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Democratic Maryland Senate Candidate Improperly Claimed Tax Breaks; Tester on Not Endorsing Harris: "I Want to Talk about Montana"; Vance vs Walz; What is the Harris Campaign's Strategy for Tim Walz; "West Wing" Stars Visit White House on 25th Anniversary. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired September 22, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:50]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): The final sprint. Controversy scrambles the map.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is going to be a tight race until the very end.

RAJU: While Harris agrees to CNN's debate and Trump tries to win over women.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You will no longer be thinking about abortion. The people are now voting.

RAJU: Plus, former President Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, on where Harris is trailing Biden, and new reporting on Democrats' Maryland Senate candidate.

Plus, face off.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have got 44 days until we're going to turn this state red.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are ready to continue to build the future together.

RAJU: With just over a week until they debate, are the VP candidates helping or hurting their ticket?

And 25 years. Stars of the "West Wing" celebrate at the White House.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): Good morning. Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

Forty-four days out from Election Day. And Donald Trump is dealing with a down ticket scandal in North Carolina that he does not want to talk about. Yesterday, at a campaign rally there, the GOP nominee for governor, Mark Robinson, was nowhere to be found, and Trump made no mention of him or the bombshell CNN report that revealed Robinson made graphic and inflammatory comments on a porn website years ago, with the lieutenant governor, even expressed support for reinstating slavery.

Instead, Trump, who had endorsed Robinson in the primary and had been a vocal supporter of his in the past, tried to draw the attention back to Kamala Harris. As both campaigns now battle for the dwindling number of persuadable voters and a race, that poll after poll says is a dead heat and time is running out. Early voting has begun in several states, and this week, mail in ballots will become available to voters in the key battlegrounds of Michigan and North Carolina.

Now, as Harris stumped in Georgia and Wisconsin on Friday, Trump in North Carolina yesterday made this pitch to try to cut into Harris's significant lead, with women voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Let's talk about our great women. All right? As women have gone through a lot, they've gone through a lot. Women are poorer than they were four years ago, are less healthy than they were four years ago. I will fix all of that. Women, I will fix all of that.

Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be, with the states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right. Let's break this all down with my great panel this morning, "Wall Street Journal's" Molly Ball, CNN's Isaac Dovere, NPR's Deirdre Walsh and "The New York Times'" Zolan Kanno-Youngs.

Good morning to you all. Thanks for being here.

All right. Let's talk about this Trump comment first from this morning. He actually followed up from this late night Friday post on Truth Social, all caps, talking about women voters clearly on Donald Trump's mind. He said similar to what he said at the rally, you will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be with the states.

Perhaps this is one reason why Trump is trying to change his messaging of sorts on this potent issue. He's down by 12 points to Harris among likely women voters, according to "The New York Times"/Siena poll.

But is this a strategy that will be effective at this stage of the game?

MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, WALL STREET JOURNAL: You know, it is not really in the political messaging 101 textbook, to you know --

RAJU: Perhaps not.

BALL: -- to tell groups how they're supposed to be thinking and what they should be thinking about. You know, there's been this debate within the Republican Party of whether their candidates should try to find a winning message on abortion, which has generally been a losing issue for them since the Dobbs decision, or whether they should ignore it completely. A new approach would be to say, to just tell women not to think about it.

RAJU: Yeah, it doesn't matter anymore.

BALL: So you're not ignoring the issue. You're just telling women not to think. I -- but clearly, you know, Trump has had this weakness with women voters, particularly college educated women. And the strategic choice that his campaign made, as evidenced by, you know, Hulk Hogan tearing his shirt off at the Republican convention, was that they were going to be able to make up that gender gap on the other end by attracting more men, particularly non-college educated men, disaffected men who maybe hadn't been voters at all before.

[08:05:17]

But that weakness with women voters is a pretty glaring one. And it's not clear if he can make it up with men. And so you see him trying to also bring some of those women back into the tent, however clumsy --

RAJU: And we're going to talk about Harris's challenges with male voters in the next segment.

