Morning Report — Bill Clinton, Walz set stage for Harris tonight

View Online  MORNING REPORT Thursday, August 22  by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch Thursday, August 22  by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch © The Associated Press / Charles Rex Arbogast | Democratic vice-presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday.. Bill Clinton, Walz set stage for Harris tonight The choice. That's the idea former President Clinton urged Americans to ponder Wednesday during Democrats' nominating convention in Chicago.   "Next time you hear him," Clinton said, referring to former President Trump, "don't count the lies. Count the 'I's. When Kamala Harris is president, every day will begin 'you, you, you, you.'"   At 78, his Arkansas drawl intact and his improvisational speechcraft on display, Clinton wore a knowing smile when he advised his listeners what's ahead if they want to defeat Trump. "We gotta be tough," he said. "You should never underestimate your enemy."   That idea was a through line during the third of four raucous televised convention rallies this week. Hoping to mobilize the electorate they will need Nov. 5, Democrats needled the former president with criticism and borrowed the language of billboards to laud Harris: "Tough. Experienced. Ready."    Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who delivered a tightly crafted 14-minute speech close to midnight while accepting his party's vice presidential nomination, echoed the "choice" message. We've got something better to offer the American people. It starts with Kamala Harris," Walz said after sprinting through his own everyman biography. Oprah Winfrey, a surprise speaker in a city that helped make her famous, told the audience she's a registered independent who wants independent and undecided voters to consider "values and character" and "decency and respect" while sizing up Harris and Trump.   "Let us choose common sense over nonsense," she said to the roar of applause.   The Hill: Five memorable convention moments.   'I ACCEPT': Tonight, the vice president delivers her acceptance speech and springboards into the next phase of her campaign, which will include a debate with Trump Sept. 10 and preparations next month for early voting in some states.   Tonight's show in the Windy City will soon steer Democrats' enthusiasm about their ticket toward voter registration, mail-in and absentee voting and turnout. The campaign has organized national watch parties in battleground states tonight to hear Harris, including at least 150 such events in must-win Pennsylvania.    The New Yorker: Can Harris's campaign solve the Latino turnout problem?    WHO IS WATCHING: The convention attracted a larger viewership during Democrats' second night compared with its opening night, Nielsen said Wednesday. Tuesday's lineup, which featured keynote speeches from former President Obama and Michelle Obama, drew an estimated audience of nearly 20.8 million viewers compared to approximately 20 million viewers for Monday's program.    Both nights of the Democratic convention saw bigger audiences than the first two nights of the Republican National Convention, where Nielsen estimated the first night's audience was 18.1 million and the second night's audience was 14.8 million. Trump's final convention night in Milwaukee in July drew more than 25 million viewers.   Harris returns to Washington Friday while President Biden and first lady Jill Biden remain in California through Sunday.  The Hill's Niall Stanage: Walz caps emotional night: Five takeaways on Day 3 of the convention. The Hill: Harris, Democrats are winning the unity battle vs. Trump and the GOP. The Hill: A stunning Harris roller coaster reaches a new apex at the convention. Politico: Rising Democrats angle for 2028 and beyond while in Chicago.    © The Associated Press / Paul Sancya | Former President Clinton addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday.   3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY Indoor house cats that were never outdoors in Colorado died of bird flu. How did they get it? Cult following: Here's how Costco hacked the American shopping psyche. The U.S. and Canada could feel the economic effects if major freight railroads, halted in Canada because of a dispute with workers, do not resume running soon.    Leading the Day © The Hill | AP photo, Adobe Stock Image, photo Illustration| Democrats' campaign fundraising arm in the House is winning the cash dash. MORE IN CAMPAIGNS & POLITICS CASH DASH: Democrats are winning the fundraising game this election year — a reality that is putting pressure on House Republicans as they look to expand their majority in the lower chamber. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $17.6 million in July, bringing the group's total haul for the cycle to a record $228.4 million. The campaign arm has $92 million cash on hand. The House GOP's campaign arm, meanwhile, raked in $11.7 million in July, raising the total raised this cycle to $173.4 million. The group has $73.3 million cash on hand.    