Cozen Oconnor Public Strategies - The Beltway Briefing

On the heels of Labor Day, when traditionally the most intense campaigning begins, Joe Biden continues to hold a lead over President Trump. A brace of new polls suggest a majority of voters don’t like the President or approve of the job he is doing. Is the race then Biden’s to lose? Will Trump’s inflammatory campaign tactics be sufficient to alter the underlying dynamics of the election? The future is unpredictable. Data and polls certainly have its limits. As anyone who lived through the 2016 election or the first eight months of 2020 knows, surprises happen and things can change quickly. 50 days before the Election Day, Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer and Mark Alderman discuss the current state of the presidential race, as the public health and economic crises continue to grip the nation.

On today’s episode of Beltway Briefing podcast, Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz are joined by Congressman Eric Swalwell, the U.S. Representative in California’s 15th Congressional district and a U.S. presidential candidate in the 2020 Democratic primaries. Less than 70 days before the Election Day, they discuss the just-completed Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the continuing debate about police violence, use of force and the need to reform America’s criminal justice system, as well as the ongoing public-health and economic crises.

More than 170,000 people in the U.S. have died from coronavirus. Beyond the terrible death toll, the pandemic has wrecked the economy and interrupted everyday life. As a result, while Americans may be more politically polarized than ever, if there is one thing people on all sides of the political spectrum agree on, it is that COVID-19 has fundamentally disrupted the 2020 presidential election. On August 17, the general election season kicked off with back-to-back political conventions which, thanks to the pandemic, have taken an unconventional turn, swapping a week of festivities for each party with somber-toned, two-dimensional television shows, indicating the seriousness of the moment. On the heels of the Democratic convention and on the eve of the Republican one, Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss this year’s biggest political events and what to expect over the next 70+ days, as the turmoil in the country continues and the election nears.

On today’s episode of Beltway Briefing podcast, Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz are joined by Congressman Dan Meuser, the U.S. Representative in Pennsylvania's 9th Congressional district, who previously served as the Secretary of Revenue in Governor Tom Corbett’s cabinet. 79 days before the 2020 Election Day, they discuss the current state of the presidential race, including the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s historic choice of Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate, President Trump’s recent executive orders on COVID-19 relief, and the ongoing twin public-health and economic crises.

Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer and Mark Alderman discuss the current state of the 2020 presidential race and the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s candidates for Vice President. N.B. Shortly after today’s podcast concluded, former Vice President Joe Biden announced that he has chosen Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), as his running mate. Harris, who previously served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, is the first African American woman and first Asian American to run for vice president, representing a historic choice. Should Biden win, she would become the nation’s first female vice president.

In a matter of months, the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped our society and changed our entire way of life. President Trump has said over the weekend that the virus is “under control as much as you can control it” in the U.S., yet infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths have been soaring in recent weeks. So far, more than 152,000 U.S. deaths and more than 4.72 million coronavirus cases have been reported nationwide. The Administration’s response to the pandemic has been criticized for months, as it has failed to produce a coordinated, national strategy to contain the virus and set up national programs for testing and contact tracing. According to a recent poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the pandemic. 91 days before the November election, Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss President Trump’s response to the worst public-health crisis in a century, which stands to be one of the key issues that will ultimately determ

99 days before the 2020 Voting Day, the public health and economic crises are emphatically far from over and political rifts are intensifying. How President Trump and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Biden plan on handling pressing issues will become emblematic of their values and priorities and will ultimately determine who becomes President-elect on Nov. 3. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss the country’s fractured state, the two presidential candidates’ starkly different political identities, and what we can expect over the next few months, as the anxiety deepens and the nation braces for one of the most divisive, intensely personal, and anything-but-typical general election campaigns in contemporary history.

As coronavirus cases climb, Trump’s poll numbers, stagnant for the first three years of his presidency, have largely evaporated. A double-digit advantage in numerous national polls, solid leads in a number of battleground states, and competitive showings in states Trump carried handily in 2016, suggest Biden is the favorite to win on November 3. Even the Trump campaign’s efforts to define the presumptive democratic nominee with a bombardment of negative advertising, has yet to dent the former vice president. Many people are wary of polls now, however, and understandably so. The overwhelming majority of polls four years ago indicated Trump would lose, too. So why put much faith in the 2020 polls that show Biden consistently on top? Will enthusiasm for a candidate translate into enthusiasm about voting? Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz break it all down and discuss what we can expect over the next 105 days, as the pandemic continues, the economy reels, and the election nears

Amidst the dramatic changes that the U.S has undergone in the last four months, the 2020 presidential election remains ongoing. How the two presidential candidates plan on handling pressing issues will become emblematic of their values and priorities and will ultimately determine who becomes President-elect on Nov. 4. Will it be Mr. Biden, whose key message is that the election is a fight for “the soul of the nation” and who hasn’t even had to campaign to take a large lead in battleground states? Or will it be Mr. Trump, who has largely wasted his chance to show emphatic leadership, has shifted almost exclusively to “law-and-order” rhetoric, and effectively has no second-term message beyond four more years of himself. But are four more years more risk than millions of Americans can stand? Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss the two candidates’ starkly different political identities and what we can expect over the next 129 days, as the public health crisis continues an

After three months of little public activity, and on the heels of a blockbuster week at the Supreme Court, both presidential candidates have launched their campaigns in earnest. Amid widespread civil unrest and ongoing public health and economic crises, the opening stage of what is likely to be one of the most divisive, intensely personal, and anything-but-typical general election campaigns in contemporary history began to unfold. 134 days before the election, Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss the current events and what to expect next.