I want to turn, though, to what was not apparent or not visible at yesterday's rally, which was the GOP nominee for governor, Mark Robinson, and the aftermath of that bombshell report from our colleagues here at CNN, a KFILE reporting about those lewd and graphic, inflammatory comments, some of which we can't even say on TV on this porn website that Robinson has essentially been in hiding.

He was endorsed by Donald Trump. Trump called him Martin Luther King on steroids and the like. There was -- now the Harris campaign is trying to tie the two together. As you can see on your screen there of the campaign ad from the Harris campaign trying to tie the two together.

There's perhaps a reason why they hope this will change the dynamics of this race. Look at the North Carolina presidential results from the last four election cycles. So close. Democrats did take. Obama won in '08, barely wins North Carolina. But Republicans did take care of the state in the last three election cycles.

Does this make a difference on the margins? Can it help Harris ultimately?

ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Before the summer, when Harris became the nominee, she was spending a lot of time in North Carolina. There was a hope that Democrats could win North Carolina. That hope, of course, is, as you point out, every presidential election since 2008. Also every Senate race since 2008, North Carolina. The Democrats think, oh, maybe this is the year.

But it is not ideal to have a leading candidate on the ballot. A the gubernatorial nominee have this situation when you've got an attorney general's race, their house races and now a -- what was already a pitched battle for the presidential race there.

It -- that Robinson has not appeared anywhere that Donald Trump is suddenly forgotten, that he exists --

RAJU: And we don't know if he's still endorsing. We've reached out saying, are you still endorsing him? No real response yet.

DOVERE: Right. But he was part of the reason that Mark Robinson became the nominee. And I think it's important to note here that Mark Robinson, it's not like, though these revelations were shocking, they were not surprising in a way, given what Robinson has said in the past. He said things along the lines of some of this not all that our colleagues got out right. And there was still a decision by the Republicans to nominate him as the candidate.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, maybe he hasn't been endorsed yet, but I mean, you don't have to try too hard if you're the Harris campaign or Democrats to tie Trump to Robinson. Trump has already said that that Robinson should be cherished, as you said. He said that he was Martin Luther King on somebody who did describe himself as a black Nazi on these on this pornographic website.

DOVERE: In addition to some comments about Martin Luther King.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right, that's right. If you're Democrats at this point, I don't think you need to wait for an endorsement here. You know, Trump has already said so many comments that tie him to --

DEIRDRE WALSH, NPR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, the damage is done. I mean, I talked to House Republicans from North Carolina after this story broke on Thursday.

RAJU: So they were thrilled to get that question.

WALSH: They were -- they were saying they were still reading the story, but one of them, Richard Hudson, who heads the House Republicans Campaign Committee, did say the comments were very concerning. He noted that Robinson denied them, but he said he needed to get detailed answers about the allegations in the story. He also sort of downplayed the impact on that House race in eastern North Carolina.

But the Republican candidate in that race has deleted a photo of herself or a book out with Mark Robinson. And Democrats are quick to try to tie her to the - to the unpopular governor, lieutenant governor.

RAJU: It's so interesting -- it's interesting because I asked Hudson months ago about Mark Robinson. He said he's an effective messenger. So clearly that has changed in the aftermath of this KFILE report. I do want to show you the comments that J.D. Vance made yesterday. He was asked by a reporter in Philadelphia about this.

They have not ruled the campaign, Vance, Trump. They have really not said anything about this until Vance was asked about it last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you believe him that those were not his posts?

VANCE: I don't not believe him. I don't believe him. I just think that you have to let these things sometimes play out in the court of public opinion. I just think that fundamentally, it's Mark Robinson and the people of North Carolina that get to decide whether he's their governor. And that's what we're going to focus on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Okay, so do you believe him? He was asked. I don't not believe him. I don't believe him. Very clear.

BALL: Very. He seemed to be saying that he was just sort of not going to be taking a position.

RAJU: Yes.

BALL: But look -- I mean, both of these southern swing states, Georgia and North Carolina, are on a knife's edge. And this has always been part of the reason that Democrats thought North Carolina might be in play this cycle, more so than last cycle was because there was this down ballot race that it looked like they were in good position to win, whereas Georgia, you know, when it flipped for the first time in decades in 2020, was helped by the momentum from those two Senate races being on the ballot at the same time, although they then went to the runoff.

