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 ma