>> CATHY: WE HAVE A FULL SHOW FOR YOU TONIGHT.

IN THE NEXT HOUR, WE'LL TALK WITH THE NEW DEAN OF THE MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW SCHOOL, TALK WITH A REPORTER WHO HAS BEEN FOLLOWING THE RAMSEY COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER STORY, TANE DANGER IS HERE WITH A MESSAGE ABOUT POLITICS.

>> ERIC: AND POLITICS IS WHERE WE START TONIGHT.

FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AND VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS DEBATED FOR THEIR FIRST, AND LIKELY ONLY TIME, EARLIER THIS WEEK.

AND FALLOUT FROM THAT DEBATE HAS DOMINATED THE NEWS ALL WEEK.

JOHN MCCORMICK IS A NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER WITH THE "WALL STREET JOURNAL" AND A MINNESOTA NATIVE WHO HAS WORKED AT BLOOMBERG NEWS, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DES MOINES REGISTER AND THE ROCHESTER POST BULLETIN.

WELCOME TO "ALMANAC."

GOOD TO SEE YOU.

>> THANK YOU.

IT'S AN HONOR TO BE WITH YOU GUYS.

I'VE WATCHED THIS SHOW MUCH OF MY LIFE AND, SO, IT'S FUN TO BE ON, INCLUDING WHEN I WAS A REPORTER AT THE ROCHESTER POST BULLETIN.

BOY, YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN ON THIS SHOW AN AWFULLY LONG TIME.

>> Cathy: WELL, SADLY, YES.

>> Eric: THANKS VERY MUCH FOR NOTING THAT.

>> Cathy: WE HOPE TO CONTINUE, JOHN.

>> Eric: ARE REPORTERS GETTING ACCESS?

WHAT'S THE LEVEL OF ACCESS TO, LIKE, THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN VERSUS THE HARRIS CAMPAIGN FOR YOU REPORTERS?

>> NOT A LOT.

I EAN, I'LL TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR HOME STATE GOVERNOR AS WELL.

ERIC, YOU WERE OUT AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR WITH E WHEN HE WAS THERE THE DAY BEFORE LABOR DAY, AND, BOY, THEY WHIPPED HIM IN AND OUT OF THAT PLACE.

AND THERE WAS VERY LITTLE ACCESS.

AND THAT REALLY HASN'T CHANGED VERY MUCH ON THE ROAD WITH HIM.

HE'S KIND OF, YOU KNOW, DOING PHOTO OPS AND DOING SPEECHES, BUT NOT A LOT OF INTERACTION WITH REPORTERS.

>> athy: DOES THAT SURPRISE YOU AT ALL?

>> YOU KNOW, A LITTLE BIT.

EVERY CYCLE IT SEEMS TO GET LESS AND LESS ACCESS.

THIS IS MY -- I THINK IT'S MY FIFTH PRESIDENTIAL CYCLE, WHATEVER IT IS, MY FIRST ONE WAS IN 1999-2000 WHEN I WAS AT THE DES MOINES REGISTER COVERING THE IOWA CAUCUSES AND IT DOES SEEM LIKE EVERY CYCLE ACCESS FOR THE MEDIA GETS LESS AND LESS.

WALZ IS IN AN INTERESTING PLACE BECAUSE HE CAN'T SAY ANYTHING THAT DOESN'T AGREE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE.

SO HE HAS TO BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT HE SAYS.

AND, YOU KNOW, HE HAS TO BE ON THE SAME POLICY POSITIONS AS KAMALA HARRIS.

SO, YOU KNOW, I THINK THEY'RE JUST KIND OF, YOU KNOW, KEEPING HIM FAIRLY CLOISTERED, LOTS OF PHOTOS AT ICE CREAM SHOPS AND FIRE STATIONS AND THAT SORT OF THING.

BUT, YOU KNOW, HE'S GOT THE DEBATE COMING UP ON OCTOBER 1st.

SO THAT WILL BE, YOU KNOW, A BIG MOMENT FOR HIM, OBVIOUSLY.

>> Eric: WHAT WAS YOUR SENSE OF THE DEBATE THE OTHER IGHT AS FAR AS, DID IT MOVE THE NEEDLE AT ALL?

WHAT ARE YOUR SOURCES TELLING YOU?

>> YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK THIS THING WILL -- YOU KNOW, KAMALA HARRIS OBVIOUSLY HAD A VERY GOOD NIGHT.

SHE PUT TRUMP ON THE DEFENSIVE, SHE WAS VERY ASSERTIVE, AND, YOU KNOW, HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN PREPARED FOR THAT.

THEY HAD VERY MUCH TELEGRAPHED THAT SHE WAS GOING TO BE THE PROSECUTOR, YOU KNOW, AS SHE WAS IN CALIFORNIA.

AND, SO, HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN PREPARED FOR THAT.

HE WASN'T.

SHE SEEMED TO REALLY GET UNDER HIS SKIN AND KIND OF GET HIM OFF THE MESSAGES THAT HIS CAMPAIGN ADVISORS WOULD HAVE LIKED HIM TO PUT FORWARD.

