Morning Report — Walz, Vance joust for votes with policy

In today’s issue:

• Vance, Walz dodged debate questions
• Israel, US fend off Iranian missile attack
• Port strikes pose political, economic risks 
• All eyes on swing state Michigan

The presidential contest featured plenty of convivial rhetorical flourishes Tuesday between vice presidential candidates Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Ohio’s Republican Sen. JD Vance on big issues that divide the electorate. 

Fast-talking, conspicuously amiable, practiced at dodging direct policy questions and eager to appear moderate, the progressive governor and the conservative senator told voters the country would be in sorry shape if the candidate at the top of the opposing party’s ticket wins in November.

Former President Trump “tried to overturn an election” in 2020 and sought to thwart “the peaceful transfer of power,” Walz pointed out. Vance quickly shifted gears when asked about Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021. He did not affirm that Trump lost to Joe Biden four years ago.  

Vice President Harris is responsible for “the real family separation policy” at the U.S. southern border resulting from her “wide open border” policies, Vance said, focusing on an issue on which Republicans have gained traction. 

▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from the only vice presidential debate in 2024.

▪ The Hill: Memorable debate moments.

▪ The New York Times: Walz said he “misspoke” about being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 when he was at that time in Nebraska.

▪ The Hill: Best and worst debate exchanges.

Walz gazed into the CBS News camera to say Harris would deliver “steady leadership,” if elected, another version of Harris’s insistence that Americans are tired of Trump’s chaos. The governor sidestepped Vance’s repeated criticism that Harris had years as vice president to act on policy ideas she revealed only recently. Vance, for his part, said America needs Trump back in the White House because he has “already done this once before and did it well.”

BOB’S SMART TAKE 

Vance and Walz deserve applause for having a civil debate in the midst of one of the nastiest presidential election years. They shook hands, didn't shout over one another and actually talked about the problems facing the country.

Vance needed to have a good night after Harris won last month's debate with Trump. Overall, Vance succeeded. 

Walz had his moments, landing some punches on health care. Vance did well on foreign policy, but neither candidate scored a knockdown. Unfortunately, they both dodged multiple questions, ranging from the nation's record debt to how to deal with Iran.  

The bottom line: Like other vice-presidential debates, this one probably won't make a difference in November. But unlike prior debates we have seen in 2016 and 2020, the Vance-Walz debate was one that America can be proud of.

Immigration: The debate turned heated on the topic of immigration and securing the southern border. Vance said the Trump administration would focus its mass deportation efforts on undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Walz countered that Biden and Harris both supported a Senate-negotiated bipartisan border deal, which was tanked by Republicans at Trump's urging earlier this year.

Abortion: Walz defended Minnesota’s broad abortion-rights law and attacked Trump’s praise of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Vance, meanwhile, conceded that resulting state abortion bans — which he has supported — can be harmful to some women. Trump, during the debate, said on Truth Social he would veto a national abortion ban.

Vance conceded restrictive abortion policies have hurt Republican candidates. “My party, we’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they frankly, just don’t trust us,” he said.

Gun violence: Vance and Walz shared a notable moment of mutual respect after the Minnesota governor shared a story about his son witnessing gun violence. Asked about school shootings, Vance said he backs increased school security while Walz said gun safety requirements respect Second Amendment rights. The governor, a former teacher, rebuffed turning schools into “forts.” 

“Is that where we have to go, when we know there’s countries around the world that their children aren’t practicing these types of drills?” he asked. “They’re being kids. We owe it to them to get a fix.”

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY 

▪ The Saudi oil minister warns of $50 per barrel oil and falling prices tied to so-called production cheaters within OPEC+. 

▪ Here are the 2024 MacArthur “genius grant” fellows. They receive $800,000 over five years, no strings attached.

▪ Professors at elite colleges worry students can’t focus on books anymore.

LEADING THE DAY

IN AN ATTACK that raises the likelihood of a direct all-out war in the Middle East, Iran fired several waves of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. Tehran’s attack was the culmination of a dizzying 24 hours that began with Israel launching a ground invasion into Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia.

Israel and the U.S. promised consequences for Iran after it fired more than 200 missiles during its assault, the Israeli military said, a barrage that forced millions to take cover in bomb shelters. Iran said the attack was a response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. Many of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defense system, the Iron Dome, and there were no immediate reports of casualties, but one Palestinian man was killed by falling shrapnel in the occupied West Bank.

There were 55 people killed in strikes across Lebanon within the last day, with another 156 injured, according to the country’s health ministry.