And so that part of the reason that Democrats have felt like North Carolina could be more competitive than Georgia this time around. When you see, though, the state narrowly flipping from one side to the other, as in that chart that you put up, it's not primarily because there's a lot of voters in North Carolina changing their minds. It's because different voters are coming out.

RAJU: Uh-huh.

BALL: And so, if fewer Republicans are coming out because they feel demoralized about that gubernatorial race or they can't stomach voting for their own candidate, if more Democrats are coming out because they're enthusiastic to vote against a gubernatorial candidate, that potentially helps the momentum at the top of the ticket. So it's a big part even before these revelations, but even more so after these revelations, the Mark Robinson dynamic has been a reason that North Carolina was competitive.

RAJU: And there was another development yesterday about the potential debate or perhaps not a debate. Yesterday, the Harris campaign said that that they would agree to have a debate in October. CNN debate in October. Trump meanwhile, indicated he's not so keen on doing so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A lot of people say, oh, do it. It's great entertainment. I've already done two. The problem with another debate is that it's just too late. Voting has already started.

She's done one debate. I've done two. It's too late to do another. I'd love to in many ways, but it's too late. The voting is cast. The voters are out there immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I mean, most of the time debates are in October.

DOVERE: Yeah, and in 2020, there was a debate on October 22nd. This debate is proposed for October 23rd, because Election Day is a little different. It's the same amount of time between that. What would be that final debate and the Election Day.

So this excuse that it's too late doesn't really make sense. He agreed to it four years ago, though voting was underway. At that said, it doesn't seem like Donald Trump is in a rush to accept another debate.

RAJU: Yeah, and it just underscores the fact that they view this as a campaign where they can try to win across the airwaves, campaign ad wars and the like. The debate didn't go so well. Maybe that'll be a distant memory among some voters, come November, we shall see if anything changes.

Up next, former President Obama's former chief of staff, David Axelrod, will join me live at the magic wall to discuss whether Harris can catch up with Biden with key voting blocs.

Plus, J.D. Vance digs in with his remarks about Haitian migrants in Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: I challenge you, go to Springfield, Ohio, which has been overwhelmed by 20,000 Haitian immigrants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:12]

RAJU: Kamala Harris successfully closed President Biden's gap in polling after she replaced him at the top of the ticket this summer, but she still hasn't caught up with him in all of his 2020 numbers. New polling this past week showed Biden -- Harris trailing Biden's 2020 numbers in some key areas, notably Hispanic voters, non-college- educated voters and men.

I caught up with one Democratic congressman this week who conceded his party is struggling to appeal to male voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Concerned why are Democrats struggling with male voters?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Well, look, I there's not sort of an easy explanation for that, but there are a lot of males in America who are struggling themselves, and they need to be able to look at our party and see real solutions and see, you know, leaders who identify with their concerns. I think we need to do more to address that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So how can Harris address these vulnerabilities and what will matter in the lead up to November 5th?

Here to answer all of our questions and with insight, his insight, former President Obama's chief strategist and CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod.

Axe, great to see you.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Does John King know you're playing with his wall?

RAJU: I don't know. I'm sure he's okay, but maybe he shouldn't tell him. We'll surprise him with that.

AXELROD: All right.

RAJU: So let's look at the Obama's path here. This is 2012. This is the numbers right here. How he did with all of these key demographic groups.

Hillary Clinton did improve a little bit with 65 and over. And of course, this is according to CNN exit polls, actual voters, how they voted. But when we look at the Biden path, he over versus Hillary Clinton, he did improve over her with non-college-educated not voters, male voters and 65 and over, over Hillary Clinton by a couple of points. Harris is behind Biden all of this.

Should she be concerned?

AXELROD: Well, maybe she is. And maybe she isn't.

One of the things I want to say as a prelude to this whole conversation is we are victimized by a flood of public polls, and we treat each as if they're stone tablets. And not all that data is reliable. There are -- there are organizations and campaigns that are doing steady polling that I think are a little bit different than this.

