Well, that is our breaking news tonight. At 11 00 a. M. On friday morning in new york city donald trump will announce his Vice President ial running mate. We will take a closer look at the frontrunners for that Vice President ial nomination. And i will place my bet. And donald trump is at war with Ruth Bader Ginsburg over something she said that many socalled Supreme Court experts believe is unprecedented and they believe that because they seem to believe that Supreme Court history began when they were born. We are watching it become the party of trump. Im going to tell a lot of stories at the convention. This man is the nominee of the party of lincoln. Youre going to use a teleprompter at the convention . Im probably going to use a teleprompter. Im honored to be considered. And humbled to be considered. Im narrowing it down. Im at three. Potentially four. But in my own mind i probably am thinking about two. I do not know what hes talking about. Its a little bit like the apprentice. Youre like a solid guy also. I would like to see the most progressive person possible become secretary clintons Vice President ial nominee. He submitted to crooked Hillary Clinton. Donald trump spent years peddling trump university, a sham college. All these people who think donald trump is going to be great for their pocketbook because hes rich, hes going to be horrible for their pocketbook because hes the opposite of calm. I am the law and order candidate. He is walking volatility. If you want somebody who divides us up, donald trump is your guy. Weve never had anybody with this kind of temperament. Donald Trumps Campaign adds up to an ugly, dangerous message to america. This is the last word on campaign 2016. With big breaking political news tonight, we are now 37 hours away from learning who will be Donald Trumps running mate. You can expect cable news to start those countdown clocks any minute now. 37 hours away. A short time ago donald trump tweeted, i will be making the announcement of my Vice President ial pick on friday at 11 00 a. M. In manhattan. Details to follow. On a day of tough polling news for the Clinton Campaign showing Hillary Clintons lead over donald trump narrowing in battleground states, producing a statistical tie in most of those states, the least experienced republican president ial nominee in history handed over the final vetting of his possible Vice President ial nominees to the least experienced vetters in the history of vetting. His kids. And with all of the best possible republican Vice President ial candidates refusing to even be considered for the role of Donald Trumps vp, meaning people like john kasich, marco rubio, senator bob corker, donald trump and his vetters are now left with a list of men, and theyre all men, who have no Better Options in politics than to run for vp, even in a losing campaign. Heres what donald trump said today in an interview about the men on his list. So you had breakfast at governor pences place. I did. The kids were there. Howd that go . It went really well. Highquality person. Wonderful guy. Hes always been very respectful to me and really appreciate you know, appreciates what ive done. Politically. And we had a great meeting. Newt gingrich is coming in today to see me here. Were waiting around. And then im going out to san diego where we have a big fundraiser for the republican party, the rnc. Who has by the way so basically, youre down to two. No. Ill tell you. Chris christie is somebody ive liked a long time. Hes a total professional. Hes a good guy, by the way. A lot of people dont understand that. But im narrowing it down. Im at three. Potentially four. But in my own mind i probably am thinking about two. Chris christie is of course the worst possible choice for Donald TrumpsVice President ial nomination. And even Donald Trumps kids should know that. A recent poll showed his disapproval rating is the lowest in the history of new jersey polling. So donald trump would be picking a candidate who couldnt win his home state and would have to take some time off in september to testify in the criminal trials of two people who worked for him and have been charged with Crimes Involving the closure of lanes on the George Washington bridge. And here is what donald trump said about Chris Christies own personal involvement in the George Washington bridge scheme. So chris, whos a friend of mine, he hit me hard. And i said ive got to hit him at least once. So i wont do this a lot. But look, heres the story. The George Washington bridge. He knew about it. He knew about it. He knew about it. Totally knew about it. He knew about it. Convicted in the court of trump. And 73yearold Newt Gingrich would not have to give up a real job in order to run for Vice President. And being the Vice President to a president who knows nothing would make Newt Gingrich possibly the most powerful Vice President in history. And if a trumpgingrich ticket loses, Newt Gingrich speaking fees will skyrocket after the campaign. But Newt Gingrich can be almost as polarizing a figure as donald trump, which leaves 57yearold mike pence, the governor of indiana, who has been planning to run for reelection even though indiana polls indicate that that could be a hard climb. Mike pence is a darling of republican conservatives. He has the