Tim kaine on the third day of the 2020 Democrat National convention. He briefly discusses his experience as a 2016 democratic Vice President ial nominee and gives us an update on covid19 relief package negotiations. This is about 45 minutes. Lets get started. This welcome senator, tim kaine. Senator, you have worn a lot of hats for the Democratic Party. The governor of virginia, dnc chair, now senator. In 2016, you were the vp nominee. What do you wish you knew then that you know now . That is a really good question. I dont know that i have a rorschach answer i would say, for me, 2016 was really encapsulated something really good and something really bad. It was so much fun to do everything i could to try to get the first woman elected president of the united states. I played a significant role in virginia, helping barack obama be the first africanamerican president. I wanted to help the first woman be president. That was the part that was great. Would justown part be the hostility, misogyny, double standard i saw applied to hillary in the days i was on the ticket with her. It was very painful. It made me understand more deeply the statistical reality that it is really bad in this country to elect women in higher office. We have not had a woman as president or Vice President , in either role. We rank 76 in the world, behind inhanistan, and women women in higher positions of power. [no audio] i think we are losing senator, tim kaine. He told us before he was having some spotty service. We are hoping that we can get him back shortly. Why dont we talk a little bit about what we saw yesterday, when we were looking forward to Kamala Harris. Of reintroduction to a lot folks in terms of getting to know her and really make the case for her husband. I thought it was a really compelling speech. She was asked at the school she taught at. You did see this family man, rounding out the compassionate leader democrats are positioning joe biden is. You want i talked about this as a broad proposition. The convention is aimed at putting a framework and putting the context around joe biden and the kind of president he will be. Pleasing political pundits and reporters, but providing some context [indiscernible] and what he and Kamala Harris will do should they assume the white house. Hopefully we will get senator kaine back in a minute. I remember being in New Hampshire with joe biden during one of my last tips before the pandemic hit. Joe biden does have unique the capability the unique ability to break the gridlock. What is the theory of the case behind this gridlock . What is the theory of the case that he is uniquely suited to break this gridlock . Im not sure there is a case. Im not sure it will cool off because joe biden and kamala of theare at the top ticket. The other dynamic, which i think is really important to think about, is, the first two years, when we talked briefly about is there some, sort of what is biden going to do with his first two years in the presidency . Either get as much done, illuminate the filibuster if democrats control the senate, and kind of jam through a democratic agenda, or, will he follow in his promises or his a sort ofbuild bipartisan constituency . A bipartisan governing agenda . I think that will be the driving them shouldtion for they win the white house. To build off your point, changes in the senate, theres a lot of new members since joe biden was a senator there. A lot of the institutionalists or are goingetired to have moved on. You have a lot of members now that our senators. That our senators. You see that reflected in terms dynamic. W people really interested in the concept of making some of the rules, the decorum, the things that joe biden hearkens too. The other thing that is very interesting in terms of what the democrats are doing here on a nightly basis is really introducing a lot of republicans. It used to be, i believe, there was only two republicans that spoke at the Democratic Convention in 2016. One of them was a republican womanhood actually spoke before Hillary Clinton. She went on to start an organization, republicans for change. Multiplere seeing women and men that are thereans come back te and advocate for joe biden. Theres also a lot of older people. You wonder what they are trying to do in terms of the democratic in terms of the demographics of the people they need to have. I think the thing that we need to think about is what we put out the top of the playbook this morning. Think we have senator kaine back, it looks like. We are happy to have you back. Lets see how long i am here for. The question we were talking about will you were gone, you have seen this up close and personal every day, why do you think joe biden will be somebody who could qualify to break the gridlock that you live through every single day in the u. S. . Well, what i see on the other side, said look, is the that says when barack obama was trying to rescue the economy no matter what he proposes, we are not going to help them. You have to assume that will be the gop attitude with joe biden as president , but we are doing everything we can to give him the democratic majority, and that could be very helpful for him. Second, the one thing we will say about joe that you cant say about barak or President Trump, is he is a creature of the senate. Senator obama did not love the senate. The senate. N loves his depth of relationship in the senate is very unique in his love for the institution. He is not dismissive or contentions of the article one branch. Can i guarantee you he will make it work better . No. If anyone can make it work better, joe biden is the one that can. We are quickly running out of time, but i do want to get one question in. In the