And president obama, rather than making any kind of argument about the build. We want to now, all eyes turn to philadelphia, where the Presumptive Democratic nominee gets to make her mark. Joining me with analysis of the the white house, jeanne cummings, Political Editor for the wall street journal, michael duffy, executive editor of time chiefne, john harwood, washington correspondent for cnbc. Alexis simendinger, White House Correspondent for real clear politics. From philadelphia, pennslyvania, this is a special edition ofon Washington Week, with gwen ifill. By. G is provided thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. So we asked them, are you forletely prepared retirement . Okay. Mostly prepared . Could you save 1 more of your income . Doesnt sound like much, but saving an additional 1 now could make a big difference over time. Im going to be even better about saving. You can do it it helps us along. Prudential. Additional funding is provided by the xq institute. Foundation. Donating all profits from newmans own products to charity and nourishing the common good. The ford foundation. With visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. The ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. Investing in the future of journalism with grants for investigative reporting, professional development and education. The yuen foundation. Committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. The corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you the again, from Philadelphia Theatre Company at the Suzanne Roberts theatres, ifill. Or, gwen [applause] good evening. Hello, philadelphia, from the city of brotherly love. Weekse of next Democratic National convention. When we left cleveland this party divide,ft a in the wake of a nominating nomineeon whose new painted a dark, even apocalyptic vision of america. In doing so, donald trump made or its us. S them i have visited the laidoff workers and the communities crushed by our horrible and unfair trade deals. Forgotten men and women of our country. And they are forgotten. Not gonna be forgotten long. [cheering] people who work voice. T no longer have a i am your voice [cheering] besetwas a convention with the unusual melania trump, familiar speech, ted cruzs onstage nonendorsement, for Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell and whenever Hillary Clintons name was mentioned, chants of lock her up. In fact, Hillary Clinton seemed organizing principal of this convention, even more so than donald trump. I think particularly on the first few days, you would have the antihillary convention, because they came in trying to unite the party. Very its not a big platform that they have to offer. Aey went with mike pence as Vice President ial candidate. But the only really organizing opponent. Was the thats all really they talked about in the first two days. As they moved into the second days, you began to hear other themes which were not so much about hillary. Find out whether this provides the catalyst that donald trump needed. Weve covered a lot of Political Conventions. I dont think ive ever covered singularlys as focused on something o other thn a nominee. It was really stunning. I couldnt agree with you more. Usually a Political Convention the troops to rally and to broaden the portrait of because theyve just come out of a primary, sometimes a nasty one, and in this case both sides had grueling primaries. Here is this is your introduction to the broader electorate. And so they usually use them to try to reach out to independents, and to present the best portrait of the candidate. Even in those first two nights, when donald trump was his family to broaden the portrait, you would only get a small vignette that was father orbout their melanias husband. But then they would they of pitches into kind or theyd echo his speech. Attempts were too thin to truly broaden his portrait. But its not to say, alexis, that this was a policyfree convention. There was a lot of policy. Trade, against it, even though many of the republicans in the room, including the running mate, are probably for free trade. Law and order. Another recurring theme. Punched you think through . One of the things that struck me is the debate that continues about where go the Republican Party. I dont think this helped answer any of the dynamics of where it might be going. The suggestion was that donald trump has singlehandedly remade the Republican Party. Im not sure were going to see that hold beyond november, unless he wins. If he wins, usually we expect president of the United States to be able to enforce a kind of dynamic on his or her party. On the trade issue, thats unsettled smed we saw the fissures right there before our eyes for a whole week. And as, you know, you suggested, jeanne, what was a unifying could talkeverybody about that brought that unity into that hall in cleveland that trump so hungered for . And he was nakedly open about desire to try to see that rallying around him as a person, as a brand. The unifying element was the antipathy towards Hillary Clinton. Think, john . U do you think that donald trump is managing to take over the party or hijack the party . Well, i dont know if id use he has ijack, but but i did, so its okay. [laughter] lets put it this way. The steering wheel. I think, for the reasons that notis mentioned, he has demonstrated that he is going to change the course of the party. Has ideosyncratic positions that are much different from other republicans, and as we before, theyng focus on hillary. Aroundnt unite entitlement form. It. Against hihes against even on financial regulations, so interesting that they put in the platform a revival of a banking regulation