Impact2020: August 17, 2020

Welcome to the Impact2020 briefing! After much ado, the Democratic National Convention will finally be available on a screen near you tonight. We take a look at what to expect, and why the party is more united compared to four years ago. Plus, an on-the-ground report from Pennsylvania on the campaigns’ battleground state strategies.

On the Ground

A unified front — for now

As the (mostly virtual) Democratic National Convention kicks off today, McClatchy’s Alex Roarty reminds us “what a difference four years makes for the Democrats.”

“A political party whose divisions were their most visible and visceral at the start of their last convention in 2016 begins this year’s events in a much different place, with its internal conflicts quieted — for now — in favor of a unified front committed to denying President Donald Trump a second term,” Roarty writes .

“There’s a unity of purpose and single-mindedness about the need to defeat Trump that transcends what we saw in 2016,” said Brian Fallon, a former national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, “when people thought they could assume Trump was going to lose and we could afford to fight about other things.”

Still, there are “indications of internal dissent” this week, Roarty reports. “Hundreds of progressive delegates are expected to vote against the party’s official policy platform because, among other reasons, it doesn’t support single-payer health care.”

The set-up of this year’s convention won’t offer Joe Biden’s detractors much of an opportunity for public opposition, but there may have been less of it anyway due to Biden shifting his rhetoric and adopting some more liberal policy positions since winning the primary. Some activists say it’s proof that Biden understands their importance within the broader political coalition.

But how long will this last? “Some liberal leaders also question whether the unity… can last over the next two and a half months, if polls tighten and activists begin to more openly question the presumptive nominee’s strategy and messaging,” Roarty writes.

What to expect at the DNC

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bill Glauber and Mary Spicuzza have the details on what to expect from this week’s convention proceedings. The primetime programming will take place 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday.

Though “most of the event will be beamed in from remote locations” Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez promised that not only have organizers “cornered the market on the unexpected,” but that “this convention is going to be different than any convention we’ve ever seen, because we’re living in a moment in time that is simply extraordinary.”

Monday night’s speakers include former First Lady Michelle Obama, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar, and former Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich (more on that below).

As for the Republicans, Trump is set to deliver a speech criticizing Biden’s economic record in Oshkosh, Wis., this evening, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Molly Beck reports.

Vice President Mike Pence will make a visit of his own to Wisconsin on Wednesday. In an interview with WISN-TV’s Kent Wainscott, Pence said he plans to tout the wearing of face masks during his trip to Darien. “Despite more than 61,000 confirmed cases and 1,000 deaths, Pence said he believes Wisconsin is showing promising signs in fighting the coronavirus.”

More on those in-person vs. remote visits

McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers reports from Coplay, Pa., on how the Trump and Biden campaigns are taking starkly different approaches to reaching voters in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

“Republicans in swing counties have been knocking on doors in Pennsylvania since July” while major Democratic groups in the state “are organizing remote phone banks, digital events and yard sign drops,” Chambers writes.

Donald Trump Jr. launches the Sportsmen for Trump coalition in Coplay, Pa., on August 13. Credit: Francesca Chambers, McClatchy

In July, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said if Trump wins in all the other states he took four years ago, “We only need to win either Wisconsin or Michigan or Pennsylvania to win this thing again.”

Strategists in both parties “told McClatchy they did not see a pathway to victory for either candidate in 2020 that does not include winning Pennsylvania and possibly Wisconsin,” Chambers reports.

To that end, both campaigns are adjusting their ad spending. Trump’s campaign began a seven-figure advertising campaign in Wisconsin last week and senior adviser Jason Miller said ads would soon be aired in Pennsylvania. Miller added that the campaign has also reserved nearly $12 million of airtime in Michigan for the fall.

As for the Biden campaign, Chambers writes it “has also announced $280 million of spending on paid digital and television advertising for the fall in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania plus a dozen others. In addition to traditional platforms and broadcast networks, it is purchasing advertising on gaming applications and Black media channels such as BET, TV1, Bounce and OWN.”

Trail Mix

Battle for Congress

• South Carolina Democrats see an opportunity to boost down-ballot turnout with Kamala Harris on the ticket, Maayan Schechter and Joseph Bustos report for The State.

• Bustos also notes that the Cook Political Report shifted South Carolina’s Senate race between GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democrat Jaime Harrison from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.”

Election disruption

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom likened the Trump administration’s handling of the USPS to “sabotage” ahead of the election, reports Sacramento Bee’s Hannah Wiley.

• A union official says the USPS has removed mail processing machines from facilities in Kansas City, Wichita and Springfield, Jonathan Shorman and Bryan Lowry report for the Wichita Eagle.

Governor watch

• The Sacramento Bee’s Sophia Ballog takes a look at how the heatwave-driven power blackouts are the latest crisis in 2020 to test Newsom’s political standing in California.

• The Columbus Dispatch’s Randy Ludlow examines how Kasich came to embrace Biden and deliver a speech supporting him at the Democratic convention.

Number of the Day

25%

That’s how many Americans who said neither Biden nor Trump would make a good president, according to a new Gallup poll.

Making the Electoral College “sexy”

CNN’s John Berman fills Seth Meyers in on his new documentary and how he kicked it up a notch with the help of They Might Be Giants.

For Planning Purposes

Aug. 17

Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders address the DNC

Trump visits Oshkosh, Wis.

Aug. 18

Jill Biden, Bill Clinton and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez address the DNC

Trump visits Yuma, Ariz.

Primary elections in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming

Aug. 19.

Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren address the DNC

Pence visits Darien, Wis.

Aug. 20

Joe Biden delivers his speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination

Aug. 21

A new episode of the Beyond the Bubble podcast features a wrap-up of the Democratic convention. Download: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts

Aug. 24-27

The Republican National Convention takes place

Aug. 28

The Beyond the Bubble podcast team returns with a wrap-up of the Republican convention with a new episode on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts

If someone forwarded this email to you, please consider signing up here for our daily roundup of 2020 election news from McClatchy and other local journalists.

This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 11:25 AM.