Tehran will face “severe consequences” for its attack, the White House said, after the U.S. employed military force to help deter Iran’s missiles for the second time in five months. National security adviser Jake Sullivan did not say what form the consequences on Iran, which is already subject to extensive American sanctions, would take.

“Based on what we know now, the attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective,” Biden said Tuesday, noting that the U.S. military “actively supported” Israel’s defense. “Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.”

Israel has promised to respond to the attack — sparking worries among its allies that the conflict in the Middle East could escalate further and grow into a direct war between the region’s two largest militaries.

Hours after the assault, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retribution. 

“Iran made a big mistake tonight — and it will pay for it,” he said. “The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.”

▪ The New York Times: Mapping Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Israel said it secretly conducted dozens of raids into Lebanon in the past year as part of an effort to destroy Hezbollah weapons and military infrastructure ahead of Monday’s broader ground incursion.

▪ The Hill: At least six people were killed and several injured in Tel Aviv when two gunmen opened fire on a light rail train.

▪ The Hill: Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are calling on Biden to get tougher on Iran. 

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will convene a pro forma session Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Senate will hold a pro forma session Friday at 10 a.m.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10 a.m. Biden will travel to Greenville, S.C., for an aerial tour of areas affected by Hurricane Helene. He will travel to Raleigh, N.C., for briefings related to the federal response and aid following the storm. The president will return to the White House.

Candidate schedules this week: Harris will travel to Georgia today in response to Hurricane Helene. Walz will campaign during a bus tour through central Pennsylvania with stops in Harrisburg, Reading and York. Trump will campaign in Saginaw, Mich., at 3 p.m. Vance headlines a 1:30 p.m. event in Auburn Hills, Mich., and another in Marne, Mich., in the evening. Harris will campaign Thursday in Wisconsin. The vice president will campaign Friday in Detroit and Flint, Mich. Trump will hold a town hall Friday at 7 p.m. in Fayetteville, N.C. Vance will campaign Friday in Lindale, Ga., at 1 p.m. The former president will return Saturday at 5 p.m. to Butler, Pa., the site of a gunman’s assassination attempt July 13.

ZOOM IN

MICHIGAN: As Harris and Trump chase votes in key swing states, Michigan is moving into focus. The state, where Harris currently holds a 0.8 point lead over Trump according to Decision Desk HQ and The Hill, was crucial to Biden’s victory in 2020, in part due to Arab American voters who turned out for Democrats.

But Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic candidate for Senate in the state, told donors last week that Harris is "underwater" in the state.

Part of the reason? Tension between Arab American and Muslim groups and Democratic leaders over the White House’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Many of them, including leaders of the “Uncommitted” movement focused on protesting the war, have chosen not to endorse any candidate in the presidential race.

In late September, Harris secured the endorsement of Emgage Action, one of the nation’s largest Muslim American voter mobilization groups, a significant boost to her campaign.

“This endorsement is not agreement with Vice President Harris on all issues, but rather, an honest guidance to our voters regarding the difficult choice they confront at the ballot box,” Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of Emgage Action, said in a statement. “While we do not agree with all of Harris’ policies, particularly on the war on Gaza, we are approaching this election with both pragmatism and conviction.”

Seeing an opening, Trump will make another campaign stop in Michigan this week with a Thursday rally in Saginaw.

▪ USA Today: Can Walz's Midwestern charm work in Michigan?

▪ The Hill: Trump holds a 2-point advantage over Harris in a new Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters in North Carolina — a reversal from just a few weeks earlier, when Harris led Trump by 3 points. 

▪ The Hill: Trump has widened his lead over Harris in Georgia, according to the Quinnipiac poll, which showed Trump up 6 points over the vice president in a state with 16 Electoral College votes. Biden defeated Trump in the Peach State by about 12,000 votes in 2020.

2024 ELECTION ROUNDUP 

The Harris and Trump campaigns are stepping up their outreach to Generation Z voters in critical battlegrounds. “I think the outreach is pretty unprecedented in the size and scope and level of involvement,” March For Our Lives co-founder David Hogg told The Hill about the Harris campaign. “But, it wasn’t given to us. We weren’t given a seat at the table. We brought our own chair … The party has not been great at evolving for young people, but I think finally there’s really a recognition.” 

Harris’s campaign unveiled an ad Tuesday focused on the nation’s southern border, featuring Olivia Troye, ex-national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence.

The NAACP announced a $3.75 million radio advertising effort Tuesday to ensure Black voters cast their ballots in swing states.

