Civic Media News Special Report: President Biden Withdraws from 2024 Race

You're listening to civic, civic media news special coverage of Biden, President Biden

withdrawing from his reelection campaign a moment that maybe seemed inevitable to many

two weeks ago after his much criticized debate performance, then his diagnosis with COVID-19,

an increase in calls from top national Democrats for him to withdraw denials from the Biden

campaign as recently as yesterday that that would happen.

And now here we are today, a complete reset of the race for president, which was already

quite historic. Good afternoon, I'm Terry Bell of civic media news.

Many people are joining us for the next hour, talking about this very important development

for the country. Joining me now in a moment is Todd Albaugh of the Todd Albaugh show,

but first let's get a news update from Savannah Tome Olson, Savannah.

Hey, Terry. So once this news broke early in the afternoon today, the first thing that

happened was the flood of Democrats who were praising this decision, whether they had

previously spoken about it publicly or not. There was really just a huge wave of Democrats

saying that this was the right move. When I spoke to Congressman Mark Pokan, he said that

this was an honorable decision and made by someone patriotic. The campaign has formally

filed its paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. So instead of it being the Biden

Harris campaign, it's now officially called Harris for president. Kamala Harris has spent

all day calling Democratic lawmakers. She may is making at least 200 phone calls by the end

of the night tonight assuring Democrats that she's on their side and trying to make sure

that they can act as surrogates for her campaign against President Donald Trump. And Biden

is not the first president to end their re-election campaign, but he did exit the race the latest.

So this is something that Democrats will be hoping to change. The last two incumbent presidents

to drop out of the race for a second term are Harry Truman and Lyndon Lee Johnson, both Democrats.

However, after both of those races, it ended up being Republicans that won. So if Kamala Harris

is able to win the White House, it would be a historic moment for many reasons, but that one

especially. And of course, on the other side, Trump's super PAC MAGA Inc has already started buying

ad time for ads against Harris, especially in four major battleground states, Arizona, Georgia,

Nevada, and Pennsylvania. There's just no doubt that every day is going to be a flood of information

as this continues, Terry. Thank you, Savannah. I'm going to read from the president's statements that

he put out on Twitter. X, if you will, that's how the news broke earlier this afternoon just before

one o'clock central time. My fellow Americans, over the past three and a half years, we have made

great progress as a nation. Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We've made

historic investments in rebuilding our nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors

at an expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. We've provided critically

needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances past the first gun safety law in

30 years, appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court, and passed the most

significant climate legislation in the history of the world. America has never been better positioned

to lead than we are today. I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people.

Together, we overcame on once-a-century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great

Depression. We've protected and preserved our democracy, and we revitalized and strengthened

our alliances around the world. It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your

president, and while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best

interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my

duties as president for the remainder of my term. I will speak to the nation later this week

in more detail about my decision. For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all who's

have worked hard to see me re-elected. I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being

an extraordinary partner in all this work, and let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the

American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me. I believe today, what I have always

have, that there is nothing America can't do when we do it together. We just have to remember,

we are the United States of America, and it's signed Joe Biden. We bring Todd Abba into the program

now, and Todd, you anchored our coverage earlier today. I thank you for that. What are some of your

impressions on this incredibly historic day? Always a pleasure to be with you, Terry and Savannah,

coming to you from the Richland Center, actually, on this evening. Terry, you and I talked about

this at the RNC earlier or later last week on Thursday, my reporting from both Republicans and

Democrats indicated this would happen. It would happen over the weekend, and it was likely today,

and here we are. So I think people that were following this closely that today's announcement was

either a surprise nor unexpected. I think really tonight, the focus should be on Joe Biden,

and on the Democrats, the Democratic leadership. Look, I think all of us who've lived a few years on

this planet have had to make the hard decision with parents or grand-part parents when they get to

a certain age and say, you know what, do people drive anymore, Grandma, or it's time to move into

a senior assistant living? Those are not easy conversations. And the Democratic Party and Joe Biden,

and the Biden family in particular, had that conversation. And Joe Biden, in my opinion, did the

honorable thing he put country ahead of self, and he made way for the next generation of leadership

in the most likely vice president, Kamala Harris. I think what people should ask themselves tonight is,

why didn't the Republicans do this? I mean, for the Democrats, the moment was the the

presidential debate a month ago or so, and they said, look, we have to have the hard conversation

with President Biden. January 6th was that moment for Republicans, and yet they refused to have

that hard debate among themselves. And Donald Trump is now Republican nominee with 34 felony counts.

