines thus far. It's been one of emotions. And that does matter in an election as well.

But the big question here is this momentum going to last? I would expect that you're going to see more questions on what her policy platform is going to be, and not just sort of the excitement over, you know, someone new at the top of the ticket.

HOLMES: She's not Joe Biden, and she's not Donald Trump. KANNO-YOUNGS: Right.

HOLMES: So, this is exciting.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right, right, right. But how long can that last here?

You saw her roll out an economic platform just this week. So you're probably going to see her roll out more things in the weeks ahead after the DNC. With that could also come scrutiny.

RAJU: But this is another forecast here that has Joe Biden, that has Kamala Harris having multiple paths to 270. The Sun Belt path, the Rust Belt path -- that's got to be concerning for the Trump campaign.

HOLMES: Oh, it's absolutely concerning. I mean, they're seeing all of these numbers. Now. Again, if you talk to senior advisers, they believe that this is all part of a boost of enthusiasm. They saw this coming.

They said that it was going to last just until the week after the DNC. So that's why they're if you talk to them, yes, they're freaking out. But at the same time they're thinking, okay, there's a chance that this levels out into a race.

The big question again, and this is one that I think has been really hard for anyone on the ground to answer in a way that it wasn't hard in 2020. And 2016 is like we are in an unprecedented moment here. I mean, this late change at the top of the ticket, how voters are reacting and what exactly that means for driving voters to the polls.

And that's what's missing in both the Harris analysis and the Trump analysis, because we simply don't know. And I don't think anyone has a clear idea right now as to how long, if this is a boost that lands where she lands, what that landing looks like.

And that's really been the big question, even on the ground with the Trump voters, it's like you see some people being interested in the fact that she's running. It's like, oh, other people. No, it's just another Biden. But nobody seems to have a real idea of where this race is at all.

RAJU: Yeah, and look, she's benefited from all these positive headlines, as you can see over the last week, the last several weeks in her entrance into the race. But is the question, is this irrational exuberance?

This is how Dan Balz, the, of course, the veteran and esteemed political writer for "The Washington Post", puts it in a story this weekend. So the polls have shifted in Harris's favor. But for all that, the president presidential contest is a toss up. Some Democrats warn that many in the party may be suffering from irrational exuberance about her chances of winning.

THOMPSON: Well, and to your exact point, this is unprecedented. So nobody actually knows what's going to happen next. The Trump campaign is saying, oh, it's a honeymoon, it's a sugar high. But they don't know. And we don't we don't actually know.

Maybe she runs away with this. Or maybe like after the Democratic convention, she sits for her first interview. She does the debate. And Democrats are like, man, we just nominated a lemon here because like, maybe she really stumbles in those first interviews.

The fact is that she has been so protected and so guarded these first few weeks that there is increasing scrutiny on every single thing that she is going to do. Now, the first interview is going to be really dissected and picked apart.

Every single policy rollout is also going to be the same. You saw basically "The New York Times", "The Washington Post" really like be very critical of her first big policy rollout, which they essentially called price controls. And they called it basically a political gimmick.

And that is the one consequence of while she's being guarded and enjoying these good vibes, there are potential consequences down the road after they get out of this convention. And just like we'll somehow get a sense in the coming weeks how voters view the onslaught of television advertising that they've been seeing, really, since she entered the race.

And this effort to define who Kamala Harris is on both sides. The money has just been staggering. $118 million spent between the two parties and their groups and allied groups. Since Biden dropped out over the last month, most of which not most of it, the most going to Pennsylvania, $39 million on the Democratic side, 37 GOP and then the rest down the line.

Just take a look at what the ads have been saying, what people in their -- seeing in their living rooms about Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: She grew up in a middle class home. She was the daughter of a working mom, and she worked at McDonald's while she got her degree. Kamala Harris knows what it's like to be middle class.

AD NARRATOR: If you've had enough of this political era and you're ready to turn the page, Kamala Harris is ready to lead us to the future.

