planner. thank you for your time. stephanie: thank you. >> coming up live on tuesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, the senate foreign relations committee looks at conditions in venezuela. at 2:30, the senate subcommittee hearing on protecting free speech and preventing violent protests. then at 4:30 the crew of spacex discusses the recent mission. and the senate meets at 10:00 eastern to nom neat the imagine if secretary nominee. and then a hearing on the pcoming election at 10:00 a.m. eastern. politics. we're joined by the editor and chief of "national journal" hotline. here to talk about the presidential race, the key senate races obviously. let me start first with a piece of yours from last week in "national journal" that was headlined divided party or big ten.

the sub head said while the g.o.p.'s ideological diversity is straining to govern, democrat's divisions are propping up a big tent for now. tell me about the democratic side of things first. joe biden has key decisions to make here in the coming week or so about who will be his vice-presidential pick. what do you think that comes down to in terms of the important things in his decision, what's going to count most? guest: right. i think the number one issue for joe biden is doing no harm. the vice-presidential pick is only going to have so much of an impact on the general election in november. what he probably is most concerned about at this point is making sure he's choosing somebody not going to hurt his prospects. luckily for joe biden democrats are not in a majority in the senate and they do not have control of the white house. that means that all those democrats divisions we hear so much about and that were front

and center in 2016 president am primary are not really being showcased right now because they're not -- democrats are not having to make agreements to actually vote on legislation. in the house they do but they have the republican senate majority to check them. that means that joe biden will be able to create this democratic coalition that includes members of the party along with more moderate especially the suburban former republicans we keep talking about. all under one coalition with kind of a common enemy in donald trump. meanwhile, republicans in the senate are having to grapple with their ideological divides in terms of especially the budget and spending as they figure out how to deliver a relief package which is going to be especially important for the most vulnerable senators in 2020 in november. two of them are seeking

re-election to states that hillary clinton want in 2016. host: go back to the image of the big ten for democrats in terms of the vice-presidential pick. former republican governor chris christie was on this network interview last thursday or friday with bob kosta of the "washington post" and said vice-presidential pick doesn't matter. in terms of the democrats does it matter who is picked as vice president? when it comes to voting on november 3? guest: it does matter in terms of the idea that the vice-presidential candidate could introduce issues that become divisive. again, more of a do no harm issue rather than trying to encourage more voters to come out. there is a sense that if there's a particularly exciting candidate possibly democrats could get enough enthusiasm, something they are lacking in november, something that republicans, donald trump knows

nervent -- fervent supporters are more excited to vote than joe biden's support. what joe biden has which is a big advantage is this major slate of women who have already been pretty heavily vetted and that's because a lot of them ran for president. and people like senator kamla harris was once seen as a frontrunner it seems like forever ago but was once seen as a frontrunner for the democratic presidential nomination and she's gone through the gauntlet in terms of media scrutiny and opposition research and she's been on the small stage. in a lot of ways she's a really safe choice. voters tend to know her a little better than they might know a member of congress he might choose. host: let me get a snapshot of polls from real clear politics, this is what they do in amalgamating polls together but some of the states, their

latest north carolina trump v. biden show biden up by four and in georgia up by one and the latest on the general election is up by friday from real clear politics and shows biden up by four. what in general is your take of polls at this date three months out? guest: so right now you would rather be a democrat than republican in the current polling. now that doesn't mean that donald trump can't win in november, and i want to make that very clear because i feel like that was one of the issues that came up in 2016 over and over again. in places like north carolina and georgia, even though joe biden is in the lead, in most polls coming out at this point, he's still within the margin of era and supposed to be reading trends not individual kind of moments. for that reason, i think that donald trump is a lot more to worry about in michigan and

wisconsin where polling has shown him trailing beyond the margin of error, sometimes up into the double digits. for north carolina and georgia, what republicans now have to deal with is in addition to being presidential battle grounds now, it is not necessarily expected a few years ago. they're also setting battle grounds. so republicans have more -- if they lose north carolina in the presidential race, they also could lose it in the senate race and governor's race. these are really high stakes states in november for more than just the presidential race. host: leah is our guest talking and is the ection hotline editor. 202-748-80001. 202-748-8001 for republicans, democrats, 202-748-8000 and intents and others, 202-748-800

