LEILA FADEL, HOST:
There's a palpable energy shift among Democrats on the campaign trail. Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly announced running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are speaking to packed venues in a tour of swing states, and Walz seems to have infused a joyful, Midwestern nice into the campaign, mixed with cutting jabs at the pair's opponents.
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TIM WALZ: I can't wait till the debate, so...
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WALZ: It's a very clear thing. Yes, they are creepy, and weird as hell.
(CHEERING)
WALZ: You see it. You see it.
FADEL: Democratic strategist David Axelrod joins me now to discuss what's ahead for the Harris-Walz campaign. Good morning, and thanks for being on the program.
DAVID AXELROD: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So let's start with this excitement. I mean, it feels really different than what we saw a couple of weeks ago, right?
AXELROD: Yeah.
FADEL: And one of our correspondents says she hasn't seen this kind of energy since Barack Obama's first presidential campaign - and you worked on both of his campaigns - but it's August. It's been two weeks. Can the Democrats make this last through November, and translate it into the votes they need?
AXELROD: Well, that is the question, isn't it? But listen - I was at the Republican Convention less than a month ago, and it felt like a victory celebration. There was talk of an electoral landslide. That's all gone. This is a competitive race. It's by no means anybody's race, but it certainly is a competitive race, and I think what Democrats need to do is use the next few weeks, including their convention, to define their candidates and the race in their terms - as they're doing right now - to capture the enthusiasm in terms of data and supporters, money, volunteers and to mobilize. And I think that they're on the path to do that, but make no mistake - this is going to be a very close race.
FADEL: Yeah. Did you feel like it wasn't a competition before, and now it is?
AXELROD: Oh, I think that this has been a remarkable transformation, because just, you know, several weeks ago, before the president dropped out, I mean, the party was just overwhelmed by despair, and there was a sense that it could be an electoral landslide, and there was a real concern about enthusiasm, and what's happened now is that has turned around, and the biggest - one of the bigger things that's happened that hasn't been noted very much, Leila, is the third-party vote has collapsed. That was working against Joe Biden. That was a place where a lot of disenchanted Democrats, particularly younger Democrats, people of color, were parking their votes.
FADEL: Right, who were upset with President Biden, and especially over his policies in Gaza. You think that this has really shifted that?
AXELROD: I do, and that's what's happened. What's happened is that Kamala Harris has consolidated the Democratic base in a way that the president just wasn't, and, you know, now she has to build on that in order to win these states, these battleground states, that she has to win. She's not currently ahead, on the average, in all the states that she needs to win, but there are states that are in play now that weren't in play before - states like Nevada, states like Georgia, states like Arizona - those who were being written off, by many people, for Joe Biden that are now in play for Kamala Harris. And, of course, there's the upper-tier Midwestern Industrial states - Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
FADEL: Yeah, I want to ask you about that, because yes, people seem drawn to Walz and his teacher, dad-joke energy, but he didn't really have a national profile before...
AXELROD: Yes.
FADEL: ...The announcement that he was Harris's pick, and there was an opinion piece in The Hill that argued that this could be Harris' first big campaign mistake - by not picking a governor from a swing state like Pennsylvania, like the governor Josh Shapiro. I mean, could this be a mistake?
AXELROD: Well, it could be, but, you know, that remains to be seen. It'll be interesting to see how they use Walz and how effective he is. I have this sense that they are going to place him in an RV and hitting small towns in Pennsylvania, in Michigan, in Wisconsin, going to the VFW halls, going to the American Legion halls, going to the diners and taverns, and doing the kind of campaigning that he is accustomed to doing. This is a guy who won a swing district in Minnesota that was held by a Republican when he ran for Congress, and he knows how to campaign in those venues. That could make a difference, but look - I was among those who said Pennsylvania is the game, you have to win Pennsylvania to win the electoral college if you're a Democrat in this election, and that you might do best by choosing a popular governor of Pennsylvania. The alternative theory was Arizona, which has fewer electoral votes, but you had Senator Kelly down there, but, you know, she went for a state of mind rather than a state. Tim Walz is a Norman Rockwell painting sprung to life...
FADEL: (Laughter).
AXELROD: ...And that has real meaning culturally to people. This is a guy who clearly could be your next-door neighbor if you live in a small town or a rural area in the U.S., and I think that's what they're banking on - that sense of him, you know. And the whole story - 24 years of military service, the schoolteacher, the coach, the guy who looks like and sounds like he'd mow your lawn when you were on vacation if he were your neighbor - you know, that's powerful, and we'll see.
FADEL: But he's also...
AXELROD: Obviously, if she loses by dint of a couple of votes in Pennsylvania, there'll be a lot of revisiting of this question...
FADEL: Right.
AXELROD: ...But right now, it feels good.
FADEL: Now, as governor, Walz, though, has leaned pretty progressive, providing free school lunches, legalizing marijuana. The state has one of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country. Is he an asset or a liability in the most contested swing states, where the candidates are battling for those independent votes? And the Republican line is these are radical left-wing - this is a radical left-wing ticket.
AXELROD: Yeah, I'm not sure that the things that you named will seem particularly radical and left-wing to voters. You know, I mean, he answered this question pretty persuasively in interviews when he said, you know, providing full-belly kids - school kids with full bellies so they can learn didn't seem that radical to him. Paid family leave didn't seem that radical to him. I don't think it seems that radical to the American people, but there's no doubt that that is the Republican strategy, to paint them to the left. It's a traditional playbook, and I think they're going to play it.
FADEL: Democratic strategist David Axelrod advised former President Obama and worked on both his White House campaigns. Thank you for your time.
AXELROD: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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