mark: with all due respect to donald trump, not everyone voting for hillary clinton is little. ♪ ♪ john: welcome to gotham city. the political media industrial complex of session with the can -- obsession with the conventions is now over. today is the eve of the 100 day mark until the general election.

hillary clinton and tim kaine kickoff a three-day bus tour that will take them from pennsylvania to ohio. today, they held a post-convention rally in philadelphia, where they both spoke. donald trump and his running mate mike pence were also in battleground states. trump at this hour is speaking in colorado springs. pence is speaking in ohio later this evening after participating in a motorcycle benefit ride in indiana earlier today. the past few days, the republican ticket mates have for many ofnatas the speakers at the democratic national convention. last night, trump used a rally in davenport, iowa to warn that he plans to strike out. mr. trump: i have been watching these speeches at night, and boy, am i getting hit. boom, boom, boom -- i am getting hit, and they don't mean it, and there's a lot of lies being told, but i guess they have to do their thing.

i was going to hit a number of those speakers so hard, their heads would spin. they would never recover. pencethis morning, mike condemned all this trump-bashing, telling hugh hewitt, "i don't think name-calling has any place in public life." kind of funny, because his running mate spent all day name-calling on his favorite social media platform. today he tweeted several times about his old standby, crooked hillary, and also added a new one, "little michael bloomberg," in response to the former new york city mayor's very anti-trump speech at the convention. michael bloomberg, of course, is our boss. there was also this tweet from trump, about one of several of the military speakers who targeted him in philadelphia, "general john allen, who i have never met but spoke against me last night, failed badly in his

fight against isis. his record equals bad." his name-calling was clearly a advantage for him when he was winning the nomination fight. at this stage of the campaign, is it still an effective tool? john: i certainly wonder whether trump is running out of gas. you would think he would go after our boss or anybody else, and he would not just pick "little." that is marco's nickname. you should not have two littles out there. soon he will call me little john heilemann. that's not going to work. i think, i actually did not object to it that much. i know a lot of people got upset about lying ted cruz, all that stuff. i didn't object to it in a profound way before, and i don't now. i probably object to it less than mike pence does, but i can't imagine that for the available voters out there that he needs to reach beyond the republican base that that is an effective way of talking about it. i just can't see how that's a winning tactic, with the people

he has to get to vote for him if he's going to win. mark: when he targets people he's not running against, i think that gets him off message. also, it runs the risk of playing into the narrative that he's not presidential. iwever, if he's going to win, think he needs to have people feel hillary clinton is unacceptable, and "crooked hillary" does play into her biggest vulnerability. i'm not sure whether it's effective. it might be. but i think going after other people is probably a mistake, just because there's 100 days left, and every day that he spends making news attacking somebody who is not hillary clinton, i don't think that does him much good. john: i agree. the other thing i would say, specifically about hillary clinton, "crooked hillary clinton," he calls her a liar a lot. trump has a problem with the truth. hillary clinton has had a historic problem with the truth. they both have problems with the truth. is also questions about trump's business dealings. those two epithets seem to open

the door to charges of hypocrisy if the press and others find examples where he lied, or where he was crooked. there's a question about that, about the long-term effectiveness of those particular charges. mark: you know, the thing is, his personality, in the camp where i am, trump is not going to change. i don't think anyone's getting him to stop. john: we are having an academic discussion here, not about actual change of behavior. mark: but crooked hillary, i don't think that's going anywhere. afternoon, on a day when the u.s. commerce department reported a disappointing 1.2% growth of the gross domestic product. we mentioned hillary clinton and tim kaine are on that postconvention bus tour through the rust belt pitching to a key demographic, working-class white voters. clinton laid out some of her priorities for the economy during her nomination acceptance speech in philadelphia last onht, taking her own take

that special blend of populism that made bernie sanders and donald trump so popular. ms. clinton: democrats, we are the party of working people. i believe america and corporations -- american corporations that have gotten so much from our country should be just as patriotic in return. it is wrong to take tax breaks with one hand and give out pink slips with the other. if you believe that we should say no to unfair trade deals, that we should stand up to china, that we should support our steelworkers and auto workers and homegrown manufacturers, then join us. donald trump says he wants to make america great again. well, he could start by actually making things in america again. we are not only going to make all of these investments, we are going to pay for every single one of them. and here's how. and street, corporations,

