Ahead Of Vice Presidential Debate, Campaign Staff Lower Expectations With Gov. Tim Walz Nervous To Face Off Against Sen. JD Vance

Ahead of the vice presidential debate on Tuesday evening on CBS News, the Harris-Walz campaign is sounding the alarm about their worries that the Minnesota governor will perform poorly in front of a national audience against Sen. JD Vance (R-OH). The 90-minute debate, moderated by Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan in New York City, will take place at 9 PM EST.

According to a CNN report, advisers close to the campaign said that Walz is nervous about letting Vice President Harris down and doesn't want to make her think that she made the wrong choice in a running mate. The governor is also worried about facing off with Vance, a Yale Law graduate who is known to be a strong debater.

"He's a strong person," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) explained about her fellow Minnesotan. "He's just not a lawyer-debater type. It's not like he was dreaming of debates when he was in first grade." Walz reportedly explained to donors in New York City at a fundraiser at Alex Soros' penthouse that his career didn't prepare him for debates. "As teachers, we are trained to answer the question, and we train our students to answer the questions," an individual in attendance heard Walz saying. "That's not how this goes."

The midwestern governor is expected to focus his attention on 45th President Donald Trump rather than criticizing Vance's record. He plans to try to connect the Trump agenda to Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation policy platform not connected to the Trump campaign's Agenda 47. To aid him in getting his message across, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been filling in as Vance during debate prep. The campaign reportedly is worried that Vance is going to be able to get past Walz's self-created image of a laid-back dad and attempt to get the governor to show his temper or have him come out in support of radical policies.

A senior advisor to the campaign explained that Walz needs to come across as light-hearted and put forward a hopeful message rather than serve as an attack dog against the Trump-Vance ticket. "People assume that he is a walking permission structure for rural, exurban, White male hunters," the senior campaign aide said. "Yes, for the 1 or 2 points of those we want to move. But it's much deeper than that: He's a walking permission structure for people to feel joyful and hopeful themselves."

While Sen. Vance and Gov. Walz have prepared for weeks for this debate, the Harris-Walz campaign's efforts to lower expectations are a worrying sign for the Democratic ticket. With the vice presidential debate likely to be the last big night of the 2024 campaign, tens of millions of Americans will be watching to decide if Harris-Walz or Trump-Vance is worthy of their vote. 

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