Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on Harris' convention bump and if Trump will debate

amna: There are just 70 days left until election day and the campaigns are ramping into high gear. That means there is a lot to break down this week in politics and for that we are joined by Amy Walter and Tamra Keith. Good to see you both. One week after the convention, the democratic national convention, Amy, candidates get a postconvention bounce. Are we seeing that or do we expect to? >> Unlike any other election we have ever seen before where the candidate really came onto the scene less then a month before the convention, she got a lot of that bump before we got to Chicago with the base rallying around her. She has had the wind at her back since she has been in the race. If anything, the convention crystallized the kind of momentum she has an able to sustain for the last month. You have Democrats leaving Chicago but you feel it around the country also more enthusiastic than they have been at any point this year. And I could argue for the last two years. She may get a little bump out of that. Overall, I think this is the real question going forward and this is what Donald Trump is trying to desperately stop -- she has been able to control the narrative of the campaign on the terms she wants to talk about whether it is on issues -- the issues like abortion or the economy in terms that work for her and most important, she has been a ae, even as the incumbent, grab the change candidate. People upset with the status quo, she is part of it but she has also managed to be the person turning the page. Amna: If you are Donald Trump, this is a condensed timeline. 70 days. You have a new ticket late in the cycle. What are you seeing from the campaigns that tell us the priorities and strategies? >> Donald Trump's campaign put out a memo over the weekend saying, there is going to be a bump. Harris will see her number are rise. Don't worry, it will go away. It is not clear because it is a tight schedule what will happen but I know that Donald Trump is campaigning like he is losing. He is doing a lot of events. He is doing different types of events. He is doing everything he can to take attention away from Harris. Today he went to Arlington national cemetery outside of Washington DC he went to a Vietnamese restaurant in northern Virginia campaigning with a senate candidate doing these small retail type events. That is not something he has typically done. He is doing everything he can to get attention. Harris, on the other hand, is going to have a bus tour this week through Georgia. What is interesting is it is the same strategy they employed in Pennsylvania which is to say thaatlanta is not Georgia. The state has many other areas. They could still hear from the candidate and reduce their losses and some of those areas. She is doing a bus tour, not just big rallies. Both campaigns are running like it is a real race. Amna: There is another factor that could have an impact on the race that we know will be won on the margins and that is Friday's announcement that Robert F Kennedy is suspending his camping and endorsing Donald Trump. We saw his support drop after Harris became the nominees. -- Became the nominee. >> It is true, but for Biden dropped out of the race, about 8% of voters said they were voting for rfk junior today it is down to half of that. Most of those went to Harris. Recent surveys looking at the battleground states, voters that remain Kennedy support is, if you put them up -- if you push them on the question of who they will support, half say they are trump supporters. Will they show up? They are sitting there because they liked rfk and they are disappointed. If they do show up for Donald Trump, especially if the undecided voters, if they show up for Donald Trump as well, you are talking about movement of a point or so were a little under. It doesn't look big. But the last election was decided by 10,000 votes here and 15,000 there, if I am the trump campaign I would be ready to bring those people back into my camp. Amna: And if you are the Harris campaign, the chair put out a statement after rfk junior dropped out saying vice president Harris wants to earn their support and for any American out there that is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is the campaign for you. Are those voters win bowl by Harris? >> Part of that is signaling that they take no vote for granted. And a big part of that is signaling back. As we have said, this is a close race and will continue to be. They cannot look like they are writing off a group of voters. Sure, they could go nuclear on all of rfk junior's many liabilities and tie them to Donald Trump. They will do that but this was a conciliatory thing you would expect. We are a big tent. Look at the convention, they had all of these Republicans -- today they announced another 200 Republicans. They are building a stable who they hope will create a structure, a permission structure. That is not the major thrust of the campaign but one of the many angles they are trying. Amna: It is a reminder that the democratic coalition since Biden has been one of bringing in voters that say, I don't know that I can vote for Donald Trump t--we are part of that. Amna: Another debate is scheduled. Later in September. Mr. Trump is casting doubt that he will take part in a. Do you think it will happen? And will it make an impact? >> This is now a place where Donald Trump needs to change the direction of his campaign. In June it was Biden that wanted the debate because he knew he was running behind and now trump wants to change the focus. Since Harris got income of the trump campaign has been adamant that she hasn't been tested or sat down for an interview. Let's see how she is able to do once she gets under the hot lights of having to answer a question not on a teleprompter or scripted. >> She has been conducting a one-way conversation with the American people. She has not been pressed. A debate is an opportunity, the interview she promised she would do by the end of August, that will also be a two-way conversation. And the Harris campaign clearly seems to want the debate to happen but they are also enjoying getting under trump's skin about it. Implying his handlers don't want him to have the open microphone. He wants the microphone shut down. Donald Trump is asked about it and says, I would be happy with an open microphone and that blows up the negotiations and the behind the scenes debate about the debate. Amna: I feel like we will continue to have a debate about the debate until the debate happens. Tamra Keith and Amy Walter, great to see you both. Thank you. ♪♪