senate, republicans are looking to do a small covid relief bill instead of the global deal your leadership has been demanding. Where do you stand on that . Is it time to move to a smaller package to get relief to americans . Obviously, the democrats have proposed a smaller package. You had a house proposal that in excess of 3 trillion dollars. Had the gop unable to come together on a proposal. With the democrats offered to the white house is, you want it 3 trillion package but it does not include state and local government aid . Lets do it to trillion dollar package. You would expect to see, you how this worked, how this works, one side wants a lot, one side once a little, theres a lot of things we need in the bill. Where do you do that deal . You do it somewhere in the middle. The number will end up being somewhere in the middle, but we need to make sure that unemployed workers are taken care of, people do not get kicked out of their houses during a Global Pandemic or apartments. And hungry people have food aid. These are basics the democrats have to have before we agree on a package. You saw what happened at the end of september with the government funding, right . I think theres going to be on the negotiation right after the republican convention. When we couldnt get it done before the Democratic Convention. And when the white house said no , ithe democrats proposal was clear the white house wanted to go into their convention [indiscernible] employers are saying they are not going to do the barrel tax. Once we get out of the republican convention, the week before labor day, you will see serious talks restart. That means we could do something possibly after labor day when we return. Thank you so much, senator kaine, for joining us this morning. Lets kick it over to our National Political reporter. Todays focus is on pennsylvania. Good morning. I am the senior politics editor at politico. Colleague to my explore the new swing states map for the 2020 president ial outcome. We will take a look at a total of six states that are at the heart of the electoral map that donald trump has reshaped. Today, we are focusing on pennsylvania. The greatest state in the country. I am based out of philadelphia. I have covered politics for more than a decade. I grew up in pennsylvania. I reported on senate races, mayor races, and the rise of trump in my own hometown in 2016. But before we dive into the Eugene Daniels is providing us with background into the dynamics of play in pennsylvania. We may have an important call to make in just a moment. Now we are ready to make it. We call donald trump the victor. Pennsylvania had voted democratic in six straight president ial elections. This is one of the most stunning results of the night. In 2016, pennsylvania was the first state to swing from blue to red. From 30 years, democrats carried turnout in big cities and suburbs huge turnouts in big cities and suburbs. I thought he would just do things differently and care more about the country than the political party. He is a native in the county that moved the most from obama to trump. It shifted by a stunning 25 points. Pennsylvania 2020 is set up to things and one, the blue east and the much redder west. Both sides of the state have been moving further along on the political spectrum. Has a pretty distinct identity, activated by separation from the rest of the state by the appalachian mountains. The east side of the states littered with more cities and suburbs. Elections voted differently than they have in the past. All four of the governments were snatched up by democrats. This Cultural Divide is only. Etting better the Trump Campaign seems to be leaning into a tactic to try and win back some of those white suburban voters. Biden is from the radical less, wants to significantly multiply what they are doing now and what will be the end result. Server via will be no longer suburbia will be no longer. Trump has women turned off by his handling of issues and unrest across the country. That is going to be a huge hurdle for him in pennsylvania and poll after polls show him those the battleground states of biden by increasing margins. Do not forget, that was the state of play in 2016, which is why democrats need to tread carefully here. He is gaining stronghold with bluecollar white voters in the democrat side of the state. Ay have the scenes, they s 2016 scared them into not relying so heavily on the polls this time around. But President Trumps poll numbers continue to trend downward. The divide in the states widening and it is real. That is why no matter what the polls show right now, both democrats and republicans are looking at 2020. You are one of the lesser counties, not as good as delaware county. Pennsylvania has been an independent state. From donald trump, republicans could just not crack it in president ial elections. The gop has not won since 1988. What you think explains Donald Trumps breakthrough victory . Trump won by 44,000 votes. Less than one percentage point in 2016. He did it in a really unconventional way for republicans. Bluecollartionally areas. Trump also searched in rural parts of the state while losing [indiscernible] counties. Joe biden has led in every public poll since the beginning of june and all but two in dozens of public polls released in pennsylvania this year. Why . A few things. Trump is losing seniors and losing suburban voters, both of which he won in pennsylvania in 2016, because of the way he handled the coronavirus pandemic in the protests we have seen. And is a really big problem one of the oldest its in the country and were suburbanites make up more than half of the electorates. Trump is even losing ground with white voters without a college