Minnesota Governor Tim Walz indeed was the choice VP Kamala Harris made (as I asserted should be the case back on July 29th) to be her running mate, and his first test - accepting and giving his first stump speech - didn't disappoint. [Transcript here] Well, the New York Times editorial board mostly approved, anyway, but a raucous crowd of 12,000-plus in Philadelphia sopped it up.

Near-immediate right wing attacks on his Congressional record, his time as governor, and even his 24-year National Guard service came, and are mostly eviscerated by historical context and facts as we now know them, but we'll give them their time and fact-checking, here, too. George Chidi from 'The Atlanta Objective' joined me to provide context.

Oh I forgot the 'antisemitism' swipes; Mehdi Hassan quickly wiped those out last night on CNN. Also, it turns out Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro 'wrestled' with even wanting the job. '