Republicans knew they were in a tough situation even before Tuesday's filing deadline, write The Hill's Emily Books and Mychael Schnell. On a House GOP conference call last week, National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (N.C.) called on the conference to transfer more money to the House GOP's campaign arm. "I need you to want it," he told the group. But the numbers from July — coupled with the exuberant enthusiasm among Democrats — is putting increased pressure on Republicans to ramp up their fundraising. Politico: Polls show Harris has made eye-popping gains with traditional, core Democratic base voters while also appealing to independents and young voters. Reuters: How former President Obama boosted Harris and continues to shape the Democratic Party. Bloomberg News: Harris hires Obama's advisers in effort to topple Trump. MINNESOTA FIRST LADY Gwen Walz is making her mark on her husband's first national campaign. Walz introduced her husband Wednesday at the Democratic convention, a new experience amid increased media scrutiny, write The Hill's Caroline Vakil and Julia Manchester. The governor and his wife are largely unknown to the broader American public. An AP-NORC poll released earlier this week found that 4 in 10 Americans said they don't know enough about Tim Walz to have an opinion of him.    "Their job in many ways at these conventions is to give the human side of the candidate, and I think particularly for Tim Walz it's so interesting because he comes across as so human," said Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.    DROPOUT WATCH: Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to suspend his third-party campaign this week, according to reports. He says he'll have an announcement Friday in Arizona about a "path forward" for his struggling White House bid. Trump is scheduled to campaign in Arizona Friday and indicated he'd welcome Kennedy's backing.   NBC News: Here's how Kennedy's exit would help Trump, according to polls.    Kennedy entered the race as a Democrat who enjoyed high name recognition and a reputation for fact-challenged opposition to vaccines. He switched political gears and watched as his poll numbers drifted into the single digits. His campaign claimed it had enough signatures for ballot access in all 50 states but opponents have been challenging access in multiple states.    2024 ROUNDUP Ahead of Trump's planned tour of the Arizona border today, running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) says there is no quid pro quo with Kennedy about future roles with a possible Trump administration. Vance reinforced his party's opposition to a bipartisan Senate immigration reform bill that GOP senators blocked with Trump's urging. "It was a disaster. I would not have voted for it if Donald Trump had told me you have to vote for this thing, and that's how the majority of my Republican colleagues felt," Vance told "Fox & Friends" Wednesday. He said the former president secured the southern border as president and Harris "opened it up."  Trump, appearing in North Carolina Wednesday, held a rally outdoors behind bulletproof glass for the first time since a gunman shot and grazed his ear in Pennsylvania in July. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) used her convention remarks Wednesday to target Trump's role in the Jan. 6 attack. An attorney for the Oath Keepers accused of conspiring with the right-wing militia group's leader to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election pleaded guilty Wednesday to two charges linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.  The Trump Organization's annual revenues exceed $600 million, according to a Reuters estimate. Long based in New York, the company has gravitated recently to Florida's southeast coast, where its golf and resort properties now pay the bills.  Harris's enthusiastic fans trade chatter about whether Beyoncé, whose song "Freedom" is the unofficial theme music used by the vice president's campaign, will make a convention appearance and if Taylor Swift has a campaign endorsement in mind. Meanwhile, Beyoncé's representatives threatened the Trump campaign with cease-and-desist legal action after the former president posted to social media an unauthorized clip of "Freedom."  Democrats have unveiled an education platform that combines old priorities such as universal pre-K and free community college with slams against Republicans over Project 2025 and "private-school vouchers."  Where and When RIP: Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), 87, died Wednesday after serving in the House for more than 27 years.   The House and Senate are out until after Labor Day.   The president is in Santa Ynez, Calif., with first lady Jill Biden until Sunday. Biden will receive the President's Daily Brief at 10 a.m.    The vice president is in Chicago where she will deliver her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention as nominee for president at 10:45 p.m. ET.    