There are areas where she's behind Biden among younger voters. She's -- she's improved dramatically over where Biden was this time, but she's still needs to improve on that, and particularly young men and young Black men, which is a target of the Trump campaign. These are areas of concern. She clearly there are voters hanging out

here who haven't made a decision. They tend to be younger. They tend to be more influenced by the economy. She needs to speak more vigorously and specifically about the offer to them and convincingly.

[08:20:01]

She's very passionate. We see her on abortion rights. She's incredibly riveting on that subject. She needs to bring the same passion to some of these economic issues.

RAJU: And let's talk about the blue wall, those voters with male voters, you know, maybe the votes are off, but I think we can probably agree that she's still this is an area that she does need to improve upon. But the Pennsylvania visit among white men, male voters in Pennsylvania, the critical battleground state, look at that, 62 to 30.

AXELROD: Yeah. Well, this is one of those polls that I'm talking about.

I think there is a margin. There's no doubt --

RAJU: Maybe not 25 points.

AXELROD: There's no doubt that she's trailing among men.

RAJU: And look at Michigan with 15, maybe 15, maybe not, but she could be trailing.

AXELROD: That comes closer.

RAJU: That comes closer. Wisconsin white likely voters no clear leader here. So, you know, you -- you know, she does have cash. The one thing she does have is a significant cache of $235 million in cash on hand for the final here stretch of the campaign.

So, how if you're the cares campaign, do you try to cut into Trump's advantage? Maybe not 25 points, but maybe significant in a critical state like Pennsylvania?

AXELROD: Well --

RAJU: With this group, specifically, white male voters.

AXELROD: Yeah. Again, I think the margin -- Molly was speaking earlier about the fact that, you know, there -- you have to look at women and men together. And Trump thought he could offset her advantage among women or Biden's, but now hers with men. And the fact is that she -- I think she is eclipsing him among women. Her margin is larger with women than his is among men. She has to keep that in place, but she has to obviously get her share.

And again, I think especially in a state like Pennsylvania, economic issues are important there. Fracking is a big issue there. She's spoken to it. She probably has to do more on energy in that state.

But that money advantage is really, really important.

RAJU: Yeah, I mean -- I mean, that's just a stunning amount.

AXELROD: She is -- she is beating him handily on television, but also in digital, which allows you to micro-target constituencies. And she's got like a 5 to 1 lead in terms of spending on digital advertising.

So this ought to be a big concern to the Trump campaign.

RAJU: And of course, the get out the vote effort as well so critical here.

AXELROD: Yes.

RAJU: Let's talk about one development that has happened over the last several days. One about the effort by the Trump campaign to change Nebraska's voting laws. Of course, there's a reason for that. This is a of course, one of the two congressional district two states that award its electoral votes by congressional districts, the other one being Maine. But there's this effort by the Trump campaign to make it look every other state winner take all strategy. There's also this -- what occurred also on Friday, a board of elections in Georgia ordering hand counted votes on Election Day ballots.

AXELROD: Yes.

RAJU: These two things taken together. What impact does that have?

AXELROD: Well, first of all, turn those three northern states blue the battlegrounds, Pennsylvania --

RAJU: Pennsylvania here. I don't know if we can do that. Okay.

AXELROD: But if you if you turn those states blue, and gave all the others to Trump, she would be at 269 and he would be at 269. How do you break the tie? The second district in Nebraska.

So this -- the Trump people are so aware of this that now the governor is trying to change that. The Republican governor is trying to change that law. Lindsey Graham flew to Nebraska this week to try and persuade legislators to change the law. Trump called into some of those legislators.

This could be the tie breaker, because the most likely path for Harris is still those blue wall states.

RAJU: Yeah, and we should see if there's anything changes here. Right now. They do not have the votes to change it in Nebraska, but maybe we'll change with all this pressure campaign. Yeah.

David Axelrod, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

And up next, my new reporting on the competitive Senate race in deep blue Maryland and how one candidate improperly took tax breaks for years.

