Friends, very excited to
of Wake up to Politics which is now on Substack, on for the 24sight Pod. The “veteran” reporter tag here is a bit ironic because Gabe is still young, he just graduated Georgetown, but he’s been covering the campaigns for more than a decade now! He’s a great beat reporter, I’ve bumped into him on the trail a bunch over the years, and has some great insights on the state of things.Enjoy!
Show notes:
The youngest veteran reporter on trail - Gabe Fleisher!
Old enough to remember when politics was “normal”
Is it really unprecedented? Digging into history for some perspective - e.g. LBJ dropping out and political violence like when then-Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot
First thoughts on Tim Walz? Shapiro was the smarter pick at the outset because of the sheer importance of Pennsylvania on the Electoral Map
Shapiro was a cold cost-benefit calculation, but the qualitative energy for Democrats is important to keep rolling
The energy is strong among Democrats, but is it really Obama 2008 levels?
“You don’t compare it to 2008, you compare it to what they just had - and what they just had was zero enthusiasm”
Does Harris need to start doing interviews? Harris has previously launched with lots of excitement but then fizzled
The country already saw Trump vs. Biden and wasn’t really interested, now people are tuning back in again
“You just literally needed new blood, that’s all it took”
When Haley said that “the first party to get rid of their old white guy will win this election”
Will Haley voters vote Harris and Walz?
What of the demographic shifts with younger Blacks and Latinos that we saw earlier in the race?
Issues that matter to younger voters? The economy is one. But, “I don’t think you can TikTok your way into creating core economic perceptions.”
Kamala Harris is “one of the great turnaround stories of the election”
Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson detour
What’s next?
Veteran analysis. The Gabe Fleisher Interview. (Ep. 23)