And you should ask yourselves, I think, or all of us should, as potential voters, now with someone

like Kamala Harris most likely at the top of the Democratic dick, it does Donald Trump have

the mental faculties, security, and stamina, not just to be president now, but think of four years

from now, and he would be 82. But Republicans have a lot of soul searching to do, and I think

Joe Biden should be praised for what he did, and the Democratic leadership are bringing it to a

hard but important moment in American politics. Thank you, Todd. Todd, much more from you coming up

throughout the hour. We want to bring in Mike Wagner of the University of Wisconsin,

Madison School of Journalism and Master of Communications. He researchers and teaches about

journalism and the media, and Mike, I thought your insights tonight would be incredibly valuable.

So thanks for joining us on vacation in Michigan right now.

Good to be here. Yeah, I think it's caught. I think it just goes to show how much, even though we

were expecting this, it was pretty much something out of the movies, all hands on deck. We were all

in the middle of enjoying our Sunday afternoon when the news broke, and we left into action.

I want to ask you what are some of your thoughts and impressions first off?

It is a historic day, right? The president of the United States and a man who is

wanted to be president for 40 or 50 years and is the president and has had a very successful

presidency in his first term in terms of public policy, in terms of the unemployment rate, economic

growth, getting inflation under control. All of these things are the kinds of things that you would

say would normally set you up very well for re-election, and yet his debate performance was

undeniably disastrous, and he was not able to persuade party elites, nor was he able to persuade

especially middle of the road voters that he was up for the job to be re-elected. And so,

over the last few weeks, there's been this long, you know, in slow, methodical move within the

party to try to persuade President Biden to make the decision that he made today. And so,

President Biden is not running for re-election. He is doing so, you know, he made the choice.

Now they'll go to a convention and have a period where they choose their own nominee.

This is well within the rules of the Democratic Party. This is something that they, you know,

they have contingencies for, as with the Republican Party in their own case. And so,

it will be very fascinating to see how things progress from here.

I'll ask you, what are the rules? I mean, there's a lot of speculation. Some of it probably wild

and unfounded about what can and will happen, because it seemed that they did the right thing to

instantly circle the wagons around Kamala Harris at this point. Is that the only choice they had?

They can have other choices. The rules suggest that now that President Biden is not a candidate,

the people who are pledged delegates to him are no longer, you know, obligated to cast their vote

at the convention for Joe Biden. But they are also not obligated to vote for who he endorses.

So, President Biden has said he puts his support behind Vice President Harris.

Most Democratic Party elites, I think, are very likely to go with that choice.

But someone else could say they want to run. Someone else could be nominated.

There could be a, you know, a floor fight. Usually, they take kind of a test vote

before going around and doing the whole process. It could be that, you know, someone like,

you know, Senator Manchin who left the party and became an independent, may come back

and try to get the nomination for President. But, you know, by far, the most likely outcome would be

Vice President Harris becoming the nominee. Yeah, we did see that Joe Manchin is considering

thinking about getting into this thing. It would surprise me if the party rallies around him.

He is far less well-known than Vice President Harris and would have a much harder time raising money.

Vice President Harris can spend the money given to the Biden-Harris campaign.

And so, she has just an enormous number of advantages. She is the Vice President. She has

this record of the Biden-Harris team. She didn't leave the party that she would be seeking

the nomination for, like Manchin would. And so, it would be difficult, it would be a very

difficult road for him, I think, to get the nomination. Also, he's, you know, quite middle of the road.

And people in these conventions tend to be, you know, stronger partisans and might not look

too kindly on a person who, you know, left the party. How about the history of all of this,

especially in this modern media age? You know, Lyndon Johnson did this. I believe Harry Truman,

as well, pulled out of a race while it was still interest. This is Savannah Tomey Olsen reported

earlier would be the latest, this everyone. You know, how will this play with the American people?

Well, most people don't remember with great detail a time when the party chose the nominee,

but that's really how we did it from the founding of the country through 1972. Right?

Primaries were not binding until the 1970s. And it wasn't a really until after that that they

became, you know, the incredibly important elements that they are in contemporary presidential politics.

And so we're really in some, in a small way, kind of reverting back, at least on the democratic

party side in this particular election, to a convention where the party elites will be choosing

the nominee. But it's how we've done it for most of American history. So, you know, we have a

history of doing it, but not one in most any of our memories. And so it's peculiar from that

standpoint. And of course, you know, it's not the case that many people who might have run had

President Biden said, you know what, I'm not going to seek reelection and said this back in January,

maybe other folks would have thrown their hats into the ring and contested by his president

Harris. So there's not a lot of time for them to put together a national campaign. They don't have

the financial advantage she has as being on the ticket with, you know, President Biden already.

And a lot of the institutional support is already lining up behind her.

We're getting word to that Republicans are seeking legal action to require Joe Biden to

remain the nominee. That does not seem like anything a court of law can force a person to do.

I imagine this is all for show. It's very difficult to imagine

that wish being successful. It sounds frankly like a fantasy. The Democrats have not nominated

anybody for president yet. And to have a court force somebody to be that party's nominee

seems extremely unlikely. All right. Very good. Thank you so much, Mike Wagner. It was great

for you to join us on short notice while you're on enjoying a nice weekend in Michigan. Lovely place.