Plus, I ask a Democrat in a deep red state how Kamala Harris is impacting his race.

(BEGIN VIDEOI CLIP)

REP. SUSAN WILD (D-PA): And we'll see what happens with the Senate. Everybody, if you're inclined to pray, pray for Jon Tester.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:39]

RAJU: Deep blue, Maryland is rarely a Senate battleground, but one of the nation's marquee Senate races is unfolding there this cycle. And new this morning, my colleague Em Steck and I have exclusive reporting about the Democratic candidate in the race, Angela Alsobrooks.

A CNN review found Alsobrooks improperly took advantage of tax breaks. She did not qualify for, including one meant for low income senior citizens saving thousands of dollars in taxes on two properties. That's according to property records and tax bills reviewed by CNN.

Alsobrooks saved about $14,000 in taxes on a property in Washington, D.C, from 2005 to 2017 by using tax exemptions meant for the district's primary residents, lower income residents and senior citizens, even though she's been registered to vote in Maryland since 1995.

And according to state records, Alsobrooks also took advantage of a tax exemption meant for primary residents on a separate property in neighboring Prince George's County, Maryland, even after she started renting it out, that could save her at least $2,600. And she's a county executive there.

Now, an Alsobrooks senior adviser told CNN the candidate was unaware of the problem and that her attorneys are working with both Washington and Prince George's County to resolve the issue. The adviser, Connor Lounsbury, said she's working to make any necessary repayments. He also said she actually has paid more in taxes than she had needed to on a third property.

My panel is back. Did you follow these races very closely? Obviously, Republicans will probably make an issue out of this.

WALSH: For sure.

[08:30:00]

RAJU: How do you think that this is going to impact this race?

WALSH: I mean, I think this is a problem for Alsobrooks. I think the other problem that she faces is that her Republican opponent, Larry Hogan according to recent polls, is much more well-known in the state than she is. She's well-known in Prince Georges County. But he's very popular and has reputation as a popular sort of across the aisle Republican. I don't think this is the kind of story that you want to boost your

name I.D. in a competitive Senate race. And I think she's going to have to answer for it.

I'm guessing that Hogan's campaign will make an issue out of this. It's sort of surprising to me given the money that was spent in the competitive primary that we covered, that her Democratic opponent didn't uncover this before you did.

RAJU: You know, he did spend a lot of money on other issues. He outspent her ten to one in that primary, (INAUDIBLE) of David Trone.

Just to zoom back about where the race for the Senate is. Just look at the map to remind viewers about the challenge that Democrats have to maintain their Senate Majority.

They've already essentially lost West Virginia. That's going to almost certainly flip because Joe Manchin has retired. That puts it at a 50- 50 Senate.

Then they have all those battlegrounds and those blue states there that they have to hold, that includes Maryland.

There are two potential pick-up opportunities, but those are long shots of sorts, Texas and Florida is going to be tough for them to flip.

There is a ton of money being spent across the airwaves, Ohio being the top of the list. It's $67 million for the Democrats reserve for future ad reservations, $78 million for Republicans.

There's a lot of money in Maryland, not as high as those on the list. Maryland $11 million so far, Democrats have spent compared to $7 million for Republicans.

Republicans are spending more though in future ad reservations than Democrats. Perhaps those numbers could change though in the aftermath of some of this controversy.

MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, WALL STREET JOURNAL: The big picture here is it's the defending a seat in Maryland is the last thing that the Democrats want to be doing in a cycle where they are on defense across the map.

As you say, you know, they've got to spend huge amounts of money to have any prayer of holding on to Montana and Ohio, two red states where their incumbents are struggling, to put it mildly, to survive.

And then they've got all of these other battleground states that are going to be hugely expensive media markets because of the presidential race where their candidates again, are either on defense or in open seats in very tough states.

And then to also have to be spending money on a seat in blue territory, it's just a nightmare for the Democrats to try to hang on to the Senate and it makes it very, very difficult. RAJU: I can't remember a worst map for any party that Democrats have

faced. But Democrats say that they have strong candidates. They can still hang on. We will see. They essentially have to run the table to keep it at 50-50.

