The 24 Seven: Fight/Flop
The top seven stories shaping the race for the White House
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1. Fight Club
Among the official lines from the Democrats, “when we fight, we win!” has become a standardbearer of the overhauled Democratic ticket.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch and a broad array of top Illinois Democrats rallied the homestate faithful, but it was New Jersey Sen. Corey Booker who lit up the room repeatedly, jumping off the dais and onto a chair in the middle of the room before delivering a stemwinder like a preacher at the pulpit.
(More on that in the morning, in my full dispatch from the Illinois delegation’s opening breakfast, over at The Illinoize from .)
Rep. Jasmine Crockett said Monday at Democracy House, just down the street from the convention. Crockett, Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, and Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Florida, said that the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the Capitol helped drive them to run into the fire by running for office, (more on this in the next item.)
“These are the things that we fight for,” Crockett said.
Harris running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, made a celebrity stop at the Pennsylvania delegation’s breakfast, Playbook reports. And from 24sight News’ eagle-eye perch in the stands, the Pennsylvania' delegation’s front-row seats at the convention can easily be seen.
Democrats are fired up, in a way that I never saw at the 2016 convention (and certainly not the virtual convention from the middle of the pandemic in 2020.) The big question, of course, will be how much energy they take out of Chicago on to the campaign trail.
(Look for me at the Illinois delegation breakfast each morning where I’ll be stringing coverage for my friend — and now full-time radio talent — Patrick Pfingsten, founder of and host “Springfield’s Morning News” 92.7 WMAY-FM.)
2. Project 2025
At the Democracy House running event space here, Podcast star Molly Jong-Fast, Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward and Reps. Balint, Crockett and Frost talked extensively about the items in Project 2025 they are fighting against for a taped episode of Jong-Fast’s “Fast Politics” podcast.
Perryman noted that whether Trump wins or loses, the conservative machinery pushing the items inside Project 2025, will keep churning.
“We are engaged in the longterm fight,” Perryman said.
Among the Democratic base and independents who have been migrating to the Harris/Walz in recent polling, few phrases have caught on as strongly as “Project 2025.”
3. Modest showing
On the first day of the convention, pro-Palestinian protests don’t seem to have materialized the way that protesters — and local law enforcement — expected heading into opening night of the convention.
A large batch of protest signs sat scattered across the ground, untouched.
Some of the roughly 5,000 protesters, hardly the 30,000-40,000 who had been expected did bust through a fence outside the convention, but the first day of protests seemed tame compared to the amped-up expectations.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to the terms of a ceasefire. Blinken pressed Hamas in a public statement to sign off on the ceasefire as well.
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4. Iranian hack
U.S. intelligence has determined that Iranian hackers are behind the attempted hacks of Republican nominee Donald Trump’s campaign and the Democratic campaign for president, The Washington Post reports.
5. Dad jokes
Sen. Booker, who is not a father, but was introduced as a connoiseur of the Dad Joke genre, got some laughs and groans at the Illinois breakfast when he asked the crowd, “What do you call a guy with no kids who tells Dad jokes?”
“A faux pa.”
6. Opening night
Before President Joe Biden delivers Monday night’s keynote speech from the stage (unsure if this will count as primetime as it is expected to come very late Monday night) a host of top Democrats, labor leaders and more are
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, UAW President Shawn Fain and more will take the stage ahead of Biden.
Look for more live coverage in Substack notes and on my various social media accounts.
7. Rojas, Out
Man, oh man. Warren got a steady gig covering something he loves (it’s not the U.S. Senate, though I’m pretty sure he still loves hanging out in the Capitol.) In case you haven’t seen, here’s his writeup:
A lot goes into reporting which you don’t see here, prep work, research, driving long distances and getting stuck in traffic, figuring out the logistics of conventions, lengthy fact-checking and editing sessions … and endless snark to keep it all light and fluid and, above all, published.
I’ve had many great colleagues in a lengthy career in journalism, but Warren has long stood out for his dedication to the craft, his steady hand, his support of his fellow reporters and his love of a good bull session at the Kelly’s bureau (the only permanent news operation in Washington.)
So, it sucks that he’s leaving. We started this with friend and producer extraordinaire Pilar Belendez-Desha and (for a hot minute) expert tech journalist Benjamin Powers, and the support of many journalists, family and friends, in the wake of The Messenger’s collapse. It’s not easy launching a news startup in the industry as it is, it’s even harder building a dedicated outlet from the ground up.
Keep it here friends for on-the-ground reporting from the DNC and more. This is a big week, in a big election.
Thanks for reading, drop a line: tom@24sight.news
Aw, man! Thank you, Warren, for great work... super bummed about that departure!