[08:25:05]

AD NARRATOR: The alarming spike in inflation soaring to its highest level in nearly 40 years.

HARRIS: That is called Biden.

AD NARRATOR: Who released every one of them? Liberal D.A. Kamala Harris. The victim's blood is on her hands.

(END VIDEO CLIPS) KARNI: They're both trying to define her. Her -- her biggest strength and her biggest weakness is that she's undefined and has to be introduced to voters in this very truncated moment. The Harris campaign people I've talked to think that this is not just good vibes that will dissipate, that the fundamentals have shifted, that, you know, these we see Senate candidates, House candidates wanting to campaign with them up and down the ticket. They want to be with them.

And they think that whatever happens next, even if she bombs in her first interview, this has been a critical period. You only get to do a first impression once, and they think like it's very protected. But in the way that it has energized people, it has been flawless in their view.

RAJU: And I want to follow up on your point about campaigning with Kamala Harris. There's been some who are willing to embrace, some who are not showing up at the convention. I talked to a couple of House Democratic candidates. They're candidates who are in districts that Joe Biden won, that Republicans that are Republican incumbents about how they view Harris and what they would plan to do if she came to stump at their districts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL ROLLINS (D), CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, it's great to have a former fellow prosecutor at the top. You know, that was my job before I ran.

RAJU: How much different is it with her versus Biden?

ROLLINS: I think the energy is unlike anything I've seen since 2008.

RAJU: Would you campaign with her?

ROLLINS: Absolutely.

JANELLE BYNUM (D), OREGON CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: And so the energy and enthusiasm that we can feel now is really palpable. It's exciting.

RAJU: But has Harris improved your chances?

BYNUM: Absolutely, I think so. It's exciting though. Like, I'm excited about her, her energy, what she stands for. I think women are excited to really focus on the pro-choice decision that we have to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Yet there are candidates who are skipping the convention, including ones in difficult Senate races. You can see on your screen there, and there are house Democratic candidates in swing districts who have not endorsed Harris as well.

So it's a mixed bag for some of these candidates.

THOMPSON: Well, and some of these House Democrats better want to campaign with Kamala Harris because it was their concerns that drove Joe Biden out of this race. It really was the House Democrats in particular, with Nancy Pelosi being concerned about Trump winning and Democrats not having the House and having him having a united Congress behind him, that really that fear is really what drove Joe Biden out of the race.

And to Annie's point about the ads, I spent yesterday watching every single ad --

RAJU: Oh, boy.

THOMPSON: That is -- yeah, very exciting day. And it's interesting.

RAJU: I want to hang out with you on a Saturday.

THOMPSON: Yeah, yeah,

And it was -- it was interesting to see that even as Donald Trump has really struggled to find a message against Kamala -- you know, we've all talked about how we can't find a nickname. Last night it was comrade Harris. He's called her crooked Kamala.

But it's interesting that the Republican ads are incredibly consistent in their message about Kamala Harris. And it's basically dangerous, weak, liberal.

RAJU: There you go. We'll see if that sells.

All right. Coming up next, Harris and Trump hit the trail in the same state this weekend. And Trump and his allies are looking for a reset. Is there any chance he changes course?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: That's one of the reasons she refuses to do interviews I think because she laughs. It's so horrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:42]

RAJU: Pennsylvania is in the center of the political world this weekend with Vice President Harris launching a bus tour in the western part of the commonwealth today. Former President Trump rallying in northeastern Pennsylvania last night.

Now Harris' improving poll numbers like these have some of Trump's allies sounding the alarm that he needs to lock down an effective strategy.

What makes some top Republicans queasy, attacks against Harris' race, gender, and intelligence. And last night, Trump had some jabs that he laid out at Harris at that rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They deposed a president -- it was a coup of a president.

Joe Biden -- this was an overthrow of a president.

Have you heard her laugh? That is the laugh of a crazy person.

That is the laugh of a crazy -- it's the laugh of a lunatic.

Because as soon as she laughs, the election's over.