Then there's the question about what impact does Kamala Harris have on some of those red-state Democrats. You're talking about -- Molly was talking about Ohio and Montana.

I caught up with the Montana Senator Jon Tester and I asked -- he's actually the one senator who is not endorsing Kamala Harris right now. And I asked him if that had anything to do with the fact that he's running in a red state and trying to hang onto his seat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Is the reason why you're not endorsing Harris is that if you did, it may be a problem for you in your campaign?

SEN. JON TESTER (D-MONTANA): No. Not at all. No, not at all. I want to talk about Montana. I'm running against a guy from Minnesota that doesn't know Montana. He wants to talk about anything but Montana.

I want to talk about Montana. I want to talk about health care. I want to talk about public lands. I want to talk about distance. I want to talk about everything. And he does not want to do that.

Why? Because he doesn't know the issue. He doesn't know any of those issues because he's not from Montana. And so that's the reason. That's the only reason.

RAJU: And her politics too, liberal for Montana -- she's too liberal for Montana.

TESTER: That's for the people of Montana to decide on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I asked his opponent, Tim Sheehy to respond. His office campaign did not respond, but the National Republican Senatorial Committee did saying that it's surprised that Jon Tester hasn't endorsed Kamala Harris because he said it was Yester who personally recruited Harris to run for Senate in 2016, referring to the time that Tester's the head of the Democratic Campaign Committee.

Mike Berg, the spokesman for the committee, went on to call him two- faced Tester who talks like a moderate farmer in election year? But he calls him like Kamala Harris-loving liberal who drives around in a Prius.

So there you go. That's how the Republicans really feel.

But just back on Tester's comments. What do you make of the fact that he doesn't want to say that he's behind her right now?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES": Yes. I mean, look throughout the past couple of years we saw that as national polling showed. I mean than President Biden with low approval numbers, also Vice President Harris with approval numbers that were low.

[08:34:45]

KANNO-YOUNGS: You did see that when they travel to states, not just Montana, Democrats at times would not show up when they would deliver those speeches because they knew that Republicans were going to try and attach those sort of approval ratings, low approval ratings, economic frustrations, political vulnerabilities to down-ballot candidates as well.

And for Tester, you know, Democrats are anxious right now, right? I mean, poll after poll has shown him struggling in Montana.

You are seeing Democrats continue to express their anxiety and also maybe face a decision soon about do you continue to funnel money into Montana or possibly to another race, maybe like Texas as well.

RAJU: Yes. If there's a chance say, we can try to pull some money out. No indication they're doing that quite yet. We'll see how that ultimately shapes up.

But you know, the attacks that Tester has been waging across the airwaves to try to hang on to his seat, have been either that he's not from Montana, Tim Sheehy or on abortion, the issue of abortion. Those have been -- abortion is on the ballot in Montana.

You've been doing some reporting on this. you've got new reporting on it this morning. How much are the Democrats hoping, relying on abortion being really their calling card to hang onto their majority?

ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, there are ballot initiatives in ten states this November. One of them is Montana. In every one of those states, Democrats are hoping that will boost turnout in ways that will help them.

In Montana, they're hoping that'll help in the senate race. in Maryland, they're hoping it will help in the Senate race. In New York, they're hoping it will help in a bunch of House races. In Arizona, there's a Senate race and presidential race.

But the reporting that I've got up this morning is actually about what is happening legislatively around the country aside from these bans and these ballot initiatives, and how there were all these big promises that have made by anti-abortion activists and politicians and leaders who said once abortion is illegal, once Roe is gone, we will step up and do things about adoptions.

We will do things about maternal health care, about childcare, and in basically no case has anything major been done.

There're a couple of moves in Mississippi where the Dobbs case originated, and a couple of other states. But you look at, for example when Dobbs came out of the Supreme Court, a couple of days later, there was this congressman who said, we're going to have this Unborn Child Support Act.

Got to make it so that child care provisions are there for children even before they're born. Now, nothing ever became of that bill. The person who made that bill -- put that bill forward was Mike Johnson. He's the Speaker of the House.

