National convention and now in the books, with joe biden as the president ial nominee. It was a virtual convention. Balloon drop replace with fireworks at the chase center in wilmington, delaware. Shifteek, the focus will to President Trump and the republicans. Tonight, some of the key moments that shaped the final night of the convention, even the speech by former Vice President biden, now the 2020 democratic president or nominee. In a moment, we will be joined with tom davis of virginia and the chair of the Michigan Democratic party. First, we want to turn once again to emily larson, who has been covering this for the washington eminem and her Washington Examiner. What is the first line in your story on the convention and joe bidens speech . The first thing that comes to mind for me is joe biden nailed it. This is a very important speech for him, considering hes been running for president for 33 years since 1987. It was very important for him, especially as the Trump Campaign is trying to portray him as being someone who is in cognitive decline, someone who a lot of people see his verbal stumbles and wonder if he is up to the task as the oldest president ial nominee that we have had. He really needed to step up and show that he really has what it takes. I think he did that. Interesting inry this coronavirus era, the last of the Live Audience has maybe been a detriment to some speakers who would do better with some lines and the big crowd. For the Biden Campaign, its very interesting, because he had more of a tone of having an oval office type speech. Speaking directly to the camera, not waiting for big applause lines, and hammered home the urgency of the moment, and contrasting with the more erratic style of President Trump. Thats something the Biden Campaign was very much going for, and it ended up turning out very well for him. Criticisms,e common a lot of rhetoric, a lot of antitrump language, but not a lot of substance. Did we get that from biden . He did go into policy. I even saw some thoughts that it sounded a little bit like a state of the union speech, rattling off policies. He talked about a National Mask mandate. Making sure everyone is Wearing Masks in public rather than leaving that up to the states. He talked about other coronavirus policies. But this is very much a convention about the emotional and whetheroting, you like President Trump or not, and whether you like joe biden or not. In 2016, Hillary Clinton had the disadvantage of not being liked by a lot of voters. Either with donald trump. That made the election more of a choice between who you like better, who is the least bad option. Voters generally like joe biden a lot better than President Trump. So this convention was very much about defining him even further in voters minds as somebody who you would like to be around in contrast to the president. This convention slated for mid july in milwaukee. Now back to back conventions because of covid19. Next week with the president in washington, d. C. As the republicans gather. Move ahead to what we can expect next week. Do you suspect the republicans will tweak anything based on what they saw this week . We dont have a lot of details about what the republicans are planning for next week. We have a few speakers that have been announced. President trump slated to give his acceptance speech thursday from the white house, which has caused some criticism about whether there are ethics issues. Essentially, they are going to follow the convention that has already set expectations about what the Democratic National convention looked like in the coronavirus era. It will be interesting to see whether the republicans, after first trying to still have an in Person Convention in charlotte and jacksonville, then canceling jacksonville, and now putting this together without having a lot of details available about whether they will be able to have the same type of production values and have it run as smoothly as the democrats. Republicans gathering monday morning. Live coverage on cspan at 9 00 monday morning. And the evening session will get underway at 8 30 p. M. Eastern time. Have you seen any numbers, in terms of the ratings . Do you expect a bump from the democrats out of this convention . The Television Viewership ratings are down compared to their convention in 2016. That could be a combination of a lot of things, not only the type arentkers, maybe people as interested, or it could also be the state of television in general. Fewer people watching Primetime Television and getting news in other ways. That is something i think the republicans will be focused on, getting their message out through multiple avenues, not just relying on television to get that. Streaming it, having the president tweet about it, having other people who felt robust social media followings and personalities, and interact with a lot of their hardcore base that way. Making sure it gets out through those avenues. Your headline for the Washington Examiner, what is it . Joe biden accept the nomination 33 years after he set out to become president. A local reporter for the Washington Examiner joining us. Thanks for being with us. I know you are heading to charlotte to cover the convention. We appreciate your time. The chair ofent, the Michigan Democratic party and former republican congressman tom davis. Republican conventional campaign committee. First, the official moment in