It is. And thanks so much for the time and have a great show. Thank you. Thank you, Mike.

Civic media news coverage continues. President Biden's decision to withdraw his reelection bid.

Shortly after the announcement, Senator Tammy Baldwin released the following statement. And this

is a quote, it has been an honor to work with Joe Biden to deliver real meaningful change for

working Wisconsinites across our state. Today, seniors are paying less for their prescription

drugs. Our state has been put to work rebuilding our infrastructure and millions of

Wisconsinites with pre existing conditions have health care coverage because of the work we've

done together. Throughout all that work, I've been inspired by his decency, integrity and dedication

to service. And I am deeply grateful for that. Thank you, president Biden. Then she issued another

statement shortly after that. This again from Senator Baldwin. Today, I'm proud to endorse

Vice President Kamala Harris for president of the United States. I look forward to her candidacy

as a new beginning for our party and our country. And I am excited to work with her to lower

costs for Wisconsin families, grow our made in America economy and restore our fundamental rights

and freedoms. Senator Baldwin was scheduled to give a campaign rally in Stoten earlier this

afternoon. And of course, she took that occasion to make some remarks about today's developments.

And Brian Kelly, if you have some of that sound ready for us to share with our audience.

President Biden decided to set aside his campaign for the election. And focus his attention

on serving up the rest of his term. We only have such a deck of gratitude for his lifetime

commitment. We also promised to be a great show to the next generation. And we're seeing that

transpired in real time before our very eyes. I have always been aware that we are a battleground state.

Everybody must renew that. It's been said that Wisconsin will decide who the next president is,

what party controls the United States Senate. We may even contribute lightly to changing

the balance of power in the House of Representatives. We are going to see a question that is both

inspiring at the top of the ticket as well as inspiring at the grassroots level everywhere in our state.

And the statements keep coming in. The Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan, who was the first

lawmaker from Wisconsin to publicly come out and say President Biden should withdraw on Friday.

He tweets today, I thank President of the United States for his tremendous service to this country.

He got this country out of COVID and has us economically strong again. It is time for the GOP

to talk with former President Trump about his candidacy. His flaws as a candidate have not changed.

34 felonies, a project 2025 and more. And that is from Mark Pocan, the Congressman Gwen Moore,

with the following statement. This is a quote, President Biden is exiting this race with great dignity.

And I'm really proud of his presidency and his record. His successful agenda will continue to

improve the lives of the American people for years to come. My focus remains on defeating Donald

Trump. We must all unite in our efforts to protect our democracy and individual freedoms.

I will support Vice President Harris as the Democratic nominee and the work hard to ensure Democrats

win in 2024. That again, a statement from Milwaukee Congresswoman Gwen Moore. Let's bring Todd

all back into the program. And Todd, you've been observing a lot of the chatter that's been

happening. Is it consistent with what you expected to hear? Yeah, I mean, certainly as a former

Republican, you know, I'm not as in tune to the Democratic side. It's other people are a panel

and perhaps we can bring our colleague Earl Ingraham in the W.A.U.K. to speak to that. But I think

certainly politically speaking, again, I think this is a great time to simply admire what President

Biden has done. He's put country ahead of self. And again, I think the question for voters

of Wisconsin is, why haven't Republicans done the same? And does Donald Trump have the

faculties, the acuities be president on states not just now, but four years now? What is 82? So

I salute to President Biden, but certainly Earl Ingraham is more in tune as a lifelong activist

and a Democrat on the other side of the aisle. Earl, the people, your friends that you're talking

with today, what are they saying? Well, clearly, I just want to say this before we get there.

I think the wrong thing to do is to spend time talking about Donald Trump and the Republicans

right now, because it's an opportunity for the Democrats to be able to bring together

their all of those folks who really understood that Joe Biden didn't just step aside. He was forced

out because people knew the impact of what was happening with the Republicans and Donald Trump

and the fact that the financial support for President Biden had waned. This is a great opportunity

for Kamala Harris to select a vice president presidential candidate, maybe Gretchen Whitmer,

and have two women running and be able to bring together groups of people who probably would have

never been brought together before. I think if we don't realize what time it is, how critically

important this time is and that there isn't a lot of time to squabble about whose next up,

the Democrats are going to have to pull together. She is the vice president. She was selected to be

the vice president by the president of the United States, and she's done that before years.

If anything happens outside of that, it puts the Democrats in a situation that they're guaranteed

to lose. Let me give you some statistics quickly. The Black vote in 2020, the Black vote made of 24%

of the Democratic vote, and the Black community in the city of Milwaukee and across this nation

have overwhelmingly voted for Democrats. What President Biden knew and why they were spending so

much time and effort and resources in the city of Milwaukee, and why Kamala Harris was scheduled

to come to Milwaukee, even be again for the third time in the last several weeks is because they know

that the key to getting any Democrat reelected is through the Black vote. And yet at some point in time,

I don't know at what point in time we're going to realize just how critically important that is.