the super-rich are going to start paying their fair share of taxes. you noted last night that there were not that many specifics on economics in this speech. how big of a problem was that for the speech's effectiveness, and also for beyond? the pitch they are making in the rust belt, and beyond that? mark: whenever i say she doesn't have specifics, i did criticize on twitter and other places. people say, she has infrastructure proposes -- john: on the website mark: i mean -- on the website john:. e. mark: you and i have long critique that hillary clinton does not, like bill clinton did effectively, his life story and ideas on the economy in a way people can grab onto. i asked clinton supporters, what is she going to do on the economy? the ones people know the most are not new original ideas, not innovative.

some have some wrinkles to them, but i think it's a big problem. i think she is leaving herself as vulnerable on this as anything else in this race, because if trump ever starts talking about the economy in and effective way, she will be in trouble, but she's lucky, because he's not doing it, either. john: apart from the big, grandiose claims, it's amazing how little trump has talked about it, giving any details. i think the bigger problem is, there's a thing you have to make a distinction with. you are right about the theory, which is distinct from the problem of new, innovative ideas. her bigger problem, it seems to me, in that convention speech oddingyond, she is still n aggressively toward the center supporters and then tries to put herself in the center of the economic argument. i don't know now whether she is progressive on the economy or has traces of new democrat on

the economy. at the high theory level, i don't know what her argument is, let alone the specific marriage of policy proposals. mark: i mean, everyone i talk to them both parties things that if she is president, regardless of what happens with the house and senate, she will try tax reform and infrastructure in the beginning, and maybe immigration reform, and all three of those could have a big effect on the economy. i'm just amazed she got through that speech last night without saying more than just, i want to help raise incomes. tell us how. john: and trump seems to be leading a big opening for her. mark: for both of them. the conventions are behind us, and the next most important events are the general election debates. as of now, the first one is scheduled on september 26th. until then, there's not a lot coming up on the political calendar that is scheduled. the next two months uppity quiet, on capitol hill -- are pretty quiet, on capitol hill, for instance, they are on extended recess until early september.

three weeks of olympic coverage, followed by labor day weekend. breaking into the news will be tougher than it has been of late. there are some events we should all keep an eye on. in mid-august, the iowa state fair, a frequent stop for both nominations and general election candidates, going from august 11 to august 21. in september, congress comes back, and immediately there will be a fight over a government shutdown deadline at the end of the month that will give the campaigns -- get the campaigns involved. the u.n. general assembly and the clinton global initiative as usual will convene here in gotham city in september. so john, what are the rhythms and contours of this race going to be like for the next two months, with nothing as takesnizing as the veeps and the convention? john: my hope is that, for the first time ever in this campaign cycle, we will have a conventional moment where like, during the olympics, we can take a break and get ready for the

fall. but the way things have played out so far, being unconventional, but also the aggressiveness of trump, the attempt to grab every available new cycle, i think we will have sporadic chaos throughout, and obviously reaction to world events that happen. i don't think there will be a rhythm. mark: three things i'm interested on, on the trump side. i think what hillary couldn't and will do is predictable. -- hillary clinton will do is critical. they say she will do policy speeches in august. two, how does i the fundraising go on the campaign side and the super pac side? at the moment where we are, trump will be badly out-raised. we will see if they can fix that in august, a very hard month to raise money in. and presently they will eventually start television ads. maybe they will wait until september, but even in september, i'm curious when they go on the air, and how effective they are. john: those are all good questions. i have given up almost, trying to predict how things will go in this race. all i know, in a normal year, in

an olympic year, a presidential year, you get basically a news blackout for the olympics, and i don't feel that's how this is going to be. mark: chuck todd pointed out, two states to watch, because we will get a lot of state polling in the summer, michigan and wisconsin. when the first wave of those comes out after the convention, when the bounce settles down, is trump in the game in those states? he doesn't need them to win the white house but if he is out of those it will be a canary in the coal mine. john: when we come back, a look at the conventions and which party will get the better polling bounce, after this quick break. ♪