washington experience as a member of congress that donald trump has indicated hes looking for. And in the time that donald trump and Newt Gingrich have had six wives between them, mike pence has had only one. Mike pence is calmer and steadier than Chris Christie or Newt Gingrich in public speaking. Not ch of attack dog. I just want to pick somebody whos very good. Somebody whos solid, whos smart. Im not looking for an attack dog. And so mike pence it is. If he can pass the vetting of the trump children. Vice president ial vetting has been a haphazard affair in the Trump Campaign. Youll remember when ben carson was put in charge of Vice President ial vetting for about five minutes before someone in the Trump Campaign came to their senses and clarified that ben carson wasnt in charge of vetting the vp and the Campaign ManagerCorey Lewandowski would be heavily involved. Corey lewandowski has since been fired, and a couple months ago a veteran vetter was hired by the Trump Campaign. A. B. Culvahouse, a man who you have to vet to find out his first name, which is arthur. Why he doesnt like to admit that his first name is arthur is anyones guess. A. B. Culvahouse has been a lawyer on both sides of the republican president ial vetting process, helping potential nominees get through the vetting and conducting the vetting himself. Most famously for john mccains 2008 campaign. The campaign that produced the worst Vice President ial nominee since spiro agnew who was chosen by Richard Nixon in 1968 and pled guilty to tax evasion in 1973. A. B. Culvahouse led the vetting team that produced sarah palin and changed american politics perhaps forever. The trump children as firsttime vetters cannot do worse than a. B. Culvahouse did the last time he vetted a Vice President ial nominee. What donald trump doesnt have on the vp list tonight is someone who can clearly help him in the polls. But according to the latest battleground state polls, he might not need much help. Ohio is a statistical tie in an nbc wall street journal poll, Hillary Clinton at 38 and donald trump at 35 . Thats within the margin of error. Libertarian candidate gary johnson at 9 . And green partys jill stein at 3 . A quinnipiac poll of ohio taken at the same time also shows a tie with donald trump at 37 , Hillary Clinton at 36 , gary johnson at 7 , jill stein 6 . In iowa the nbc wall street journal poll shows Hillary Clinton at 37 , donald trump at 37 , gary johnson gets 7 , jill stein 4 . In florida the quinnipiac poll shows a tie with donald trump at 41 and Hillary Clinton at 36 . Thats within the 3. 1 margin of error. Gary johnsons at 7 . Jill stein 4 . And the biggest conflict in the polls today comes from pennsylvania. Its a huge polling conflict. The nbc wall street journal poll of pennsylvania shows Hillary Clinton with an eightpoint lead over donald trump at 4335. Gary johnson at 8, jill stein at 2. But the quinnipiac poll shows the opposite result in pennsylvania. It shows donald trump at 40, Hillary Clinton at 34. With 9 for gary johnson, 3 for jill stein. Joining us now, rick wilson, republican strategist who contributed to the website heat street. Charlie sikes, radio host on wtjm in milwaukee and the editor in chief of right wisconsin. And clarence paige, columnist for the chicago tribune. Clarence, since youve been watching president ial politics longer than the rest of us, i want to begin with you. Your analysis of the trump field for vp candidates. And if you want to place a bet, clarence, please feel free. Well, mr. Trump prides himself on unpredictability. Im not going to challenge that tonight. But i agree with you. It sounded like your comments were leaning toward mike pence as being the best choice of the names that have been mentioned tonight. And that i would agree with because trump certainly he can be his own attack dog. Thats what he is to such a large degree. And we know how inexperienced he is. He needs some stability, that kind of a stable balance that a mike pence can bring. Pence looks virtually colorless compared to trump, especially to most people outside of indiana. But thats good. Trump doesnt need somebody else to be throwing up flames there from the running mate position. And i think trump seems to be attracted toward the idea as well. We will see i think the Chris Christie stock is falling a bit right now. Rick wilson, clarence is right in reading any very transparent mind. Im betting 2 on mike pence, and im going to throw a dollar in for clarence on mike pence based on what he just said. I know he doesnt want to bet. Ill bet with your money. Okay. You can bet with my money. Go ahead, place your bet, rick. Well, look, i still think right now that Donald Trumps psychology is in play here. There is something about him that is this infantile reflexive nature where if everybody else around him wants mike pence he may just do something contrary and jump to Chris Christie or jump to Newt Gingrich. I mean, if he wants to get a good shine on those shoes every day its Chris Christie. Hes the guy that will engage in relentless butt kissing for the rest of the campaign and, you know, bow and scrape to mr. Trump. If thats something that his ego needs, hes going to do that. I think pence is a no harm no foul kind of pick. But hell fade into the woodwork pretty