degree. That is a huge deal, because that is his base. I feel like i have heard this song before. Is it possible the polls are wrong again . Andrump Campaign Aides analyze it certainly say so. In 2016, the big bowls undercounted white voters without College Degrees, which trump ended up doing significantly better than mitt romney. Of a credit Election Officials and Party Leaders in pennsylvania that i talked to say they think the polls are about right based on what they are seeing in their district and neighborhoods. But some worry the polls may be undercounting those white voters without College Degrees again. There is one data point that looks good for republicans. Since 2016, they have been registering voters about five times as fast as democrats. One thing democrats and republicans both agree on is the race will narrow in the state the closer we get to election day. Are some pretty notable geographic and political divides in the state that both campaigns will try to take advantage of. Can you tell us about those . There are political differences. You can see that in a way that the campaign is advertised in different parts of the state. In philadelphia, trump tried to drive down support for biden among people of color by running as bashing biden support for tough on crime bills in the 1990s. If that sounds familiar, it is there was a similar tactic in 2016 against Hillary Clinton. Biden record backing freetrade deals, something hes trying to do too weaken biden with bluecollar workers. This is showing how many micro. Argeted these ads have gotten to drill down even more, the Trump Campaign has told me they think they will do better this year in southeastern pennsylvania. That they will continue to grow in northwestern pennsylvania. Tocounties they came close winning in 2016. They think they will hold tight and southwestern pennsylvania, where they did well. What is joe bidens strategy in the state . The plan has been hammering trump on the coronavirus. I have watched the as both campaigns run every week in bothylvania ads campaigns run every week in pennsylvania. Its been all about the virus. In terms of looking at the map, the Biden Campaign is looking to in the suburbs. They want to drive up turnout in philadelphia. They want to win back trump counties in northeastern pennsylvania, where biden happens to be from, and they want to continue to do well. Think we need to get you a hobby if you are watching all the ads every single week. We only have a little bit about of time. If there is one thing the Trump Campaign must do to win pennsylvania, what do you think that will be, what is the one thing . I think he needs do a better job handling the virus. Simply because democratic parties are not in the white house, that means joe biden represents change. How ridiculous that might sound to some people, but that is how it is. And in pennsylvania, things are pretty bad. The virus is raging, the economy is in several shape in terrible shape because of this, and people think trump is doing a badge of managing the virus. If that continues to be the case, voters are want to continue wanting change are going to want to continue to want change. What is the one thing he must do to win pennsylvania . Hethink i would say that needs to run up the score in the philadelphia suburbs. I think he needs to do much better than Hillary Clinton in northeastern pennsylvania. In places where joe biden should be able to win with workingclass voters. Homeland, heidens was born in scranton. He ought to be able to do better than Hillary Clinton in november. They really need a home advantage. Thank you all for joining us for this new swing state map focusing on pennsylvania. We have four more swing states to go in our series. Join us tomorrow morning for a look at wisconsin. Thanks for watching, and take care. Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for this rapidfire report around. I am teaming up with my colleagues. We will share some of our reporting notes on the latest developments in the Biden Campaign and the most significant issues driving the 2020 election cycle. You can follow the conversation and tweet usia your questions at political. Politico. What do you think, are democrats doing what they need to be doing for this virtual connection . Think people are watching all two hours, but i think the big moments certainly breakthrough with the way people consume media now. That is really all that matters. I think the first hour and a newsworthy, very but speeches from Bernie Sanders and Michelle Obama certainly were. It reminds me of the lesson the biden team learned from the ,rimary, which is big dramatic, free media moments, which is more important than any paid advertisement. That will help biden to win the states where he did not even spend any money, like massachusetts. Thing that is similar to this convention. It is a matter of two or three nightant soundbites each that then are circulated and discussed. They are accomplishing that so far. Seeill be interesting to what republicans learn from this whether in some ways, republicans are kind of lucky that democrats are doing this dry run for them. Navigating the policies of black lives matter since George Floyds death. You have been covering this a ton. Can you give us a take on how organizers feel right now . How do they think they are being represented . It appears that there is a lot of unity right now based on what people are watching on our screen. Actually on the sideline, there contention, particularly from black lives matter organizers and activists who actually issued this , sayingt monday evening the really wanted legislation. That a piece of it is to divest from Police Departments and really take a lot of money