202-748-88002. let's focus on kansas and the race good republican representative roger marshall facing off against the secretary of state in that state, crisco balk who served for a brief period of time in the trump administration. tell us about what plays in kansas. guest: republicans in d.c. aren't too concerned about the senate majority are concerned bout nominating kris kobach. , kris could win with a plurality of the votes. the reason why republicans are concerned about that is because he mocked a governor's race in and has a mocrat

fervent base but the former governor made him a larger risk and though kris could absolutely win a general election it probably would mean that republicans would have to invest in that race. kris could lose the general election of kansas which most republicans could not. in addition to this kind of understanding map with georgia and montana, competitive races in north carolina, the idea republicans would also have to invest in kansas would be a major blow. host: we'll look at the course of the races in our conversation and get the calls. we'll hear from edward first up in marry mack, new hampshire. republican line. good morning. clinton: caller: i noticed something about joe biden's pick for vice president and says he has to pick a black woman. when the women dropped out of the debates he lost the women's vote and when patrick dropped

out he lost the black vote. i guess he figures a black woman will capture the people who vote their color and gender and not worry about the issues because joe biden doesn't have any issues and he can't run on his record so he doesn't have a record so i kind of find it ironic he would marry his choices on that basis. by the way, any black woman who would consider running under that kind of a program i have some recommended reading called "uncle tom's cabin." guest: black women have been democrats most loyal supporters in elections going back. this is not necessarily an issue of joe biden trying to convert black women. it's an issue of trying to run up enthusiasm and possibly increase turnout. the idea that joe biden has lost women because he took women out in the debate, that

doesn't really have much merit to it considering that women have been trending towards the democrats party especially since the trump administration but this has been going on for over a decade now. joe biden is going to have to work for women and was going to be the case as much as the vice-presidential pick might be exciting news right now and is absolutely consequential because it is the second in command for the entire country on top of vo is not necessarily being the vice-presidential pick but in donald trump and that is going to be more of a concern to women and people of color than the vice-presidential pick. that said, joe biden has been struggling to increase his margin with latino voters and that could be an issue especially in places like arizona where narrow margins could make a big difference and not in the presidential race.

host: let's hear from sergio in policy an -- beach, florida. democrats, live. caller: how are you this morning? host: we're doing fine. go ahead with your comment. caller: good morning, leah, how are you? guest: good morning. caller: my question is to you upon the campaign. how would that straighten the campaign 2020 especially the democratic convention that's coming up and that will help more of his votes and the biased presidential pick as well and the republican base as well. guest: the democratic convention is a big question right now because we're not sure what will end up happening. we have never done this before, an entire virtual convention. usually democrats and republicans see a post

convention bump where they see an increase in their polling. there's no guarantee that is going to happen this time around. there's really no guarantee there will be a ton of people watching. we don't know what will be on the republican side. we do know on the democratic side, the obamas will be speaking which should increase viewership but that's a big question mark right now. right now both candidates, trump and biden want to increase their enthusiasm as much as possible and it's just really hard to do that amid the pandemic and the convention is just the latest example of that. host: there was a report ever the weekend, no press, a delegate vote to renominate trump, the vote to renominate president trump is said to be conducted in private this month without members of the press present said a spokesman for the republican national convention citing the pandemic, a convention official contradicted that segment sunday emphasizing no final decisions have been made. you just mentioned the lineup for the democratic convention,

some of which will be held in milwaukee in august, so so far we don't really know any sort of lineup or schedule for the r.n.c. virtual convention or whatever their plans are? guest: no, that's the big question mark is we know that there are some things that are going to be happening on the democratic side. they've been planning this virtual convention for months. republicans kind of shifted their plans much more recently in the last couple weeks so we just don't have a sense of who will be speaking or whether we'll even be able to see trump accept the nomination. hopefully we'll have answers soon but we night not have those answers until the day of the convention. host: to jack in michigan, independent line. caller: good morning. good morning to you guys. glad c-span is on. i have a couple questions i want to ask and then i have a couple comments and won't take much of your time. but i heard this morning on the

