The convention will give Harris-Walz the chance to build on their momentum 

There have been more twists and turns in this presidential race than there are up through the mountains and down into valleys in the Tour de France.  

In July, Donald Trump was pedaling hard and cruising to victory while the Democratic campaign limped along on a flat tire. The worm turned in August when Vice President Harris quickly seized the opportunity left by President Biden’s sudden departure and turned the race into a closely contested battle heading to the finish line.  

While the dynamic Democratic duo of Harris and her newly minted running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, made rousing speeches in the battleground states, Donald Trump gave rambling talks at Mar-a-Lago and on X. 

Harris and Walz made a whirlwind tour of the electoral combat zone where they greeted enthusiastic standing room only crowds.  

Meanwhile, Trump was hunkered down in his Mar-a-Lago bunker. He emerged for a disastrous press conference filled with lies, distortions and exaggerations. He followed up that tour de farce with an appearance with Elon Musk on X that was plagued by tech problems and even more disjointed than the Mar-a-Lago press conference. 

The only thing Trump accomplished with his two disastrous media hits was to heighten concerns about his mental acuity. With Biden’s withdrawal from the fray, Trump is the oldest presidential candidate left standing. Now the age barbs he levelled against the 81-year-old president have boomeranged against the 78-year-old Republican standard bearer.  

Trump’s troubles and Harris’ decisive start paid big Democratic dividends. New polling for the prestigious Cook Political Report signaled a tight race in the seven swing states that will elect the next president. Back in June, the Cook polls showed the GOP nominee with big advantages in Nevada and North Carolina and smaller leads in the other key states. 

The next stop on Kamala and Tim’s Excellent Adventure is the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. If Democrats play their cards well, the confab should further boost their party’s fortunes. All that Trump got from his trip to his party’s convention in Milwaukee was a lousy JD Vance tee shirt. 

The fly in the ointment at the convention could be the Democratic division over the Biden administration’s support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brutal policies in Gaza.  

Two new developments could dampen the festivities in the City of Big Shoulders. The Department of Defense just approved $20 billion in additional arms sales to Israel. The possibility of an Iranian attack could inflame tensions in the Middle East and exacerbate the suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza. 

Presidential campaigns should be a clash of ideas about the future of our great nation while Trump views the contest as the opportunity to vent petty gripes. The former failed president reminds me a lot of George Constanza’s father on “Seinfeld” who used his holiday Festivus to air family grievances.  

All’s well that started well for the brand spanking new Harris-Walz ticket. But the Democratic contestants have caught up with Trump but not surpassed him. We still live in a 50/50 nation where there is a close division between the forces of light and the denizens of darkness.  

The Democratic nominee needs to keep her momentum going. Harris should get a bounce from the show in Chicago. The Donald will take a hit from his sentencing for 34 felony convictions in New York City on Sept. 18.

Both candidates have a great opportunity to make their cases in three nationally televised debates that begin on ABC News on Sept. 10. Walz and Vance will face off Oct. 1 in the vice presidential debate.

Harris’ background as a prosecutor will serve her well in the confrontations against the felonious former president.

The face offs provide Trump with the chance to get back on message and exploit voter concerns about the Biden-Harris record on the economy and immigration.

Trump has been cycling in reverse since the Democrats changed horses midstream. Eventually, he’ll collect himself and come out swinging on the Biden administration’s many vulnerabilities. Democrats should be ready to respond to the onslaught, or else American democracy will pay the price.

Brad Bannon is a Democratic pollster, CEO of Bannon Communications Research and the host of the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon