Zac Schultz:
Good afternoon and welcome to Milwaukee, host city for the Republican National Convention. This is a special presentation of Here & Now's 2024 election coverage. We are coming to you live from media row in Panther Arena in downtown Milwaukee. I'm Zac Schultz, the senior political reporter at Here & Now and I am joined as always with my two esteemed guests, Bill McCoshen, Scot Ross. Thank you for coming back for day two.

Bill McCoshen:
Day two, here we go.

Scot Ross:
Here we go.

Zac Schultz:
We made it through the long day, as Tommy Thompson described it on Monday. Let's start with the events of last night. The big thing that everyone is waiting for, Donald Trump's appearance at the Fiserv. What was your reaction to seeing him come through the hallway, come up, and, he didn't address the crowd but he did appear in a big way.

Bill McCoshen:
Oh, it was powerful. I mean, the place erupted. You could feel the energy in the room. It was exciting, it was powerful. It was moving, and you could tell it was moving for Trump. He's not easily emotional. He appeared to be a little bit emotional last night and that resonated with the crowd.

Zac Schultz:
What do you think, Scot, did this move anyone who hadn't seen — we had not seen him really up close. This is the first time.

Scot Ross:
Yeah, no, I don't think that it moved anybody, to be honest. What we saw yesterday was… within two speakers, Trump's pledge to bring unity to the country was broken in a way that a lot of the promises that they've made to the people have been broken. We can go through that list at some point. But I don't think there was anything... you know, again, it's a convention, so there's gonna be a lot of enthusiasm for their nominee for president. But as far as Democrats, and as far as independents goes, I'm not sure it really resonated.

Zac Schultz:
What about you for the image of Trump in the booth next to JD Vance, the first time America got to see that this new team, this new running team?

Bill McCoshen:
I liked it, right? I mean, we've talked about it, JD wasn't my first choice. I've had a chance to sleep on it and I'm coming around, I see the value of it. He may not add states necessarily, although the Trump team thinks he can play well in Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin, and that's probably true, but he sends a message to working people across the country. The forgotten men and women that Trump's saying, "I'm with you. My second administration will be with you. And so much so that I'm picking a guy who is one of you, who grew up like all of you did." So, I think that's actually pretty powerful, and I miss that the first time around. And he's the second, he is the youngest person on a national ticket in my lifetime. So I think that he's got an opportunity to appeal to millennials like nobody has in the past. So I'm excited about it.

Zac Schultz:
We're already seeing a lot of the Democrats' greatest hits against JD Vance come out in social media, stuff that he has said that, will he actually regret it or will he just shrug it off?

Scot Ross:
Oh, I think we'll see some of those things, and again some of them are… You know, he referred to Trump as quote unquote, "America's Hitler." He praised him — or he criticized him for the Charlottesville march with the Nazis and blamed him for that. And one of the allegations made against Trump of sexual assault, JD Vance said he believed that. So he has got some, that's gonna be, without a doubt used in the campaign. But I think there's a lot where they come, they come into focus of being together. And that's on abortion extremism, on tax cuts for rich people. And, you know, with all due respect to JD Vance's background, yes, he grew up poor, but he's a venture capitalist who's in billionaire Peter Thiel's pocket. That's why he's on the ticket, because Elon Musk and Peter Thiel want this guy on the ticket because they know he's in there for big tech. They know he's in there for tax cuts for rich people. They know he's there for hurting working people. And Musk has already pledged after, after this all happened, $45 million a month for the next four months to the super PAC, that's $180 million.

Bill McCoshen:
Right, you know, in fairness, one of the things that concerned me about JD and I'll raise it today is, he has not been tested on a national ticket, right? The bright lights of a national campaign are far different than running statewide. But the adversity this man overcame as a child to get to where he is today, I think he's overcome bigger challenges than the bright lights of a national campaign. Having said that, Trump is still gonna have to play some defense with him initially. The other choices, he could have gone straight offense, started putting more states in play. But I think on this one, JD's gonna have to prove himself. And as someone who was given a lot of opportunities from former governor Tommy Thompson at a very young age, I like the pick. The fact that the principal, Donald Trump, believes in this guy and thinks he's got the raw material to do the job, says a lot, right? But now it's up to Vance to prove it over the next 112 days.

