tv Smerconish CNN July 23, 2016 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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jeanne moos, cnn. >> whoa! >> reporter: new york. >> he's not dead. all right. same suzanne malveaux. one hour from now, back live from are the site of the democratic national convention. "smerconish" starts right now. ♪ i'm michael smerconish ready to welcome the dnc to the city of brotherly love. the gop unconventional convention was constant entertainment. but did donald trump leave cleveland with any bump? plus, hillary clinton's choice for a running mate. tim kaine, can a nice guy from virginia make her more warm and inviting? and roger ailes amid sexual harassment charges. but he gets millions in severance and may become a full-time adviser to donald trump.
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but first, i'm just back from cleveland, and i'm pondering, what did i witness? for more than a year on both sirius xm radio and here at cnn, i've been very critical of donald trump's bid for the white house. and my takedowns of his candidacy have not gone unnoticed by the candidate himself. but now i'm playing devil's advocate and asking myself, is he what i've been waiting for? i abhor talking points thinking. i believe that rigidia logical point contradicts the idea of solving problems. i don't believe that compromise is the new c word and i've been waiting for a candidate who isn't tethered to either end of the spectrum. donald trump checked many of my boxes in front of 5,000 delegates. he thanked evangelicals, while saying he wasn't sure he deserved their endorsement. he was self-depth indicating about knowing the system. he accepted the republican nomination without once referring to ronald reagan or saying the word "abortion." he thanked the audience for applauding after he defended
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lgbtq rights. he broke with trade agreements, supported law enforcement and said that it was time for our alleged allies to carry their own weight. there's a lot for me to like in those ideas. of course, i worry that none of it is backed up by deep thinking or dellinated policy. still, i admire he barn stormed the q center. while ted cruz was speaking and he slayed the dragon of orthodoxy. if only it was that simple. unfortunately, he got this far by invoking vitriol and playing to sordid instincts, mexican rapists, blood coming out of her wherever and mocking the disabled have been a few rallying cries. which raises the trump conundrum. no matter how great the appeal of his nonideological thinking, it comes with so much baggage, making it difficult to accept that when he says "i am your voice," that he is speaking for me. joining me now, carl bernstein, half of the most famous
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reporting team in american history, woodward and bernstein. they broke, of course, the watergate story, and jeff greenfield, the veteran reporter, multitime emmy award winner, who has covered so many of these conventions. jeff greenfield, any response to what i had to say? >> i think you missed the essential. >> tell me. >> it's the character and temperament issue. not what he says about policies, which can change by the minute. for me, the line that most underlines trump is, "i alone can fix this." that is caesarism. what you like, no reference to reagan -- what i found, no reference to anybody. in that speech, no one else existed. not the founding fathers, not lincoln, not reagan. no one. and for anybody to look at this process that we have and say i alone can fix it, it's not just a narcissism or ego mania. it is so fundamental a break with how the united states is supposed to work that i find
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that the most important and consequential line, and it renders much of what you said, not inaccurate, but irrelevant. >> i came of age, you know, admiring and still do, ronald reagan. what i admired about trump, if that's the right word, he didn't feel the obligation to say ronald reagan was my hero, carl. >> doesn't matter. above all else, he's a capital d demagog. he's a demagog in a way we have never had a candidate who has received the nomination as one of the major parties for president of the united states. what we saw at this convention was a very successful convention and speech by donald trump, based totally on nonexisting mythology. meaning that his portrait of america is not what he gave in that speech, we're not under siege from terrorists every day in our cities. we don't have hundreds of murders going on every day. it doesn't exist. it's an attempt to scare people, to say i'm the demagog, i, the
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maximum leader who can undo all of this, which, of course, he has no ability to do, unless he's going to be, as he seems to be a caesar, a juan perone, on top of which he presented himself and his family as the master builder. when, in fact, what we know from his real existing nonmythological business career is fraud. lawsuits. businesses that cheat people. trump university. so now we, especially in the press, at a very late time, need to start looking at the real donald trump, the mythology of the country that he has presented, just as we need to look at the real hillary clinton and her real life. >> but i saw inside that hall, jeff, the negatives, they don't matter, at least in the q center. he's a guy who is no bs, and he can get it done. that's what he was selling. >> no. and i think that has to be -- has to be emphasized. in two ways.
