On Tuesday night, CBS News will host the vice presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) five weeks before the election. There's been plenty of chatter about whether Vice President Kamala Harris regrets not picking Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) instead, especially with how close Pennsylvania looks to be. Sure enough, Walz might not be feeling too ready.
"Heading into the vice presidential debate, Tim Walz is fighting nerves" read a CNN headline this weekend. The idea of a nervous Walz was came up during a panel on the network.
In addition to emphasizing how "nervous" Walz has reportedly told multiple people he's feeling, the piece also began by mentioning the high stakes involved:
Tim Walz is telling people he’s just as nervous about facing JD Vance as he was the Sunday afternoon in August when he warned Kamala Harris in his running mate interview that he was a bad debater.
Maybe more nervous, according to multiple people who’ve spoken to him.
And the pressure is even higher, when for the first time in modern campaign history, the vice presidential debate Tuesday is likely to be the last marquee event before Election Day. With many voters still saying they don’t know enough about Harris, it could be up to Walz to help convince them to trust a vice president he barely knew himself before she picked him.
From there, the piece also provides some interesting insight on one of the ways in which Walz has gone after Vance for going to Yale. He even bragged last month at the DNC about how as a former teacher, none of his students could even get into the Ivy League:
He feels genuine contempt for and confusion over what he views as Vance’s abandonment of their common roots, and for flipping so many of his positions to fit with Trump. The digs he takes at Vance by saying he didn’t know many Midwesterners who went to Yale are a glimpse into his anxiety that his opponent learned to be a sharp debater there, according to people who know Walz.
When it comes to the debate strategy, viewers may want to be prepared for an even angrier Walz than one we've seen before, and what Walz and his team fear if he's not successful on Tuesday night:
Walz and his team want commonsense indignation to come across, according to several in the know. Their worry is that Vance is going to eviscerate the governor’s hand-to-his-heart, dad-joke persona and make Walz come across as either a moron or a raging bull, or even an out-of-whack liberal vouching for another out-of-whack liberal.
There's mention throughout the article about this sense of "hope" and "joy" that the Harris-Walz campaign have hoped to give off, though it's also worth mentioning that such a concept was a tactic from Nazi Germany.
In addition to a section on "Making people feel 'joyful and hopeful,'" which references Walz as serving as an "emotional support animal for his party," there's also a note about such a phrase within the context as to if anyone actually believes Walz can help move the needle:
Whatever Walz does, no one on his staff or Harris’ believes he can move the needle much during Tuesday’s debate, especially not with a line or two. More than anything over those 90 minutes in the CBS studio in New York, his aides just want him to keep giving off that feeling of joy and reassurance.
Failure to move the needle wouldn't be great for the Harris-Walz campaign, given that RealClearPolling only has Harris up by +2.0 at the national level, while former and potentially future President Donald Trump leads by +0.1 in the battlegrounds. He's even leading by +0.2 in Pennsylvania, where Harris could have easily won had she picked Shapiro, the commonwealth's popular governor.
As we covered earlier, Democrats and their allies in the media, especially MSNBC, are also looking to Walz and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to help them with men and on the issue of "masculinity."
Scott Jennings was one of those present for the panel discussion to discuss the upcoming debate, and he had plenty of harsh reminders to share about expectations for Walz.
"Walz is a buffoon. I'm sorry. This guy, he's the only schoolteacher in America who brags that none of his students can get into an Ivy League school," Jennings reminded during Sunday's episode of "State of the Union."
"He's had one consequential press interaction with our Dana Bash, who asked him about the fabrications in his own resume," Jennings also reminded about the joint Harris-Walz interview from last month. "And his answer was essentially, me no understand words good. I mean, he is a buffoon," he reiterated.
"He's on a free ride for running under Harris. He gets very little press. They don't let him talk to the press for a reason."
Jennings also shared what he's expecting from Vance when it comes to the one thing he wants out of the debate.
"I want JD Vance to go out there and get under his skin. He has legendary hot, short temper. A lot of governors do, but -- he apparently he does. I want JD Vance to go out there and have him explain why he is denigrating JD Vance's story. Small-town America, ends up making something better out of his life, which is something we should want for every kid," Jennings said.
NEW: CNN’s Scott Jennings calls Tim Walz a “buffoon,” makes fun of him for bragging about how none of his students went to Ivy League colleges.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 29, 2024
“This guy, he's the only school teacher in America who brags that none of his students can get into an Ivy League school.”
“He's had… pic.twitter.com/hVB8ORjpOX
On "CNN This Morning," Jennings reiterated his point on how Walz isn't allowed to have much press time. Walz "is probably the person who is most in over their head in American politics right now," Jennings also shared.
"There's a reason they don't let him talk to the press. There's a reason he doesn't have any extended interactions where he's answering complicated questions, like what he should face at this debate," Jennings continued, offering "there's a lot of pressure on him here, honestly, to prove that he is up to this."
Jennings also mentioned later in the segment how he thinks "Vance is far more schooled at the issues at the core of this campaign than Walz is. And he has an opportunity to show that Walz was a fundamentally weak pick by Harris. And I think that's -- that would be his goal for Tuesday night."
Nobody in American politics is in over their head more than Tim Walz. Discussion of the VP debate this morning on @cnn pic.twitter.com/VUQ0fTio1U
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) September 30, 2024
And, speaking of Walz being nervous when Harris selected him as her running mate, Amy Curtis at our sister site of Twitchy highlighted how Harris reportedly "suffered from insomnia" and was "sleep deprived" when she made her pick.
That being said, let's remember to keep in mind the dangers of keeping expectations too low for Walz ahead of the debate.
Stay tuned for coverage with Townhall ahead of and during Tuesday night's debate.