good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. the former history teacher making history today. minnesota governor tim walz leapfrogging several better known democrats to land the number two spot on the democratic presidential ticket. can he help his party win one of the most brutal presidential elections in modern history? we have been getting a taste of that for the past few hours as republicans waste no time slamming walz as a left wing extremist with a radical agenda. will those kinds of attacks resonate with the same middle class voters the harris campaign is trying to win over? david plouffe will join me. and can midwestern charm chart a different course? walz channeling his football coaching roots, rallying voters just last night, and telling them, we have got a chance to spread joy. we'll begin to weather the tone of this campaign will make a difference. we start with the latest

twist in a presidential campaign that has already been unpredictable and unprecedented. now, add in unlikely. minnesota governor tim walz, a man that roughly three quarters of the country has never even heard of, and who was initially a second tier option, now tapped to be the democrat's vice presidential nominee. kamala harris making it official just a few hours ago, and just a handful of hours before the two are set to host their first rally together in philadelphia. this was the scene as governor walz left his home earlier today. his neighbors and others cheering him on. it is an incredible turn of events for the former teacher, football coach, hunter and gun owner turned democratic politician. and it is a new opportunity for a campaign that has always been about drawing a contrast with donald trump. walz vaulting to the top of the list, thanks in part to the blunt way he transformed his brand of minnesota nice into an unusually effective way of

attacking donald trump. >> i keep talking about the golden rule of small towns is mind your own damn business. mind your own family, stay out of our business. >> who is sitting at a bar in wisconsin and saying, we know what we need to do, we need to ban animal farms. nobody is. kamala harris and democrats see them as our neighbors. that is a big difference. >> according to nbc news, harris' decision to choose walz wasn't made until today. four sources reporting she had, quote, very strong chemistry with governor walz when they met sunday at her residence. those same sources also cited his record, working with working class families and his military experience, points in i had his favor. walz himself tweeting earlier today that it is an honor of a lifetime to be chosen. and that, quote, vice president harris is showing us the politics of what is possible. it reminds me a bit of the first

day of school, he wrote. nbc's yamiche alcindor is live in philadelphia where we'll see a harris/walz rally for the first time. and jim messina who managed barack obama's 2012 re-election campaign and matt dowd, chief strategist on the bush cheney campaign in 2004, a senior msnbc political analyst. great to have all of you here. so, matt, what is your reaction to this choice and how do you think the addition of governor walz changes this democratic ticket in the race going forward? >> well, first, i know it was probably a difficult choice for the vice president because of the abundance of riches of candidates that were available to her. so, any -- i think any of the options that she had would have been good. i think this is particularly very smart because i think the battleground for this entire election is the midwest and i put pennsylvania in the midwest because it is grouped around

those states in this and he has demonstrated a unique ability to relate in a values way, in an issues way and just a personality way to people in the midwest, whether it is wisconsin, minnesota, michigan, pennsylvania, whatever state it happens to be, i think it is a particularly really good pick and i think his election history has shown he's able to move the demographics that need to be moved, young voters he does well with, white women he does really well with, independents he does really well with, and so, i think it is a, as i say, a particularly really, really smart choice. >> yeah, we already saw one gen z organization putting out a statement, citing about the possibilities. governor walz was not considered initially a top choice. what can you tell us about how he became the selection? >> reporter: well, vice president harris based on my reporting started off with a list of at least a dozen people she was looking at. and she winnowed down that list

and we know over the weekend that a number of people met with her, at least three, that being josh shapiro, the governor of pennsylvania, as well as mark kelly, the senator of arizona and tim walz, the governor of minnesota. she ultimately went with walz and i should say that one of the top contenders, thinking of roy cooper, the governor of north carolina, he dropped out. gretchen whitmer, the governor of michigan, she didn't want to be considered. some people were taking themselves out and some people who were impressing her and i was told it came down to a number of things. one being the rapport and the chemistry, feeling as though she could trust him and someone that he would also have her back. so that was really important to her. she was making this decision because he's going to be someone on the ticket but also could ultimately serve four years in the white house with her. also told his executive experience was really important here. he's the governor of a state that is a midway state that is blue but a state that democrats work for every single year, i'm told. and his policies in that state were also very appealing to her,

