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10 02 24 Political Analysts Dick Wadhams & Mike Dino talk about last night's debate
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You can listen to Post Reports wherever you get your podcasts. Go find it now and hit follow. Last night saw the first and, well, likely last time the two vice presidential nominees will face off in a debate before the 2024 election. Minnesota Governor Tim Walls and Ohio Senator JD Vance taking the stage to talk policy and all things related to immigration, world events, the economy. Joining us now on the Common Spirit Health Hotline and in the KOA Common Spirit Health Studio, our favorite political duo. It's GOP strategist, Dick Watams and Democratic counterpart, Mike Dino. Guys, thank you so much for joining us. As always, Dick, I'll start with you when we talk a little bit about the grades of what we saw from, I guess, what some people are saying, a boring debate, which is refreshing to say nowadays. What would you grade both candidates last night? I would give JD Vance a clear A and I would give Walls a B minus or a C plus. I thought that Vance did a better job prosecuting the case against the Biden-Harris record than Walsh did in defending it. But both men, I got to tell you, I think they both taught their running mates something about substance and civility. From that, I give the overall debate an A plus. I was going to say to me, I was kind of like, boy, this is a debate from 10-15 years ago. It just sounded quite normal. Mike, I want to ask you something because you said something last night on TV, on CVS4, post a debate that I thought 100 percent out of the shoot when you were asked about JD Vance. You said, and I'm paraphrasing, he's prepping for 2028. It wasn't his approach looking like that he was 2028 bound or at least looking ahead that way. Well, he definitely, and I think he made Trump jealous. He really overshadowed his presidential candidate. There was no discussion of Venezuelan gangs or eating pets or stuff like that. Dick's right, he came through in a fairly coherent and cordial and civil way that his candidate at the top of the ticket doesn't. I wouldn't give Walt as low a grade as Dick did. Certainly, he, B plus, he certainly picked it up as we got into healthcare discussion and certainly on the January 6th issue. Dick, when we look at this debate overall, does it change voters in any way? Well, Michael alluded to those mistakes that Vance made early on in conjunction with Trump. I do think that this debate last night went a long way towards restoring Vance's credibility. Does it impact the race? I don't know. This race is so close. It's a cliche by now, but this campaign really is a game of inches. If Vance was able to get another inch for Trump, yeah, it probably impacted it. This race was just going to go to the wire for over the next 34 days. Yeah, an early poll showed that people said it was a 50/50 split in terms of what it turned out. The Dems heavily for Walt's, the Republicans heavily for Vance. And independence actually broke for Walt's, but they're not watching the debate as much as they should be. Dick, I'm curious. I'm curious. The New York Times piece today, most of their columnists in there said the Vance won, which I thought was kind of interesting. Well, in our very unscientific poll here on KOASIS, for the most part, everybody else thought Vance. When I thought Vance did better at the debate than Tim Walz. But I'm curious about this, because the Vance performance being what it is, and we've talked about whether or not a vice presidential candidate will move the needle. Do you think to some degree, J.D. Vance, sane washes? I know it's the term du jour in many ways, but gives cover to a guy like Trump, when they say, well, I may not like Trump, but that J.D. Vance seems like he's kind of a normal guy. No, he didn't. I mean, Trump's going to go out and do something crazy soon enough. So he doesn't give him cover. Dick, you think the same? Yeah, I do. I mean, I'll tell you what, I think a lot of people were watching this last night saying, why aren't these two guys to nominate? I mean, I think people who don't like both candidates, we have two terribly flawed nominees for president this year, both Trump and Harris was terribly flawed. And I think both candidates last night acquitted themselves very well. And what I really like, Marty, was the way they shook hands at the end of the debate. They chatted amicably up on that stage. Their wives joined them. We need to see more of that in politics. Yeah, Dick, you have pretty much the same statement that a lot of KOA textures had last night saying that, wow, I kind of wish these were our two candidates going forward from here. But now I was trying to get the countdown pulled up, but I couldn't get it up in time. So we're X amount of 33 days, hours, minutes, whatever. Mike, I'll start with you here. When we look at the days ahead, what are going to be the most crucial moments in politics, in the world, in the current situation that could drive this election one way or another? Well, you know, certainly on the news front, a lot of stuff with the Middle East, the strike at the docks, and certainly the latest storm and the damage in the