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john: the last couple weeks have protests,r of speeches, political optics and musical jams. here's a quick refresher. >> cleveland, philadelphia. >> two conventions. >> here's what happens. republicans. the guy who came in second gets booed for not endorsing. democrats, the guy who came in second gets booed for endorsing. republicans, empty seats. democrats, packed house. celebrities, democrats, meryl streep, too many to count. republicans, that dynasty guy, underwear model, and scott ba io. these go guests, democrats, too many to count. candidate intro videos, narrated by a guy who once played god. republicans, angelina jolie's dad.

protests, republicans, small, democrats, big. american flags, republicans, small, democrats, big. theme song, republicans -- trump -- ♪ you can't always get what you want ♪ >> interesting choice. balloon drop, cleveland, big. philly, bigger, and the adults looked way too excited. [laughter] john: when it comes to tv ratings, he democrats beat the republicans the first three nights, but trump trumped clinton when it came to how many people view their acceptance speeches this last thursday night and the previous thursday night. there has been a lot of chatter about how much of a polling bounce trump has gotten and hillary clinton might get coming out of the conventions. mark, what will be the likely numerical impact of these two big events? mark: as always, focusing more on battleground state polls, because that's what matters in the end, i think clinton will

have a lead of anywhere from plus eight to minus three, and that is a wide range that you could say i am hedging a little bit. john: a little? mark: i really do think that, i have talked to two clinton people now who say, we had a great convention, we executed, things went great, even with the sanders controversy. but we are not sure we will get a very big bump out of it, for a variety of reasons. so i think that trump has gotten some bump. clinton will get some bump. but i'm not sure, in the end, we won't just see a wash, basically see a race that is roughly even, with clinton having an edge in some important states. john: i think she will get a bigger bump than trump has gotten, but not a massive, off the charts bump. my guess is by next wednesday she will be ahead in the national polling by four or five points, and probably a lot of battleground states, she will be ahead, but maybe within the margin of error, and a couple of

them outside the margin of error. what we agree about this, they did an exceptionally good job with this convention, a gray television production, and i think it is one convention where, something you and i have said over the last two years, may not be true. we care most about the nominee's speech, that's what needs to be remembered or it is a failure. in this case, the democratic convention, in its total composition, all the speakers, would be the reason they would be more successful than the cleveland convention. mark: if the people who watch the convention were persuadable voters, maybe. but my sense of it, when you look at the ratings numbers, most of the people were democrats, and enthusiastic democrats, not people who need to be stoked to turn out. and i have no idea, because i have seen none of it, in terms of the content analysis of what people learned about the convention online, on local news, etc. again, with the exception of michelle obama's speech, as

strong as the democratic convention was as a matter of programming, mechanics, production, i'm not sure that any other speech besides michelle obama's would have broken through to people. john: the gentleman last night, the muslim american gentleman who removed the constitution from his pocket, everyone was talking about that as the signature moment. i have no idea how many people actually saw it. mark: was it on the 6:00 p.m. news in columbus? john: not sure. when we come back, strategists discuss the conventions we just witnessed. after these words from our sponsors. ♪

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mark: two reasonable men from opposite sides of the isle, now sitting on opposite sides of our set. and aschmidt from msnbc, doppelganger for woody harrelson. and bob, a democratic strategist who has worked on many campaigns, including the presidential bids of al gore and john kerry. bob is in california, as far as i know. bob: i am. i am happily in california. all things considered, i would rather be here then philadelphia. mark: it is nice that the guy in california is wearing a tie. i thought it was solid, but i don't think the hillary clinton speech will change things much. steve: it was workmanlike. it was effective in the sense that i think the national security parts of it really hit