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one, as it's true of any leader like this, you don't succeed without real grievances below, at the core. there are real grievances, about the system, about what's happened to large chunks of particularly white working class. the second thing, just as a political matter, donald trump has crossed an enormously significant bar. that is, he is now seen as a plausible alternative. being the nominee of the water means he's one of the two people who will be president. and unlike a mcgovern or goldwater, he came out of that convention, to my surprise, to some extent, having made the institutional knowing of the republican party by and large, saying, all right, he's our nominee. and just by doing that, he has taken a huge step forward. >> carl, where are we? where are we post rnc, we're in philly. the dnc is about to get under way in the big picture sense. where does this thing stand? >> we have the two most unpopular and disdained candidates of the two major parties running against each other. never had a situation like this
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in our history. and there is a reason for the disapproval, the distrust, the disdain factor. hillary clinton has been baked, partly by comey, the director of the fbi, in this perception of her as dishonest -- >> extreme carelessness. >> untruthful, and, in fact, the server situation is indefensible. and she carries that baggage into this election and has to overcome it somehow. how does she do that? by showing who the real donald trump is. that's what the democrats have to do. >> does tim kaine help her, make her warm and fuzzy? some say boring, some say vanilla, but nice guy, competent guy, executive is also what you hear. >> two things. i have a piece out in politico now about defending boring. think of the last unboring vice presidential picks. geraldine ferraro, sarah palin,
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dan quayle. unless something happens, he's at best, as all vice presidential guys, a marginal pick. it is her signal to the country that, look, i am the stable, safe, cautious one. this other guy is a five-alarm fire. >> your name is synonymous with investigative journalism. you said something interesting to me in cleveland, and i hope you'll repeat it now. have these candidates been vetted? >> i'm going to go farther. i think that these two candidates represent the most egregious failure by the press in the history of modern -- >> how can that be? >> let me finish the thought. they're the two greatest celebrities in our culture today. worldwide. and yet no major network, no cable network, no major of the three old networks, has done a single investigative biography of either of the candidates up to this point. not even a documentary about their real existing lives. only recently have the "new york times," the "washington post" and "wall street journal"
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started to do really great reporting which they're doing finally on trump, especially. and a little bit on hillary clinton. these two candidates, the most famous people in the world, are unvetted by the press. look, i have written what's the standard biography on hillary clinton, the life of hillary rodham clinton. and yet even with biographies of these people, the go deep, the press has been focused on the 24/7 debate on the -- on the -- you know, talking heads, which all of us are. great analysis. what about their real existing lives and records? >> you agree with this? >> november 1979, roger mud, does a one-hour cbs report special on ted kennedy. by the end of that one hour, ted kennedy's prospects are substantially diminished, partly by his own inadequacies and partly by what roger mud reported. i think carl is exactly right. i think -- i think there have been plenty of really good stories about both of them.
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but the idea of the major broadcast network simply not doing it, maybe they think the ratings will tank, maybe kim kardashian has a new selfie out, i don't know what it is, but it's been a failure. >> let's look at the specifics. why haven't we had had hour-long specials on trump's businesses? on hillary clinton's foundations? these two candidates are unvetted by the press. it is astonishing, it is a grievous, egregious failure. >> i feel compelled and not just to carry water for cnn, but because i believe it -- >> all of the networks. >> i think of those debates, and the questioning from my colleagues, i thought was extraordinarily well-done. >> you have done a great job on debates and analysis. but that's different than reporting. sending out reporters to look at the real record. going into these books. look, the best reporting on hillary clinton to some extent in the foundation has been done by political enemies. that doesn't make it irrelevant. >> i agree. broken clock is right -- final
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word. >> and the most serious question about this is, if it were done, would large chunks of the american electorate say we don't believe you, you're his enemies, i don't care what you tell me, 2 plus 2 is 5. >> but that's fine. we will have done our job. we haven't even done our job. great analysis. >> when cn nsaid i could be the first to host from philly to welcome the dnc, i said bernstein and greenfield, please. thank you, guys. i really appreciate you being here. >> nice to be here. >> thank you for saying that. coming up, hillary clinton picks a vp. does tim kaine bring added value, or might his selection undervalue bernie sanders supporters? here's one that came in early. smerconish, where is the wikileaks coverage regarding the dnc, et cetera, et cetera? jarsso, i'm going there next. stick around. all her aches and pains.