I say that I am much better looking than her. I think I'm much better looking -- much better. I'm a better-looking person than Kamala.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Ok. So you talked to the Trump campaign, Trump advisers all the time. Do they -- how do they view these jabs on Harris, those kind of jabs? And do they think that's effective?

HOLMES: Well, nobody wants him going after her with these personal attacks. They want him focusing on linking her to the Biden administration and essentially painting her as an incumbent because that's truly the only way they feel like they can win is looking at the issues in which Donald Trump pulls ahead of first President Joe Biden, and they hope, Kamala Harris eventually at the end of the day, which are the issues that drive people out to vote like immigration, like the economy, like crime.

So no one really wants to hear him do that. I will say, you know, we did a big story on how Trump was leaning into these various conspiracy see theories. We have not heard him talk about her ethnicity or race since he brought it up at the National Association of Black Journalists.

That was because he heard so much pushback from allies who were really -- maybe they didn't say this to him. But what he said to us appalled by that kind of language, because they don't think that's what's going to help him win.

[08:34:53]

HOLMES: They don't think that's going to help them in any sense. But again, they've all asked him publicly and privately to stop with the personal attacks, but this is who he is.

KANNO-YOUNGS: I feel like we go through this cycle like at every election --

(CROSSTALKING)

KANNO=YOUNGS: -- like midterms, it was hearing from Republicans on the Hill saying stop talking about the 2020 election focus on Joe Bidens domestic agenda and the economy. This time as well, focus on the Biden administrations political vulnerabilities, the economy and immigration and don't go into the personal attacks.

I was at NABJ and I expected it -- well, actually excuse me. I don't know if --

RAJU: You expected what --

(CROSSTALKING)

KANNO-YOUNGS: I don't know if I expected him to only stay disciplined in and criticize the domestic agenda of Joe Biden. But you know, almost we grow to expect now these personal attacks each time, even though Republicans continue to almost plead with the former president to stay disciplined. It just doesn't happen in an election.

RAJU: And Trump and Vance have been trying to show that they are willing to answer questions. They have been having press conferences.

Harris has not had a single press conference. She has not done a single major interview, any interview since she became a candidate here. And that's one of the things they're trying to draw out Harris on.

And those are some of the things as you see on your screen about what they've been calling for. Calling for more debates, holding a news conference and the like.

But are these news conferences -- Trump going out there and speaking more, is that actually helping him at this moment? I mean, Harris has clearly made a strategic decision to not say -- not try to make a mistake --

KAMI: Right.

RAJU: -- at highly choreographed events and the like. Trump, not so much.

KAMI: Well, I think one of the weirdest things of this moment for Trump is that for the first time in eight years, he's not the main political story. Like the energy and the newsworthiness of this race is with Harris.

And so these, he's been doing a lot of talk, press conferences, Twitter spaces, NABJ, like he's trying to wrestle back the spotlight and the attention and, you know, should he change?

Yes, this is like we've been doing this for eight years. Like he is what he is. He's going to devolve into personal attacks and whatnot.

But I think that they want to get the attention back. This is their attempt to shift the race back in their favor. And is it working? Like some sometimes, yes, sometimes no that there are forums he goes into that are very friendly like the Elon Musk, Twitter spaces.

I listened to that. He actually kind of sounded a good version of Trump on there. In front of black journalists who grilled him with really aggressive, great questions he flew off the handle and it was terrible.

So in safe spaces, he's doing better. But what does that help him expand? And more difficult space is not so much.

RAJU: And this is why -- just before you jump in -- this is why they want him to focus on those issues rather than the personal attacks.

Trump is actually beating Harris in the way voters view and according to a "New York Times"/Siena poll and other polls as well economy and immigration. Trump is up 15 on the economy, 10 in terms of who do you trust more to handle on immigration as well?

There's a reason why they wanted to focus on this. These are bread- and-butter issues that will drive the election.