And I will say this, if the Democrats can't coalesce, can't bring all those factions together,

like the Republicans did under Donald Trump, then they deserve to lose because if they choose not

to support Kamala Harris for what reason. She is the vice president of the United States. She's been

endorsed by the president of the United States. What could be the reasons that they would not support

and if that is in fact what happens, then I can tell you that the Democrats, Black Democrats aren't

going to support whoever that ticket is, they're going to turn against the Democrats and as I

stated before, 24% of the Democratic vote is Black.

That, Erlingram, it seemed that many Black voters at least, according to polls,

wanted to wait and hear more from Joe Biden. They weren't all in right away and slow to come

around. Does Kamala Harris accelerate support for the Democratic ticket?

I will say this, Barack Obama received over 90%. Let's see, Barack Obama received

82% of the Black vote. There's nothing that points to me that makes me believe that Kamala Harris won't

receive something similar. 75, 77% of the Black vote if Kamala Harris is the nominee.

There's no question, listen to these statistics quickly and then I'll move on. In 2016,

Hillary Clinton won 77% of the Black vote and she became the eventual nominee. In 2008,

Barack Obama received 82% of the Black vote and he became the nominee. In 2004,

John Kerry received 56% of the Black vote, he became the nominee. In 2000, Al Gore received 86%

of the Black vote, he became the nominee. In 1992, Bill Clinton received 70% of the Black vote,

he became the nominee. It's not by accident. It clearly is critically important and a democratic

party is the way of that. Earl Ingram is the host of the Earl Ingram show on civic media,

originating from WAUK in Wauka Show. Earl, thanks so much for joining our program tonight.

You're welcome. So Todd, more reflections on this incredibly historic day. We saw it coming

while probably as early as back of that debate that you and I co-hosted a live broadcast,

then through his COVID-19 diagnosis and it was much the talk at the very end of the Republican

National Convention. In fact, Joe Biden threatened to steal some thunder from President Trump.

There's even talk of maybe making announcements the night of Trump's acceptance speech.

This has been a really eventful few days.

It has, and I'll tell you this, Terry, I spent the last two weeks traveling the state of Wisconsin

everywhere from River Falls, Chippewa Falls, or Claire Richellon Center,

New Glarest just south of Madison over to Milwaukee,

and points in between. I've talked from 18-year-old voter in for the first time in New Glarest

and across the state. I can tell you this, that people voters of Wisconsin were frustrated that

the only choices they had were Trump and Biden. I think the state, the majority of voters are

yearning for change and yearning for excitement. I think that with this show of pretty country before

self of Joe Biden today and stepping aside and making a way for Kamala Harris to my president,

I think that's going to reenergize people. I think it's going to give Democrats a new energy.

I think it's going to give independence and energy. When you put Kamala Harris,

a person who is attorney general in California, look, Donald Trump has 34-time convicted

felon. Kamala Harris put felons in jail. When you juxtapose that to a guy like Donald Trump,

you do watch it. We saw that 92-minute speech in Milwaukee last week that was meandering.

It was everywhere. It was in Goa here at the times. When you put a guy who would be 82

at the end of his presidency, he should have been back in the White House next to Kamala Harris,

who has her stuck together, I think that voters are going to be very energized by that.

They're ready to give Kamala Harris a chance. I think that Donald Trump politically,

if you look at what Chris Lasavina, the guy who ran Ron Johnson's campaign in Wisconsin successfully,

this is his worst nightmare. As our friend Triggy Olson said, this is a situation politically

of the dog catching the bus that he was chasing. It's not a good thing for Republicans and the

Trump campaign tonight. They're already on the attack. They're disorganized. They don't know what

to do. This was their worst nightmare of going up against somebody else other than Joe Biden.

With everything we've been hearing about so far, you'd think there would have been some

preparation. We'll talk more about that. We have much more to share with you on this special hour

long special broadcast. Civic media, news, President Biden, his decision not to run for re-election.

We'll be back with much more and more of our panelists here on Special Coverage on the Civic

Media Network. Stay with us.

And welcome back to Civic Media News Special Coverage of President Biden's decision to withdraw

from his re-election campaign. Reactions rolling in this from Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers,

and this is a quote, President Biden has been an extraordinary president, one if if not the

most well-accomplished presidents of my lifetime. He has led and guided us through some of the most

tumultuous times in our nation's history of ravaging pandemic and economic disaster, wars,

the world over, and insurrection, and a near daily assault on basic tenants of our democracy

and our more prized institutions. And he did so all while delivering for the American people,

and acting historic investments in our infrastructure, helping rebuild the middle class,

working to reduce costs for working families and seniors, fighting against attacks on reproductive

freedom and passing real solutions to the climate crisis and so much more. President Biden is a leader

who's always chosen unity over division, people over politics, selflessness over selfishness,

and decency and respect over cruelty and retribution. And that's as evident today as it has

been throughout each day of his decades of public service. I've been proud and honored to support

him, and I'm incredibly grateful for all of the work we've done to be able to do together.