which joe biden becomes the nominee. The current president has called american darkness for much too long. Its time for us, for we the people to come together. And make no mistake, united we can and will overcome this season of darkness in america. We will choose hope over fear, fax over fiction, fairness over privilege. I am a proud democrat. I will be proud to carry the banner of our party into the general election. With great honor and humility, i accept this nomination for president of the United States of america. Barnes joining us from ann arbor, michigan, former congressman tom davis, and a barnes, i begin with you. How did joe biden do . Joe biden was amazing. The joe biden delivered a president ial address tonight. He did so masterfully. He was intelligent, compassionate, strong, and truly made the case for the biden presidency. We heard clearly from him what it will be like when he is our president , and different about his presidency from the current one about what he will do for a nation we hope for. I appreciate hope over fear. Thats what i take away from tonight. He did a tremendous job. Tom davis, on a personal level, you know joe biden, having served with him in the house. How did he do . I think he did what he set out to do. Of know who he is, he wants to come in as a unifier. He certainly unified the democratic base. This is still a very divided country. I like to say people dont tune into the news for information, they tuning for affirmation. It will depend on what lenses you look through for some independence in republicans, what he said was more obama administration, administration with two of the worst midterms since 1938 free democrats. But he doesnt need to get republican votes to win at this point. Hes coming out with about a seven point lead, but he needs to hold the Democratic Coalition together, the antitrump coalition, whatever they put together. I think he was successful tonight in terms of hitting those kinds of themes. He accepted the democratic nomination, but he said he would be president for everyone. I think that plays on where he needs to go. This is the opening anti. He gave a good speech. I think the republicans were talking about this guy not being able to give a speech. He certainly did tonight. He will be more tested in debates and questions from the media, the grind and everything that goes with the campaign. In terms of doing what he set out to do, he accomplished his mission. You brought up something the last couple of nights. I want you to elaborate whether it is a personality driven campaign or issue oriented campaign. Where are we now, and how do we get to one or the other . If you listened to the democratic convention, it was both, but focused on trumps personality, which i think is his weaker points. He tends to pull better on Job Performance than personal numbers. That is true throughout his presidency. For trump to win, he has to make this an issue campaign. A number of issues where the American People will agree with him versus the democratic agenda, which has moved even more left than with Hillary Clinton. Campaign,personality i think he will be in trouble. He has to move this to the issue sets. Democrats attacked him on both sides. Republicans will do the same to biden at this point. At the end of the day, for trump to win, it has to be on issues. The legacy of fdr and the new deal woven into the speech. Democratic nominee joe biden. Nearly a century ago, Franklin Roosevelt pledged a new deal in a time of massive unemployment, uncertainty, and fear. Stricken by disease, stricken by a virus, fdr insisted he would recover and prevail, and he believed america could, as well. And he did, and we can as well. Hear from the republicans, they say it is a socialist agenda. Is it . Agenda, american future president talking to this country about where we need to go as a country to move out of this space we are in and into the future. He laid out clearly that we have converging, horrific things happening to this country right now, but all could have made better by a president and administration that stepped up and did the work they needed to do to support their citizens. President citizens biden will represent. She previous guest said heard something in the state of the union address, that is true. At this moment, joe biden did lay out a policy agenda that perhaps folks were looking to hear from him, and he did that well. Talked about issues. When we look at donald trump, it will be hard for him to suddenly Start Talking about issues when he has been ignoring them for four years. This man has been president of the u. S. And hasnt taken on any issues he promised in 2016. He cant wake up tomorrow morning and tell the American Public hes ready to take on issues when he hasnt done so until now. Hes just made promises over and over again. Joe biden tonight made the case for lets elect this president who understands the country and knows how to tackle the issues and make a difference. We heard a lot about george floyd, including tonight, where joe biden mentioned his name, and his sixyearold daughter. Why was that such an Inflection Point in america this year . Look at me. Say, we have been building towards us for a long time. The violence against black and brown americans didnt just start with george floyd, its been going on for too long. This george floyd moment was a convergence of all of us ready to say enough. Black