news that democrats, i'm sure that's the leadership of the democratic party, is going to try to keep joe biden from debating. and what i was wondering, how do they think he can win the presidency if he's not capable of debating, what kind of president? but i also believe -- when i hang up you can listen to it in a minute but i also believe he's not making the decisions anyway. they know he's not going to be president but that's the reason he's taking as much time for picking his running mate but i was wondering if that's true, of course there's so much stuff that comes out and put on c-span and one of the news channels they were going to try to keep him from debating. but either way he goes it will hurt him. that will be fine. i don't want to see him win

anyway. host: all right. any indication that joe biden won't debate donald trump? guest: the number of debates is something we see constantly. for example right now, the republican senator challenged the democratic challenger to 16 debates. we're seeing across the board this is nothing new. but is a little more new at the presidential level. the argument being had is not whether joe biden will debate at all, it's how many debates will end up happening, whether it will be a traditional number or whether they can increase that so that joe biden can have a little bit more air time. the crux of that whole argument is that right now republicans are in a pretty dire position in terms of polling. and a lot of republicans are seeing the debates as a marker of that potential change.

so the idea is that once viewers get to see joe biden on live tv nationally in a major event, then it's possible that voters will change their minds. that's what a lot of republicans are pinning their hopes on at this point and probably part of the reason why the debates are being discussed so widely right now as a hot button issue. host: i want to ask you your thoughts on the lincoln group. first, they're in "the washington post" this morning reported about here in a story headlined, their goal, troll trump, hoping to drive the president out of office. a team of republican activist is creating the most talked about ads of the 2020 campaign, that's george conway, kellyanne 's husband, steve wilson and steve schmidt. want to play you their latest ad. >> great independent leaders rise from maine's hard soil, always have and always will. take margaret chase smith, when

the men were terrified of joseph mccarthy, she called him out like susan collins stands up to donald trump. wait, susan collins never stands up to donald trump. that's why maine is done with her weakness and excuses. collins isn't an independent, she's a fraud. mitch mcconnell and donald trump control her voice. she makes excuses for corruption, for criminality, for cruelty all while pretending while she's worried, concerned, hoping donald trump learns a lesson this time. he never does because she never stands up, never speaks out. never does what a maine leader should do. susan collins doesn't work for maine, she works for them and maine deserve as leader, not a trump stooge. it's time for susan collins to go. the lincoln project is responsible for the content of advertising. host: the ad by the lincoln group, the lincoln project, there were initially ads

against the president. they've dived now into the senate races, what's your take? guest: this is probably the biggest changes in 2016. in 2016 we did see republicans deflect from the party. the republicans say they would not vote for trump and didn't see a lot of money behind that and also didn't see a lot of republicans say that because they were not voting for trump they then would vote for hillary clinton. in 2020 we are beginning to see that a little bit more. the biggest kind of example is this is probably the lincoln project major financial investment not only in the presidential race but on the ballot. now, that ad was targeting susan collins in maine. the fact they actually talked about donald trump directly in the ad is significant. in other states we are not seeing the lincoln project talk about donald trump in the senate ads in the same way in

places like montana. in 2018 we rarely saw democrats talk about donald trump at all. he was at least in the background, at least the vulnerable democrats running for competitive seats. the fact they think they can raise him up and then connect him to susan collins as an effective strategy speaks to their confidence that donald trump is cratering. if we see it in other states that would be a indicator that trump is continuing to deteriorate across the country. host: in the maine senate race the key focus for democratic efforts obviously, she faces susan collins the incumbent, republicans facing democrat sarah gideon. this was senator collins' response to that lincoln project ad [. susan: my opponents say i've changed but i haven't. but politics sure has. the nonstop attacks against me

began more than a year ago him. especially offensive are the outrageous attacks on my integrity. the suggestion that i traded my votes for campaign contributions is appalling. it never happened, not once, not ever. i was raised in caribou by parents who taught me to be honest and to work hard. mainers have entrusted me with their vote in the senate and i cast it more than 7,000 times. never missing a single one. i will not back down from doing what i believe is right for maine. i'm susan collins and i've approved this message. host: we get back to your calls, the editor and chief of the hotline, talking campaign 2020. markup next in summer field, north carolina. caller: yeah, i think both