Thank you, Mr. President, and that is from Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin. Let's bring in some more

of our panelists, Matt Rothschild and Dan Schaeffer are standing by with some of their thoughts and

impressions. Matt Rothschild, formerly of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and also with the

Progressive, and Dan Schaeffer is with the Recombobulation Area, gentlemen, welcome to the show.

Good evening. Thanks for having me. First of all, your first impressions.

Well, as you know, I was, Terry, you and Todd saw me the day after that fatal debate performance,

and I was fit to be tied, and I said pretty bluntly that Joe Biden can't be the candidate,

and you guys talked me down off the cliff a little bit there. But, you know, this is the right

decision for Biden to make, and it did take some courage and some selflessness, so I can congratulate

him on that. You know, unlike LBJ, you know, Biden had already won. LBJ hadn't won the primary.

LBJ was in a tough primary race, but here you had Biden who had won the whole thing so he could

tell himself and anybody and God himself to look, I won the whole thing. This is mine. Go away.

And essentially, he was trying to say that for a couple of weeks, and then Nancy Pelosi said,

think again, and that started the avalanche here. But this is definitely the right decision. And

what I'm hearing from my friends on Facebook, you know, even those who wanted to support Biden

after the bad debate and gave me grief for saying Joe's got to go. Everybody is coalescing around

Kamala Harris, very enthusiastically behind Kamala Harris. They want this thing over the division

within the Democratic Party. They want to go four square behind Kamala Harris. There's a lot of

optimism. There's a lot of energy. There's a lot of enthusiasm on the Democratic side tonight.

I'll be honest, as a reporter, I was sort of looking forward to the prospect of covering a

brokerd convention. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. Dan Schafer, do you think that's

for the best? Dan, we're having fun. I think that's a good thing. I think that, you know,

it's remarkable to see the immediate level of support for Kamala Harris right out of the gate

from from President Biden after he made the announcement. I saw that Tammy Baldwin was among those

who made that endorsement right away as well. Even some of the folks here in Milwaukee who during

the RNC last week, people like Mayor Cavalier Johnson, County Executive David Crowley, also

lining up behind Kamala Harris here as well. So I think that's a really important thing. We'll see,

you know, kind of how this shakes out. I saw that there is that news kind of floating around

on Joe Manchin and whether he would get into the mix here, you know, remains to be seen exactly

what happens there. Joe Manchin does seem to like the spotlight in these types of moments,

but we'll see what happens. But I think it would be, you know, this is why we have a vice president,

right? This is why we have a vice president. So if the president is unable to continue his duties,

as you know, he made that decision today about a potential next term. And I think it makes sense

for for people to line up behind the vice president in this moment. A lot of talk,

turning to who Kamala Harris's running mate may be. Who are some of the names being banded about

and which ones do you like best? Well, I kind of like the idea that her old

ingram suggested of Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan. I think she would bring Michigan straight into

the column for the Democrats. It's one of the crucial swing states. And I think, you know,

this abortion issue is going to be key and she and Kamala Harris could really bring to the

fore. The other person I like is Senator Markelli of Arizona, Arizona is another swing state.

I think he's got a great story for him or astronaut, Mary DeGavi Giffords can bring the gun issue

forward, can bring a lot of important issues forward in when Arizona. So those are my two

favorites anyway. Dan? Yeah, I think I think Kelly would be a great choice. And I think it does

matter to a certain extent what the context of some of these candidates that are being talked about

as vice presidential candidates would be because some of them are, you know, a senator or a

governor of a swing state and you don't necessarily want to remove somebody from a crucial position

there. So a governor Andy Beshear from from Kentucky's been talked about Roy Cooper from North

Carolina is, you know, he is term limited as a governor there. So that's a, you know, potential

option as well. I also think JB Pritzker from Illinois, the Illinois governor would be a really

interesting choice. He's obviously very wealthy could bring some fundraising edge to the ticket

there. And I think it is also important to, you know, to get away from the coasts a little bit

for the Democrats here and have, you know, a candidate who might be from the Sun Belt like Mark

Kelly or from the Midwest like Pritzker. Yeah, that was the Republican strategy. You know,

they're they're running me was an attempt to lock up the the so-called Rust Belt states. So

geography plays into this to some extent, doesn't it, Dan? Yeah.

JD Vance may blow up in their face though. I mean, he said Kyle Rittenhouse had all of

manly virtues that we need to emulate. And he said a a woman who's in an abusive relationship

or a battered wife needs to stay in her marriage. You know, he's for a national ban on abortion.