home. the argument for the democrats is that donald trump, temperamentally, from a sanity perspective, he is mentally unwell, not fit to be the commander-in-chief, to sit atop the national command authority and be trailed by military aides carrying the military codes. it's a powerful argument, and you will see a lot of it as we move through this general election campaign. mark: both michelle obama and hillary clinton had as long as they wanted to prepare for their speeches. they both had speechwriters, practice sessions. what is it that kept hillary clinton from doing a speech as dramatic and emotional and were received as michelle obama -- well received as michelle obama? bob: hillary clinton is a different candidate. she has a different task. she's not reminiscing about her years in the white house and endorsing someone, like michelle obama was with hillary clinton. i thought that hillary clinton did very well in that speech. they spent a lot of time on it. she practiced it.

it was personal. she was funny. i mean, i know her, and in private she can be very funny, but very seldom in public do you see that. hewas great when she said, spoke for 70-odd minutes at his convention, and they were odd. said,d, he thinks -- she he thinks he knows more about isis than the generals -- you don't. you always debate in the acceptance speeches, how much to go after the other person exquisitely. she did it, but she did it from a moral high ground by creating a paradigm of a tolerant, inclusive america that was strong and compassionate at the same time. as she suggested, she then painted a picture of somebody who does not fit that paradigm at all, who gets irritated at a tweet and should not have his finger on the nuclear button. john: i thought one of the things that you heard in the speech last night and some other speeches, but focusing on hillary here, one thing they are trying to prosecute throughout the convention is that the

republicans are a pessimism party and the democrats are the optimism party. there is also a focus on trump as a solipsist, as an egomaniac. the thing he said last week, i know the system better than anyone, i'm the only one who can fix it, hillary clinton threw that back in his face. if you were running the trunk campaign, would you have flagged that line a week earlier and said, this will be a political problem? steve: of course you would. look, there's an authoritarian aspect of that, and hillary kenton is exactly right. in this country -- hillary clinton is exactly right. in this country, we do things together. when a president speak to the nation, he speaks through the prism of "we" not i, so that was entirely predicable to see where that was going. john: let me ask you what you think, bob. you said a bunch of things you thought were good about hillary clinton's speech. what can we infer, having seen it now, was the main strategic objective of that speech? tell me how it did or did not a compass that objective --

accomplish that objective? bob: the democratic convention was reaganesque, and the republican convention was goldwater-ask, and i think she was trying -- goldwater-esque, and i think she was trying to finish the convention on an affirmative note that also indicted donald trump. she was kind to convince people on issues, that she would fight for them, and convince people that they could not trust donald trump on national security policy, and boy, it was not just her speech, but to see general allen, see all those flags. if you are a visitor from mars who came here only once every 12 years you would say, that must have been the republican convention. look at all those flags. look at the generals. so i think she had a very clear objective here, too end affirmatively and is called by him. mark: you would have to be a visitor from mars with a knowledge of american history to answer that question. i want literally one sentence from each of you. the democrat convention was very well-planned, but if they could

turn the clock back and make one decision differently, what would it have been? bob: i think, remove debbie wasserman schultz sooner. steve: that's probably it. other than that, it was about as flawless as you can do one of these things. mark: you don't have to be partisan to understand, they really did a good job. meticulous planning, incredible production. incredible production. steve schmidt and bob shrum, we are not done yet. we will continue our conversation with these two fellas, right after this. ♪

♪ mark: we are back with republican strategist steve schmidt and democratic strategist, joining us from los angeles. we saw hillary clinton and tim kaine walk out the door this morning and get on a bus. what do you think about how that ticket is working in terms of chemistry and political ineffectiveness? >> i thought he did a really good job in his speech, his introduction to the country. i think he conveys an absolute total normalcy. he's the guy who if you go away on vacation for 10 days, he mows your lawn and paints your fence and lets the dog out a couple of times. he comes across like such a decent guy and takes the edge off of some of the personality

liabilities she has. john: how trump and pens look pence together and how they are performing together? >> you don't see them much together and doesn't seem to be much chemistry between them. trump, whenever he is with pence, almost seems to want to put him down, make sure he is put in the shadow, doesn't let him talk. there seems to be a genuine partnership between hillary clinton and tim kaine. i don't get that sense with trump and it would be smart if he acted differently. mark: which one of the two running mates is most likely to make news on a consistent basis between now and election day. >> i think kaine. i think they will give him a major role in the campaign. the big news is that they'll both make it the vice presidential debate which can be

