Vice presidential possibilities: Is Walz really ready for a larger stage?

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In the nine days since Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Gov. Tim Walz has escalated from his own team’s self-described “second tier” to leading his own parade to win the nomination. The national press is calling, local labor leaders are sending letters and the governor isn’t talking much to local press. The possibility that Walz is Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick is as real as the Minnesota Vikings winning when they go into the NFC Championship. There’s a chance.

Having closely observed and known Minnesota’s governors since the 1990s and having known Walz since 2006, I think his evolution as a politician is worth tracking and that it’s worth asking: “Is he ready?”

It would be easy to replay the good days and bad days of the Walz governorship — but it is the threads of trends that highlight his leadership style across the last six years that illustrate what kind of national candidate he will be. The policy transformation from moderate congressman to liberal governor is also something worth noting — as it may indicate his interest in being more popular than principled. Leadership style and political gifts and liabilities are really what the VP selection process is about.

At his core, Walz likes people and likes being popular. That’s not unique, but for Walz after 2018 and into 2020 as people became more divided — and criticism became prominent — he spent more time with those who like him than with those who criticize him. Unlike most leaders, he wouldn’t acknowledge his mistakes. Instead, he became more defensive.

When Walz is defensive is when his political skills falter. Walz is sharp when he’s on offense, pitching his plan, celebrating a victory, holding court at a tightly scripted news conference, or filming a victory video. As he’s considered to be a VP pick, how he responds or might perform in the vice presidential debate is a legitimate question. If he gets frustrated or attacked, he may stumble.

The loudest critics of Walz would list and analyze his worst moments as governor, but its more illustrative to see how he handled them, or how his leadership and relationships match up with his aspirational “One Minnesota” mantra.

The answer is — he didn’t handle them, or if he did, he didn’t do it in a very accountable way. From Feeding our Future to the riots of 2020 to other smaller issues, Walz rarely faces tough questions when his administration is under fire. The details the public expects and deserves don’t ever get released.

Minnesota has never been more divided, and as a congressman from greater Minnesota who used to wear an NRA hat, he’s either evolved for political expediency or survival within the DFL and he missed an opportunity to unite the state. After all, moderate DFLers are tough to find in the same spirit as Walz when he represented the First District.

Within the DFL Party, Walz stock rose and was a wise choice for the party to elect in 2018 as governor. That said, Take Action and other far-left groups were not pleased with Walz in his first term.

So much so that in 2022 when some DFL delegates jeered him at the state convention, I asked him about it, but he couldn’t even acknowledge it. Instead, he attacked the question. A more astute politician would have used it as a chance to try to differentiate himself from the fringe — however, Walz can’t stand being unpopular.

Once the DFL won the House and the Senate, he seemingly told the far left “yes” to everything it wanted. That erased his moderate history. Instead of compromising to the middle, Walz has given in to the left — which gives him credibility with the Democratic base.

Those policies are at the core of why Walz stock has risen nationally. Disheartened and scared of a second Trump term, Democrats crave winning, success and “progressive” highlights. Just as President Joe Biden was killing energy for the party, Walz has enhanced the Harris bounce, which is a political asset. Even if he is not selected, it puts him in the conversation for 2028 — something his team was trying to figure out just a few months ago.

In his previous campaigns, the more his team has wrapped him in bubble wrap, the less prepared he has been made for the national stage. However, the setbacks he’s had haven’t thrown him off as they might have for governors in previous generations.

His claim that he is the most transparent governor in Minnesota history is simply not true. That point was shown (again) by the Axios piece last week in which his text messages didn’t match his words — again. Walz has gone to great lengths to not have a trail of correspondence from a secondary email address, to keeping discussions to as private as possible. The answer from his spokester last week? He “misspoke.”

Walz misspeaks at tough moments. He misspoke on Feeding our Future, on Supreme Court news, and a few weeks ago so much so that national reporter Nate Silver said Walz was lying about the DNC process — while his team said he misspoke. The thing that Walz may do is just talk too fast, without thinking — rather than be thoughtful, without embellishment. Compared with gaffes like Biden’s over the years, Walz’s trip-ups are easily passed by in modern news coverage.

After all, former President Donald Trump has proven that you can unfortunately say anything, and it doesn’t cost you politically the way it would have 12 to 16 years ago. Walz is pushing the Democratic version of this, and people are eating it up.

Walz may do well on cable TV — but how will he do with a constant traveling national press corps — who ask follow-up questions? In Minnesota he doesn’t take tough questions or critiques well. He’s refused multiple requests for long-form interviews.

Just two weeks ago, the Star Tribune documented that his administration wants to be more friendly to social-service groups (part of the DFL coalition) than to hold them accountable. Accountability is something that he has avoided when things in state government haven’t gone smoothly. Even an interview with the seemingly friendly Minnesota Reformer on Feeding our Future went sideways when he “misspoke.”

On Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed him for his criticism of Rep. Dean Phillips — Walz avoided acknowledging he called it a sideshow. Like many things he says one day, he won’t acknowledge later. That’s the Walz playbook — dismiss it. It works, and is a modern political talent that leaves critics frustrated.

The final Tapper question Sunday was whether Walz would be interested or serve as Harris’ VP — Walz avoided a “yes or no” answer. Walz then said, “I usually do direct answer.”

No, Jake, and the rest of the nation — Walz doesn’t answer directly, which could be his biggest asset and liability as a VP nominee in 2024. That seemingly makes him ready for the job, especially since he’s no longer a moderate.

Blois Olson is CEO of Fluence Media and Fluence Advisory. He publishes morning take and is the political analyst and host at WCCO Radio.