chris christie and your current guest are completely incorrect about the effect of the vice-presidential pick for biden who is going to be inconsequential. unlike any other candidate in my lifetime, and i've lived quite a long time, it's really not been a factor but i've -- in discussions with people that udgingly vote for biden, they all admit they don't think he's going to last four years. they all admit they think he's going downward in terms of his mental capacities and they're going to be looking at the v.p. as the next-next president in a most certainly they think that's going to happen. biden won't even last one term. i think it is going to be credibly consequential and

again will be a huge factor in the race. host: guest: to be clear, i don't think the decision is inconsequential. i think that people who are going to the polls will make decisions based on a variety of factors and don't think the vice-presidential pick will be the top one unless something changes, unless there's a big controversy or scandal surrounding one of those vice-presidential picks. obviously in terms of the future democratic party that has a major influence, we're seeing joe biden talked about ving a younger cabinet and more diapers bringing in the challenge after leader and in that sense it is inconsequential but in terms of what voters will be deciding when they go to the polls -- voters care about a lot of different things, obviously. we've seen approval ratings of

nancy pelosi being taken into account and what they think about the economy and investment in education and all sorts of issues. what we're looking at as election analyst is what moves voters and at this moment does not appear the vice-presidential pick is at the top of that list. right now the election seems to be a referendum on president trump. so a vice-presidential pick will have a pretty big burden to carry with the sudden change and now the election was about the vice-presidential pick. it definitely impacts it. host: our caller was from north carolina. let me get your quick take on that race. some say that could be a race in play. the incumbent is tom phil till us the republican and the challenger democrat cal cunningham, what do you think? guest: that's one of the most important races for senate majority. the democrats need to pick up three seats for control with a

democratic president and they need four seats now for a majority. it's hard to imagine a scenario and north carolina is not those three to four seats. right now north carolina has become a stuff state for republicans in the presidential level and republican race but republicans >> not running away with the state. it's an incredibly close contest and the polls suggest it's within a few points. tom till us is in a really tricky position because he does have the kind of responsibilities of appealing to trump's base while also appealing to the suburban voters who have been critical the 2018 ts when in race and that's kind after tough balance to strike. meanwhile, cal cunningham relatively unknown and kind of a safe alternative rather than

the beto o'rourke we think of in 2018 kind of an inspirational message, a lot of these candidates in 2020 on the democratic side are kind of projecting themselves as middle of the road kind of crack the poll figure and not trying to light the world on fire, just trying to show that they would be a practical alternative. host: president trump weighing in with his own poll information. as he often does with the rasmussen poll saying this orning 96 approval rating in the republican party and higher than obama at this point in time. thank you from president trump. readsburg, wisconsin, is next. kerry on our democrat line. go ahead. kerry in wisconsin, go ahead. clinton: yeah. i think when biden makes his pick of the vice president

running mate, i think he should pick somebody that's a good debater, and i hope one of their messages is they do something with their medical insurances, you know, if everybody should have some kind of affordable insurance. if we have that, it would probably put everybody's assurances down a predominant price and wouldn't be so high pricey. people say they have such high priced insurance. o i think that would be a good thing, too, you know. but i think also, they've got to work together and try to unite this country again because it's so separated right now, and so with the two of them together, i think they can do it. and thank you very much for c-span for taking my call. host: ok. we talked about health care but

haven't talked about issues. how high of an issue is health care in the 2020 race? guest: for democrats it's towards the top of the issues they're talking about creating this condition especially this was already the plan before, the pandemic, it was the number one message during the 2018 mid terms among most democrats and looks like they're trying to repeat that in 2020. you're most likely in those competitive pages hear democrats talk about health care than it is to hear them talk donald trump as their number one issue. for republicans it's not an issue they're focusing on and won't necessarily be one they don't want the elections to be about. obviously democrats have a sense they could theoretically put something through. i think that will be tricky for democrats is it they win the

majority in the national, if they do win the white house, their vision for medicare for all and all the different intricacies of policies are going to be front and center. but right now democrats basically say no, we're the party of health care and we'll come up with a plan. republicans had their chance and have not. that's not a conversation the republicans would like to be having and would much rather talk about the idea of socialized medicine and bring hat into an argument that have come to an extreme trying to stave off those suburban voters by telling them democrats embrace -- some democrats embrace medicare for all is a sign they're not the party for them. host: here's one of the latest joe biden ads focusing on the pandemic. joe: today we're facing a serious threat and have to meet it as one country. numbers don't lie.

