from The Guardian, August 11, 2024
When Kamala Harris and the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, stepped onstage together for the first time on Tuesday, Philadelphia’s Liacouras Center glittered red, white and blue as Beyoncé’s Freedom blared and the crowd pulsed.
Walz, who was plucked from relative obscurity just hours when he accepted the vice-president’s offer to join the Democratic presidential ticket, placed his hand over his heart, almost bewildered by the reception. He waved. He bowed. He pointed to the crowd, and back to Harris. He grinned and laughed and bowed again.
When it was his turn to speak, Walz turned to Harris: “Thank you, Madam Vice-President, for the trust you put in me but, maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy.”
Brats, dads and bravado: this US election will be decided on vibes
Sam Wolfson
It was a remarkable moment in a remarkable election cycle that would have been unimaginable just a few weeks ago, when the Democratic party appeared all but resigned to the prospect of a second, and even more devastating defeat to Donald Trump in November.
But then Joe Biden abandoned his bid for re-election, and Democrats with unusual speed and certainty embraced his vice-president as their standard-bearer. Harris’s ascendance – and her choice of Walz as a partner, which drew plaudits from Democrats across the ideological spectrum – have transformed the party.
“All of a sudden, an election that felt like it was slipping away from us, we are now in command,” said Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist and the relentlessly optimistic author of the Substack, Hopium Chronicles. “In every way imaginable I would much rather be us than them.”
Read the article HERE.
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