things like passing universal school lunch, things for children, things like the child tax credit, also codifying roe v. wade, and ensuring abortion access for women and for people in the state of minnesota. i was told that his background, his bio was something they were very interested in. the fact he's a teacher, he's a veteran of the national guard, he's a hunter, he's a gun owner, he's someone who also has sort of real understanding they think of everyday americans and the issues that make them tick and he's an effective communicator. you just played that clip of him talking about sort of republicans, they wanted someone who would be an attack dog because they believe that republicans are just going to get uglier and uglier with their attacks against vice president harris. when he settled on the word weird, one word to describe republicans, weird, that impressed them because it was showing that he was someone who could boil down the message that democrats want to send about former president trump, about jd vance and just calls them weird. we have seen that language be

echoed by the harris campaign, i got an email that said jd vance is a creep, that is in line with the sort of language that democrats are using now against republicans. and last but not least, there is the idea he's someone who can just bring more people into the party. i've been talking to voters, and a lot of them here in pennsylvania have been saying we don't know that much about him, but we're excited about the fact he's a teacher or we don't know that much about him, but we're excited that he's someone who seems as though he's going to be excited to be on the ticket and support a woman. if he ends up in the white house, he's going to be behind the first woman president, the first black and asian woman to hold that job and they want to make sure he's someone who can take that on. i was talking to keith ellison, the minnesota attorney general, he said there would be no george floyd conviction if it wasn't for tim walz because he said we're going to take this over as a state and get this conviction

for this family. >> we just learned that he's wheels up from minnesota and is on his way to where you are. so thank you for that reporting. much appreciated. also with me is sabrina rodriguez for "the washington post." you have a great profile today of walz. the country is essentially at least the majority of the country is going to be introduced to him when he attends that rally in philly tonight. who is the man they're going to meet? >> they're going to meet a man who has -- who is as excited to be in this position and this situation as you can imagine. really i think -- a colleague of mine had this amazing profile that just looked at his time as a public schoolteacher and that is something that he has brought into his position when he was in congress, into his position as governor, and will likely be bringing into this position as kamala harris' vp pick. he talks so much about the impact of public education, about his time as a teacher, what he learned in that role,

about his time as a veteran. he really talks about, you know, his roots in rural america and him growing up in nebraska. so he really brings a variety of things to the ticket that differ from kamala harris' experience. and that is something we know she was really looking at when she was interviewing finalists, trying to narrow down on the pick, key to her was the force to have rapport with this person who is someone she feels like she can work with, for the next four years or potentially eight years, who is the person who she thinks is going to be in her corner. but also who is the person who is going to be able to complement her on the campaign trail. and we see with walz' record, you know, one of the things, one of the fun facts that we learned in our reporting for the profile, he is the first democratic vice presidential pick on the ticket to not be a lawyer. it is the first time since 1964. that's 60 years. and that can't be understated. he has a very different profile than we have seen with a lot of

vp picks in the past, in terms of just his upbringing, the work he did leading up to being in congress and being governor and that's something we're going to hear a lot about from him on the campaign trail. he's not a traditional pick. >> yeah, jim, i don't need to tell you the relatability factor is something that a lot of people, particularly in the midwest, where i'm from, look for. and it was so interesting to watch the minute this pick got announced, neighbors started, like, just streaming out of their houses in his neighborhood and i want to play a little bit of what they had to say. >> he's so down to earth, and i'm a teacher, like he was, and there is something about teachers that get things, i think, and they can just talk to people. >> i want to say surprised, but not surprised. because he is the perfect person for the job. he is just such a person of integrity and stability, he provides this level of unification that our country desperately needs right now.

>> so, clearly popular in the neighborhood, jim. but how does the campaign help that translate to, again, a public who, i think, it was 71% had never even heard of him? >> yeah, by getting him out there, by putting him in these communities. his ability to connect, connection, is what all those people just talked about. and so getting him on the ground, i think they're going to put him in a bus and get him in western wisconsin coming up here and doing a bunch of these things, he has that ability, his old congressional district he held was a district that donald trump won by over 10 points. and that shows his ability to win these voters that the harris campaign is going to need in november in these three crucial battleground states. i agree with yamiche. this is about what wisconsin, pennsylvania and michigan. for those states, tim walz is a home run pick. >> so, let's talk about the possible downside here.