lives matter, and you will listen to us this time, america, about this. I am proud of my friends, my family, my children for stepping up and speaking to young people who have led this movement. It is an important movement. The next step is the selection, election,he november where we will vote. Im proud we have gotten here, im proud our president to be understands this issue, can speak to this issue with compassion and caring. And has chosen a Vice President ial running mate who also understands this issue because she lived it, because she looks like me, because she looks like so many americans. Forward andke us help us fix the problems in this country, including the disparities we have faced for years. Death a couples of months ago from where we are today. The George Floyd Death was a tragedy. Almost all americans united in saying this was the wrong thing to do. Number one, this occurred in a city governed by the democrats for 100 years, in a democratic state. It didnt have anything to do with national policy. The whole black lives Matter Movement started with president obama, when he was in ferguson, missouri, with the tragic death of michael brown. These are difficult issues. Sometimes when we take a look at this, we see identity politics being played, maybe by both sides, trying to divide us where we should be coming together on these issues. In terms of donald trump and his campaign, he promised to redo nafta, he redid the trade agreement with canada and mexico. He talked about building the wall. He did more on that than democrats in congress have held up. He brought a new piece to the middle east with the United Arab Emirates recognizing israel for the first time. Prior to this virus, we had the lowest Unemployment Rate in 50 years among africanamericans, hispanics, he brought that until the virus came. A lot of people say as we come back from this, who is most likely to lead our economy back . Donald trump, who got unemployment down well below what a lot of obama economists thought we could get it, is he the guy to bring it, or joe biden, who wants higher taxes and more regulation . There is a long way to go in this. We all look at life through different lenses. But lets give joe biden credit. He gave kind of a unifying speech tonight. Onhit the moment, you leave a high note. He has done that. It is the beginning of a long campaign. We will see how republicans do next week. Coronavirus looming through the convention. The former Vice President speaking about that tonight and offering his agenda if he is elected. As president , the first step i will take is to get control of the virus that has ruined so many lives. Because i understand something this president hasnt from the beginning. We will never get our economy back on track my we will never get our kids safely back in schools, we will never have our lives back until we deal with this virus. The tragedy of where we are today is it didnt have to be this bad. Just look around. Its not just bad in canada, japan, or almost anywhere else in the world. And the president keeps telling us the virus will disappear. He keeps waiting for a miracle. Him, nohave news for miracle is coming. How do we deal with this . What specifically is the biden agenda . This1 souls lost, and president says it is what it is. Part of the biden agenda is compassion for the families who have lost loved ones. Compassion he understands, because he has been through loss. Mask,d clearly, wearing a thats part of how we get this under control. Talk about whether or not we need to send kids back into classrooms right now because we need this under control. Nothing gets fixed in this country right now until we get the virus under control. We cant just ignore it, wish it away, i hope one day it will get hot enough to burn off, or the disinfectant will make it go away. Follow to fix this now, signs, and be smart about this, the way the governor in michigan has, governors across the country have, but the president has not. Any action from a president would be better, but joe biden and Kamala Harris in office will get this virus under control. This has really been a lesson in states rights and the role of the federal government. It has. You have to put the same criteria for a rural county in wyoming as in new york city. When you take a look at how individual governors have handled this, democratic states, new york and new jersey have some of the highest rates and infection rates on a percentage basis. A tragedy for all of the country. One thing joe biden does well, and you talked about it well, he feels the pain. He is a comforter. Donald trump doesnt quite have the same kind of sauna on these issues. That probably has not been to his benefit. For all the crying about not having ventilators, they got those in time. They were testing more people on a daily basis than any country in the world. We are expediting Vaccines Research and testing to get that out quickly. I dont think any president here would not have had a lot of deaths, wouldnt have shut down as i look at the strategy, people having to hunker down and wear a mask until we get some kind of vaccine, thats not a strategy, either. There is a balance to come. But with shortcomings on the handling of this, from the white house to the statehouse in different states. Im not sure anyone did it right, because we learned more about this. President trump will get the criticism, but i havent