the infection rates are now going up in more states than they're going down. we've got to fight this together. wear a mask. keep your distance. limit the size of crowds. it may be inconvenient and may be uncomfortable but it's the right thing to do as an american. we need a president who will level with the american people. tell us the unvarnished truth. the president should take responsibility instead of always blaming others. the president will listen to the experts, policy the science, allow them to speak. a president who will lead and be an example for the nation. we have to do all we can to keep our fellow americans safe and healthy. i'm joe biden and i approve this message. host: back to your calls. ed is next in lebanon, indiana, republican line. go ahead. caller: i wanted to compliment

the democratic party for the act blue association that's their grassroots booster. but i knowed something funny in the contributions that black lives matter is their largest contributor and since they have 400 billion -- 400 million from just the nfl and from the forward foundation and they keep routing that on through to the democrats. i don't see how we republicans can ever catch up with their numbers and with them cutting off all our social media and all the news media that's on tv, it really is kind of tough for us to fight back against that large of a monster deal. but i do have to compliment the democrats on their very good way, they're cutting off the republicans solely. the more riots and protests the

more black lives get and the more they donate to the democratic party. that's an amazing feet ofer ining. host: this over the weekend, the trump campaign taking a break with tv 5ds and reported their discomforts in the wake of the change at the head of the trump campaign. there's also an indication the president retooling his message to voters. what are you hearing? guest: number one, i want to talk about act blue for just a moment because there's a bit of misunderstanding what that platform does. basically it's not an organization in and of itself. it's a platform for democrats to donate money through digital fundraising and it has been incredibly successful and appears they'll take it up. what we're seeing on the republican side in terms of spending is trying to figure

out what this whole map actually looks like. a few months ago it might not have seemed donald trump needed to invest into the state where it went from purple to red and now the state can get attention. it looks like the joe biden in ign got some attention texas which is a red state becoming maybe purple but there's not been a democrat statewide in years. what we're seeing is trying to figure out where the map is especially after this so-called blue law tumbled down in 2016. so are the key swing states traditional, wisconsin a ohio or are they now arizona, number and georgia. i think there's probably an answer some place in between there and democrats have plenty of resources to invest in both but the r.n.c. and president

trump are the stronger national fundraiser and democrats have incredibly strong fundraising but trump has been republican strongest fundraiser and the republican party is having a pretty tremendous fundraising success. host: a snapshot view of the ads in "the wall street journal" in the blue is the democratic spending the biden campaign and the trump campaign, the falloff in the week of july 28 increasing in the last three weeks of the biden campaign. this is an ad from america first, a pro trump pack and focuses on the protest and some of the rioting that followed and the efforts by some democrats to, quote, defund police. here's the ad. >> come here, honey. >> on the stairs.

>> baby, it's going to be ok. >> you have reached 911 emergency services. because of the budget and increased criminal activity, they are busy assisting other calls. the hold time is 17 minutes. >> yes, absolutely, yes. america first action is responsible for the content of this advertising. host: as the issue of protests in cities as those protests begin to die down, though, how does that maintain, how does that stay an issue for the trump campaign? guest: the idea that democrats are too extreme has been an issue republicans have been trying to get in the front of voters' minds for really years at this point. at the beginning of the cycle it seems that republicans would be able to deliver that through highlighting medicare for all, through highlighting the brand-new deal, for example.

those are issues that just are not at the forefront at the moment because of the pandemic nd also because of the major throw tests -- protests happening. republicans have kind of realt to on the new get the same message across they've been trying to get across to years and they tried to get across in 2018. what is tricky about this is seeing what i mentioned earlier about voters, joe biden said early on he disagreed with calls to defund the police. the idea the protests will have more of an impact on people's decisions than the pan democrat sick a pretty risky one and it's a pretty risky bet. right now the pandemic is shaping most people's ay-to-day lives but the idea