, significant as it was in 2012 when joe biden used it to come back. mark: these guys will be part of the news cycle on a regular basis? >> mike pence is part of the news cycle and in an unfortunate way after the "60 minutes" interview. mike pence said the democrats were tough on donald trump, the name calling. really? you are saying that you are the democrats are being unfair to trump. if you say stuff like that, you will be in the news cycle but , wrong way every day. john: i want to come back to the convention and think about the overall thing. we saw trump's bump to the extent there was one. we talked about it earlier in the show. what do you expect to see hillary clinton and tim kaine get out of that convention numerically speaking? >> the polls will be hugging 50%, 51%. i think trump will be down 42%, 43%. if she is not and they don't bounce out of this convention, it would be outside the margin of error, they have a real

problem, and it is time to hit the panic button, not the red alert button, but the yellow alert button. you can't do one of those conventions any better than they did it. if there is a voter appetite that as the old marketters' addage, the dog won't eat it. and if they're not ahead, they have a real problem. john: bob, what do you think about that question? >> i think steve is exactly right. i think there will be a bounce of five or six points. i think she did something in that acceptance speech that gore in 2000, confounding the stereotypes and connecting with people. if it doesn't happen, then it is time to worry, because it means that the resistance to voting is very real. i would bet that she will be 50%, 51%, and he will be back at 42%, 44%. mark: you think hillary clinton is a favorite.

do you think she is a favorite? >> yes. what would donald trump have to do an august to make you rethink that? >> august would be a tough time to change that. you could change it for the worse and make a mistake and you could say something you shouldn't, but with the olympics going on and all the other stuff that happens in august, the end of summer, i think that the only real game-changing thing, if i could borrow a phrase? >> sure. >> you interviewed me for the book, so i think i'll borrow the phrase. the only real game changer here for trump positively could be those debates. and it is complicated for clinton, because they have to have debate prep for crazy trump, kind of normal trump, and somewhere in between trump. and those debates are going to have one of the biggest

audiences in television history. mark: should trump give policy speeches in august? is there any advantage? >> they said they were going to be doing policy speeches all through the campaign. i think the race now is going to be relatively stable until the debates. i think it locks into place. you might see some bouncing around by a preponderance point or two. when we see those numbers on wednesday, those numbers will be stable until we move into the first debates. should he give policy speeches that flesh out some ideas, you know, he should. but i doubt very much that you're going to see what we would understand in a normal election cycle serious substantive policy speeches. , john: do you think the story has a lot of legs? >> it is a disturbing story on a number of different levels. at this point, republicans have been weirdly quiet about it. i don't think it will last and i don't think it will be the case if they were in session in washington and there are other , aspects of the story to report

out. anafort's relationship and other russian interests and the ties that the senior advisory policy advisers and the questions, who is going to get security clearances in the trump campaign for the national security briefings. these are potent questions. and if somebody in the trump hierarchy is rejected for a clearance, that's going to become public and if it does, it , will hurt the campaign. schmidt, bob shrum you guys are both awesome and , happy to have you here. we'll check in on the first day of hillary clinton's bus tour. if you happen to be watching us d.c., listenn, to us on the radio at bloomberg 99.1 fm. we will be right back. ♪

♪ john: fresh off the convention, the clinton campaign started on a road trip. both with the very bus in hatfield, pennsylvania, 30 miles north of philadelphia. thank you for coming on the show. you are on a bus. tell us about your day so far. >> there are multiple buses involved in this bus tour. there is not just one bus. there are two buses plastered wrapping,ger together the kaine's and clintons, we have two press buses, and motor vehicles for the additional secret service now protecting her. but so far, we are running

behind schedule which is typical , for the clinton campaign. now we are in hatfld, pennsylvania at the fackry that -- factory that makes lincoln logs. i don't know what age you had to be to play with them. i was a huge fan. the message is small manufacturers bringing this back , to the white working-class voters that trump has appealed to and could put pennsylvania in play. clinton campaign is airing ads here, not in colorado, where trump is today. the folks i talked to from pennsylvania say they do think there is a potential risk for this state to kind of flip away. i would say the opposite is true for colorado. i was doing some reporting on that as well. i was surprised by how quick the republicans i talked to privately dismissed trumps' chances in that state. john: talk to us about the event that took place in philadelphia.