that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders had been arguing for, called glass see gal, that law. That byr argument is taking that position, since Hillary Clinton is against boundary, that it will prove that shes the puppet wall street. These are not things that most republicans are going to rally to, especially that interview he with the new york times, when he declined to repeat the guarantee that the United States military would back up its nato allies if they by russia. Ened that is a very, very difficult foreign the republican policy establishment to swallow. That was a remarkable article new york times. Our pal, one of our Washington Week panelists, interviewed him. Of the things that struck me most about it for instance, i retiredchael flynn, a general, one of his foreign saycy advisors, if you youre not willing to defend the Baltic States and youre not defend our allies and that we are too automatically willing to do that, what about israel . He said, oh, well always stand by israel. What was the difference . It was not clear to me. Sure its clear to me. It seems to me a lot that, especially when it comes to foreign policy, its well figure it out, turkey being a good example. I think you can draw a direct line. Lot of votes for nato in the United States. There are a lot of votes for israel. I think what trump was saying there but there are baltics in the United States. There are. He may or may not think they make a difference. Think whats interesting about trump, particularly when hes asked about foreign policy, he prides himself ive read a little about these things, but i really trust my judgment. My its how hes a seat of the pants businessman. A thinks he can be kind of seat of the pants presidency. Hes not shy about saying that. Thats part of what hes offering, you know, so much of what he said in the speech, whether the policy was domestic answer was the always me. And always. Was at, i am your voice version of me. Im it. And thats the solution. The details arent really important. Whats important, in his whole sort of deal here, is that its about him. Thats the bed hes making. He thinks that will work. Its gotten him this far. You cant necessarily think, just because the convention was bad or it was jaggedy and all these things, are we really sure upendgoing to suddenly him . Its gotten him close. Thats his reasoning, hey, now. Ere ive won 14 million votes, hes happy to tell you. I find other thing interesting also is that the conventiones of this went all over the place. Mike pence, who is very evenkeeled. Ted cruz, who is not. And we basically tracked it. Promised the Great Entertainment spectacle which didnt well, not in the way intended it, i dont think, happened. Is thatackety jackety, what you said . Were we up in the weeds about that . One of the things that i this convention illustrated was how much the unified. Not and how thin his bench is. Because other than his children, had ardent backers, strong gingrich, in newt chris christie, maybe Jeff Sessions and rudy giuliani. And its just such a thin bench. And it is particularly so, i think, when you think about how gonna seens were here in philadelphia that Hillary Clinton has at her disposal. When you think of theres, of course, the candidate. Her husband. The president , his wife. The Vice President. Elizabeth warren. And now Bernie Sanders. All can talk to very different constituencies. Arsenal. N amazing i dont think weve seen one that big in modern times. But here again, i think this goes to the tuitions that were divisions that were talking about. Donald trump has a thin bench. The Republican Party doesnt. Remember, the Republican Party was stockpiled with governors and senators who republicans looked at as rising stars. Walker, marco rubio. Who sent in a hostage video. As that. Escribed it but many of the young stars of the Republican Party simply didnt want to be associated this convention or if they did, it was very tamped down and de minimis. So donald trump we talked about the steering wheel. Kind of unto his own. Staff. Small set of deep loyalists within the party. And well see where he can get to. I just want to turn the corner to the other thing happening here in philadelphia this week, which are the democrats, who are coming here to nominate Hillary Clinton and this time on a friday afternoon, where i will admit we aresclosure that taping this show early, so if theres latebreaking news about Hillary Clintons running mate, we dont know it yet. But that said, alexis, what does meanunning mate decision for her, and what does she have to get accomplished this week . The things were going to see in the city of brotherly love is unity, in a completely different way. We know that secretary clinton therying to argue to electorate that experience, a antidote to is the donald trump. Unscripted andnd she argues narcissistic, you know, personality brand. Arguing hes the outsider, he doesnt have to be the establishment. Ae is clearly going to have convention which were going to see the sitting president , a husband,esident, her the Vice President. Were going to see so much of our Current Establishment for her. So after a week of being called a liar, on emails, on and being painted with this incredibly broad brush, which really sticks for republicans, how do you then erase that from the mind of the public, many of whom are watching this for the first time . Clinton,re hillary youre thinking whatever shortcomings i might have, theyre tiny compared to the we face as a nation. Thecan say, im not merely antidote to trump, im the solution youre looking for in a world of uncertainty and chaos. It will go to this Vice President ial choice, whenever it comes. Who is