AND, SO, IT WAS A GOOD NIGHT FOR HARRIS, BAD NIGHT FOR TRUMP.

YOU KNOW, THIS RACE IS SO TIGHT, I DOUBT IT MOVED THINGS MORE THAN A POINT OR TWO.

BUT IT CERTAINLY WAS A GOOD NIGHT FOR HARRIS.

IT WILL HELP HER FUND-RAISING.

AND IT HAS BEEN A DISTRACTION FOR TRUMP.

YOU KNEW HE DID NOT HAVE A GOOD NIGHT WHEN HE WALKED INTO THE SPIN ROOM, THEY CALL T IT'S WHERE USUALLY THEY HAVE SURROGATES THE AFTER THE DEBATE TALK ABOUT HOW GREAT THEIR CANDIDATE DID TONIGHT.

ON BOTH SIDES.

AND YOU DON'T USUALLY SEE THE CANDIDATE THEMSELVES COME IN.

TRUMP DID IT IN, I THINK, 2016.

BUT IT WAS A LITTLE SURPRISING IN SORT OF TELLING THAT HE CAME INTO THE SPIN ROOM TO TRY TO SPIN HIS OWN PERFORMANCE.

I REMEMBER IN 2012, I WAS COVERING A DEBATE IN MICHIGAN WHEN THEN TEXAS GOVERNOR RICK PERRY HAD HAD A MAJOR GAV IN A DEBATE -- GAFFE, IN A DEBATE, HE CAME IN THE SPIN OOM, IT'S USUALLY NOT A GOOD THING WHEN YOU SEE A COANT COME INTO THE SPIN ROOM AFTER A DEBATE.

>> Cathy: HEY, JOHN, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE JOURNALISTS IN TERMS OF THE REALTIME FACT CHECKING THAT HAPPENED DURING THE DEBATE?

>> I MEAN, TELEVISION IS TOUGH, AS YOU GUYS BOTH KNOW, I HAVE A FACE FOR RADIO SO I DON'T DO TELEVISION VERY OFTEN.

SO TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN REALTIME IS VERY CHALLENGING.

OBVIOUSLY TRUMP TOLD MORE FIBS THAN HARRIS DID.

ALL POLITICIANS DO TO A CERTAIN THINGS, THEY EXAGGERATE THINGS.

BUT OBJECTIVELY, TRUMP TOLD MORE UNTRUTHS DURING THAT DEBATE AND, SO, HE WAS FACT CHECKED MORE IN REALTIME.

BUT IT'S A HARD THING TO DO.

I THOUGHT, YOU KNOW, GENERALLY, YOU KNOW, HIT THE BALANCE CORRECTLY.

I WAS FRANTICALLY TYPING SO MUCH DURING THE ACTUAL DEBATE, THERE WERE PARTS THAT I MISSED, I PROBABLY NEED TO GO BACK AND REWATCH THE WHOLE THING BECAUSE WHEN YOU'RE WRITING ABOUT IT IN REALTIME, IT'S A LITTLE DISTRACTING.

BUT, YEAH, NO, I THINK THEY DID, YOU KNOW, A REASONABLY GOOD JOB.

IT'S A HARD THING TO DO.

>> Eric: YOU DID A STORY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "ON PEGGY FLANAGAN, MINNESOTA'S LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.

I WONDER HOW YOU CAME AWAY FROM THAT THINKING HOW SHE'S HANDLING THE SITUATION?

>> WELL, I WAS INTERESTED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HER.

I REALLY DID NOT KNOW KNOW VERY MUCH ABOUT HER.

YOU GUYS OBVIOUSLY HAVE BEEN AROUND HER A LOT MORE.

YOU KNOW, I THINK PEOPLE NATIONALLY DIDN'T SORT OF REALIZE HOW PROGRESSIVE WALZ HAS BEEN, AT LEAST IN RECENT HISTORY.

HE WAS SORT OF A MODERATE IN CONGRESS, OBVIOUSLY.

AND THEN HAS A VERY, YOU KNOW, PROGRESSIVE AGENDA IN 2023 THAT THEY PASSED.

SO I SORT OF WANTED TO SEE WHAT FLANAGAN WAS LIKE.

SHE VERY WELL MAY BE THE STATE'S NEXT GOVERNOR.

AND I'VE BEEN OLD, YOU KNOW, BY MY MINNESOTA SOURCES SUGGESTED THAT SHE REALLY HAD BEEN SORT OF A PROGRESSIVE WHISPERER IN HIS EAR, THAT IF THERE WERE MOMENTS WHERE HE DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER HE SHOULD GO LEFT OR RIGHT, YOU KNOW, SHE WOULD SOMETIMES TUG HIM SORT OF TO THE LEFT.

SO I THOUGHT THAT WAS AN INTERESTING STORY AND A CHANCE TO PROFILE HER.

HEY, I GOT AN EXCUSE TO WALK AROUND THE STATE FAIR FOR ALMOST AN ENTIRE DAY WITH HER.

>> Eric: JOHN, THANKS SO