Zac Schultz:
So we saw a tone shift from the morning to the evening in terms of unity. Because in the morning, in the delegate breakfast, in the afternoon session, all we heard was this is the chance for unity. It's a new tone, new sense coming from the Trump campaign. And then Ron Johnson got on stage. And whether it was a teleprompter error or not, Scot, that sounded like the old Ron Johnson that we've always heard before.

Scot Ross:
Yeah, no, a tiger can't change its stripes — and whatever this, his claims about a teleprompter, it's the Ron Johnson we've come to know. And I think Ron Johnson's veracity has been, in question more than once, one time. I just want to go back to one point about JD Vance that Bill made. It's really, really important to remember that JD Vance got into the Senate last year. He's being hired because of his demographics. Again, he's gonna appeal to the millennials. That sounds like a DEI hire to me, which I think the Republicans seem to oppose everywhere else when it's talking about affirmative action and bringing other demographics into the workplace.

Bill McCoshen:
So on the unity, I think we have to talk about Lester Holt's interview with Joe Biden last night. Where Biden waffled on the bullseye comment that he made just last week about putting Trump in the bullseye. And he did a whole bunch of whataboutisms, that "I didn't say crosshairs," and "I didn't really mean it that way." It was bad. Frankly, I hope you guys, I hope the Democrats put him on TV every single night because he helps us every time he does one of those interviews. But he discounted the whole unity thing that he had talked about on national TV on Sunday night and went right to "Trump's a threat to democracy," and, "Why can't I say that if it's true?" And, listen, this is gonna be a dog fight all the way, 112 days left to go. I'm still excited to hear Trump speak on Thursday night because I think there will be a different tone. But having said that, listen, these are, you play for keeps in politics and it's all about winning.

Scot Ross:
Yeah.

Bill McCoshen:
There is no second place. So, you know, buckle up.

Zac Schultz:
There's a second place but it belongs in the history books.

Bill McCoshen:
Yeah, right. Buckle up.

Zac Schultz:
In terms of that, what is the line though, between legitimately calling out what people may believe are threats to democracy, threats to the future based on platforms and party positions. And, you know, Trump's own comments of "I'll only be a dictator on day one" versus obviously the danger that comes with what we saw in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Bill McCoshen:
Here's what I would say about that. Democracy is the ballot in November. It's not on the ballot. Get out and vote. Choose one of these people, get involved. If you sit on the couch, you can't complain after the fact. Democracy is the ballot. Nobody else in the world has the opportunity we do to express ourselves. This experiment we call democracy is 248 years old. It's gonna continue, no matter which one of these guys wins. And the nonsense that Democrats have been spewing, that somehow democracy's gonna go away if Trump is the president. Well, he's got a first term that he can prove that didn't happen.

Zac Schultz:
He tried! We did have January 6th. I mean, you can't discount the fact that that exists.

Bill McCoshen:
The election had already ended. The election had been certified, Joe Biden was gonna be the president no matter what.

Scot Ross:
JD Vance is on the ticket because Mike Pence refused to overturn the results of a democratically decided election. And JD Vance has pledged that he will do that. That is why he is on the ticket.

Bill McCoshen:
That's not even an issue. Let me tell you why. It's not even an issue because Donald Trump can only serve one term. That's it. JD Vance won't have that rule.

Zac Schultz:
He talked about serving multiple terms...

Bill McCoshen:
Can't do it. The Constitution prohibits it.

Scot Ross:
But this election would be for his second term, so he can serve. So if he decides and again, he doesn't win...

Bill McCoshen:
He can serve one term.

Scot Ross:
That he wants to overturn the results of a democratically decided election, when even conservatives in Wisconsin were saying there was no evidence of any problem with the vote tally in Wisconsin and anywhere else, that's on him. He did it once. I believe he'll do it again. And I think, I think it's a very legitimate thing for us to discuss, along with all the other policy things. Because democracy is — we saw over and over again in 2021 — after the terrorist insurrection, through the multiple lawsuits, over and over Republicans trying to undo the results of a democratically decided election.

Bill McCoshen:
So that we're clear about this. Kamala Harris, under any set of circumstances, will oversee the counting of the ballots in January of 2025, that's a fact.

Zac Schultz:
But that's not what we're talking...

Bill McCoshen:
...that's a fact. You're fast-forwarding four years...

Zac Schultz:
...yes, under the...

Bill McCoshen:
...to a hypothetical

Zac Schultz:
Well, they're all hypotheticals.

Bill McCoshen:
For a guy that can't run for a second term.