she is someone going to look for a steady, uncontroversial, distinctly untrumplike side kick. May or mayay this not be in her defense. This is someone who has lived and worked in the white house eight years as first lady. She saw her own husband wrestle with the Vice President. Thought, al gore was a little too meddlesome. And i dont think were going to see someone along those lines but well know soon enough. Her,t there are risks to with the argument of steady as experience. Ull of thats exactly what people are rising up against this year. Absolutely. Absolutely. This is you know, the to rate is really going is really in a changed place and she is not. Shes not the change candidate. Things that i the think the republicans did effectively in their convention, is make the argument that he is the change agent and shes not. Havehen you look at you the rising of trump, but you have the sanders side as well. Change. T wait. And then youve got these two candidates. Right. Who bleed off in different directions. Warren say,lizabeth well, you know, the thing about it is, our problem we may to see the same problems but we have solutions, whereas donald trump doesnt, which is a different yes, the electorate is angry but we can fix it. A different argument for trust and we know that secretary clinton is incredibly onnerable in the polling trust, as is donald trump. Historicallyst distrusted candidates. True. So at this convention, if his argument was you cannot trust Hillary Clinton; shes part of ae rigged system, shes criminal, lock her up, all of that. Part of the task and challenge to use city for her is these four days to try to argue hand andeady deliverables to produce toults and shes going argue for results whether its under president clintons or under obama, shes going to argue thats a form of trust. Trust her. Remember one thing about the argument that the American People are rising up and wanting to change overturn the status quo. The campaign is going to tell us whether that is the people or the people. Because, remember, hillary innton beat Bernie Sanders the democratic primary. Over a dividedn field. And Hillary Clinton is now leading donald trump in the polls. Are stillthe polls really close. And if these candidates are so close . Nt, why is it so i think that democrats are beginning to worry that people are going to say, oh, well, america couldnt possibly choose donald trump so lets relax, of democrats. Lot i think one of the things that the polls tell you is typically they look at a set of vote. Who normally one of the challenges that trump poses for the democrats is he may be expanding the electorate who dont normally vote. Now, the data isnt clear. Highof it says theres a correlation between people who never voted. Others say its a high correlation between people who but only in the general election. But if it turns out that somehow trump can expand the numbers of who vote in our country, it way barack obama did, could change. Jeanne has made such a good point about organization and how because ift is, donald trump wants to triumph in some of these states where it is thee, he has to have organization on the ground. In ohio, you do not win ohio without an organization. An historical fact. The fact that he thumbed his nose at the governor, governor of ohio, suggests that he may not get that level for his organization in ohio. I have to say, my caveat is i think all of us sitting on this stage six months ago not playingaid hes by the rules, he couldnt possibly win. He i am not persuaded that hasnt figured a way around the rules. I think the primary dynamics the general. True. Because in the early states, or the moreidates, professionalized candidates, they had machines. He did manage and he tried to match them in a few places. Didnt have much in iowa and cruz beat him. Up inn ramped New Hampshire and won. He did put a team in south we went outcause with them, but he won there so team. T wasnt just the thats where you could see that he was catching fire. Ahead. Keep going, but, of course, well run out of time. Tell want each of you to me, as we sit here in philadelphia, lovely just want to i know what youre watching for this week. You know, we were watching for a thatf things in cleveland did and didnt appear. We thought there would be more unrest than there was. Be aought it would smoother convention. What are you watching for here in philadelphia . Im watching for is, after a convention in cleveland that seemed most intensely all the way through Donald Trumps speech toward the towardcan base, intensifying the motivation of those voters that he rode during victory, iss to Hillary Clinton going to be able to claim the middle of the electorate . I think it is open for her to make that attempt. And thats one of the things the running into mate choice. Alexis . Im looking for her effort to secretary clintons effort to try to make the middle class argument a message that solidlythen campaign on and consistently. One of the challenges shes had throughout the primary is shes of all over the map with different messages and she wants to unite at least her base, to start with, coming out of this convention, around this economic middle class argument. And im listening for that. Jeanne . Similarly looking for some kind of vision, that can, you know, absorb and say thats a reason for me to vote for her. The things that weve noted is that hillary has got know, youy than, you could paper across america, with policy things and papers that hillary has developed. What she has lacked is a clear of priorities. And weve heard in recent she started to talk about what would be the first days of her administration. So these would be her priorities. More aboute to know