RAJU: Yes, I've heard of him.

DOVERE: He could do something, right.

At that point, nobody heard him. He could put it on the floor. It has not even come on the floor for votes. And that's happened over and over again in state capitals around the country.

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: Just shows you the struggles. Two years out, Republicans still have yet to figure out their messaging, you know, Trump at the beginning of the show.

That was great new reporting. Thanks for that.

And up next for us, Vance versus Walz with the VP debate just nine days away, we'll discuss how the campaigns are using their running mates on the trail and whether they're helping or hurting the top of their tickets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:: Look, to be able to work on this thing, you got a manual. It shows you exactly what to do to fix things on this.

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have a manual too, it's called "Project 2025".

[08:37:47]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: we are not going to let Kamala Harris forget that she opened the border, that she went to war with the police, that she tried to ban fracking, and she is fired on November 5th.

WALZ: They know if they tell the truth, they don't get votes. So they spread the lies.

We have an opportunity to turn the page and choose a new generation of leadership, a new way forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: That was yesterday in Pennsylvania, just a taste of how J.D. Vance and Tim Walz have been barnstorming across the country. And in just nine days, Vance and Walz will square off for the VP debate, which is now expected to be the final one before election day, as Donald Trump has said no to any more presidential debates.

Now, this as new polling shows voters overall have a more favorable view of Walz and a more unfavorable view of Vance.

My panel is back.

So yesterday at that rally, of course, the whole controversy about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, it doesn't have any basis of truth that we have found at the moment.

But Vance is continuing to dig in on this conspiracy of sorts. And this is what he said when he was asked about it at a rally in Leesport, Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: The 20,000 Haitian migrants who come to Springfield are part of hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants, part of 25 million illegal aliens in this country.

I challenge you, go to Springfield, Ohio, which has been overwhelmed by 20,000 Haitian immigrants. Go to any community that's been overwhelmed by Kamala Harris' illegal alien policies and tell me that these are stories made up by politicians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Again, first of these Haitians are there legally, on a legal program, temporary-protected status. And I guess overall, the political -- what do you make of the political calculation of them -- you know, we're almost two weeks in and they're still digging into the story.

KANNO-YOUNGS: This is sort of falling back on the usual Trump playbook here. What was -- you know, what started out in 2016, he's talking about building the wall, now in this campaign also pointing to yes a record number of crossings, but just a dose of reality as well when it comes to Springfield, yes, most of those Haitians are here legally under temporary protected status or a program that requires a financial sponsor.

[08:44:46]

KANNO-YOUNGS: It's actually an, you know, an interesting example to point to because this is a community that actually is sort of emblematic of the story of immigration right now, an aging population, a need for labor particularly for the manufacturing sector in a local economy.

And actually a community that was looking for sort of immigrant work to come and rebuild it. And at this point, you are seeing that community as well from the Republican governor down, start to say this criticism and this line of messaging is too much here, but as well, you know, this is falling back on a usual Trump playbook to try and seize on one community, one example to point to a broader sort of topic of a record number of crossings coming into the country.

RAJU: Do you think this is hurting or helping the Trump campaign?

WALSH: I mean, I think like you said, they're trying to go back to their wheelhouse -- border security. This is the issue that they think they can win on. And in a lot of states like Pennsylvania, voters are saying that that issue is important to them.

It doesn't seem to bother them that they're not basing some of these arguments on facts. But I think that in that part of Pennsylvania, that part of Pennsylvania where J.D. Vance was, where Governor Walz was, I mean, those are voters that continue to say that border security and immigration is still a big issue for them.

I'm not really sure what this argument is saying about solving the problem. And I think it could be insulting to some of the voters in parts of these districts. There are a big number of Latino voters in that county in Pennsylvania.

RAJU: Yes. And speaking of Pennsylvania, speaking of Governor Walz, yo9u were with Tim Walz yesterday. What do you make of the fact the way the campaign has been using him on the campaign trail. He used to be someone who is all over the airways, literally the airways.