Zac Schultz:
For a third term.

Bill McCoshen:
Third term, right.

Zac Schultz:
But what you were saying is that there's no way he would overturn an election coming out of that.

Bill McCoshen:
What election would he overturn, JD Vance's?

Scot Ross:
Well, I mean, JD Vance told Trump earlier, "ignore Supreme Court decisions you don't agree with." And I think that brings us back to why people...

Bill McCoshen:
Well Biden's already done that on the student loan debt.

Scot Ross:
Why people believe that, why people believe that it is problematic to have Donald Trump as a president? Because we saw, you know, the central tenet is that every person, no person is above the law in America. And the Supreme Court, three of six, you know, six justices, three of them who were appointed by Trump, said that the law doesn't apply to him, or Biden I know that, but it was because they don't want Trump to be prosecuted for the crimes, the 34 felonies he was convicted of. We saw his appointee, Aileen Cannon. Aileen — okay let's talk Aileen a second, just give me this one.

Scot Ross:
Aileen Cannon, who is on the court to make those decisions and dismiss Trump's case was put in there because Mitch McConnell pushed after the election to get her on. And now they booed Mitch McConnell when he stepped on the stage yesterday.

Bill McCoshen:
I'm glad you raised that. I was disappointed in my fellow Republicans yesterday when they booed Mitch McConnell. If there is a Hall of Fame for United States senators, Republican United States Senators, Mitch McConnell would absolutely be in that in my opinion. Without him, Merrick Garland would be on the Supreme Court. Three brand new justices would not be on the Supreme Court. He is a hero. Did he stay too long in the Senate? Yes, he did. I'm one of these guys who now believes we should have a mandatory retirement age. I don't think we need octogenarians, either in the White House or in the Congress.

Zac Schultz:
What about the Supreme Court?

Bill McCoshen:
But here we are. Well, they have lifetime terms. They have lifetime terms.

Zac Schultz:
So, one more person I want to talk about from last night was the president of the Teamsters. He closed the night with a pretty powerful speech. He's made some appearances before Congress, and the people who follow social media, they probably saw him ready to throw down against a GOP senator who he named, name called out in his speech. But what's your reaction, Scot, first of all, to having the president of the Teamsters at the GOP convention?

Scot Ross:
Well, Donald Trump is the most anti-Union, anti-worker president we have ever had in American history. There is no doubt about that. Over and over again, he is, you know, just been awful on that issue. Joe Biden and the Democrats put $36 billion into the American Recovery Act to make sure that the 350,000 Teamsters, both current and retirees, will be able to get the pension benefits that they've earned. So it was a slap in the face to the Democrats. I don't think it's gonna make a difference, because overall, labor is with Joe Biden, 100%. This guy is an anomaly to that.

Bill McCoshen:
I loved it. As a son of a union president from Superior, I thought it was great. I think Donald Trump has transformed this party. We are now the party of working people, which I'm proud of. I grew up one. And I think it was a powerful message. To be fair, the Teamsters president did not endorse Donald Trump last night. I don't believe he will. I don't believe he'll endorse Joe Biden either. But it's said to other working people out there, you know what, these guys are okay.

Zac Schultz:
And that, the traditional union laborer is a middle class or middle working class white male who has been drifting towards the Republican party and has been attracted to Trump. So that seems like a natural fit for the Republicans...

Bill McCoshen:
Oh I think it is. And the one that's a little odd to me is the UAW. So Shawn Farrell, the president of the UAW, has already come out and endorsed Biden. [Editor's note: The name of the president of the United Auto Works is Shawn Fain, not Shawn Farrell.] Not a big surprise. Biden walked the picket line with them. I think UAW members will be with Trump, and I'll tell you why. He's gonna do away with this EV mandate that Joe Biden put in place. It's gonna impact their jobs in Michigan and send those jobs down to Mexico. I mean, that's one of the reasons Trump got elected. One of the things, reasons, I think he picked JD Vance. He came from Appalachia, whose entire region, Scot grew up not far from there, was hollowed out by NAFTA and trade agreements that were anti-American. So I think that's gonna be a powerful message across the country for the next 112 days.