because we're already starting to hear some of it, right, jim. they're attacking him as a radical leftist, other republicans have said he was the one in charge of the -- of the minnesota riots in 2020 as a result of george floyd. what are the vulnerabilities, how do you think the campaign has prepared to deal with what they know is coming? >> well, look, i think they're willing to have this fight. the republicans have this same mantra they're always going to do. democrats are going to try to take this back to hope, back to enthusiasm. and i agree with earlier reporting, he's so enthusiastic about this. he really fits her ticket. he fits the mood of the country, the country wants someone who is excited to be there, who is positive, who wants to make this case. and so they'll try to stay positive. they'll take the hits and keep on coming by just saying, look, this is about the future, versus the past. and the more the republicans want to attack, the more quickly they're going to go back to this

frame of being in the past. and i think that's helpful to democrats, and i think that's why this pick is so exciting for the democratic party, because they want to have a fight about the future here. >> so, it is about the future, matt. it is also about something you and i have talked about, i think, at least once a week for the last year, which is the middle, right? those voters who are really going to decide this election and a handful of battleground states. nbc news reported that the campaign has been very clear, they want to appeal specifically, among other groups, to white men, who don't like donald trump, but frankly may be a little nervous about kamala harris, a black and south asian woman. does walz get them there? >> well, we have a bit of evidence that he does in this. i'll add on one thing, these ideological campaigns that the republicans think they can run is just not going to work. it never worked. it didn't work against obama in 2008, 2012, it didn't work against governor walz when he

first ran in 2018, it didn't work against tony evers, it didn't work against gretchen whitmer, it didn't work against senator fetterman in pennsylvania, all these states they have to carry, ideological campaigns don't work in this. i think that he's already demonstrated this, if you look at the 2016 race when hillary ran in minnesota versus the first time that governor walz got elected in 2018 in this, and you take a look at the data, among white voters with no degree, hillary clinton lost those voters by 27 points. governor walz only lost those voters by 4 points, a 23-point shift among white voters with no college degree. among white women, hillary clinton lost the white women by 1 point in minnesota, and governor walz won them by 21 points, a 22-point shift in minnesota in those groups. and so i think we only have one sample which is minnesota, because it is the only place he's run state wide. but the data that is available, he's moved all of the voters

that vice president harris needs to move in order to win this race in much bigger margins than joe biden even did when he won in 2020. so, from a demographic movement pattern, in the midwest, i think he's perfect for it. >> well, let's not also discount what he said when he won and surprised a lot of people when he won his first term in congress. he said he thought he did it because he was a football coach who brought home a state championship. so, that's also very midwestern. sabrina, jim, thank you, both, matt, you're going to stay with me. coming up, former president trump and jd vance now eyeing a new target, how their campaign is reacting to the choice of tim walz right after this. is reacting to the choice of tim walz right after this. (♪♪) start your day with nature made. and try new zero sugar gummies. this is remington. ...he's a member of the family, for sure. we always fed them kibble— it just seemed like the thing to do. but ...he was getting picky

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donald trump and jd vance now have a new target to go after, and in fact it is already started, with vance going after his newly named democratic rival tim walz. >> my view on it is it just highlights how radical kamala harris is. this is a person who listened to the hamas wing of her own party and selecting a nominee. they make an interesting tag team because, of course, tim walz allowed rioters to go down minneapolis in the summer of 2020 and the few who got caught kamala harris helped bail them out of jail. >> this comes as the controversies seem to be happening almost daily from suggesting that harris turned black to childless cat ladies to

trump's supportive words for venezuela's dictator. a new ad asks, does trump even want to win, arguing the more intensely someone tells trump not to stick a fork in an electric socket, the more trump lunges to jab it in there, just to prove he can. garrett haake is reporting from washington, d.c. also with us, sam stein, managing editor at the bulwark. and back with us, matthew dowd. tell us more about team trump and their reaction to walz as the new vp pick? >> i think the trump team views walz as the easiest person of the short list finalists to respond to because they think they can go after his record and basically tie him directly to kamala harris and argue that he's too extreme, too progressive, too liberal. that's what we saw in the official statement that came from the trump campaign, calling him an extreme liberal. that's what we heard from jd vance today. he mostly just tied him to harris both in that gaggle on the plane that you just saw and

