What is real to you

and what is noise? I mean, you just said the president's in Mississippi.

Yes.

Okay.

I mean, so one of the ways that you look at what's really going on, you can disagree with the polls.

You could say they might be.

Just look at what the opposition is doing and how they're acting.

How important will those outcomes be as we look forward?

Thoughts, Jim, on the whole thing and the sort of one-two from the president and the vice president?

Well, that was the Sergeant Schultz response for those of a certain generation of political answers.

Look, I think I think that was a career ending ad for Vivek Ramaswamy and for the ad maker.

It does show also that they are in a desperate situation.

You don't run an ad like that if you think you have a real shot at winning and.

You know, for me, as I look at what's gonna happen in the House and the Senate, Ohio was always my state number 51.

If we win Ohio, that's our 51st state.

Jim, thoughts on the Michigan race? Who's closing stronger?

Why not, right? What is the appetite for change? Like, where do you draw that line between change that's possible and change that's far out of line with where the American public seems to be?

I think Medicare for All is an excuse not to do anything on health care.

And the reason why I say that is because the legislation is just a sloppy piece of crap.

All right? Okay.

Continue.

And if you were really serious about this, you would have a bill that just has more flesh on the bones.

I mean, they've built a movement.

So how do you respond to that criticism, that criticism Pragmatism is weak, incrementalist tea that excites no one.

Jim Kessler, thoughts?

I thought there was a couple of signals underneath the bluster.

So one of the things is Donald Trump is saying to voters in America, because he is thinking about the midterms, we're not going to get anything done before the midterms.

Have patience.

This is going to happen right after the midterms.

And all this stuff that you're worried about with Iran, like high gas prices, that's going to end immediately after the midterms because they're going to have a deal because they're afraid of me that I'm gonna blow them up with nuclear weapons.

That's number one.

jim kessler how does the third way uh feel about uh energy export bans

Is that an outlier poll from your point of view, or does that match up with where you think it might stand actually?

Well, I'm going to answer both of your poll questions.

It's not a bribe if the You know, traditionally, I've found that Quinnipiac polls, and they're very, very good pollsters, they favor Democrats by a couple of extra points through their methodology.

That's just what I've noticed.

I think it's probably not 11 points, but it's probably like eight points.

And that's tidal wave territory.

And look, Mark, we've had a sour electorate really since 2014.

Jim, just tell folks what the point of it is and what kind of ideas you're surfacing there.

Jim, who's the favorite in Maine?

I don't think she wins.

Now, if Plattner was the nominee, she'd win.

And she's very good at what she does.

And I agree with Alex.

She does what a politician needs to do who's always worried that they're either six days or six years away from losing.

And she works her state every single day.

Alex? I'll start

Texting wasn't a lie.

Exactly.

All sorts of different things.

And the reason why is besides it being a difficult issue, there's always been an imbalance.

And the imbalance is chaos at the border helps one party, the Republicans, and it hurts the other party, the Democrats.

So on almost every occasion in which we've come close to a deal, 2006, Republicans pulled out.

Now, some Democrats pulled out too.

Everything was all good.

Jim Kessler, thoughts on those two races, if you would, the governor's race and the Senate race in Georgia?

Well, Ossoff is very interesting.

And several years ago, who could imagine this? He ran a very expensive race for House, lost narrowly.

Then he ran for Senate, won the seat, but won it in a runoff, super close.

Everyone thought this is gonna be a really tough reelect, but he's acquitted himself extraordinarily well, both on the national stage and as Austin was pointing out, tending to the folks back home.

And when was the last time a Georgia Democratic Senator won in what could be like, I don't know, blow out is too big of a word, but like he could win by double digits.

And that is going to put him right away You know, in the presidential talk, he's young.

And I'm wondering, is it more important to put guard rails to protect your left flank? Or are you more focused on trying to get your moderates to embrace some form of a sister soldier moment to release that left flank, which is more important right now?

Yeah

... is better than Graham Platner.

Like, it's, it's, puts us...

Like, he, this was an unwinnable situation, not just because of Graham Platner's policy positions, which would turn off the centrists in Maine, but because of all the other personal baggage that he brought to the table, and more was definitely coming out.

So having said that, I think this is a...

I am, at this point, lean pessimistic for Democrats on Maine, even though of all the pickups, it is, it is the bluest of the states.

It's, it's bluer than Minnesota.

Jim Kessler, what do you think of the policy change?

Um, and obviously, uh, a third way is gonna say, "Well, no, it's because these issues stigmatized, uh, the Democratic Party." How do you win that battle? Is there a way to win (laughs) that battle definitively? I mean, 'cause both sides are gonna claim they're, they're the, their path forward to victory.

The answer is no.

You can never win that battle definitively.

You win it periodically.

The Democratic Party is almost evenly split between moderates and progressives, and so, um, the n- the natural inclination of our party is to bicker.

Uh, we do that so well.

Um, but this gets decided in a Democratic primary for president, and what we have seen in the past is that Democrats have, m- Democratic voters have moved towards electability and picking a candidate that they believe can b- beat Republicans.

I mean, w- Donald Trump winning, does that, I mean, what happens to the issue th- that, that he tried to overthrow the government in, in, in 2020? I mean, where do you go from there? Can you raise that anymore after he's reelected?