Scot Ross:
First of all, with all due, the area where I grew up in steel country, was because, under Reagan, steel was the first American industry that was outsourced overseas. You know and people haven't forgotten that. But they're a lot older now because that was 40 years ago. You know, the fact is that labor is always gonna stand with the Democrats because the Democrats stand for labor. Look at roll call after roll call after roll call, top to bottom in every level of government. When it comes down to it, Republicans vote against labor and working people, Democrats vote for them. And you can't argue with the record. And one guy who, my guess is this probably will be his last term elected as the Teamsters' president — we can come back in a couple years when he's up and we can make, you know, you can call me if he still is — but people are angry about that in the labor movement because again, Democrats have stood up for working people across the board. And Joe Biden's put in his policies, the American Recovery Act, the anti-inflation act. I mean, it's all there working towards putting more people to work and making sure those are good paying jobs because Democrats understand the economy, okay? They understand the economy. When you put money into the pockets of working people, they spend that money in the community. Tax cuts for the rich is one of the, you start with the promises they broke last night, tax cuts for the rich do not help working people.

Zac Schultz:
So one of the other things that I wanted to get to yesterday but we ran out of time is talking about the GOP platform. And it kind of got fast-tracked last week. And anti-abortion activists are upset because there is not a national abortion ban in the plank. First off, does it matter? And is this showing Trump understanding the importance of Roe this fall and that's why he is doing this?

Bill McCoshen:
Yeah, I don't think there's any question about that. He said it himself. He takes credit for the three appointees on the United States Supreme Court that rendered the Dobbs decision that undid Roe versus Wade and sent it back to the states. But he's also saying, "We're not gonna tell all of the states how to do this with a national ban." He's made that very, very clear. And procedurally to do that, he would need 60 votes in the United States Senate to make that happen. Even if Republicans have a landslide victory in November, they're not gonna get to 60 seats in the United States Senate.

Zac Schultz:
Did this change anyone's views of Republicans and abortion?

Scot Ross:
Well, I think we should just talk about the issue for a second. It's not just abortion. It's whether or not women, and, you know, we're three dudes, whether women have control of their bodies. And that is why, the fact that Trump's court overturned Roe versus Wade, is why Democrats continue to win election after election after election in Wisconsin. I think Ron Johnson being the one exception, the one exception that the Democrats weren't able to win. But again, that's part of why JD Vance is on the ticket. Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council who was attempting to get the resolution put back into the — whatever your process is, where you get an opposition view gets to be put in the platform, it failed. But he tried to do that because he cares so much about a nationwide abortion ban. JD Vance is the sort of message to those folks that that's happening. Vance has called abortion murder. He said there should be no exceptions for rape and incest. He supported the Ohio version of six weeks with no exceptions for rape and incest. He said that, you know, a woman choosing to end a pregnancy that happens as a result of those things "is a convenience," quote unquote. His comments, not mine. And so over and over again, part of what he was able to do is, you know, we're talking about Republican unity, not unity with the rest of us. And that was part of what it is. Because if Republicans take control of the White House, they have already put the blueprint in place to have a nationwide abortion ban.

Bill McCoshen:
Won't happen.

Scot Ross:
Put it in the bank Frank.

Bill McCoshen:
It can't happen. And here's the deal. There's some irony in this. So, pro-lifers for years wanted the overturn of Roe versus Wade. They got it, right? The dog caught the car, right? And now they want a national ban, right? When in reality, this is a state decision. And there will be, there are potentially 50 different answers to this. Today in the state of Wisconsin based on some recent court decisions, there's a 20-week ban on abortion. Meaning you can have an abortion up to the 20th week. It's about the — you are right into the second trimester, I believe. That could change over time with different legislatures or a different governor, but that's the law of the land. And most polling's act statewide here says somewhere around 15 weeks most people think is reasonable. What they think is unreasonable is abortions in the third trimester. And Democrats writ large are for that. We're not. We're not for that.

Zac Schultz:
So...

Scot Ross:
I'm sorry. Let me add just for one second. Because most of the propaganda, sorry, most of the information that comes out of the Republicans, including the Project 2025, calls for the 14th Amendment to see fetuses as persons, the Personhood Amendment. That means all abortions banned no matter what, it means an end to IVF, and it means your birth control is coming under attack.

Bill McCoshen:
Support for IVF is in Agenda 47.

Scot Ross:
And without a doubt they can say...

Zac Schultz:
Okay, why didn't they pass it when it was on the table in the Senate?

Bill McCoshen:
Well, it's now the party platform.

Scot Ross:
But again...

Zac Schultz:
Which we just talked about, may not have much of an issue.