of what the democratic party could offer is nothing new for the republican strategy and is a key tenet to what they believe would need to happen for donald trump to win re-election. host: back to calls and hear from frank on the democratic line in spanish fork, utah. caller: i have a question for your guest but want to make a comment first if i could have the gentleman speaking about act blue. i've been donating to democratic candidates for act blue since 2015 and i looked at it as always a grassroots, it's well run and easy to make even small donations on. i've never heard about it accessing these huge amounts that the caller earlier was saying, you know. i think it's just look at it as a well run grassroots fundraising apparatus. but my question is, it seemed

like in the 2016 democratic sanders, that bernie his type of outlook on politics was not -- it seemed to me like they sort of undermined the sanders campaign at the convention with the comedians undermined him and biden has been middle of the road and i'm wondering if you're hearing anything about, you know, biden, if he gets in, will he go back to being more middle of the road? and i'm saying this because the democrats get accused, oh, there will be socialists and they're listening to the squad and the more left wing type of stuff. i think biden will tend to go back into the more moderate democratic stance.

i wonder if you have comments about that and if it's a problem. host: does joe biden have to appeal to the sanders supporters of 2020 and of 2016, what does he have to do? trump has those to do it for him and biden's argument is trump is not a good fit for the presidency of this country and that's the main argument whether he is progressive or moderate. in the 2018 midterm, house democrats won the majority through candidates that are not members of this block. the majority was won through members who are now members who on a public ed action of health care who said

medicare through all would be a good option for the future but is not for right now. even that we're seeing some of the progressive challengers in addition to the open democratic seats are seeing a mix of candidates coming, some who are progressive and some who are not self-described progressive or that you can be progressive without reporting medicare for all. these are the issues democrats will have to grapple with it they win the white house in the senate that right now are kind of hopeful to have all of these different view points because it means you can build a staged coalition once they become the governing party, that's when it becomes an issue and when republicans can start making gains in the house where democrats will become vulnerable in 2022. host: we won't have time to get to the key senate races but wanted to get your quick take and thoughts on the arizona

race between two genuine american heroes you could say, a former fighter pilot and senator martha mcsiley and former astronaut mark kelly. how do you view that race? comes mark kelly when it to fundraising and polling, he is the most vulnerable republican senator at the what and has to think needs to be different this time around and it appears a lot of the effort would go into making sure that some states are heard as the biggest ally and that would be both of their paths to victory. trump's numbers begin to fall throughout the country, it is for ing much tougher

mcsally to find other ways to differen she eight herself. she's been talking a lot about china and one of the issues that he's talking about in order not to talk about trump but she is probably the most vulnerable republican. host: let's hear from joe from maine. caller: i'd like to make a comment from susan collins who repeatedly lied to the people of maine. that's all. that's why she's in trouble in the race. t's as simple as that. we can start with cavanaugh. on the first 25 list, not even on it. so she has no excuses. she refuses to talk about it.

but my point is this. what can the republicans run on? seriously? out is no plans to get us of covid. there's no plan to bring jobs back. none. zero. there's no plans. there's food lines in america. host: we'll hear from our guest. guest: the message is on democrats. when you look at individual senators like susan collins and cory gardner in colorado, you're seeing them talk about key pieces of legislation that they passed. their individual records and if you're in maine you probably have seen that ad when susan collins talked about her perfect voting record. you're in colorado you're seeing cory gardner talk about his work on the environment.

they're trying to draw to individual things in the state so they don't have to talk about a national environment to help them overperform trump. especially in places like colorado and maine, those are the places where republican senate candidates will have to overperform trump more than any place else. host: we'll have to get you back to go through the other senate races. i'm sure we will 90 days to the election and we've been speaking with the national journal editor. you can follow their reporting on twitter >> c-span's washington journal. every day we're taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day, and we'll discuss policy issues that impact you coming up on saturday morning david becker. he discusses president's trump warning about possible mail-in

ballot fraud in this year's presidential election. discussion on america's report. live tuesday morning. be sure to join your cushion with your phone caul, facebook comment, text messages and tweets. >> next, house majority whip james cliburn talk about the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, other loithive -- loithives upcoming 2 priorities. on. this is an hour. >> i'm margaret hamburg, a member of the board of directors of the council on foreign relations and also a former commissioner of the food and drug administration in the obama administration and also new york health commissioner serving under both mayor deacon and mayor giuliani. it's