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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: In a few months, the American people choose the course of America's future. I made my choice. I've made my views known. I would like to thank our great Vice President Kamala Harris. She's experienced. She's tough. She's capable. She's been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country. Now the choice is up to you, the American people.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
NPR's senior Washington editor and correspondent, Ron Elving, joins us. Ron, thanks for being with us.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott. Seems like ages since we talked...
SIMON: (Laughter).
ELVING: ...Just last Saturday.
SIMON: It does, indeed. And forgive the overworked observation, but a week from history, isn't it?
ELVING: It's been a historic month, really, since June 27, when Biden's debate performance upended what had been a relatively static race. Biden's people apparently thought an early debate was a good idea. But instead, it proved their candidate's undoing. And, of course, that was followed by the assassination attempt on former President Trump two weeks ago and then by Trump's unified and triumphant convention, and then Biden's Sunday announcement he would step aside after all.
So in just the last seven days, we have seen the demise of one political career and the sudden burgeoning of another. Kamala Harris has gone from an afterthought to a statistical tie with Trump in some polls.
SIMON: President Biden marked the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act in Austin on Monday, going to the LBJ Presidential Library there. Can't help but note it's a propitious time to mark that event from history.
ELVING: Oh, it is indeed. One has to wonder, would it have surprised LBJ as he signed that legislation to learn that 60 years later, his party would be nominating a woman of color for president, or would it have surprised him to learn it would take that long to happen? But, of course, there's another historical connection. LBJ, in 1968, was the last incumbent president in either party to bow out of a reelection campaign.
SIMON: Number of Republicans have accused Democrats of pulling what amounts to a switcheroo. They say President Biden ran and won the nomination in the primaries. Republicans prepared to run against him. Then party leaders, not Democratic voters, after the debate, in a few polls, pressured the president to step down and make a switch.
ELVING: They might have had an argument if Biden had not left the campaign voluntarily, if Biden had stayed in the running and somehow been denied at the convention. But that is manifestly not what happened. And the great majority of Democrats who were Biden delegates have now embraced Kamala Harris and done so quite readily. The reason they have has been quite evident to everyone. Over the past month, it's about Biden himself. And I doubt many Democrats are upset if Republicans wasted a lot of time and money running against Joe Biden.
SIMON: In the minute we have left, I want your estimation on how JD Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, has fared in the first week or so of the campaign so far.
ELVING: Vance's rocket developed a wobble in its trajectory right after launch. He's had to explain or backtrack on things he has said in the past, comparing Democrats to childless cat ladies - especially things that he said during that period of time, he was endearing himself to Trump voters and especially to Trump family members.
Trump was feeling confident enough two weeks ago to choose a guy who deepens his appeal to his base but does not broaden it. A clear front-runner can do that, Scott, but Trump is far less clearly the front-runner today than he was when he picked Vance.
SIMON: Well, do we say time will tell, or is this a chance where we say, you know, but there's a lot of time until the election?
ELVING: There is, indeed.
SIMON: NPR's Ron Elving. Thanks so much for being with us.
ELVING: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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