I mean, I think the more people get to know these really far out far right attitudes of JD Vance,

they're not going to like him. I also thought he was pretty immature in his speech. So I don't think

he's going to wear very well. He's not going to help Trump very much at all. I don't think.

Perhaps we can bring Earl Ingram back into the conversation now. We are unable to do that. Okay,

thank you very much. We'll get to Earl a bit later. I'm sure he's got a lot to say that would

be helpful. Todd Abba. What would you like to ask Danny Mint? I would just say one of the

name I throw the mix I've heard tonight. Josh Shapiro, yes, Josh Shapiro governor of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is going to be a king's king maker. Perhaps it comes down to Pennsylvania, Michigan,

Wisconsin, maybe Arizona, maybe Nevada as well. So see what both of you think of Josh Shapiro.

And again, I think it goes back. You both brought the name of Mark Kelly, Senator of Arizona.

You you know, the best explain to the audience a little bit. A lot of this is vetting, right?

It takes a long time to vet. Sometimes a governor that did well statewide. It's a completely

different thing when people run naturally. Mark Kelly is but an astronaut. He's been in the military.

He has been vetted for security reasons as an astronaut. He may be the most vetted potential person

out there, Dan. Yeah, and I think, you know, it also matters that what happens in Arizona too.

So the what would happen if Kelly were to be elected is that the governor would would be

able to appoint a Democrat. And then there would be a 2026 special election in Arizona. So it would

not immediately put, you know, jeopardize a Senate seat. And we know that's really important

right now with how with how closely divided the US Senate is. So I think that is a factor to

consider that if if Kelly were elevated to this position that there would be able to keep that

seat under democratic control as well. And and so I think that is, you know, that is an important

factor for this race. And for, you know, for making some of those calculations, like

hypothetically, not not that I think she would be in the mix, but like removing a Senator like

Tammy Baldwin, for example, from a swing state, that would that could potentially complicate things

if there's, you know, somebody on the ballot like that. But I think given, you know, that Kelly's

term runs through 2026, you know, he ran against Blake Masters in the last Senate election in

Arizona. I think there are some comparisons to be made between Masters and JD Vance. They are

both Peter Tealbacked kind of new generation, Trumpified Republicans, who in many ways, you know,

like like Mr. Rothschild was saying before has a lot of red flags. So I think that would be quite

the contrast in that sense as well between, you know, Kelly Kelly as a as a potential democratic

vice presidential candidate and JD Vance as the Republican vice president.

The one thought that I just couldn't help but have, you know, I'm thinking of this convention

in Chicago in a month or so. And Donald Trump made much of his surviving his assassination attempt.

Gabby Giffords takes that stage in Chicago and I'll bet you she brings down the house

and plays well with the television audience across the country. Just the thought, Erlangram.

Oh, all the names being bandied about for vice president, which ones do you like the most?

Again, Gretchen Whitmer is a no brainer to run to women.

A something before it never even thought of the possibility of that happening is here and now.

Nobody could have predicted they would probably say it would be 20, 30 years before we'd even

consider having two women at the top of the ticket. The time is now that opportunity exists.

Gretchen Whitmer is as intelligent and well-spoken a governor as there is anywhere in this nation.

We're having sakes and you put her together with Kamala and you're talking about women who are

frustrated at both Biden and Trump. You bring women to the table in a mighty, mighty way and clearly,

I think the Democratic Party could do a lot worse than running two women, especially

those strong women who I think can bring some things to the table that need to be brought to the

table and need to shake this nation up. Mark Pocah in the congressman from the Madison area

in South Central Wisconsin was the first to come out and from Wisconsin anyway and make a statement

that president Biden ought to withdraw. We have some audio from Mark Pocah now that we'd like to share

with you. Well, I have nothing but tremendous respect for President Joe Biden. He got the

nation out of COVID. He's done great things for this country economically. The problem

more than anything is he became president too late in his career and there were many questions

from my constituents about whether or not he could defeat Donald Trump in the concern level

about Donald Trump becoming president again is off the charts. I think the president put

again himself aside for the country so that we have the option to make sure that Donald Trump

isn't president and his selflessness will go down in history as hopefully the catalyst to make

sure that Donald Trump doesn't have a second term. People have nothing but respect for Joe Biden.

They appreciate everything he's dealt but when you look at President Trump's project 2025 agenda

you look at the people he surrounds himself with it would have been and it could be

devastating to this country if he were to become president. So I think people just had a

scale of 1 to 10 about a 14 or 15 on concern that Donald Trump could possibly get elected again

and I think this is the news many were looking for. You know this is minutes I don't even think

for a full hour passed the announcement so I don't know other than you know we have a convention

coming up in August much is going to be talked about in the coming hours and days. Fortunately

we have an extremely well-qualified vice president who's ready to be president and will likely

be the leading contender but you know I think we're going to find out what happens in the coming

hours and days. You know I am I mean I didn't want to put out a statement I really I had a private

conversation with the president when he was in Madison but I didn't tend to say anything

publicly until the DNC this week tried to unfortunately do a power play and move up the vote

for selecting a nominee from the convention as it's always done and that just made me nervous that

there could be a small number of elites trying to make a decision for everyone else and you know

when you talk to the people in my district and around the state the concern level was so high

though you know that really made me concerned enough that I had to speak out.