at the event he ultimately did in philly. he talked a little bit about walz. i'll play some of it and explain it on the other side. >> the reason i didn't say a whole lot about tim walz is because the democrats showed a willingness to pull a little switcheroo on us. i don't know if we'll get tim walz out of this campaign. tim walz's record is a joke. he's one of the most far left radicals in the entire united states government at any level. kamala harris is running as a san francisco liberal, she has governed as a san francisco liberal, and she has chosen a running mate who will be a san francisco style liberal. >> a lot to peel back there. i think notably the fact that the trump campaign is still kind of focusing on the joe biden of it all, the idea that the nominee was replaced, so this nominee could be replaced, that's a reason for not engaging with walz. and the description of his record, the nonpartisan gov track puts him in the house as the ideological center. you see the effort to kind of pull this whole ticket to the

left here by the trump campaign. and they'll have a lot to work with going forward. i think the other thing that we're starting to see from jd vance at that event and from other republicans is to try to use the selection of walz and not shapiro as a wedge issue with jewish voters, suggesting that it was antisemitism within the democratic party that led to harris selecting walz and not shapiro. i don't know if there is going to be anything to that, but this is something that i think you're going to try to continue to see republicans hit as they try to peel off part of that constituency and suggest there was something inappropriate there, some antisemitism in the party that led to this decision here. watch that to continue. >> so, matthew, let's look at that in terms of a strategy. they had said, the trump campaign, they were ready if kamala harris became the nominee if joe biden stepped aside, which happened. they have known as we have all known for a while who the potential vice presidential candidates are. so they had time to prepare, but

a lot of what we're hearing is very much the same that we have heard all along, many of the gaffes, if you want to call them that, are from the same old playbook. it raises the question, i think, matt, of whether what we have been seeing is an unprepared, undisciplined campaign, rogue candidates, or does it actually make sense? >> well, so far it doesn't make any sense because they lost ground at every step of the way in the last two weeks. they had a convention, the former president trump was nearly assassinated and they moved nowhere in the polls, but down, ever since this happened. i don't think they were prepared. i think they thought that would never happen, never changed. joe biden would never choose the high road, and choose country over himself or over party and move aside and do that, because i think they see the world from their own eyes which is they would they ever do that. so i don't think they were prepared. and the last two weeks pretty much shows they weren't prepared because they haven't fallen on a

strategy yet. i think the latest thing is the closest they have come to something with what jd vance is saying today. the problem with an ideological campaign running against democrats is too radical or too left, it never works in a presidential campaign. they tried it against barack obama in 2008, and 2012, it didn't work. they tried it against joe biden in 2020, it didn't work. when george bush, when i did george bush's races in 2000 and 2004, we didn't run an ideological campaign against al gore and john kerry. we found out an ideological campaign for president against the democrat just does not appeal to voters. and one of the main reasons for that, on almost every single major issue, kamala harris and governor walz are right where the center of the country is. where the center of the country

on roe v. wade, center of the country on gay marriage, on increased taxes on the wealthy, center of the country on ukraine, they're the center of the country on every single major issue and so running an ideological campaign against people whose issues stands in the center of the country is not going to work and we have seen this playbook before, and it is never worked. >> the other thing, sam, is -- and you know this, the best campaigns are nimble. they were preparing to run against joe biden. but they got thrown a pretty big curveball. they do seem to be doing some of the things i might have expected if he was running against joe biden. we're only seeing trump for example once this week and you have kamala harris and tim walz out, battleground state after battleground state after battleground state, it is not like donald trump to let the other side have the news cycle. what do you think is going on? >> sam, we seem to have lost

you. i think you're on mute, sam. can you take a check? >> can you hear me now? >> thank you, sam. >> see, i was testing your tech people. >> testing if i was listening to you. >> yeah, exactly. i was -- what i was saying so eloquently before that is it has been noticed by republicans who have wondered why he's not out there more. jd vance is out there a bit. but trump has not been in the public eye, he's not been doing rallies. he had one on saturday. and you see this kind of weird tension here because he clearly does want to be in the spotlight, he went to the nabj, said some outlandish things, attacked the interviewers. played racial politics all over again. really grabbing the spotlight back. but he disappeared. i sort of concur with you, i think he's not adjusted to a different type of campaign. he was in a campaign with biden