THOMPSON: And this is what the Trump campaign has been saying, is that they believe the fundamentals of the race are unchanged. And the two issues that are most important to voters -- immigration, the economy, they still have the advantage over Harris.

And Harris has the baggage of the incumbency and they're going to try to make her carry that baggage all the way to election day.

Now to Annie's point, you know, it's sort of a defining strategy or thesis of Donald Trump's life is all attention is good attention, all press is good press. And he believes that.

Now not every Republican strategist believes this, not every person on his team believes that. But Donald Trump believes that and that's why you have him going out there every single day, even in an undisciplined manner.

RAJU: And this is why that they want Harris to come out and speak when she gave an economic speech on Friday, you got a little criticism, especially her calls for going after price gouging and the like.

"The Washington Post" editorial calls it gimmicks. That's an editorial board there. But, you know, there's a -- there's a reason why Trump wants to draw Harris because otherwise, maybe he wants all the attention, but all the attention on him is not so good.

HOLMES: Well and they're also watching the fact that she hasn't come out here and there is a belief that if they're not putting her out there, there is a reason for it, and maybe we're wrong.

Maybe you know, we've asked questions. I know journalists have. Donald Trump's team, they've asked questions as well.

And it could just be that they want to protect her and keep her insulated. But at the same time we saw that she had a lot of gaffes in 2020 and the Trump team believes that that's possible that she will do that again.

So why don't they try to goad her out there? And again, that the reason they're not bringing her out there is because there's some concern among Democrats that that is still true. [08:39:49]

RAJU: Yes. And look, they're setting also a low bar for her. And if she clears that low bar, maybe that will backfire in some ways, we'll see. A lot of wood (ph) time before election day -- a lot to assess.

All right. Coming up next, new polling shows surprising differences about how voters feel about the two VP candidates as we learn a debate between them is a go. How much will that actually move the needle?

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Do you think J.D. Vance knows one damn thing about Nebraska. He's going to be here next week.

Do you think he's ever had Runza? Do you think he's ever had Runza. That guy would call it hot pocket, you know it. Every one of you in here know it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: That was Minnesota Governor Tim Walz just yesterday talking about the local delicacies just outside Omaha, Nebraska, a key swing district whose sole electoral vote could prove pivotal in a close race this fall.

And just three days from now, Walz will get a chance to further introduce himself as Vice President Harris' running mate to the many millions of Americans tuning in to the DNC.

And we're starting to get new surprising polling just as J.D. Vance is ramping up his attacks on Walz while both men have agreed to a one-on- one debate this fall.

My panel is back. So let's just dig a little deeper into this new polling from ABC/"Washington Post" poll favorable views, unfavorable views. Vance underwater, so is Walz, but a lot of voters simply have not heard of them.

But one thing is the negative impressions about Vance are increasing the more voters are hearing about him and then forming their opinions.

And then look at the way the subgroups of voters view him right now. Walz versus Vance. More have positive views over Vance -- Walz over Vance. And even among some surprising groups that you think that he -- Vance would be doing better, he's still trailing with white voters, for instance 3 percent -- minus three versus Walz or basically even, you can see there on your screen.

What do you think this says about these attacks that have gone his way? They've been going after his military record that Trump campaign has. Walz has not done any interviews like Harris has as well. He's been on the campaign trail. Is it just some people don't know him yet or does this show that this

is a pick that could help Harris.

THOMPSON: Well, Walz did do one interview and it was with Kamala Harris interviewed him and they released it this week.

So the thing is, I mean we -- I do think we should probably give Senator Vance some credit for actually sitting for interviews. Now he has had a really rough rollout. Let's be honest.

I think the fact that he is so early in the senate, he only, you know, has a very short record of interviews or re public statements and he ran really far to the right when that Ohio primary. Did lots of Tucker Carlson and that's why you saw the "childless cat lady" comments come up.

But the Tim Walz thing, I think it's still too early to tell. We'll see how he does interviews. He does have to answer some questions, not about his military service record, but about how he described his military service record after he left the military.