And that's Congressman Mark Pocan speaking with us earlier this afternoon. I'm curious to know if

any of you have any insights or thoughts about what was it that tipped this matter for Joe Biden

because he resisted his campaign as issuing denials as a recently as yesterday. So you know

he's had a couple of weeks to chew on this idea. What happened between yesterday afternoon

and this morning? Anybody want to venture to take a shot at that? I do. He was he was forced now.

Let's stop thinking that Joe Biden all of a sudden made the decision to step down.

He was clearly forced out when you know the behind the scenes, Barack Obama

and I'm sitting here thinking now I'm drawing the blank on the former speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

Nancy Pelosi and in the top three Jeffries, the top three or four Democrats collectively got

together and told him that he could he could not win. He could not defeat Donald Trump and that

the fundraisers were really bringing pressure. My co-host Sandy Williams every Tuesday and Friday,

we talked for four hours over the last couple of days about this and about what was going to happen

and not only did we talk about it from that perspective, but we talked about it from the

perspective saying that he wouldn't make it through this weekend and we said that on the air

this past Friday. But we also knew that what it does is steal the spotlight from the Republicans

and Donald Trump. There's no point in us even having a conversation anymore about Donald Trump

and the Republicans because for the next three months, the conversation is going to be about

the Democrats and what are they going to do? This is their time. This is their opportunity. There's

nothing the Republican party can do to steal a line like back. If the Democrats understand what time

it is and how critically important it is if they come together, they'll have the news media from

now until election. One thing that occurred to me during all of this is Bill O'Reilly did not lose

his show on Fox News because of anything he said. It was because sponsors bailed on his show.

The football team in Washington did not change its name because the owner felt it was the right

thing to do. They changed the name because sponsors told him to and pulled out. So was the money

drying up a big factor in this decision? It's insidious almost that you have the super rich people,

the billionaires telling the Democrats who their nominees should be. I hope that wasn't the

sole or the primary reason that Biden threw in the towel. I'd much rather it be that the leaders

of the Congress, as Earl said, came to him and convinced him or that the polls show that he

wasn't going to win. And look, the polls were shown he wasn't going to win for months and months

and months. And you can only go so far saying polls don't matter before you recognize that you

got a problem. It's like a patient who's got a fever with one thermometer and takes 100 thermometers

and still has the same fever and you're going to say you don't believe the thermometers. I mean,

that was getting ridiculous. And then when the swing states started to turn even more toward

Trump, including here in Wisconsin, I think those factors should have been the ones that were

determinative. I don't want a bunch of billionaires telling the Democrats or the Republicans for

that matter who their nominees should be. That's not how a democracy is supposed to work.

Dan Schaefer, any thoughts on that topic?

Yeah, I think that's a great point, but I also think that you know, so I was at the RNC in Milwaukee

last week. And this conversation about Biden's future was obviously a hot topic among many

people. And I think, you know, the Trump campaign has so geared its campaign around specifically

going after Biden. And I think even, you know, before Trump's marathon speech on Thursday night,

people were wondering if, you know, would that be the moment? Would Joe Biden try to

try to steal the spotlight from the president or from the former president during his speech?

Obviously, I didn't think that was the that was the right move, but it seemed like things were

heading in that direction all week. You had kind of this drip, drip, drip of coverage, whether it was,

you know, a meeting with Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer or Obama maneuvering behind the scenes

or whatever it might be. And it just seemed like ever since the debate, Biden was in this kind

of untenable position of forcing people to deny the evidence of their eyes and ears from what they

saw at that debate on June 27th. And I think if you're running a campaign that's kind of the

part of the cornerstones of your campaign are honesty and integrity, asking people to overlook

that issue was just becoming an untenable situation. And I think what the debate did more than

anything is amplifying issue that was already overwhelmingly the case before they took that stage,

you know, the Marquette University Law School poll that was released one day before that debate

showed that more than 75% of voters in Wisconsin characterized by President Biden as too old to be

president. So I think that really, you know, and I think that debate shoved everything right to

the forefront and made it clear that this is going to be a central issue for Biden going forward

in the debate. And people aren't going to end as desperate as Democrats are right now to talk

about policy, talk about, you know, democracy, talk about abortion rights, talk about the clear

contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the thing that everyone would be looking for every time