hillary clinton was up sort of it down afterng getting the nomination last night. boogie-ing down after getting the nomination last night. what was the mood there at the first event in philly? >> we were at temple am university, lots of enthusiastic and the clintons taking the stage and talking about how humbling the experience this is and how she understands that it's a really big deal. that is event one. from there we rolled into this motorcade in all kinds of buses to a toy factory in hatfield -- they are cool toys and arrived to find a big h with an arrow through it. and that's all fine and good, but the latest intrigue is a report unconfirmed by the

campaign from reuters suggesting that some of the clinton campaign emails may have been hacked in some form. we have no details from the campaign about that. we expect to hear something shortly. but at this point, no confirmation, no denial, no explanation. details to come. it's probably not the way she wanted to kick off day one of the general election campaign, but perhaps if they had to choose today rather than the night when she accepted the nomination. mark: when i went on a clinton-gore bus tour, we had ton of access to clinton and gore and asking questions. i know there is probably no press conference on the schedule, have you been able to talk to hillary clinton and is she going to make herself available to the media? >> no to your question and not to my knowledge to the back half of your question. it's exactly what you would expect from the clinton campaign, the two of you have

covered from the beginning of this campaign. we're far away. she is ushered in an out. she is right now doing an interview with the local nbc affiliate, so there is that. we expect she may be asked about that hacking report that margaret just referenced. it just feels like traveling not , quite the white house motorcade where you are following the president around but never get close to him. it's not that far away from that. mark: margaret, i would love for you to weigh in on this current conventional wisdom that having tim kaine around makes her a looser and better candidate, which is when it works, when it worked with clinton and gore, but the two of them together was value added. >> it seems to be very true so far. i was struck by their initial event when she introduced him as her running mate. certainly today we saw more of that. he is kind of goofy like the boy , except he a

58-year-old man. and he just says things like gee whiz and his wife puts the clintons at ease and the four of them walking around together at these rallies. it is interesting to see the way tim kaine worked that crowd. he knew the audience. he was talking about being catholic. he was asking whether there were any irish-americans in the crowd , talking about his father's background as an iron worker. he seems to soften clinton a little bit, back her up. he is physically deferential. they move nicely together. she does seem comfortable when he is in her presence. john: we have been reading reports from the road from what has happened there today and i'm trying to discern in , terms of what they are saying out there between attacking trump and talking about

themselves and their positive vision for the economy and so on. mark: the bus is moving. >> we're moving. onto the next stop. we are supposed to end the day in harrisburg. i'm not sure it's possible we won't make an offer record stop before we get there. between those two things, i think it's not too far off what you heard last night in the convention speech. your hearing them taylor to the people that margaret was talking about, hillary clinton walking that line on the economy in particular. on the one hand, trying to present an optimistic message that contrasts with trumps dark, pessimistic message, while at the same time acknowledge the pain that people are feeling. that is her challenge as she tries to appeal to these voters , and she is doing that both by talking in this more optimistic way and focusing on their issues, but also hitting donald trump as somebody who doesn't understand it, who doesn't actually make anything in america, despite the make

america great again hats, etc.. i would say that's where the balance is. and this is why you saw this come through in the convention speech. she's pretty comfortable attacking donald trump. we learned that when she gave that speech that was build as a national security speech. i think they are keeping that up. john: casey hunt on the move, our action reporter from the bus in pennsylvania, and margaret, thank you both for being on the show. coming up bill clinton's former , events director talking about convention optics right after this. ♪