where neither of them were out there that publicly, they could have one or two events a week, they went into convention, now it is different. with harris, i think matt is right, the ideological campaign doesn't work. what trump had for him going against biden, he could say we need to change, we need to change, we had 3 1/2 years with biden, we have to do something differently. harris is the sitting vice president, but very effectively in the past two and a half, three weeks, she has said we can't go back. that's exactly her message when it comes to trump. and i think within a very short period of time, she's become the change candidate. and that i think has put trump on his heels more than anything else and they struggled to figure out a way to regain that change mantle. >> sam stein, garrett haake, gentlemen, thank you. matt, i'm not letting you go yet. stay with me. up next, the voice of the voters. reaction we're now hearing to harris' vp pick in battleground

michigan. we'll take you to detroit. batt michigan we'll take you to detroit. >> i was talking with a friend in minnesota last night and she was hoping he wouldn't get picked because she likes him as her governor. you know, so he must have good qualities. know, so he must haved qualities. like a free 5g phone, when you switch. don't miss out. get started today.

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we are now hearing for first time why voters in the battleground state of michigan think of tim walz for vp, where team harris hopes he'll bring midwestern appeal.

nbc's shaquille brewster is on the ground in detroit for us, so, shaq, what are folks there telling you? >> reporter: well, chris, i'll tell you, it is actually election day here in michigan. so i've had the opportunity to talk to primary election voters about that next election they'll come out for in november. and when you talk about that vp selection, by and large the people here say that they trust vp harris to choose her own pick, they like the candidates that they saw. i want you to listen to a sample of the conversations i've been having. >> the governor of minnesota will be great. >> reporter: why? >> well, for one thing, he stands for change. and he's a union man and i respect that. >> reporter: what do you think of that pick? >> well, i think that shapiro would have been okay, but maybe it is a little bit too much of a risky thing with him being jewish and there is antisemitism

and just, you know, just the climate. >> i'm just happy she selected one. that's it. any of the three was good. >> reporter: many talked to me about not knowing too much about governor walz, but said that here in detroit they do know and from what they heard he's a strong supporter of unions. so that gives you a sense of the messaging that has already been out there, and the impact that this pick could have, not just on states that he -- the state he represents, minnesota and neighboring state of wisconsin, but the impact it can have across the region, chris. >> shaquille brewster, interesting stuff, thank you for that. the tone of the campaign, what message are democrats trying to send with this choice of tim walz? we have got that next. >> you look what they're talking about, they went right to division. they did not give us a plan on healthcare. donald trump talked about infrastructure. joe biden and kamala harris built bridges, built roads. so i think this is going back to

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kamala harris' decision for tim walz wasn't just about a running mate. arguably she also made a decision about the tone of the campaign. two candidates who we have seen lean into something both natural and strategically decisive, showing voters after years of the grievance-filled politics of donald trump, they think it is

okay to be optimistic and have fun. >> we're making sure we remind all of you, hands free driving starts on the first of august. we want to make sure our teen drivers are not texting -- >> no, no, i think it is mostly old men. >> cut. >> do you have a contest for the best driver thing? >> school starts next week. it is a school bus. >> it is worth remembering the long time argument that ultimately people often vote for the candidate they most would like to have a beer with. so, is tim walz that person? joining me now, msnbc political analyst eddie gloud and matthew dowd is back with me. in a conversation before he was selected, walz was talking to ezra kline and the governor made

it clear that if middle america, he said, isn't voting for democrats, that's not something wrong with the voters, but something wrong with the politicians, something they're saying isn't quite clicking. i want to play a little more of what he told ezra. >> i think the democrat way out of this with a sense of opt my and a sense of grace toward folks. i want to be very careful. like i said those folks at those rallies, you insult them at great peril because you just said it, they're my relatives, they truly are and i know them. >> does that make sense to you for where we are right now as a divided country? >> sure. but i think it is important that at least for my vantage point, chris, we're being honest. we have to talk about the intimacy of our hatreds, that sometimes the people we love, the people who are close to us, the folk who live with us every single day, they hold views that we may find noxious and it oftentimes is not enough for someone like me to say that

these views are noxious or someone like the democratic party to billboard their rejection. it takes the intimate space -- in the intimate spaces, it takes loved ones to call attention to that. i understand what governor walz is saying in this regard. we can't condescend to folk. we got to tell the truth, right? that's important too. >> yeah, and it is an interesting sort of balancing act, right, matthew, this star tribune reports last night at a private fund-raiser, walz said we have a chance to spread joy, we have a chance to put an end to the division in this country and we have an opportunity to bring folks back in. how do you do that without ignoring the very real problems, the very real issues that got us to this place in the first place? >> well, it is a nuanced conversation, but with clarity you have to have it in the course of this. and i agree with eddie. the thing about a campaign