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there it is. the steps that everybody knows -- everybody knows those steps for "rocky" having climbed them. i'm here to tell you there is some great art behind those doors, as well. we're back in philadelphia. it's the site of this week's dnc. and now that hillary's vp choice has been made, what does she have to do to overcome the inevitable convention bump of the trump/pence ticket, as well as her steadily rising negative poll numbers and what of this wikileaks document drop pertaining to the dnc? joining me now, columnist sally
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cohen, supported bernie sanders in the primaries, now on team hillary and working for the dnc as a speaking coach and one of the speakers at this week's convention, former south carolina state representative, bakari sellers he. sally, i know you're conversant on the story, the dnc wikileaks drop which suggests folks on the payroll of the dnc were angling for hillary and not for berry, wanted him to be questioned about his religion, among other things. what do you make of it? >> that particular piece as a jewish-american -- to we -- as a jew, that's messed up. i could use stronger language, but i won't. but we always know there's lots of, you know, ugliness in opposition research of other candidates. the more disturbing part here is, it feeds into, look, i -- as a sanders supporter, i would like to see the democratic party process reforms. but it did work. he did lose fair and square. the problem with these leaks, it feeds into this perception that he didn't lose fair and square.
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that the system was rigged, the party was rigged against him. and that is how it's felt and now to see these leaks, it's a bad timing. >> and then bakari, on top of it, i know you've been with secretary clinton. but on top of it, the sanders folks are smarting a bit this morning, with the selection of tim kaine, they wanted someone more progressive than he. >> well, there are a few things. i think questioning anybody about their religion is outside the bounds of the political discourse. i have never done that in my political career. i don't think that should be something that you delve into. but it doesn't replace the fact that the secretary won based on the number of ballots cast fair and square. and it doesn't replace the fact that we have made so much progress in terms of having the most progressive platform that this party has ever seen. it doesn't replace any of those things. and unless you live inside of a bubble, tim kaine is a liberal. tim kaine has a very strong record, especially 100% voting record when it comes to planned parenthood. he challenged the nra in his own
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state. he stood up to them. his record as a mayor of richmond as a united states senator i think is strong. there are going to be questions. why didn't you choose elizabeth warren or perez or cory booker. but i think that tim kaine is going to be an exciting choice. and i think that wednesday night people are going to look forward to seeing him kind of blossom. it's a big stage for him. the most important -- >> are you okay with this? i saw you wins a bit. >> i wins wipsed, yes. first of all, yes, tim kaine is 100% pro choice voting record in the senate, but he has also in other -- held other offices he supported a ban on late-term abortions, parental notification laws, et cetera. >> license plates. maybe that's not a biggy. >> that i care less about than actual restrictions on access to abortion. and, you know, he supported the -- recently said he still supports the transpacific partnership trade deal. so he has a lot of -- he has a lot of things that make progressives very worried. the larger issue here is -- you
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don't want to make a symbolic pick, although i think that's important. i think hillary clinton missed an opportunity here. while she has this i'm a steady hand case to make to the american people, she also has to be aware of the populist economic yearnings in this country, not only in the democratic base but frankly, donald trump for his zone phobia and hate mongering -- >> he's tapped into something. >> it doesn't help her, he hurts her, that's my concern. >> but the team. when you have the messengers we have, there's a message that elizabeth warren can go out and make, a compelling message. is there a message that bernie sanders can go out and make. there is a mitchell and barack obama can make. tim kaine, not only does he speak to varies aspects, i think he's a strong advocate to the african-american community. a strong advocate based on immigration reform and the only person to deliver a speech on immigration reform, in fluent spanish. so i think that this is going to be important, and i think that
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he meshes with the team very well. >> you're speaking. what are you going to say? >> i'm still working through those things. >> maybe sally will coach you. >> so my nerves calm down. but i speak early in the thursday program. it's exciting, because the person who comes on stage later on in the evening will be hillary clinton accepting the nomination. so my goal right now is to make my mom and dad proud. >> i want to show boat both of you. peter teal spoke at the rnc, said some interesting things. roll that tape, please. >> when i was a kid, the great debate was about how to defeat the soviet union. and we won. now we are told -- now we are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. this is a disfraction from our real problems. who cares? >> you care? who cares? >> i mean, i -- >> applauded at the rnc. >> yeah, because he slayed every
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gay sacred cow on the stage. i guess i agree with peter teal. we have other more important things we could be focusing on, i suppose. republicans, focus on that. don't have a party platform that wants to roll back gay rights and civil rights and choice. i would, for instance, also love it if we would stop focusing on abortion rights in this country. but the republican congress first five bills they introduce when they took -- when they took congress, were anti choice bills. so i am more than happy to stop the culture where they get -- >> bakari, donald trump does the lgbtq community. i saw that trump put in the q. not have a friend in donald trump. seriously. >> no. i mean, listen. the first speaker that was chosen that day was jerry falwe falwell. and donald trump in his speech gave a speech and he said we're going to protect the lgbt kpuntd from terror. and so i cannot give donald trump credit for saying that now we should stand up against the slaughter of the homosexual