away from agencies that they think are harmful to the criminal Justice System that also harmed black lies. They really wanted that included as an amendment to the platform. That was rejected when the proceedings went on. We are still pushing on the. Idelines felt that it was a bit performative. Givenhough that they were time to speak as well as when the mother of eric garner, they felt as to what really matters is whether or not biden is going to move on the issues, like ending qualified immunity. He has not provided specifics on exactly what that means. Those are continued debates going on right now on the sidelines. I expect they will continue all the way through november. Activists and organizers may not be able to really push him much unless he is elected to those offices. Also, the other element going on right now with progressives and the Biden Campaign, you have been some tension on the andlines, john kasich alessandra ocasiocortez butted heads. When the Biden Campaign decided to give time to rep. Kim s over the last two nights, that really irked to of people who feel they have not been given the same amount of airtime, yet they are the progressive wing of the party. Aoc only had one minute. In case again colin powell were given more time and fuller speaking spots. Do you think that was for a reason . Do you think that was sort of sending a message in some ways . Potentially. Less that, we did see one progressive get a significant amount of time. Last night, we did see one progressive get a significant amount of time. But one organizer in florida that i spoke to did say that they thought it was strategic, not strategic to give us a little time to ocasiocortez, because they thought giving her more time could help turning up voters of color or Younger Voters who right now are not enthusiastic about biden. Campaign also wants to win over independent republicans. Them. Are clear appeals to it is a tricky balance. Biden isnt really trying not to allow these results to stick. He keeps trying to call him a radical, that he does want to defund the police. Trying to just ha just peg him with a lot of that. That is with the Biden Campaign is trying to do. We are going to recognize you, aoc, and others, but only for a limited time. Why dont we move over to maya . What is the significance for november now that Kamala Harris woman first black asian for a major party pick . Selection that her galvanizes a really significant portion of the election. [indiscernible] recognize said, look, biden has contributed to the party significantly. It is a really important milestone and a really important part of her part of representation. South asian. It stands to and only galvanize, it is really important for the party. It also will show the support among a large group of voters who are enthusiastic. What kind of backlash do you think there would have been . Had he not ended up taking a black woman . Think among black voters, they would have felt very left veryespecially after this public facing lobbying in private conversation, pushing the talking points about the significance of a black woman on the ticket. Voters stillblack would have showed up for joe without that, but it would have widened the gap that we are always talking about. We will open up to audience questions now. We have a lot of good ones. We will begin with the one most frequently asked. Harris ticketbiden try to bring the progressive wing of the Party Forward . How will harris win them over . Why dont we take that one to you . So early on, before Bernie Sanders dropped out of the primary, bidens campaign started to aggressively reach out to a number of progressive groups that had supported sanders during the primary. The Climate Change group, united we dream, other organizations. And so, that was them trying to get them into the conversation within the biden camp. Conversations have continued, and again, in the Biden Campaign than the Biden Campaign works with appointees in the task force, the Unity Task Force thats been created, to hash out where they can find some Common Ground on issues like health care, criminal justice reform, Climate Change. Progressives largely left those happy on where they met on health care, and also on Climate Change. That was the one panel where they did feel as though they fell a bit short, particularly on the fact that biden supports ofcriminalization marijuana. They wanted to rein in qualified endingy as opposed to it. That is how they have been trying to work with progressives. It still remains to be seen how excited they are. A think about Kamala Harris. Progressives make clear that definitely no matter what they are going to support harris and biden despite the fact that they have policy disagreements. But some told me even just yesterday that yes, they still hear from some Younger Voters who were skeptical who are skeptical because of their past and criminal justice. Inwhy dont we get back here for a second, are there any points you would add . Think there is a very loud and vocal activist wing of the Democratic Party that likes to talk about progressive turnout. The Biden Campaign has been pretty disciplined since the beginning of the primaries, in not exactly ignoring those voices, but putting them in perspective in terms of how much they actually matter. They were not the most important constituency, even in the democratic primary. In the general election, there is just one issue that unifies Bernie Sanders and john kasich. That is defeating donald trump. I think the strategy is much the moderate suburbs than bernie fans. Bernie sanders, making the same case, saying policy debates are over, we settled those in the primaries, now it is time to defeat donald trump. Just