perspective, it never helps to insult voters, it never helps to go after voters in the course of this. and i think the proper -- the best way to do this is to basically tell the voters of donald trump, as they have been misled and all of the appeals to their fears and hatred is going to accomplish nothing in their life. it is going to get them nowhere in the course of this. it is going to divide them within their families. it is going to divide them in the body politic of america. it is not patriotic. it is not christian. it is not what we're called to be. and these leaders that are appealing to those -- these leaders like donald trump and jd vance, who are appealing to your fears and are appealing to your hatred are misleading you. and they don't care about you. and that's why i think the way to drive the division is, don't go after the voters, go after the leaders that are toxic in the course of this and drive a wedge between the leaders and the voters. >> so, that all said, and can you also inject the fund.

he once signed a bill dedicating a highway in minnesota, that was named after prince, with a purple pen, and another day he proclaimed beyonce day in minnesota. and had a lot of fun with that as well. i mean, you know, the contrast that they want to draw is that meantime, the trump campaign is using words like, you know, dangerous, stupid, extremist, and worse. so, fun choices, versus something that donald trump saw firsthand work for him, at least in 2016. again, back to that balance, how do you find it, and how do you go ahead and say, it is okay to have fun, even with everything else that is going on? >> see, i think it is absolutely necessary. we're all on edge. we're still coming -- we're still dealing with the losses of the pandemic. you can feel it in the very ways in which people are moving

about, that they're cracked, they're vulnerable. i think it is important to inject some joy, to juxtapose american carnage to american possibility, to understand they're going to throw out language of liberal, the radical left, all of that is to divide and to separate us, to keep us from seeing the commonly shared values, is it radical that you invest billions of dollars in affordable health, housing, is it radical you want to have family paid and medical leave, is it radical you want to feed children k through 12? we can go down the line. what happens is it is not ideological battle as matthew said earlier, they're going to use that language to gin up fear. what does it mean to bring an agenda, with the full weight of your conviction, that actually speaks to actual lives? that is the source of joy and possibility and excitement. but, remember, underneath it we're all on edge. and we're on edge for reasons that make sense. we're dealing with the cost of

these last years, chris, and so, we don't need to go disney land. but we need to understand that we're all too human and we need a little joy in our lives, it seems to me. >> i think it seems to almost everyone i talked to at least on the streets of new york and ohio and the places where i travel. so i thank you for that, eddie and matthew, thank you so much for sticking around as you have. still to come, why tim walz? well, we'll ask a harris-walz campaign senior adviser who served under former president obama about that. and david plouffe coming up. t obama about that and david plouffe coming up. yon! buy one pair, get one free for back to school. visionworks. see the difference. centrum! it's scientifically formulated to help you take charge of your health. centrum gives every body a healthy foundation. supporting your - oops - energy, immunity and metabolism. and yours too! you did it! plus try centrum silver, now clinically proven

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next hour kamala harris is expected to leave d.c. and head to philadelphia, where she will meet up with her new running mate, tim walz, for their big rally later this afternoon. crowds gathered outside the governor's house in st. paul to cheer him on as he left earlier today. but while walz is clearly popular with his neighbors, tonight will be his big chance to make a first impression on a broad section of the public who had never heard of him. i want to bring in david plouffe, senior adviser to the harris/walz campaign. good to see you. adviser to the walz campaign. good to see you. why tim walz? >> well, chris, vice president harris will speak to that in a few hours but i think his

strengths are undeniable. his background. teacher, football coach. grew up in a small town. successful member of congress representing a deep, deep red congressional congress. paid and medical leave. real accomplishments. clearly, he's a talented communicator and i think he'll be able to travel across the seven battleground states and make the case for harris and if she wins, he'll be a great governing partner. he has d.c. experience as well as state experience just like harris with a state and local. the trump vance ticket is all d.c. in terms of their government experience which i think is a big distinction but i'm excited about him in terms of what he's going to mean for the next 92 days and i think he'll be a tremendous partner for harris for when she becomes our next president. >> our folks on the ground say he just landed in philly. last night, he told voters, i'm quoting. we've got an opportunity in