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community. when donald trump stands and stands against his platform on conversion therapy, when he stands against his platform on the ban of same-sex marriage. >> you don't think he believes any of that. come on. >> why did he -- he can say it. but let me also say this about peter till. we're not giving him enough credit. pete till, he and ted cruz showed the most fortitude of any two speakers last week. i thought ted cruz, whether or not you appreciated what he said or not, was very courageous. and peter till went up and was very courageous. i will admit that reading the speech beforehand, i thought he was going to get booed at that point and he didn't. so it's a very low bar. so credit where credit is due. but they -- you have to put some context to it. >> guys, welcome to philly. good luck with your speech. that's really cool. >> thanks a lot. >> he's going to blow it out of the water. >> your son is helping me write it. >> you could do a heck of a lot worse. next, what is the resignation of fox news chief roger ailes mean for both the network and for the campaign of donald trump for whom aisles ails has already been
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consulting? let's see what he says. steve redmond. tim kaine seems like a decent guy. that alone makes unique this year. people say that mike pence is a decent guy too. there you go. come on. >> sorry. washing the dog! washing the cat! well i'm learning snapchamp! chat. chat! changing the oil... (vo) it's surprising what people would rather do than deal with retirement. pressure-washing the... roses. aerating the lawn! (vo) but with nationwide it's no big deal. okay, your retirement plan is all set. nationwide? awesome. nice neighborhood. ♪ nationwide is on your side and my results ended up beinge african, european and asian. it was great because it confirmed what i
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here to discuss someone who worked at fox for seven years, has known roger ailes for 35 years, bob beckel. hey, bob, is his next job counseling donald trump and playing a role for trump that he's played for nixon, he played for reagan? i speak of roger ailes? >> yeah, no. by the way, i've taken showers in fountains like that in my old age when i was drinking. but the answer to it is, look, roger ailes advises every republican presidential candidate. so this is not a big surprise to me. if he went on and became campaign manager, that would be a big surprise. but i'm not at all surprised he's going to try to help trump. look, you've got to understand. this is a guy who really, really doesn't like hillary clinton. >> did you ever in your association with fox, did you ever -- you're -- look, you're not a politically correct guy. >> no. >> did you ever see any evidence, any sign, any symptom of anything going on? >> no. i not only didn't, but i've had roger on occasion say to me, bob, you've got to be a little bit more politically correct.
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now, i'm a liberal, so i get away with it. but i never once saw this. and you know the thing that surprised me was that in both gretchen's case and also of megan, i'm surprised it took them this long to come out. i've talked to gretchen several times during the course of her career there. she never once mentioned anything about it. and she would have to me, i think. so i'm a little surprised. >> don't you -- >> go ahead. >> don't you think in the end, whatever it is that megyn kelly said behind closed doors is what called this shot? i mean, she right now is the marquis talent, and don't you think that that's how it would have ended, based on what she said? >> beginning and end. look, this thing was a close call, because it was a question of who said what. he said/she said. but when megyn kelly said it, you're right. she's got a lot of weight there. she's a former lawyer. and i think that was the beginning of the end of roger. >> so what is the future of fox
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news as a conservative oracle? all i know is what i read, but i read of this split between murdoch and the kids. what do you see happening? >> well, i don't think that they're going to try to change it dramatically, even though the kids may want to. look, i haven't worked there as a liberal, it's an unusual situation. but that company -- the fox news channel sent a billion dollars to the bottom line of murdoch's company. they're not going to want to mess with that. when the old man himself says murdoch, that he's going to run the place being ceo, he's not. my guess is bill shine, who is number two to roger ailes, will do that. but i think it's very dangerous to bring somebody in, for example, to run that network, because so much of it was built in roger ailes -- you know, his personality. and the idea of disrupting it, and particularly now in the middle of this campaign, would be a terrible mistake. >> do you see any prospect that some of the talent over there, some of those who came out in support of roger ailes, they get
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together and they all go to a different network? >> well, the question is, which network would they go to? there's rumors around that roger will take his 20, 30, $40 million severance pay and start his own. i doubt that. he's too old for that. >> yeah, englii think he's got noncompete. >> and sean hannity said to me several times that if roger was out, he wouldn't get -- sean is a marquis talent. is that the case? and bill shine takes over, i think sean would stay. if it was somebody brought in from england, i don't think he would. so there may be a drain there. but more importantly, the idea of a data network without roger ailes is just unthinkable to me. >> bob beckel, that fella says there is room in the shower. if you need it when you get to town. >> ask him to give had he the left-hand side of that, because it's better flow, okay? i happen to know this. i'll see you up there. >> all right. look forward to having you.