quickly. Because theres no mike pence show. Theres a donald trump show. Now, there could be a Chris Christie show or a Newt Gingrich show to go along with, you know, as a side show act versus the trump thing. But its very interesting to see how the trump family psychology plays out with this. If everyones pushing him so hard to choose pence, you know, this is not a guy who takes well to internal pressure even from his own family it seems. Charlie, i agree with our resident psychoanalyst rick wilson about the trump complexes here. But do you agree that mike pence seems to be the most sensible choice under the circumstances . Well, the problem is theres just so much room for the egos. And absolutely if he wants an attack dog, he wants a lackey, hes got he can go with Chris Christie. The problem with Newt Gingrich of course is that hes almost as much of a meg lo maniac as donald trump and hes also erratic. If things go south in this campaign you know that Newt Gingrich is going to take care of Newt Gingrich and is going to throw donald trump under the bus. So by the process of elimination you go with the boring guy. However, you do have the ivanka primary and you have the sean hannity primary and youve got sean hannity flying Newt Gingrich out to meet donald trump. Youve got to wonder, you know, how much clout does his number one media fan boy have in this process . You know, at some point is donald trump going to say yeah, i really want to go with the safe rational choice but i dont really want to disappoint sean. Who knows what could happen . Clarence paige, its the toughest assignment maybe in the history of running mates. Donald trumps running mate. And how much cleaning up for donald trump you have to do every day as opposed to that traditional job of attacking the other side. I think whats really important here is that two of them are able to work as a team. Weve yet to see. But you remember the Bob Dole Jack Kemp team back in 96 which was very disappointing. The two of them were so much apart it was hard to relieve they were in the same campaign. And that didnt help the republican side at all at that time. Mitt romney and ryan worked very well together. I think the important thing here is that pence, even if he has to run behind trump with i broom and a dustpan to clean up whatever crockery hes broken the night before, still whats important is that theyre a good team. And we should remember that Chris Christie did not pass the vetting of the Romney Campaign four years ago and didnt even hand over all the documents that they were looking for. Rick wilson, is there a future for the republican Vice President ial nominee assuming that Hillary Clinton would win . Is there a future for that republican Vice President ial nominee in republican politics . Can mike pence rise from the ashes of a trump loss . Look, i think the stink that gets on you from being trumps Vice President and all the erratic and bizarre things trump is going to say for the next 100someodd days is a political down note for the long term for anybody that gets in bed with this guy as his vp. And so i think thats why you probably have seen an awful lot of people who would be better choices hiding out in the tall grass, you know, looking for the exits every time they see somebody from trump world coming toward them. Charlie sykes, theres always that phenomenon people worry about before sometimes these choices of will the choice of the vp make people wish the ticket were flipped . Could mike pence perform in such a way that he acquits himself well, makes people look at him and say boy, we wish he was at the top of the ticket, too bad i cant vote for this ticket with donald trump on it, and might that again give mike pence a life after this election if the republicans lose . No. Theres no future for whatever pick. This is political suicide. You pointed out, the one guy who understands the game is Newt Gingrich, who whatever happens is going to be able to charge more for his fees and will go back as a commentator. But rick is absolutely right. Theres a reason why it is down to these three candidates. Its down to the sycophant caucus. Because you know, none of the other plausible candidates want to be associated with donald trump. They know they will be diminished by the next several months of having to campaign and cover up for him. And they know they wont be able to wipe the stink off. So no, there is none. Now, as far as people wishing at the ticket was flipped, i think a lot of republicans are going to be wishing a lot of things as these polls change. Look, these polls right now reflect how badly Hillary Clinton has been hurt in the email scandal. But you notice that donald trump has not picked up. So republicans have to be asking themselves, if it was anyone else other than donald trump what would these numbers look like . Is there any republican in america that would not be doing better . Clarence page, bret baier asked donald trump about his tax returns again tonight on fox news. He said oh, theyre in an audit, i cant release them. And what he didnt ask, i wish someone would ask him, is would donald trump accept that answer in the vetting of a Vice President ial nominee . Presumably all of them have had to hand over their tax returns to donald trump. Thats right. And