to add one thing to what ryan is saying, yes, progressives certainly want themselves to be wooed and and on the conversation. One of the arguments they also have is that it is not just about a lot of truck voters, it is also about the young voters or voters of color that turned out for obama that just that out from the election in 2016 and in statese margins like michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania. Their argument is, if there is an election at the margin, if it is a tight race, then the voters that went from voting to not voting are also key for biden to be trump. Beat trump. Some of those points will come up in this next question, which is the second audience question. Howell harris election change the contour of the recent pennsylvania, arizona, and florida . The answer there is to your point, it doesnt contour it so much. It is the whole, harris does no harm. She comes out as a moderate, she is not going to scare anyone, so to speak, who biden has been trying to attract his whole time, that is more moderates. The one the Biden Campaign firmly believes go to the polls the ones the Biden Campaigns firmly believes go to the polls. Also, the Biden Campaign really they reallyis feel that harris is going to dwell among suburban women. In these three battleground suburbs aree the going to be a battlefield. You are right about that. The Vice President ial selection the sameas thing that guided them through the primary process. That is, not get too caught up in the ideological debates in the Democratic Party. Basically, place biden in the kind of center of the Democratic Party, the consensus figure, not too far left on anything, not too far right on anything. And pay more attention to the importance of diversity in the than some ofrty the ideological litmus tests. I think the biden people think the argument doesnt really hold water. Important that the ticket be diverse. And historic. And i think the fact that Kamala Harris was more ideologically closer to biden then to the left, that didnt bother them. An to the left, that didnt wate that didnt bother them. There was a sense that africanamericans voters would give him the nomination and that diversity on the ticket was extremely important. Harris is someone that can go and speak to a lot of those suburban women who frankly are upset with trump racism that has been exhibited from him for the last five years. And trump just has this completely outdated view of the suburbs as somehow completely white and racist, like the 1970s. Realizes campaign that is not working and having a diversified ticket can help them in the suburbs. Any othere point you would make on that . I think it is really important they try to show that aremong those undecided come on whether they are going to get involved or not in november, but i think trump is a really good galvanize are for people across the democratic spectrum. Biden has consistently touted the fact that he is a steady hand and has experience in policy. And trust in politics would come back with a biden administration. Usthank you all for joining for this rapidfire reporter roundtable on the Biden Campaign and the overall general election. Have a great day. Lets turn it back over to jake and anna. We will be back tomorrow morning at 9 00 a. M. Same time, same place. Followedview will be by another edition of the new swing states map, with a focus on wisconsin. This afternoon, one of our playbooks, the new jersey playbook author, will be interviewing bill murphy starting at 3 30 p. M. On politico. Com. Announcer President Trump is scheduled has scheduled a briefing today, set to address reporters today at 5 30 p. M. Eastern from the white house. This evening, harris gives her acceptance nominee harris gives her acceptance speech as a Vice President ial nominee for the Democratic Party. Watch speeches from other women Vice President nominees, past convention speeches, today at 6 00 p. M. Eastern only on cspan. Your unfiltered view of politics. Announcer our live coverage of the Democratic NationalConvention Continues tonight, with former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and former president , barack obama. Watch live coverage of the Democratic National convention tonight at 9 00 eastern on cspan. Live streaming and ondemand at cspan. Org dnc, or listen with the free cspan radio app. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. The postmaster general will testify before congress this week and next week on u. S. Postal Service Operations during the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 election. We will hear first from him on friday at 10 00 a. M. Eastern at 9 00 a. M. Eastern before the Senate Homeland security committee. Live coverage on cspan. Monday, he testifies before the House Oversight and reform committee. Watch that beginning at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan2. You can watch both earrings online on cspan. Org or listen both hearings online on cspan. Org or listen live with the free cspan radio app. A liveer this is picture from milwaukee, wisconsin, the site of this years Democratic National convention. Delegates officially nominated abide in nominated joe biden as the president ial nominee for the united states. Here is what that looked like. Guests, under our procedural rules, two Democratic Candidates submitted nominating documents tower our Convention Secretary for the office of president of the united states. Senator Bernie Sanders and Vice President joe biden. As such, each candidate has provided names of individuals who will make nominating and seconding speeches on their behalf. We will begin with nominating and seconding speeches for senator sanders. Will be on his behalf