Joe Biden step to the lectern or open his mouth in a televised interview or whatever it might be

was going to be about his age. It was going to be about how the not it was not going to be about

the substance of his response. It was going to be about the style. And I think as much as Democrats

want to get to a point where they're going to talk about the substance because I think they win

on the issues and that this, this, you know, Joe Biden making the decision to end his campaign,

Kamala Harris, you know, putting her hat in the ring gives the Democrats an opportunity to get back

to talking about the issues in this campaign about Donald Trump, about the contrast between where

Republicans want to take the country and where Democrats want to take the. Todd Abba, I'm sure you're

eager to ask a question. I was wondering what you might be curious about. I don't both, uh,

Matt and Earl have their hands up, Matt, you first, then Earl. Yeah, I just think there are

whole groups of people, uh, who are really jazzed about the developments today. Young people,

women, black voters, maybe some Nikki Haley voters. And as Todd, you yourself said earlier,

you know, 70% of Americans wanted a different choice between Biden and Trump. And now they got

a different choice. So I think this is a really exciting, uh, millions of people right now.

Earl, before you go or a important remind people, according to our crack staff at Civic Media,

Vice President Harris is still on track to visit Milwaukee on Tuesday. As far as we know,

it'll be her first stop as the new presidential, uh, potential nominee for Democrats, Earl.

So not only, um, and I think this is probably where there's some kind of misconception.

It wasn't just that Joe Biden lost the debate. It was all the times afterwards,

all of the conversations that he had, even the one where I interviewed him. And, and as a guy who

followed Joe Biden for over 45 years of my life, having heard him and watched him.

And it's not a matter of the fact that he was 81 years old or 82 years old for having

say Bernie Sanders is 82. I had Jim Claiborne, Congressman Jim Claiborne on my show to

week before that. He's 84. There's a distinct difference between those communication skills of

those octogenarians than there was with Joe Biden. And clearly, there's something cognitively

not right with him. And so the fact that people continue to push him out there. And I was

wondering when that was going to come to an end for heaven's sakes to say that the only person

that can represent the Democratic Party was an 82 year old man who had some cognitive

liabilities was, was I think more than anybody could bear any longer. And that's the reason

that he was forced out because people understood not just the age, but the, but the cognitive

issues that he was dealing with clearly that everybody saw. And then the face of that did not

have the courage to say to him that it was time to move on.

Early you'll be there on Tuesday. Imagine many of us plan to be there. What will you be looking

for from Kamala Harris to say? Well, Kamala Harris was just here a month and a half ago and I was

there. And she really showed me something that I hadn't really thought she had because she was

always hidden. Nobody really got a chance to see for the most part. The Democratic Party didn't

do any favors for her. She was not ever put in a spotlight where people could see her skills.

She's a very well educated woman. If she sits down in a debate with Donald Trump, she will destroy

him. She's well educated, well informed. And which is the one thing they said that we wanted Joe Biden

to be able to do. And he wasn't able to do that. Kamala Harris would do that. And then some.

And so I'm excited. I know that when she comes, she's going to do what she did. The last time I saw

her, somebody who has total control over what is taking place and somebody who has a vision about

where this nation should be headed, young enough in her 50s that she can see life through a different

prism. And that's what's needed. Thank you, Earl Ingram of the Earl Ingram show Dan Schaefer

of the recombobulation area. So your hand go up. Yeah, I just I think when you take a step back and

you look at the big picture of this decision, and I have to imagine it was an extremely difficult one

for the president to make. But I think part of the cornerstone of Joe Biden's campaign has been

about saving democracy in this country about preserving democracy in America. And I think this

decision reflects that democracy is bigger than any one person. And I think that is exactly why this

is such why this is the right decision. Why this is such an important decision. And why you know,

if it is Kamala Harris who emerges as the nominee, you know, democratic voters can rally behind her.

But the individual is not the most important thing in a democracy. And I think this is just this

is a powerful, powerful message that president Biden is sending with that decision. This is bigger

than any one person. This is bigger than the presidency. Democracy matters more than that.

Dan Schaefer of the recombobulation area taught Alba. Any last thoughts or questions?

I would just again say this is a unique moment. And I think the president Joe Biden needs to be

lauded for his selfless decision is Dan and others have nailed on the head. It was putting country

before self. And I think that what Wisconsin voters have to ask themselves is which party,

which candidate did that? In this case, it was the Democrats and Joe Biden. Why haven't the

Republicans done that? Donald Trump would be 82 going on 83 if you were elected to a second term.

I'm not sure that America or Wisconsin voters want that.

Matt Rothschild? Yeah, what I'm hearing from my democratic friends is let's go with many

exclamation points. So there's just a ton of energy and enthusiasm right now.

Thanks so much to our panelists. Matt Rothschild, Dan Schaefer, Earl Ingram. We

also heard from Mike Wagner and Savannah Tomales. And thank you for being with us.