It does appear that he inflated his rank when he described it and that he also maybe inflated a few other things. We'll see how he responds.

The fact of the matter is though that he is doing much better than J.D. Vance, at least so far.

RAJU: Yes. And the question is, how much does any of this -- you know, how much does a running mate actually help at the end of the day versus who leads the first rule is "do no harm". Right, do no harm, do no harm at the debate; do no harm on the campaign trail.

And speaking of the debate, they've agreed to one that's going to happen on October 1st and we've got just a sense of how they are as debaters themselves based on their own past campaigns.

Here's J.D. Vance and Tim Walz on how they performed in their past debates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM RYAN (D-OH): You were calling Trump America's Hitler then you kissed his ass.

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: That's not true.

RYAN: It is true -- to believe in a border.

VANCE: -- Tim Ryan thinks that you endorsed the

(CROSSTALKING)

It's unbelievable.

VANCE: This is what you do. You join Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer your own people racist for daring to believe in a (INAUDIBLE). This is the game that he plays.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Thank you.

RYAN: I hope you feel better, J.D.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is he trying to protect? Governor, quick response.

WALZ: Well, most of what Scott says is usually not true. I trust women, I have my entire life to make their own health care decisions. It's dangerous and reckless. It's between them and their health care provider.

This is the most anti-choice, anti-woman ticket that's ever run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Tim Walz has reportedly said he's not a strong debater. Concern for the Harris campaign?

KANNO-YOUNG: I mean, we've seen. I mean -- a debate can be sort of significant moment in an election.

I think we've already seen that, right. And you -- this is an example though of one pick, one running mate being already being more exposed than the other.

Walz is not that exposed yet. You know, many people don't know about him at this point.

So I mean, when you have a debate moment that can be the time where he's introduced to many people on the national stage.

Yes, of course there's going to be pressure at that point.

HOLMES: Just to add about J.D. Vance. Part of the reason Donald Trump started to like J.D. Vance is because he is a good debater, that he watched those debates and thought that he did a really good job.

Don Jr. showed Donald Trump those debates when he was trying to promote J.D. Vance. They wanted J.D. Vance to be an attack dog because they've seen the way that he performs, particularly on television. We know that Donald Trump is all about a visual medium.

(CROSSTALKING)

HOLMES: So part of the reason they want more debates and part of the reason that they chose J.D. Vance was to be an attack dog. He just hasn't really been able to since he spends most the time defending himself.

[08:49:45]

RAJU: Yes. All right. Well, we shall see. October 1, that's the VP debate. And for more on Walz, Vance and all things DNC tune in to CNN tonight for a preview of the week starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Coming up anti-war protests, political violence, and a Democratic convention in Chicago. Sound familiar? Well, we take a look back at that chaotic 1968 DNC and the parallels to this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: It was a turbulent year. A war abroad that spawned campus protests nationwide, a presidential candidate had been shot, the sitting president suddenly decided not to run for reelection. And the Democrat National Convention was in Chicago.

[08:54:48]

RAJU: Sound familiar? Well, of course, that was 1968. And what transpired in Chicago was marked by chaos and violence as police clash with anti-Vietnam protesters, with images of the violence splattered across television sets nationwide, shocking many Americans.

Now, this week, tens of thousands of protesters are expected to descend on Chicago. Many are pro-Palestinian and oppose the Biden- Harris handling of the Gaza war and support for Israel.

This time, Chicago police have been training extensively for months and have learned many lessons about large-scale protests in the decades since 1968.

Inside the convention hall this time around, things will be highly choreographed and likely much more civil than 1968 when there was actual fist fighting among the attendees in the convention hall.

At the time though, the sitting vice president, Hubert Humphrey, did win the Democratic nomination only to lose to the Republican Richard Nixon in the fall.

Now that's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju, follow the show @INSIDEPOLITICS.

If you ever miss an episode, you can catch up wherever you get your podcast. Just search for INSIDE POLITICS.

Up next "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Jake's guests include House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us and we'll see you next time.

[08:56:10]

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