“Tight as a wet boot” is a Texas expression that could apply to the state’s Senate contest. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report on Tuesday shifted the Lone Star State’s Senate race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican,” signaling momentum for Rep. Colin Allred’s (D) challenge against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R).

ELSEWHERE

PORT STRIKE POTENTIALLY COSTLY: The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) is on Day 2 of a major strike that could tangle supply chains, raise consumer prices ahead of the holidays and scramble the political terrain for an administration that backs organized labor but also wants to ease Americans’ anxieties about high prices and their wallets ahead of Election Day.

Analysis firm J.P. Morgan estimated the strike could cost the U.S. economy $5 billion a day.

The union wants a 77 percent pay hike for its approximately 45,000 members over six years as a condition to talk with maritime employers, The Wall Street Journal reported. After that, the union seeks a ban on automated port technology, which it says would eliminate jobs. “Smart ports” are becoming more common in Asia and Europe. The union says international ocean carriers have raised prices, raked in hefty profits and are overdue in sharing the proceeds with dockworkers.

The White House, which pressed the employer group this week to raise its wage offer from a previous 40 percent increase, urged the parties to reach an agreement on wages. Business groups and Republican lawmakers have stepped up calls for the administration to invoke federal law to keep the affected ports open. The administration is betting that the strike impact on consumers will be limited for now, and federal officials have thus far discounted forcing dockworkers back to work.

▪ USA Today: Which products could be affected by a lengthy port strike? Alcohol, bananas and seafood, to name a few.

▪ The Hill: Five things to know about the port strike. 

▪ CBS News: The last time dockworkers walked off the job was 1977.

???? HURRICANE RECOVERY: The massive hurricane that pounded Florida and other Southern states last week triggered calls in Congress from both parties to enact substantial emergency disaster assistance, which was not envisioned in the recent temporary government funding measure that expires Dec. 20. 

“We have to jumpstart this recovery process. People are scared to death,” Biden said Tuesday. The president will meet in Raleigh, N.C., today with officials and first responders and take an aerial tour of flood-damaged Asheville, N.C. The president is also expected to travel when possible to Florida and Georgia.

Harris will visit Georgia today to discuss the state’s assistance needs in the wake of Hurricane Helene and she plans to travel to North Carolina for that purpose “in the coming days,” the White House added. 

More than 160 people were confirmed dead as of Tuesday in six states — Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Many people are reported missing. Helene is now the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland U.S. in the past 55 years, topped only by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the most deadly since Hurricane Camille hit the Gulf Coast in August 1969.

It’s unclear if lawmakers from both parties would return to the U.S. Capitol to vote on a potential relief measure ahead of the election and while they are campaigning. It’s an idea still under discussion. 

"We must bring Congress back to session and schedule a vote on a robust emergency supplemental package to address the needs of our communities," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). “Time is not on our side, and the need is urgent.”

Virginia Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, joined by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), said they support Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in calling on Biden on Tuesday to approve for hurricane-damaged southwestern Virginia an expedited major disaster declaration. That step, reserved for “catastrophes of unusual severity and magnitude” can trigger federal assistance “when field damage assessments are not feasible or may not be necessary to determine the requirement for supplemental federal assistance,” they wrote to the president.

The Hill deputy managing editor Katie Wadington filed a first-person dispatch about her experience with Hurricane Helene near Asheville.

OPINION 

■ A polite night of substantive debate, by The Washington Post editorial board.

■ VP debate: Vance wins as Walz whiffs on easy questions, by Derek Hunter, opinion contributor, The Hill. 

THE CLOSER 

And finally … ???? What goes around, comes around. 

Maryland retiree Manuel Vera, 74, skillfully transforms abandoned, donated and slightly worn bicycles into passports to better lives for refugees, immigrants and others who land on a donation list that sprung from a pastime during the pandemic. He estimates he’s rehomed about 700 bikes.

He keeps at it, sometimes toiling for five hours at a stretch in a converted workshop. He accepts donated bikes from the community and has a list of eager recipients waiting for free wheels after his handiwork. 

“I wouldn’t call this a project, because a project requires some planning and some certain amount of discipline. This just kind of grew like a weed,” he told WTOP radio in the Washington, D.C., area.

Vera has recently begun concentrating on helping refugees, most of whom are from Afghanistan, but he’s also provided bikes to people from parts of Africa, Asia and Central America.

He came to the U.S. from Peru with his parents and four siblings when he was 14. “It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to be able to do something for people directly, rather than going through a charitable organization,” he explained.

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