With momentum, Democrats gather in Chicago

Biden to give keynote speech tonight

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for August 19, 2024:

• Trump zeroes in on ‘Comrade Kamala.’

• Harris arrives in the Windy City.

• Santos reportedly ready to plead guilty.

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From Chicago, Illinois -

CHANGE. It's so easy to get overwhelmed by daily news events and lose sight of just how tumultuous this summer has been in American politics. For Democrats, it was only four weeks ago that President Joe Biden stunned his party by announcing he would step aside from the 2024 race. Now, Democrats are gathering here in Chicago for their convention, fully behind Vice President Kamala Harris. Most party leaders probably never imagined such a seamless transition.

• CAMPAIGN. Taking questions from reporters yesterday, Harris urged her supporters to keep working towards November. "I very much consider us the underdog," Harris said during a stop in Pennsylvania. "We have a lot of work to do to earn the vote of the American people."

• HARRIS. Before arriving in the Windy City, Harris met with a group of campaign volunteers. "When you stand for working people, you fight for working people," Harris said. "When you believe in what you do to fight for the middle class, you fight for the middle class."

• TICKET. If you take the time to watch Harris and her running mate Tim Walz on the campaign trail, they seem to have quickly developed a mutual bond - with broad smiles all around. "Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are joyfully bringing America together," said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

• CHEERS. You could sense that optimism among Democrats even before I made it to Chicago. Early Sunday, there were cheers inside the airport. What was up? It was Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland bounding onto the plane. To use a saying from the past, Democrats are fired up and ready to go.

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DAY ONE. The highlight of the first night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention is not one that anyone had imagined one month ago. President Joe Biden thought he would be accepting his party's nomination for a second time. Instead, he will give the keynote address tonight - setting the table for Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

• BIDEN. "The President certainly looks forward to addressing the Democratic National Convention," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "He sees it as an important moment to talk directly — not just to the party — the Democratic Party and delegates — but also, obviously, to the American people."

• MESSAGE. While one can only imagine how this change still stings, Biden in recent days gave no hints of disappointment about passing the torch to Harris. "Our democracy is literally at stake," Biden told a crowd in Maryland last week. "And I left you the woman who's going to take care of it."

• THIS WEEK. Unlike the Republican convention last month - which pretty much ignored past Republican nominees and Presidents - Democrats will have them front and center. Hillary Clinton will speak tonight. Barack Obama addresses delegates on Tuesday, and Bill Clinton will speak on Wednesday.

• FLOOR. I went down to the convention floor yesterday for a quick peek. Here’s what it looked like as they were practicing for the delegate roll call.

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POLLS. New poll numbers out this weekend really give us some good insight on why the Biden-to-Harris switch has been so positive for Democrats. Let's just take one question from an ABC News/Washington Post poll to show you the difference.

• HEALTH. Back in July, Donald Trump led Joe Biden by 31 points on the question of which candidate had the physical health needed to serve effectively as President. With Biden gone, it’s a completely different result. Harris now has a 30 point lead over Trump on that same question. That's a 61 point swing.

• OVERALL. In July, Trump led Biden in this same poll by 47-46 percent. The latest survey has Harris ahead 51-46 percent. Obviously, Harris might not win in November. But the switch has clearly energized this party in a way that was not on the table for Democrats - at all - in July.

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COACH. Tim Walz continues to be maybe the most popular political figure right now in the Democratic Party. On Sunday, he harkened back to his old football coaching days as he joined Harris in a stop at Aliquippa High School - which happened to produce a guy named Mike Ditka, the legendary coach of the Chicago Bears.

• SIDELINES. Speaking to the players, Walz compared a football team to political campaigns. “Politics isn’t so much different than this. It’s about something bigger,” Walz said. “It’s about setting a future goal and trying to reach it.”

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BEHIND THE SCENES. I spent much of my first day in Chicago getting the lay of the land for this year’s Democratic National Convention - picking up my credentials, getting to my hotel, going out to the convention site, and figuring out where I might work for the next four days.

• PRESS FILE. At the GOP convention in Milwaukee, reporters had a giant workspace in a very nice convention hall a few blocks from the arena. Unfortunately, that doesn’t exist here in Chicago. The DNC ‘press file’ setup for average journalists like me is much smaller, as we are working out of a practice facility used by the Chicago Bulls.

THE TENT. Because of the lack of available workspace right next to the arena, many big shot reporters for major news organizations are working out of a giant tent located in the parking lot outside the United Center. There are also all sorts of mobile office trailers being used by different news groups. (At least the weather is nice.)