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thank you. still to come, trump defined this as an election about law and order. well, former philadelphia police chief, charles ramsey, who has said the nation is, quote, a powder keg over cop shootings and assassinations, he is speaking at the dnc this week. but first, he will speak here. and here's another tweet. carlos nino. since you're obviously a hillary clinton supporter, why don't you have a dnc speaking slot? it's so funny. i get criticized from the left, i get criticized from the right. that means it's a good day. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis,
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so should we go with the 467 horsepower? or is a 423 enough? good question. you ask a lot of good questions... i think we should move you into our new fund. ok. sure. but are you asking enough about how your wealth is managed? wealth management, at charles schwab. welcome back to philadelphia, site of this week's democratic national convention. last week at the rnc gop nominee, donald trump hit hard on the shootings of police
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officers. my next guest will deliver a speech this week at the dnc on the topic of gun violence. former philadelphia police chief, charles ramsey, who was also the police commissioner of washington, d.c., and is the co chair of president obama's task force on 21st century policing. great to have you ear. >> good to be here. >> are you as excited as i am the nation is now here in philly and all eyes on our town? >> i am. i've been excited ever since it was announced philly would host the democratic national convention. >> cleveland went well from a law enforcement standpoint. i've watched it up close. i hope philly goes well. what concerns do you have? >> well, i mean, you always have some concerns. but to be honest with you -- i admit i'm biased, nobody handles large scale events than the city of philadelphia. i am concerned about the rnc because of the protests we have had before. but i really do think those assassinations of officers in dallas and baton rouge brought the temperature down a bit. >> there is a criticism of the dnc and secretary clinton in particular for welcoming into
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the debate lineup, in addition to charles ramsey, some of the family members of victims of police shootings. what are your thoughts on that? >> their voices need to be heard, as well. i think there are two sides to everything. and i think that it's nothing wrong with having those voices heard. but we also need to think about the families of our police officers that have been injured and killed in the line of duty, as well. there needs to be balance. >> i don't know your party affiliation. and you need not tell me. but how big of a decision was it for charles ramsey to accept the invitation? i don't think of you as a political guy. i think of you as the consummate law enforcement professional. but you are going to be on that stage, and making an address. talk to me about that calculus. >> well, i mean, i'm not a real political guy. and had it not been for dallas and baton rouge, i probably would have turned down the invitation to speak at the dnc, only because i don't really consider myself to be that political. but i think our environment is such where my voice can maybe add something to the discussion. and that's why i chose to
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participate. >> what will you be saying? >> it's about gun violence, that's the topic and i'll talk about the impact it has on the community and also the men and women of law enforcement that have to deal with the constant and relentless violence that takes place in many of our neighborhoods. >> will you be making an endorsement, will you be speaking favorably of hillary clinton in particular? >> well, i'll be honest with you. i do support secretary clinton. it's no surprise. i guess i'm speaking at the dnc. and i'm not afraid to make that announcement. but i also think that in this time, we have to be very careful about our choices. i personally feel she's best-suited at this point in history. >> donald trump stood there last week in cleveland and said, "i am the law and order candidate." >> well, i don't know what that means. law and order means different things to different people. if it means more police, aggressive policing in some of our neighborhoods, that could add to the problem that we already have. we need to sit down and we need to discuss the best way forward. and whether it's mr. trump or