heard anything out of the Biden Campaign that tells me they would have handled it more successfully. All we know is what has happened to date is a tragedy for the country. The president will answer to that next week. This was a digital convention, so it was almost like an episode of survivor. As we heard from senator cory booker and those who dropped out of the race, but reflecting on what it was like to be on the campaign trail with joe biden. Your thought about that moment . It was fun to watch, they seemed to have a good time. Talking about what it was like to be on the campaign trail with Vice President biden. They all had stories, whether serving together in the senate or the campaign trail. Compassion stories. Biden us who have met joe have a story like that, because thats who joe biden is. Another piece of the story of who this man is and how important it is for americans to get to know him. The way we do this now is the virtual world. On the granddaughters couch coming together, the way my kids crowd together on the couch, talking about grandfather, talking about his ice cream really got a lot of looks at what its like to be part of the joe biden family. I thought that was a beautiful piece of tonights coverage. They did a good job. Whether it was vanilla or chocolate, maybe dryers ice cream. You mentioned on day one that you were back in miami in 1972, the loon drops and the silly hats. We didnt have any of that. We had fireworks. How did that play out . Clearly, it didnt play out the same. Attendance was down, in terms of people tuning in and watching it. I think republicans will have the same problem. I think you lose some of the excitement and pizzazz that goes with that that gives you a boost. It was a difficult situation to do any of this kind of thing. The tracking polls, trump has moved up three or four points this week during all of this. Maybe its because hes not saying anything, and you heard the democrats talking at this point. For whatever reason, you are not going to get the same residence you had in previous conventions. Are information, a sickly advertisement at this point, the messaging for the major parties. The nomination was determined months ago. Night toet two hours a message this in the environment without the excitement pizzazz and the cheering crowds. Its a lot more difficult. I think the democrats did a good job, given what they had. And i think the Vice President , in terms of his speech, touched the right notes he had to touch going into the campaign. But there will be a backandforth, people will pay more attention. Start pursing his words and President Trumps words. I think it will be interesting. , think it will tighten some especially because it is a very closely divided country. From the biden perspective, he wants enough disgruntled independent russia, independents, and it seems to be winning amongst them. The liberal base is far more liberal than the average independent. How do you hold this through the campaign and how do you govern afterwards . The republicans went through the tea party stage, democrats are going through the herbal tea party, where they have the leftwing they will have to hold in check to govern and hold us through the election. As you look at this convention, they have it done a good job. You brought up polling. There was a poll from the morning call newspaper that had joe biden up by four percentage points, which is a drop for the Biden Campaign. There was also a headline from the detroit news for Michigan Democrats saying the election mantra is ignoring the polls, because they had joe biden up double digits in michigan. So you see that headline, what are you sensing on the ground, and what can you expect on election day . We are a long way from election day. Theres a lot of work to be done. This is the beginning of a long road for all of us working on these elections. I have been saying to everyone in michigan every time i get the chance to ignore the polls. Only poll that matters is the one voters participate in on election day. We will continue to work hard, talking to voters, helping them through the process of getting an absentee ballot, voting it, and getting it back to their clerk to make sure they are counted and in the Clerks Office on time in michigan and all over this country. This is what the democrats have set out to do. We have Large Organizations on the ground all over the country ready to do the work. We will keep working. But the polls we saw in 2016 told us a story that turned out not to be true. We cant sit back and say we are up, we need to stay up. We need to run like we are behind. Thats what we are doing. We are running a Campaign Like we are losing so we have the best chance of not just winning, but running up the numbers in a november we want to win big. A as chair of the party, on november 3, what part of the state will you be looking at that says this is going to be a good night or a bad night for us . We are running in 83 counties. An 83 county strategy. One mistake i think any state can do is concentrate entirely too much of their time and energy on one part of the state, because they think thats where they can get turnout. Im going to Pay Attention to what happening in the main county, oakland county, where we have made Great Strides as democrats. Picking up the county commission, the chief executive. And we have a couple of seats where we have picked up the