Bill McCoshen:
Well, I think it will. I think the Republicans will run on it.

Zac Schultz:
So I want to bring you back to 2014, post-Act 10, Scott Walker's running for reelection. And he has said over and over to the media, "I will not sign a bill that does right-to-work because it will never reach my desk." His promise was "we don't even have to worry about that issue coming up because it'll never make my desk." Well, he couldn't control the Legislature. The Legislature passes right-to-work legislation and he immediately signs it. Is there a comparison to Donald Trump saying, "Well, I don't have to worry about a national abortion ban 'cause it won't get there," or you saying, "Oh, there's not enough votes there, it couldn't get through a filibuster;" when there are ways for legislation to make it to a president's desk. Do you honestly believe Donald Trump would not sign that bill if it somehow got to his desk?

Bill McCoshen:
I would say there are ways to make sure it doesn't get to his desk. One of the tricks we used in the Thompson administration is we told allies, "Get it to our desk and we'll sign it," knowing full well we could kill it and they would never know. So I don't think there's any chance it could get to his desk for a couple of different reasons. Number one, we're gonna have a different majority leader. We don't know who that's gonna be. It won't be Mitch McConnell. That's already been decided. Mike Johnson may or may not survive as Speaker. My guess is he's had a better couple of months, I thought he had a rough start, but I don't see him pushing it through their Congress either. So the chances of something like that getting to his desk are slim and none, in my opinion.

Zac Schultz:
Doesn't a new majority leader make it more likely that they could carve out a filibuster issue for abortion?

Scot Ross:
Absolutely. There's two parts to this. The first part is, and I'll address what Bill's saying about what he and Governor Thompson were able to do to stymie legislation. The Project 2025 has an entire component of how administratively the executive branch can ban abortion. Everything from the morning after pill to a whole slew of things. If the majority want, you know, if the executive wants to do this, it's gonna be able to do it because they've always been able to do it. And guess what, we've seen what happens if it goes to the Supreme Court, Trump gets his way with the Trump Supreme Court — simple as that. And so the second part of the, I'm sorry, the second part of that question is, you know, I believe if the Republicans take control of the Senate this time with Trump in the White House, and the House in the control of Republicans, the filibuster is gone. It's gone as Mitch McConnell will be from leadership. It's as simple as that. They've changed the rules whenever they don't like the rules.

Bill McCoshen:
Actually it was Harry Reid that changed the rules that allowed the Supreme Court justices...

Zac Schultz:
Because Mitch McConnell was the one who changed it and the filibuster for the Supreme Court...

Scot Ross:
Yeah, Reid changed it because there were nominees to the cabinet who were being delayed for years and years and years. And let's just talk about that delay here. Ron Johnson helped Republicans delay a... So there's the Supreme Court and then there's the Court of Appeals. We're in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Ron Johnson helped the Republicans stop an appointment, an opening that came in Obama's first year from being filled by Trump. 3,046 days that, you know, that opened, and then, they filled it with — speaking of, Scott Walker's old lawyer filled that position. And so that. If the rules are inconvenient, they dispense with the rules through all means necessary. Again, they're not playing show friends.

Bill McCoshen:
Back to your example though, your word is all you have in politics, it's your only currency. So if the former governor made that promise, he wouldn't sign it, then he should have vetoed it. That would have ensured his reelection in 2018. Because the union's turned against him in 2018.

Zac Schultz:
What he said was, "I won't have to make that choice. It'll never make my desk." He avoided having to say...

Bill McCoshen:
Well he said something stronger than that directly to the Union bosses behind closed doors. And then it got to him and he changed his position.

Scot Ross:
The Republican party, ideological consistency is the hobgoblin of the small-minded.

Zac Schultz:
I want to look forward to tonight. Eric Hovde has a speaking slot. It's early in the evening. Let's talk about this race because there was new polling from WMC that came out today that showed the Baldwin-Hovde race, and dead even.

Bill McCoshen:
Right.

Zac Schultz:
It showed Trump up by a good number probably outside the margin.

Bill McCoshen:
Six. Yeah, outside the margin.

Zac Schultz:
And for Wisconsin. Do you believe that this race is tied? Because everything before this poll had at least shown Baldwin ahead. And around the swing states, we'd see Dem incumbents ahead of the Republican challengers, even with Biden, tied or down.