southeast. Those are the big ones, you know, on the ground, when you're running campaigns like Dick and I have, I mean, you're making sure your people are knocking on doors, making phone calls. There's a lot of money to be spent. The both campaigns will have a lot of money and it's really turning out your voters. People are voting and we'll start voting here in about 10 days. And Dick, when we look down ticking at some of the races, and of course, we have congressional district eight here that looks like is very tight. Do you see the top of the ticket being any influence, you know, the national ticket influence on some of the local races about people's mood and how they vote or will they be able to buy for Kate and separate those out? Well, unfortunately, Marty, that is a problem for Republicans in Colorado because I anticipate Trump will probably lose Colorado by at least 10, if not more, much more. And we've seen the last three election cycles that Trump has been a negative effect on Republican candidates. But I think that Gabe Evans is running a really good campaign and he can fight through that because he's, I think he's presenting himself very well. But frankly, Trump is a liability to Republican candidates in Colorado. Mike, going off of that a little bit, he'll see it on my desk over there. I got it in the mail is the Colorado ballot measures booklet and it's literally a booklet of how many things we have exactly like a just a phone book of content that will have on our local ballots. What are some of the ones that you're watching locally? Well, the one of the ones is certainly 131 statewide measure that will definitely change the way we vote. It would create an open primary, bring in ranked choice voting, and it could change the dynamics of how we elect people in Colorado would be a big game changer. You a fan of that, then Mike, you like it? I am a fan of it. Dick, are you a fan of ranked choice voting? Well, in full disclosure, Marty, I am a consultant on that campaign. But Dick used to be against it. No, I think our electorate is rejecting both political parties right now. You can see it with 50% now unaffiliated voters. I think they see both parties kind of playing to their extremes. And I think it's time to do something much different with our political process, which is why it's signed on. Dick, any other ballot measures that you're keeping an eye on as well? You know, I'm just so appalled by that slaughterhouse thing in Denver. Now, that's a Denver thing, a Denver issue. But it's just the main thing to me that people want to put all those hard workers who actually own the company out of work. And I think that's a big one. I think the hunting wild cats, I think that's a well intention, but also a very foolish, foolish proposal as well. Final question for both of you on asking you to put on your prognosticator's hats. We are in October, always waiting for the October surprise, right? Mike, do you see anything, anticipate anything coming down that could really throw a loop into the upcoming election? Well, I think there's a lot of stuff in play now that will can can masturbate what's going on. You know, it's just hard to, that's what a surprise is. You don't know what the heck it's going to be. Well, I'm asking you to- Well, I don't know, Marty, it's a great question. Is anything dick that you see down the road that could be, again, that October surprise, you're like, "Oh my God, this totally changes everything." Well, I'll tell you, this strike, I think, could really have some impact. And if President Biden refuses to intervene at some point, I think that you're going to see a tremendous impact on the economy. And if that happens, that's going to hurt Paris. And I know that Biden doesn't want to tick off the unions in San Francisco. And by the way, I think the union in California, I think the unions have some legitimate rights here. I do not dismiss what they're trying to do. But on the other hand, the nation could be really severely hurt by this strike. So, we'll see how that one develops. We'll see how all this is panning out in 33 days, 16 hours, 33 minutes, and 16 seconds. I remember when that was in the triple digit we were talking to you guys. And we were like, "Wow, this is going to-" But it's right around the corner now, our favorite political duo, GOP strategist, Dick Wannam's Democratic counterpart, Mike Dino. Thanks, guys. We really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. Hey, guys. It is Ryan. I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I'm a bit of a fun fanatic when I can. I like to work, but I like fun too. And now, I can tell you about my favorite place to have fun. Shumbah Casino. They have hundreds of social casino-style games to choose from, with new games released each week. You can play for free, and each day brings a new chance to collect daily bonuses. So join me and the fun. Sign up now at chumbahocino.com. Sponsored by Chumbah Casino, no purchase necessary, VGW group. Forward, we're prohibited by law, 18-plus terms and conditions apply. All right, we're all set for the party. I've trimmed the tree, hung the mistletoe, and paired all those weird-shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses. 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