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whether it's secretary clinton, someone is going to have to address the issue of crime and violence in our communities in the best ways to be able to deal with it. >> as a civilian, my head kind of spins on the crime stats. it reminds me, liars figure, figures lie. it's fungible. you can read into the data and i'm thinking of donald trump's speech where he said it, and many said, and here's the justification and then came the fact-checkers who said, well, that's not entirely correct. speak to me on that general subject. >> well, you know, crime over the last 20 years has been declining. in the last decade, we have seen some of the lowest crime rates since the 1950s and 1960s, so you have a slight uptick percentage-wise, yeah, it's going to jump out at you, because you're comparing yourself to incredibly low years. when you look at trends over time, crime is really moving in the right direction. >> how about killing of police officers? >> it fluctuates from year-to-year. five in dallas and three in baton rouge. it's going to skew your numbers a bit. one is too many. but i don't know if by the end
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of the year they will be that dramatic an increase. >> chief, good luck in your speech this week. >> thank you. >> i'm glad to see you continue to get the national prominence. you deserve it. >> thank you. >> chief charles ramsey. next, there hasn't been a president since 1960 who hasn't won at least two of the battleground states. i'll speak to the democratic chairs and democratic pennsylvania senator, bob casey, who happens to hail from scranton, pennsylvania. he's got that in common with hillary clinton. another tweet, i see. chris says, don't agree with smerconish on everything. but he's from philly. and anyone from philly is a winner, in my book. #brotherlylove. that's awfully nice. don't you dare follow your dreams. think big. or demand your own space. don't you dare leave it all behind.
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are psyched to welcome the democrats to town. democratic national convention, of course, pennsylvania is one of the swing states that hangs in the balance in this election. recent polls show that its 20 electoral votes leaning democratic now could go either way. joining me, senator bob casey, who not only represents the state and is a speaker at this week's festivities, he also hails from the same hometown as hillary clinton has roots. senator, good to see you. >> thank you, michael. >> so her choice, a white senator from a swing state, catholic, a reputation for not being flashy, but well-liked and a nice guy. is it bob casey? no, tim kaine. you have a lot in common with him. >> i had the opportunity in the senate not just to get to know him, but also to sit with him at our tuesday lunch every tuesday. look, this say choice that hillary made and i had a sense she would make this kind of choice, meaning a governing choice, not necessarily a campaign choice. i think he's both competent and compassionate. but i also think he's the kind
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of tough leader we're going to need in tough times. >> he has something else in common with bob casey, and that is in a very public way, in 2008 you were for barack obama. he was for barack obama, and yet everybody seems to be coming back to the fold in that regard. >> well, hillary's candidacy has done that. she has been a unifying source, she likes to build bridges instead of walls and i think tim kaine reflects that. >> my parents are both cold crackers from hazelton. i know the northeastern part of the state, as you do. white guys, working class, a lot of appeal for donald trump. he won 67 counties in the republican primary. never been done before. does he have you on the run in your backyard? >> i think it's going to be a close race. in northeastern pennsylvania. but i also think that's true statewide. michael, you know the numbers. pennsylvania has been blue for six straight presidentials, but always close, always contested. i think hillary is probably ahead right now. but we're going to fight very hard until the last minute. because this is a state we have to win. i think she will win it.
