WALZING THROUGH THE MIDWEST
The battle for the northern “Blue Wall” states kicked off in earnest Wednesday with back-to-back dueling rallies in the same two cities on the same day: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Detroit, Michigan.
- It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of the upper midwest in this presidential election, which explains why both campaigns went there today. VP Kamala Harris and her newly minted vice presidential running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), kick-started their campaign partnership in the city Eau Claire, Wisconsin (pop.: 70,000), just as JD Vance, the veep pick of disgraced former president Trump, took the mic at a rival event nearby. Then Harris and Vance flew into Detroit, just hours after Vance held an event in one of Motor City’s northern suburbs.
- The drama between the two camps kicked off almost immediately, when Vance, Harris and Walz all arrived at the same time to Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley Regional Airport. The political meet-cute prompted Vance to act… you guessed it… weird. Vance strode over to Air Force Two and awkwardly addressed assembled reporters. “I figured I’d come by and, one, just get a good look at the plane because hopefully it’s going to be my plane in a few months,” the Republican Ohio senator said. “I also thought you guys might get lonely because the vice president doesn’t answer questions from reporters and hasn’t for 17 days.” (Harris and Walz were greeted a little later on the tarmac by giddy Girl Scouts.)
- What do the rival rallies tell us about the state of this race? Videos and crowd numbers offer up evidence that Harris and Walz had the mojo today. Just listen to this clip of Harris’ crowd thundering, “this is what democracy looks like!” posted by NBC News reporter Jake Traylor. Then, check out this 360-degree view of Vance’s hilariously low-energy parking lot scene in Shelby Township, an affluent northern suburb of Detroit, posted by journalist Maggie George of the Michigan Information & Research Service. We all know how much Trump loves to brag about crowd sizes. This split-screen image has gotta sting.
Winning a presidential election, of course, takes a lot more than good vibes at a couple rallies. But it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Wednesday’s events offered up further evidence that team Harris has the momentum for now, backing up plenty of polling data that says the same thing.
- Harris has closed the polling gap with Trump, both nationally and in battleground states, according to multiple outlets. Meanwhile, Vance’s poll numbers continue to dip under a deluge of old videos showing the Senator’s controversial, often bizarre, opinions. Vance is now nine points down in general favorability, with negative double-digits among women, particularly educated women.
- The Harris campaign said it raised $36 million in the 24 hours after Harris picked Walz, the former teacher and football coach who has led the charge in branding Trump and Vance “weird.”
Who could have predicted that a charisma-black-hole who cannot stop spouting off creepy Christian nationalist rhetoric and gives “don’t be alone in a room with this guy” vibes would be a bad No. 2 on the GOP ticket? Certainly not us
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NEWS NEWS NEWS
An Ohio judge upheld a law that bans gender affirmative care for minors in the state on Tuesday. The law will also bar transgender girls and women from participating in high school or college sports designated for girls and women. Tuesday’s ruling clears the legal obstacles for the law to go into effect.
Three Taylor Swift concerts were canceled in Vienna, Austria after authorities thwarted planned attacks at the pop star’s upcoming events. Two individuals with ISIS ties were arrested for the planned terrorist attacks.
Donald Trump said tech billionaire Elon Musk will interview him on Monday, so if you want to hear two guys whose brains have been turned to mush by right-wing media yes-and each other for an hour, be sure to tune in!
Speaking of mush brains, Vice presidential hopeful JD Vance floated conspiracy theories in text exchanges with far-right fringe figure Charles Johnson over the encrypted messaging app, Signal, over a period of 20 months.
The judge in Trump’s hush money case kicked the decision to recuse himself down the line to September 16, just two days before he’s due to sentence the former president for his 34 felonies. Gonna be a week packed with legal drama!
Scientists fear the possible dissolution of the Great Barrier Reef due to extreme temperatures during this generation unless humankind acts to curb climate change. Let’s corral this shit for the coral already.
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