Zoom In © The Associated Press / Nam Y. Huh | U.S. job creation was weaker than initially reported in 12 months ending in March, the government reported Wednesday with a downward revision.  ECONOMY FEWER JOBS were added to the U.S. economy in 2023 and early this year than previously thought, a sign that cracks in the labor market are more severe than initially believed. The Labor Department said Wednesday that monthly payroll figures overstated job growth by roughly 818,000 in the 12 months that ended in March. That amounts to a downward revision of about 28 percent. Wednesday's revision — the largest since 2009 — could fuel concerns that the Federal Reserve may be behind on cutting interest rates, which it hiked from near zero in March 2022 to a range of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent in July 2023.   But the big picture remains relatively unchanged: Job growth is slowing, but not collapsing. The unemployment rate is rising, but layoffs remain low (The Hill).   "We've known that things on net were probably moving gradually in the wrong direction," Guy Berger, director of economic research for the Burning Glass Institute, a labor market research and data firm, told The New York Times. "This just largely confirms what a holistic view of the labor market data was saying before today." NBC News: More than 28 percent of Americans are searching for new jobs — the highest rate in a decade. The Wall Street Journal: As Generation X approaches retirement, reality still bites. The "forgotten generation," born between 1965 and 1980, launched their careers at the start of a massive shift in how Americans work. Elsewhere INTERNATIONAL CEASE-FIRE TALKS: Biden and Harris spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday, urging him to show more flexibility so a hostage-release and cease-fire deal can be reached in Gaza. The call comes as a U.S. official told reporters Tuesday that Netanyahu's "maximalist statements" are not constructive to getting a deal and risk the ability to move forward (The Times of Israel and Axios).   Meanwhile, Iran's retaliation against Israel could take a long time to come, a Revolutionary Guard spokesperson said Tuesday. The region has been bracing for Iran's avowed retaliation for the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran on July 31, in which Israel has not confirmed or denied its involvement (NBC News). The New York Times: What's in the latest U.S. proposal for a Gaza cease-fire? The Guardian: Israel launched strikes on more than 10 areas across southern Lebanon, hours after Hezbollah launched more than 50 rockets and a swarm of drones. UK RIOTS: Police in Pakistan arrested a man accused of spreading disinformation about a deadly stabbing attack last month that spurred anti-immigrant riots across Britain. In the hours after the attack, far-right protesters took to the streets, some chanting "we want our country back." They attacked a hotel housing asylum-seekers, threw bricks at mosques and clashed with police. British authorities have moved quickly against alleged rioters, arresting more than 1,000 suspects and charging nearly 500 (The Washington Post).   Opinion How government can cut kids' social media use without doing more harm, by The Washington Post editorial board. The selling of Kamala Harris, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board. The Closer © The Associated Press / Paul Sancya | Former President Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) during the Republican National Convention in July. Take Our Morning Report Quiz   And finally … It's Thursday, which means it's time for this week's Morning Report Quiz! Alert to personal and family details injected into recent news coverage about the presidential and vice presidential candidates, we're eager to receive four smart puzzle answers.   Be sure to email your responses to asimendinger@thehill.com and kkarisch@thehill.com — please add "Quiz" to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.   At the Democratic convention Tuesday, second gentleman Doug Emhoff spoke about his wife's affinity for cooking. What dish did he praise? Tacos Lasagna Brisket Beef stew   Trump told a news outlet this week that his youngest son, Barron, will attend college this fall in what state? Florida New Jersey New York Wisconsin   Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance met his wife at what law school? *Bonus point: What was the couple's nickname on campus? Yale Harvard Princeton UCLA   During a Milwaukee rally Tuesday, Harris greeted her running mate on stage as "Coach Walz." Which sport did Minnesota's governor coach? College hockey High school football Club curling University track and field Stay Engaged We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch. Follow us on social media platform X: (@asimendinger & @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends! Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  Sign Up for Other Newsletters 1625 K Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 © 1998 - 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.