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especially because of her economic message focused on lifting wages and focused on the middle class. >> give me the 60-second version of what bob casey will say from the podium at the dnc this week. >> going to talk about hillary's economic plan, and in a very specific way how it applies to pennsylvania. focusing on manufacturing jobs, moving our state forward with a partner. i think she's going to be the kind of president who will work with us to either strengthen or rebuild parts of our economy, especially when it comes to the jobs of the future in manufacturing. >> donald trump says your constituents are suffering because she buys into all the trade deals that he sees through. >> look, i think hillary is going to be one of the toughest presidents when it comes to judging trade deals. she's already said, any trade deal is going to have to meet a three-part test. it's got to create jobs, it's got to increase wages and enhance our security. that tough test, in addition to her opposition to tpp will be very important. >> the general election, you
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know it's all about ohio, florida and pennsylvania. as a matter of fact, you've got to win two of the three sips 1960. or you or you don't get elected to the white house. joining me now, david pepper, marcel groen. marcel, what happens in the p.a., the philadelphia suburbs? you tell me what happens in the philadelphia suburbs, i'll tell you who wins this race. >> we're going to win. >> of course you're going to tell me that. >> no, if you look at the past 20 years, every year we've been doing better. the moderate republicans are voting democratic, frequently become democratic. we need to win the philadelphia suburbs by 6 to 700,000 votes, and we will. >> donald trump knocked out even john kasich in your and my backyard. i never would have predicted that. he won all 67 counties. >> sure. that was a republican primary
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where you have half the vote than you have in the general vote. and in our -- the same thing with our primary, half the vote that we're going to have in the general. you're going to find out there's going to be a huge turnover. i have never seen so many republicans in my entire life coming to me, person after person, saying, we're vote for hillary. and it's constant and it's continuing. and we're going to win those suburbs by the numbers i told you. >> david, let me ask you about ohio. i was in ohio doing my radio show from the rock and rosxh r& of fame in cleveland. john kasich had an event at the rock hall but never crossed down to go to the rnc. are you trying to use that as a cudgel on hillary's behalf in the state of ohio? >> let me just say, donald trump actually lost ohio very badly just a few months ago. john kasich did very well. and the fact that donald trump declared war on kasich all four
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days of that convention doesn't help donald trump at all. and obviously kasich is still on the sidelines there. so that is a big deal, given that trump already struggled in ohio to have the guy who won the primary and now the governor of the state, not be comfortable with him. it's a big deal and will play out over the next several months. >> right. donald trump lost the state, but you had a hometown favorite who was running against him. as i was making the point to senator casey, that working class white constituency, those reagan democrats, your state has them, marcel's state has them as well. that's a natural trump constituency. how will you crack into that? >> we'll just talk about how donald trump spoken for years. this is a guy who said wages were too high, when he made his shirts and ties he made them in china and bangladesh, not in ohio like he could have. he's talking a big game but when you peel it back a little bit,
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doesn't has nothing in common with those workers. we'll work with our working folks, people like sherrod brown and ted strickland can make that point, that donald trump's business practices took advantage of low wages in other countries. he himself has said again and again and very publicly, he thinks wages are too high. he'll certainly go to those places and look for votes. but when we're done, a lot of those workers will see that donald trump has nothing in common with their values or their needs. >> marcel, what's it like to be the state party chair of a state that is hosting a convention? i've got to believe that you're the king this week, and that because of the importance and the responsibility on your shoulder that hillary reaches out and that party leaders at all levels want your time? >> it's very scary. it's also a once in a lifetime opportunity. as you might know, i was a little boy who didn't speak english until he was 10 years old. for me to be here in this
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position is remarkable. my mother is 94, she was a holocaust survivor. she'll be watching it on television. it's one of them. would you have to work hard, take one step at a time. we have to make sure that things run smoothly. and i'll look back at the end of the week and make sure it worked right. >> david, we all talk about ohio, we all talk about florida, about pennsylvania. what are you doing differently in this cycle that you haven't done previously? >> i would say that we got our act together much earlier than normal. ohio will be close, like pennsylvania. but as barack obama showed, the campaign that is most organized on the ground in ohio wins. '08 and '12, that worked. this year we put a field team in place in october before we even knew who would win the presidential primary. we've had a field team since october, building up through the primary, now merged into the coordinated. we have a large staff here,
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larger than donald trump's entire national staff, we have here in ohio. in the end, that's what wins elections in ohio, having enough people to knock on doors, to make the phone calls, to get the vote out. while we are building this, donald trump doesn't seem to understand or care about field operations at all. i think he has one state director, no field team whatsoever. >> i have to say -- >> we've got organized early. >> i have to say, he doesn't have a field operation, he hasn't spent money, she is so far outspending him in the battleground states, yet he's within the margin of error. it's going to be interesting. david, good luck with the convention, we've got company in town. nice to see you both and to have senator casey. in a moment, more of your tweets like this one. smerconish, pats or ginos? how about tony luke's? we've got so many great places
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hi, everyone. top of the hour, 7:00 p.m. eastern. i'm poppy harlow joining you here in philadelphia for special live coverage of the democratic national convention set to get under way here in just about 48 hours' time when 50,000 people will descend on this great city. we'll see what is ahead for this week. let's go. >> i think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point. i'm running because i have a lifetime of experience in getting results and fightinfo
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