congressional seats and want to hold those. On the west side of the state, we will keep an ion kent county we will keep an eye on kent county, our base there, and keeping the seats. We have a congressional seat we think we might pick up. I will be watching the numbers from all over the state hoping we can turn every county in michigan. The commonwealth of virginia, probably better than anyone, it is a swing state. Returns come in on election day, what will you be looking for . Its probably going to be a of thetate, because growth in the Northern Virginia area. Of federal employees, a very affluent area, very multiethnic. These are areas that returned me to office, never had a close election. But as the party base has shifted from the country club to the country, you pick up west virginia, parts of michigan, rural areas, but youre losing in oakland county, fairfax, arlington, alexandria. They are getting crushed. The early returns are generally more republican, but fairfax and Prince William county come in late. I think trump got 29 in fairfax. So thats going to be tough. You are a wise party chairman, you take nothing for granted. You are smart to run straight through the cape. My understanding is michigan will probably the toughest of states, so maybe the first to crack. There was a poll out today in tiedsota that showed trump in minnesota, which it was a close race four years ago. You take nothing for granted. Campaigns matter. I think more than ever this year, campaigns matter. President trump less time showed he can vary be a very tough campaigner. Unlike the last election, he will have a lot of money to spend. Last time he ran his race on a shoestring, but he had a message. Hillary clinton had a lot of money. I think both sides will have money this time, but this Convention Season is just the start of the campaign. Its how the candidates perform after this. Harrisbad for kamala last night not having that crowd with her. Of aan feel the enthusiasm lot of people as they see her up first as the first africanamerican, pacific asian woman with nomination for Vice President , but you couldnt get the electricity from the speech she was giving. I think it fell flat. Im not criticizing the speech, im just saying not having the background, the balloons, the cheering crowd, you almost feel bad for her that she kind of deserved better at this point. Thene more moment from speech by the 2020 democratic nominee joe biden on where we are at and where we are going. History says dont hope on this side of the grave, but bend once in a lifetime for long for tidal wave justice can rise up. This is our moment to make hope and history rhyme, with passion and purpose. Let us begin, you and i together, one nation under god, united in our love for america, united in our love for each other. The love it is more powerful than hate. Hope is more powerful than fear. Light is more powerful than dark. This is our moment. I think all of us say thank you, obama, for all he did for us. He really showed how to be a good president , a president the world and country looks up to, that your children can look up to. Joe biden will be that president again. Kamala harris will be that kind of Vice President. Joe biden stepped up to the moment tonight in a beautiful, strong, and powerful way. Im looking forward to hearing more from him over and over again with Kamala Harris at his side. I think about the moment at the end, if you watched them go outside and stand for the fireworks, that moment with the arms raised with the masks i think will be the image of 2020, the memory of having to run the campaign in the era of covid masks. Very different, but very powerful imagery. If you watched cspan, you saw it, because we carried the convention in the entirety. We appreciate the plug for that. Tom davis, on this final night of the democratic convention, your final thoughts . This is the start of what will be a very tough political season. A lot of money on both sides. A lot of negativity. I do think people like optimists, they dont like just the bashing. I think one of the problems Hillary Clinton had last time is it she was almost too negative, coming out and both candidates were negative. Ronald reagan was an optimist. That got him through tough time. Barack obama talked as an optimist. Voters like that. I think biden hit the right tone. Whether you maintain it through the campaign is an issue. Campaigns are about discipline. Both candidates have shown the ability to go off script on occasion. But it will be an exciting race. And i think it will tighten. You have to keep your people working, going door to door. You saw what happened four years ago. Take nothing for granted. We would love to check in with you often during the campaign. Former congress meant tom davis, and leroy barnes joining us from ann arbor, michigan. The hour is late, but we cspans washington take yourevery day we calls live on the air and discuss policy issues that impact you. This morning, the postmaster general testify before the senate committee. Before the hearing, we will discuss the United States postal service. Watch washington journal, live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern this morning. Join the discussion. The republican National Convention gets underway monday. Cspans coverage begins at 9 00 a. M. Eastern as delegates meeting charlotte, North Carolina to nominate President Trump and Vice President