• MEMORIES. I want to note something else. I covered the 1996 Democratic convention here in Chicago. For whatever reason, I was assigned the same hotel that I had 28 years ago.

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PROTESTS. Obviously, what Democrats don't want this convention to be remembered for is violence - thanks to demonstrations over Israel and the war with Hamas. Democrats know all too well what happened here in 1968 with protests over the Vietnam War, as the idea of police beating protesters on national TV is not the desired outcome.

• GAZA. Several hundred demonstrators marched their way down Michigan Avenue on Sunday, making their voices heard about Gaza and Israel. There were plenty of police on hand to make sure nothing went awry.

1968 REDUX. The scene immediately reminded me of one of my favorite movies, ‘Medium Cool.’ That was partly filmed during the actual 1968 convention protests. The Medium Cool film crew plunged right into the crowds and police in Chicago, tracking the woman with the yellow dress who was in their movie.

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TRUMP. A few weeks ago, it sounded like Donald Trump was going to lay low during the Democratic convention week. But now, Trump has a full schedule of events for the first time in a long time. Trump will be in York, Pennsylvania today for an 'economic and energy' event.

• THIS WEEK. On Wednesday, Trump will hold another event in North Carolina - maybe acknowledging that Republicans are in trouble in the Tar Heel State. On Thursday, Trump will head to the border in Arizona, where he's sure to directly criticize the Biden-Harris Administration record on illegal immigration.

• NUMBERS. The latest border numbers show the Biden Administration has finally figured out how to slow the migrant surge across the border with Mexico. 104,000 people were stopped in July - the smallest number since February 2021, the first full month that Biden was in office.

• IMMIGRATION. To use a soccer term, immigration was the biggest 'own goal' of the Biden Administration. They lifted a number of the get-tough measures put in place by Donald Trump, and it caused Democrats a lot of political headaches. Their success in reducing the migrant numbers will likely be seen by many as too little, too late.

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GOP. It's been really interesting to watch the GOP attacks in recent days on Kamala Harris. "Comrade Kamala goes full Communist," the Trump campaign bellowed on Friday, as Harris unveiled her plans to combat higher food costs, mainly by using anti-price gouging laws to pressure grocery chains and meatpackers.

• RUMOR MILL. But there are only so many times you can call someone a Communist. So now Trump campaign officials are openly suggesting Harris is a drunk. "A lot of rumors out there about Kamala having a serious drinking problem," tweeted James Blair, a top Trump strategist.

• LAUGH. And Republicans can't stop complaining about how Harris laughs. "This woman is nuts," Trump said on Saturday. "That's the laugh of a crazy person. That's the laugh of a lunatic."

• TEAM TRUMP. On Sunday, the Trump campaign quickly posted a video snippet of Harris laughing as she thanked campaign volunteers. If you read social media, her laugh really gets under the skin of GOP voters.

STRATEGY. What does all this tell me? Republicans still haven't figured out how best to go after Harris. Calling her a communist, suggesting she's a drunk, and complaining about her laugh doesn't exactly give off vibes of a winning 30-second attack ad. There must be a better combination than that.

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VIVA DE LA SANTOS. There is other political news going on this week. In New York, a scheduled pre-trial conference in a Long Island federal courtroom is expected to turn into a guilty plea today for George Santos, the former GOP Congressman who was expelled by the House last year. Santos faces 23 federal corruption charges.

• GUILTY. I had always figured there was no way Santos was going to go to trial in mid-September as scheduled - and that sooner or later, he was going to plead guilty. We'll see how many charges are involved, as this case could well send him to the slammer for several years.

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RAP SHEET. The St. Louis Cardinals superfan known as 'Rally Runner' has drawn 10 months in prison for his actions on Jan. 6. The Missouri man joined other rioters in battling with police in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel into the Capitol. He was accused by conservative media voices of being a fed - but no evidence existed to back up that allegation.

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MUSE OF HISTORY.  August 19, 1944.  On this date, the House held a swearing-in ceremony for the new non-voting delegate from the Philippine Islands, Carlos Romulo.  "Colonel Romulo is a man of the people," said Rep. John Phillips (R-CA).  Romulo was no stranger to American officials, having served as a military aide to U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur.  Romulo served in the U.S. Congress until the Philippines achieved its independence on July 4, 1946.

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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House is back for votes on September 9.

The Senate returns on September 9.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.

Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

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