The sub head said while the g. O. P. s ideological diversity is straining to govern, democrats 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 vicepresident ial pick. What do you think that comes down to in terms of the important things in his decision, whats going to count most . Guest right. I think the number one issue for joe biden is doing no harm. The vicepresident ial 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 hes 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 theyre 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 reelection to states that Hillary Clinton want in 2016. Host go back to the image of the big ten for democrats in terms of the vicepresident ial pick. Former republican governor Chris Christie was on this Network Interview last thursday or friday with bob kosta of the Washington Post and said vicepresident ial pick doesnt 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 vicepresident ial 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 theres 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 bidens support. What joe biden has which is a big advantage is this major slate of women who have already been pretty heavily vetted and thats 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 president ial nomination and shes gone through the gauntlet in terms of media scrutiny and Opposition Research and shes been on the small stage. In a lot of ways shes 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 doesnt mean that donald trump cant 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, hes 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 president ial battle grounds now, it is not necessarily expected a few years ago. Theyre also setting battle grounds. So republicans have more if they lose North Carolina in the president ial race, they also could lose it in the senate race and governors race. These are really high stakes states in november for more than just the president ial race. Host leah is our guest talking and is the ection hotline editor. 20274880001. 2027488001 for republicans, democrats, 2027488000 and intents and others, 202748800 20274888002. Lets 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. Arent 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 governors 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 well look at the course of the races in our conversation and get the calls. Well hear from edward first up in marry mack, new hampshire. Republican line. Good morning. Clinton caller i noticed something about joe bidens pick for Vice President and says he has to pick a black woman. When the women dropped out of the debates he lost the womens 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 doesnt have any issues and he cant run on his record so he doesnt 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 toms 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. Its 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 doesnt 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 vicepresident ial 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 vicepresident ial pick but in donald trump and that is going to be more of a concern to women and people of color than the vicepresident ial 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 president ial race. Host lets hear from sergio in policy an beach, florida. Democrats, live. Caller how are you this morning . Host were 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 thats coming up and that will help more of his votes and the biased president ial pick as well and the Republican Base as well. Guest the Democratic Convention is a big question right now because were 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. Theres no guarantee that is going to happen this time around. Theres really no guarantee there will be a ton of people watching. We dont 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 thats a big question mark right now. Right now both candidates, trump and biden want to increase their enthusiasm as much as possible and its 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 dont really know any sort of lineup or schedule for the r. N. C. Virtual convention or whatever their plans are . Guest no, thats the big question mark is we know that there are some things that are going to be happening on the democratic side. Theyve been planning this Virtual Convention for months. Republicans kind of shifted their plans much more recently in the last couple weeks so we just dont have a sense of who will be speaking or whether well even be able to see trump accept the nomination. Hopefully well 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 cspan is on. I have a couple questions i want to ask and then i have a couple comments and wont take much of your time. But i heard this morning on the news that democrats, im sure thats 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 hes 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 hes not making the decisions anyway. They know hes not going to be president but thats the reason hes taking as much time for picking his running mate but i was wondering if thats true, of course theres so much stuff that comes out and put on cspan 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 dont want to see him win anyway. Host all right. Any indication that joe biden wont 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. Were seeing across the board this is nothing new. But is a little more new at the president ial level. The argument being had is not whether joe biden will debate at all, its 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 its possible that voters will change their minds. Thats 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, theyre 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, thats george conway, kellyanne s husband, steve wilson and steve schmidt. Want to play you their latest ad. Great independent leaders rise from maines 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. Thats why maine is done with her weakness and excuses. Collins isnt an independent, shes a fraud. Mitch mcconnell and donald Trump Control her voice. She makes excuses for corruption, for criminality, for cruelty all while pretending while shes 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 doesnt work for maine, she works for them and maine deserve as leader, not a trump stooge. Its 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. Theyve dived now into the senate races, whats 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 didnt see a lot of money behind that and also didnt 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 president ial 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 ive changed but i havent. 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. Im Susan Collins and ive 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 vicepresident ial pick for biden who is going to be inconsequential. Unlike any other candidate in my lifetime, and ive lived quite a long time, its really not been a factor but ive in discussions with people that udgingly vote for biden, they all admit they dont think hes going to last four years. They all admit they think hes going downward in terms of his mental capacities and theyre going to be looking at the v. P. As the nextnext president in a most certainly they think thats going to happen. Biden wont 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 dont think the decision