front of us. we've got a chance to spread joy. we've got a chance to put an end to the division in this country. voters always say they don't like negative ads then the research shows they work. so talk to me about the campaign strategy. will you message as tough as the trump gives you? >> well, yeah, chris. you're not going to want to enjoy alone. kamala harris and tim walz, both very tough. have taken on tough problems. seized tough opportunities. and i think that obviously voters care about what you're going to do for them in the next four years. so your ideas and policies, particularly the american families with their misguided economic policies but i think they're both happy warriors and that matters. the trump vance ticket is incredibly dark. negative about the country. captured in the fox bubble where

you blame everybody for everything and i think that's a distinction. in my career in politics, which is longer than i'd like, it's a great combination with the right ideas and the right message. when you're out there, you like being with people. you believe in this country. you know that we've got challenges but you know we also have opportunities. and to be upbeat about that. and to believe in this country i think is really, really important. so i think that's going to be an important part. kamala harris and tim walz know how to engage with people. to laugh with them. to smile with them. and you know, the trump vance is kind of a sinister, dark, visual presentation. so again, i think that's an important contrast in these next 92 days. >> so you mentioned the bubble and i noted that you said earlier today that republican candidates are only comfortable answering questions in the fox news bubble. but it's also true kamala harris hasn't done any extended interviews since she became the nominee and before that, the

presumptive nominee. why not and when will she? >> well, she's obviously done a lot of interviews through her career and she'll do them in this presidential campaign as well as will governor walz? >> soon? >> i'm not making news today, but yeah, so interviews are important. town halls are important. engaging with voters are important. probably the most important thing in my experience and we were reminded of this in late june. presidential debates matter and donald trump agreed to one. now he's ducking out of it sort of cowardly saying he's not going to debate. so we'll ultimately see. i think it's important for americans to see these two candidates one of whom is going to be their next president on the debate stage. i think it's also important that governor walz and vance debate as well. hopefully that ticket will get its act together, stop cowering in the corner and get out and make their case. as you mentioned, governor walz is not very well-known so it's an opportunity to introduce

himself. tonight being the first opportunity and even harris, you know, filling in her important background, her accomplishments as a prosecutor, an attorney general. and her plans for the next four years. i think that ticket will take every opportunity to reach voters where they live and again, i think the campaign's off to a great start. a lot of energy. we're starting to see importantly states like georgia, north carolina, arizona, and nevada really tighten up so i think we're back to having seven core battlegrounds which couldn't be more important in terms of the 270 electoral votes. >> do you see the map expanding? >> first of all, donald trump spent some time going to places like minnesota and new mexico. he talks about new jersey. he's never going to win those states. so he wasted valuable time. >> what about for the democrats, david? are you looking at other states beyond the seven we've been talking about for months? >> right now, i think that's the

core seven. you want to win enough of them to get the 270 electoral votes. kamala harris and walz are going to be at all of them this week. they'll continue to keep a robust schedule after that. donald trump has one event this week. not in a battleground state. it's an incredibly lazy schedule and i don't know whether his stamina is challenged or his campaign doesn't think it's helpful to have him out in front of voters. but i think that's another contrast. which is i've always believed that candidates need to be out there hustling. we only have 92 days left so you want to go to as many communities and battleground states as you can to make the case and build up an organization. when people see their candidate and their vice presidential candidate out there hustling, fighting for votes, you know, it gets people excited. they want to get on the phone. knock on doors. get on social media. so i think that's another interesting thing to watch as trump pick up his schedule because it's been extraordinarily lackadaisical over the last few weeks.

>> one thing that we can say that is not up for dispute is it takes a lot of energy to run a presidential campaign. by the candidates and by folks like you, so david plouffe, i appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. still ahead, what will the remaining days of the democratic campaign look like now that the vp pick is in place? we've got more on that coming up after the break. n place? we've got more on that coming up after the break. don't miss out. get started today. (vo) when the internet said “red lobster's going away...” your boy, flavor flav, said “not today!” crabfest is here, boy. and they got two flavors: roasted garlic and new cajun butter. when you gotta have seafood, you gotta have red lobster. they get it. they know how it works. and most importantly, it works for them. i don't have any anxiety about money anymore. i don't have to worry about a mortgage payment every month. it allowed me to live in my home and not have to make payments.

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