One convention done, one to go

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are officially the presidential ticket for the Democratic Party. The virtual convention was a little awkward, but was it any more awkward than conventions usually are? Josh Barro, Megan McArdle and Dorian Warren talk about the case Democrats made for themselves this week and why some progressives felt they got short shrift. The panel also discusses Steve Bannon’s legal troubles and why his alleged scheme to rip off conseervative donors worked so well.

Then: Rick Hasen joins for a conversation about trouble at the post office, and real election risks and a plan for preserving election legitimacy. He says some of the biggest risks are known, they’re not new and they have to do with election management. He makes case for flattening the ballot curve, being realistic about the timeline of ballot distribution and return in a pandemic, and not seeing every instance of incompetence as dysfunction on purpose.

Then: with every passing week without a federal aid deal, the funding crisis facing state and local governments gets more real. It’s not just blue cities that will be hard-hit. Some of the direst scenarios are for strong Republican cities. A new study looks at which will be hurt the most, and why, and it has a lot to do with our new socially distanced normal.