Bill McCoshen:
I would be surprised if it's tied. And that's not a knock on Eric Hovde's campaign. I think it's still a little early to be tied against an incumbent. I think one of the things your viewers need to understand is zero incumbent United States senators lost in 2022. It is one of the hardest seats to win. To beat an incumbent is one of the hardest things to do in politics. So Tammy Baldwin has some built-in advantages. Having said that, I believe Joe Biden is gonna have an undertow and pull her down a few points. The question is whether he pulls her below 50 and gives Eric Hovde a chance to win. I don't think the race is tied, but I think it's getting closer all the time.

Scot Ross:
I think Tammy Baldwin has always run great campaigns and Tammy Baldwin has always won. And like in 2018, you know, when Tony Evers won by like, what, half a percent or whatever? It was 27,000, 21,000 votes?

Bill McCoshen:
Yes, 27,000 votes.

Scot Ross:
She won by 11 points. So, even if Biden gets across the finish line in Wisconsin, but it's just as close, you know, I think Tammy prevails, there's no doubt about it. I will say this — shameless self-plug, I was at the gymnasium at one point yesterday and the TVs in Milwaukee here, nonstop ads against Tammy. Both Hovde and some independent, some pro-petroleum independent. Like it was nonstop on the TV screens. So they're spending, the light's on. But we expect that. One of the super PACs is controlled by Hovde's brother, for god's sakes. So this is a guy who owns a $3 billion California bank, who has a $7 million seaside California home, who's coming to Wisconsin to try and, you know, have — It's basically out-of-state interests are trying to put an out-of-state guy in the Wisconsin Senate seat and I think-

Bill McCoshen:
Welcome to politics.

Scot Ross:
Well I think it's gonna fail just like Tim Michels did.

Bill McCoshen:
She's a tough out, I will give her credit. She's a hard campaigner. I think we're in a very different situation than we are in 2018. The thing she has going for right now, I haven't read the cross-tabs of the WMC poll, is she's currently getting about 5% of Trump supporters. So your viewers, their eyes are probably popping out of their head when I said that, but there are some Baldwin-Trump supporters in the state of Wisconsin. For Eric Hovde, she can't have any. He has to get all of the Trump voters. And I think from this point forward, he's gotta let people know, they're together, they're aligned on policy. And once that happens, then I think there will be a true condensing of the race.

Scot Ross:
And I think the second, I'm sorry, I think the second advantage that Tammy has, beyond her campaigning, is the fact that Eric Hovde's in the race. This is a guy who insulted — he said that he will raise healthcare prices on people who are above a certain weight. He said that farmers are lazy and they just, quote unquote, "drive tractors." He insulted single moms and said that they're the cause of poverty. Over and over again, this guy keeps stuffing his silver foot in his silver mouth. And it is a challenge for him.

Zac Schultz:
One thing you could say about Tammy Baldwin is she has incredible political instincts. So what can we read from that, when she is in the other end of the state when Joe Biden came to Madison after his debate performance?

Scot Ross:
I'll address that. Because, again, when you're running a campaign, and you've been through this and I've been through this — you don't turn it — if you have a northern swing, you don't just put that together. It takes weeks and weeks to put some of that stuff together. It was very clear that she was doing that.

Zac Schultz:
But her optics, what she's saying...

Scot Ross:
I understand what you're saying, I understand what you're saying and again, Tammy has never — and I think I said this yesterday. Tammy has never been somebody to be the rah rah, let's get all the Democrats out there. It's my job to make sure. Her job is to get elected, her job is to support us in Congress. And she's done that, you know, and she gets the job done. And it's not her job to do the rah rah and the fire breathing. So she wasn't there. Again, people can take their own — get their own conclusions from that.

Zac Schultz:
Yeah.

Scot Ross:
But she supports Joe Biden. She's said it over and over.

Bill McCoshen:
The optics are obvious, right? She had access to a plane, she could have been there if she wanted to. She chose not to be there. I get why. As a former campaign manager, I would put my guy or lady on the stage with the president if they were popular or if they helped me. And I think she did make the same calculation and decided, pshew, he's underwater, he's not helping me. He's probably gonna drag me down a few points. So we'll see more over the next 112 days. Biden's gonna be here multiple times. You ought to assume Vice President Harris will be here. Does Tammy Baldwin show up at any of those? I'm guessing no, she doesn't. She's gonna try and stay separate from them so that she can maintain a few of those Trump-Baldwin voters out there.