He has not done really any interviews, really much at all. There may be a couple but there's been fundraising and rallies. Is that the right and effective strategy? And what do you make of that?

DOVERE: He's done a couple. It is a couple. You can count them on one hand including one a local radio interview after the rally yesterday.

Look, we have not seen a lot of him and Tim Walz used to be, as you say, accessible all the time, talking about all sorts of stuff.

I never had trouble getting him on the phone for anything. Now it is harder for everybody to get to him.

What we see though, is that the voters, especially the voters, show up at rallies who, of course, are like the core voters there. They like him. They don't even know why they like him. They don't even know why they're excited about him but they feel good about him.

It's like they want to touch him. They want to see him. The want to hear what he has to say. And walking around that rally yesterday, I said to a bunch of people, what is it about him that stands out to you.

It was like, "He's a good guy" and that may be enough. It's a validating thing for them when they're thinking about Kamala Harris and what he's saying about Harris.

And that good energy is clearly what he's trying to put out there.

RAJU: And so then why not use him? Why not put him all across the airways? I mean, are they concerned that what happened with -- what's happening with J.D. Vance when he's asked a lot of questions and sometimes gets ahead of the candidate with Trump -- as he's done with Trump on abortion, child tax credit, other issues like that. Are they concerned about not being on the same page with the Kamala Harris?

BALL: It seems to be the same caution that is informing, you know, the Harris media strategy, which is that she has obviously not been particularly accessible either.

And so when the candidate on the top of the ticket is not giving a ton of interviews you potentially don't want the VP candidate to be providing an unwelcome contrast to that by being as accessible as he's been in the past.

This is a campaign that look, you know, as a journalist, I think they should be talking to us all the time just for self-interested reasons.

But a campaign of course, has their own calculations to make because they're not about, you know, being good for democracy by talking to the fourth estate. They're about trying to win the election.

RAJU: Yes.

BALL: And so their feeling is why take the chance, I think.

RAJU: Yes.

BALL: Why -- why take an unnecessary risk that you do make some kind of gaffe that overshadows the top of the ticket when you don't have to.

RAJU: Yes. Yes. Well, we'll say. And of course voters want to know what they actually think and what they're going to do in office as you said, we welcome them taking questions, but oftentimes politicians, in their self-interest decide not to.

All right. Coming up a fake president meets the real president. Why the stars of the "West Wing" partied at the White House this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN SHEEN, ACTOR: We rightly called to find something in our lives worth fighting for, something deeply personal and uncompromising, something that can unite the will of the spirit with the work of the flesh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:49:12]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: Believe it or not, today marks 25 years since the premiere of perhaps the most famous political drama of all time, "The West Wing". Yes, I feel old too. Known for its idealized version of how Washington works and of course, the long hallway walk-and-talk scenes. It followed a fictional president, Jed Bartlett, played by Martin Sheen, and his advisers over the course of seven seasons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's be clear, sir. You will be held responsible for shutting down the federal government.

SHEEN: Then shut it down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President.

SHEEN: Mr. Speaker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now on Friday evening, some of the stars of the show stopped by the real White House for a celebration of the series hosted by first lady Jill Biden.

The show's creator, Aaron Sorkin, addressed the crowd in the Rose Garden.

[08:54:47]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON SORKIN, PRODUCER, "THE WEST WING": Over the years I've noticed that during times of peak political tension, pundits will warn us not to expect a "West Wing" moment.

They mean not to expect a selfless act of statesmanship, not to expect anyone to put country first. Don't expect anyone to swing for the fences or reach for the stars.

But the fact is "West Wing" moments do happen, and Dr. Biden, we saw proof of that on the morning of July 21st.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Reference, of course, to President Biden's decision to step aside.

Now after the event, Sorkin told "Variety" the visit had actually given him a couple of ideas for some new episodes. So could a possible reboot be in the cards? We shall see.

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 of course, 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 Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Senator Tom Cotton, and the Democratic candidate for North Carolina Governor Josh Stein.

And a personal note. This week marks one year since I've had the privilege of hosting this show. I'm grateful for every Sunday morning with you and thank you again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. And well, I'll see you next time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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