142 days before the 2020 Voting Day, the public health crisis is emphatically far from over, demonstrations against racial injustice continue to spread, political rifts intensify, and the pandemic patchwork nation seems unable to understand the direction it is going as it braces for its most divisive presidential election. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss the country’s fractured state, two presidential candidates’ starkly different political identities, and what we can expect over the next few months, as the crisis continues, the anxiety deepens, and the election nears.

For the past eight days, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has so far claimed more than 100,000 U.S. lives and left more than 40 million Americans unemployed in its wake, protests have been held in all 50 U.S. states and spread to countries around the world, in an all-out rebuke of aggressive police tactics and racism. A wave of epic changes and profound events seen in more than 100 cities since the heartbreaking and unjustified killing of George Floyd, has cut through the hyper-polarized divides of modern America. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman and Jim Schultz discuss what has undoubtedly been an unprecedented week in the country and one that has communicated a powerful and transformative sense of urgency.

The twin health and economic crises have reached a tragic new milestone, as the pandemic death toll has surpassed 100,000 and the American economy has shed more than 30 million jobs. Meanwhile, a police killing of a black American has once again sparked outrage and violent protests across the country, laying bare the country’s political dysfunction and racial inequalities. As a grim tableau of a union in crisis has emerged, leaving some to believe that a fundamental change is at hand, Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss what to expect next.

House Democrats on Friday passed a $3 trillion relief package, named HEROES Act in honor of the front-line workers and designed to assuage the health and economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The mammoth bill, approved largely along the party lines, seeks to add pressure on Senate Republicans to start negotiations on a new round of emergency aid and avoid making the process yet another partisan flashpoint. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz break it all down and discuss what’s next, as the patchwork approach to reopening the economy continues to reveal divides between states and the federal government, on the one hand, and between blue and red states, on the other, that are likely to widen as the pandemic continues and the election nears.

After weeks of stay-at-home orders, millions of lost jobs, and trillions in emergency government spending, President Trump is calling for state and local governments to reopen their economies. Governors, for their part, are moving ahead with their own plans for how to safely resume normal activity, as they face the same competing pressures between keeping people safe in a pandemic and reviving some elements of a more functioning society. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz assess the leadership of both the President and the governors and look ahead to the November election, which will be not just about who can better return the country to normalcy but also about who can better stem the damage from what is likely to be the worst economic contraction in 90 years.

After more than a month under pandemic-related shutdown, and a resulting economic nosedive, the reopening of America is happening with little consensus on how it should proceed. Is testing really the deus ex machina that many claim? Several governors have issued a joint call for Congress to approve extra money in direct aid to states, depicting an increasingly dire financial strain on states struggling with the coronavirus crisis. It is also clear that the crisis will have a profound effect on this year’s presidential campaign and on American politics in the long term. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss these and related issues and ponder what lies ahead as the country enters the next phase of an unprecedented national experiment resulting from the pandemic.

President Trump last week signed the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, freeing up almost half-a-trillion dollars in additional relief funds to deal with the pandemic and its blow to the American economy. Less than three months since the first known COVID-19 death in the U.S., the country's reported fatalities make up a quarter of the world's known coronavirus death toll. Meanwhile, as many states still struggle to secure critical test kits, governors across the political spectrum continue to lack persuasive arguments to safely reopen the country and have asked that the federal government step up its support for state efforts. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss how the crisis continues to reshape the American economy and life as we know it.

Less than seven months before the November election, the issue of reopening the country in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is a high-wire act for the president. The politics of the situation is hanging over the health data, as a swift economic restart could backfire politically for Trump if it causes a flare up. Meanwhile, governors across the political spectrum are also facing growing pressure to revive economies decimated by the coronavirus. But if they drew praise for taking quick action to protect public health, taking responsibility for when and how to reopen the country could prove far more politically perilous. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss what lies ahead, as the ongoing public health crisis continues to test both the economy and the public’s patience.

In a matter of months, the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped our society and changed our entire way of life. As hospitals across the country have become overwhelmed, and industries, transport networks and businesses have closed down, the macroeconomic consequences seem dire. The public health and economic crises caused by pandemic will test our political institutions and our willingness to sacrifice for the common good, too. Public Strategies’ Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz discuss the roots of these crises and what it will take to overcome the daunting challenges that lie ahead.

The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly evolved from a health crisis to a financial and economic one, shuttering businesses, upending entire industries, and resulting in staggering unemployment filings. The Democratic Party announced on Thursday that it will postpone the Democratic National Convention because of the coronavirus. As the scope and scale of the pandemic and its impact remains unknown, Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, and Jim Schultz, break it all down and discuss how the crisis may impact politics and the November election.