loses nbc nightly news

reporting live. evening, this is nbc nightly news reporting live. >> good evening, bill clinton and al gore a unified democratic party. today, they have loaded their message on to a bus and moved out of the big apple headed for the heartland. andrea mitchell is covering. road, thehitting the democratic ticket launched a major effort to win ross perot's supporters. bill clinton and al gore are career politicians and kickoff the rally. it had the trappings of a traditional democratic campaign. >> before we're through we are going to go back to the hardland of america and into the hearts of america and take the people who are democrats and people who are republicans and people who have given up and dropped out and build a coalition to reclaim our country's heritage. >> they boarded the bus heading across nine states from new york to st. louis.

they are trying to appeal to the middle-class swing voters. these other people lenten targeting in his acceptance speech. clinton is riding high after a successful convention but knows , that lead can evaporate overnight. another reason to campaign hard is that he is anticipating a tough counterattack. mark: that was a bit from our friends at nbc news in 1992 that had some striking similarities to the clinton-kaine bus tour. former director of production for presidential events at the white house, and the campaign before that. he is also the author of the script." josh is back with us. thanks for coming. >> feeling a little dt st watching that. tom and andrea looking so young and the producer bringing us through nine states in six days.

i was in west virginia at a steel company now closed down. this bus tour is focusing on small manufacturers. back then it was heavy industry, but that heavy industry is hard to find now. mark: this bus tour is less than a day old, but how is clinton-kaine measuring up to clinton-gore? what is important is that they are actually doing it. this is something i have been talking about for a couple of weeks and trying to give some telepathy to the campaign. you have to learn from the lesson. the blends come down thursday night, but come friday morning you have to keep the momentum , going. by going to temple university and setting out on a bus through pennsylvania and ohio creating a bond between both hillary clinton and tim kaine and ann holton and bill clinton, that was so important to 1992 to

create the momentum that kept you through the summer. as bob and steve said earlier, the olympics will take over and and this campaign will lock in. it's important to see what the magnetism is between these two candidates are going forward. john: i saw you walking outside the wells fargo center sweating like the rest of us a couple of days ago. everyone agrees the democratic convention was well staged as a piece of television. what did you see that they did not do well on? >> as was mentioned earlier, the wasserman schultz episode from very early on. but i think the balance that you have to take, john, is -- they are clearly going after centrist democrats and moderate republicans, and is anything they are doing in the three hours that are going to turn off the potential voters? so was the celebrity factor a

little high on some of the nights? perhaps. but what i took away watching the four hours and honing in on that one hour of "prime time live" from 10:00 to 11:00 was a well choreographed show. i don't think they played the celebrity card too heavy, although you might say that alicia keys and katy perry might not appeal to some. john: and demi lovato. >> exactly. mark: what does it take to dominate the news with a bus trip? clinton and gore did it when ""nbc nightly news"" was going to cover it in a big way. what do you have to do now to keep up the momentum? >> what is important is what local harrisburg, pittsburgh, canton, columbus press is going to do with this trip. and they will be darned excited about it. it will be the biggest thing to happen. things likegger if

hillary clinton doing interviews with the local stations. >> and casey might be upset she isn't doing a general avail to the traveling press, but this will give wall-to-wall coverage and be on the front page of the local newspapers. again, winning 18 electoral votes in ohio is almost ball game. john: you saw your convention outrate the republicans and on the fourth night, democrats fall short. jim, what happened? you would say what? >> there was incredible star power on monday, tuesday and wednesday nights. thursday, there are a lot of other things to view. john: why did donald trump beat me? >> when i watched this morning morning's shows and i read all the tweets and i got the whole sense of this was an incredibly convention four-day

i thought less about what the , rating ticker would be for thursday night versus the previous thursday night. job well done. john: you wouldn't answer the questions? >> i wouldn't be too bothered by it. mark: i've got to take this call. josh, thank you again. we will be right back. ♪

mark: head to bloombergpolitics.com. more on the clinton bus tour and on the presidential campaign. coming up is "bloomberg west." we will be back here monday, same time, same bat channel. get some rest. sayonara.

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