Zac Schultz:
Right now the schedule says Hovde is outside the primetime slot. So is this just the hometown guy getting a shot to address the crowd in this — inside Fiserv?

Bill McCoshen:
I think it's, yes, I think it is. But he'll be able to use the video to raise money, to introduce himself to more voters. So it's all — if you're on the stage, there are ways to use it.

Zac Schultz:
So one other thing that came out yesterday has to do with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. And we've been talking about this earlier with the recall elections against him. You said there would be an eye-popping number coming up for what he had raised and it was $600,000. $500,000 came from Liz Uihlein.

Scot Ross:
Still, I don't want to say that I think of you early in the morning but when that came across on my thing, the report about it, I thought of you this morning.

Bill McCoshen:
I missed it. But I called it, right?

Zac Schultz:
You did! You said it would be an eye-popping number. That is an eye-popping number.

Bill McCoshen:
For a legislative candidate, that's off the charts.

Zac Schultz:
So what does he do with that? Is he just gonna run all the assembly campaigns himself against the Dems?

Bill McCoshen:
He can, yeah.

Scot Ross:
Well he changed the laws so that he can do that. Again, it's one of those things again — the Republicans changed the finance. They changed the campaign finance laws, and they changed the coordination laws in 2015 after Scot Walker, Robin Vos and Fitzgerald were all under investigation for potential violations of collusion.

Bill McCoshen:
Which Ben Wikler and Democrats have benefited from...

Scot Ross:
Yes.

Bill McCoshen:
...far more than Republicans have.

Scot Ross:
Yeah, absolutely. So again they change that. And the other thing that Vos changed is he changed that you could coordinate with so-called independent groups, as long as you're not doing, you know, as long as you're not doing express advocacy.

Bill McCoshen:
That's huge.

Scot Ross:
I'm trying to put my hat on my old world of express advocacy versus direct advocacy.

Bill McCoshen:
That is huge.

Scot Ross:
His wife happens to run, you know, be the bag person for one of those, the one that supports Assembly Republicans.

Zac Schultz:
But what does he do with the money? Like where do you see that in... Does he get to strategically pick his — Because we know that he picks who he wants to run in a lot of these seats. If you don't run the race that you need to run, you're not gonna get the committee you want.

Bill McCoshen:
Right.

Zac Schultz:
I mean he runs the Assembly.

Bill McCoshen:
Yep.

Zac Schultz:
So how does he use that money to continue that streak?

Bill McCoshen:
So he can use it to support candidates. So a Democrat should pick up seats in the Assembly. I think, based on the new maps, there's no way they don't pick up seats, frankly. They're gonna pick up some automatically. But as the polling changes, if Trump really is up six points in Wisconsin, and that's the best we've seen so far, others have it at three or four. That potentially puts more legislative seats down ballot in play for Robin Vos. And it probably protects a couple for Devin LeMahieu, the State Senate Majority Leader that he didn't think he could get — Green Bay and La Crosse being the two.

Scot Ross:
I'm gonna agree with Bill if Biden's poll numbers dip in Wisconsin turnout. I think that at most, I don't think it affects the Senate race, but I do think it affects state legislative races. I'll just ask, speculate — maybe Robin Vos will do a lobbying campaign to have the Supreme Court Library since we had that dust up about that, he can have it renamed after Mike Gableman.

Zac Schultz:
I don't think that's going to happen.

Bill McCoshen:
David Prosser.

Zac Schultz:
Yes. All right. Thank you, we will leave it there for today. Bill and Scot, thanks for...

Bill McCoshen:
Can I wish my father-in-law a happy 99th birthday today?

Zac Schultz:
99th? Same birthday...

Bill McCoshen:
...Bill Kumpf.

Zac Schultz:
Brian Schimming had a birthday today too. So birthdays all around.

Bill McCoshen:
World War II vet. 99. Happy birthday, Billy Boy.

Zac Schultz:
Happy birthday.

Zac Schultz:
All right, thank you both gentlemen. And thank you for watching this special presentation of Here & Now's 2024 election coverage. Be sure to come back tomorrow. You'll find us here each day this week. And tune into PBS' evening coverage of the convention where Here & Now will have another update on the day's events. And finally, join us on Friday to wrap up the week with a special one hour presentation of Here & Now starting at 7:00 PM. I'm Zac Schultz. Thanks for joining us and have a great day, and we will see you here back tomorrow.