Georgia Today: Georgians react to Biden dropout from race; Delta deals with tech outage fallout

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, July 22. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, Georgians react to President Joe Biden dropping out of the race for president. Delta continues to recover from the worldwide tech outage that caused havoc last week, and we'll have some tips for protecting your sensitive health information from cyberattacks. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Caption

Kamala Harris

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Georgia Democratic leaders are rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris after President Biden dropped out of the presidential race. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports on Georgia reaction to yesterday's news from across the political spectrum.

Sarah Kallis: Georgia lawmakers are reacting to Biden's exit from the race. State Rep. Michelle Au, who has campaigned for Biden, says that the goal for Democrats remains the same.

Michelle Au: Our most important priority in this moment has to be making sure that Donald Trump does not get reelected, right? And however we need to do that is what we need to do.

Peter Biello: Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who has announced that she will seek the Democratic nomination. Republican House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration says he believes Harris will have an uphill battle.

Chuck Efstration: Vice President Harris is going to be associated with all the failures of the Biden administration.

Sarah Kallis: Delegates at the Democratic National Convention will select the nominee in August. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

 

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Georgia voters are reacting to President Biden's decision not to seek reelection and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Johhny Marsh: President Biden is a little bit elderly, you know, and I think it brings a lot more energy and invigoration to a Democratic Party. And they're going to beat Trump.

Janice Warnock: I think she'll get more votes. And I think that's why they decided they'd get her. Either they had plans all along or they sure weren't very bright when it came to being aware of — of his situation. And that makes them look bad to me.

Peter Biello: That's Jonny Marsh and Janice Warnock of Macon. Recent graduate of Mercer University Genesis Cooper on who should be the Democratic Party's nominee:

Genesis Cooper: I feel like if if it is anybody, then for sure it should be the vice president. Whoever, it won't matter who it is, I'm voting Democrat either way.

Peter Biello: La'Nissa Rozier is a graduate of Mercer University.

La'Nissa Rozier: I don't have faith in the American people that they will be equally fair to a Black woman running. If they could see beyond that, if they could see her policy, if they can see the work that she's put in, if they could see her vision, aside from just seeing what — what she is or who she is, I think that that would really, really make all the difference.

Peter Biello: Architecture student Danny Ferrer said he's heard lots more optimism from his friends around the election now that Biden has stepped down.

Danny Ferer: There was no — there was no really excitement about having him and someone that old. I mean, it doesn't feel like he could really complete four years. Having Kamala do it makes a lot more sense. It's just a lot more, for Democrats especially, to be excited for.

Peter Biello: Tiffany Strickland lives in Lilburn and said she was happy to hear that Biden exited the race but had concerns about Harris's political record.

Tiffany Strickland: I wasn't impressed with it to begin with, so, I'm glad to hear it. Hopefully we get a — a candidate that is, I guess, successful enough to be able to win the election, but I didn't want Biden for president.

Peter Biello: Harris said yesterday in a statement that she intends to, quote, "earn and win" her party's nomination. Democratic leaders were expected to announce Georgia delegates support for Harris soon.

Caption

Kamala Harris

Story 3:

Peter Biello: As Democrats look toward a future without President Biden as its nominee, journalists are writing the first draft of this historic moment. As the lens in many respects turns its focus on Vice President Kamala Harris, let's turn to Nicole Carr for some insight on how the media overall can, and perhaps should, frame her bid to become the Democratic Party's nominee. Carr is an investigative journalist and adjunct professor at Morehouse. Welcome to the program.

Nicole Carr: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Peter Biello: News broke yesterday about President Biden dropping out of the race. Biden immediately endorsed Harris. Several prominent Democrats followed his lead. How would you characterize the coverage of Harris so far?

Nicole Carr: You know, I think we have gone out of our way to figure out what comes next without looking at what is reality. There, In the immediate aftermath, I saw a lot of coverage of what would a Gavin Newsom ticket look like? What would a Gretchen Whitmer ticket look like? Even as we heard President Biden back Harris. And then we began to see all of these prominent Democrats, including Whitmer and Newsom, back her. There was still this narrative of, you know what? What —who comes next? Who comes next? We worked ourselves in a pretzel to avoid looking at Harris as the next. And I think we have to ask ourselves "why?" Why wasn't the narrative — why weren't we shaping this narrative in terms of, you know, the vice president as a natural next step? And so I think when we're — we're thinking about our beats, I mean, we — we not only have a democracy beat to cover, we have a race beat. You know, we have to understand the tenor of America. But we have to understand why we've skipped over her is the main narrative in the past couple of weeks.

Peter Biello: Pundits are already speculating about the role race and gender will play if Harris is indeed the nominee. What do you think is important to keep in mind when either creating a narrative that involves discussion of race and gender, and consuming such a story when it appears in the media?

Nicole Carr: You know, I think the basics will never lead us in the wrong direction, right? It is always good to understand how people, the voters, the people who will decide this thing, really think. That's a basic concept, right? Get on the ground, talk to the people who matter. It's not the pundits. We don't start the narrative with even the donors. We start with the people. And that's who we're reporting for. I'll give you an example. Last night I tweeted, you know, a note about, you know, seeing how well-sourced newsrooms would be with Black women in this moment, because if you didn't understand what was happening on the evening of all this breaking news, you know, you — you should really step back and think about how you're going to be able to effectively cover this moment. What happened was this massive gathering of Black women on a last-minute Zoom call, organized within hours, where the limit on the Zoom call was a thousand women. And they somehow, you know, tapped the Zoom CEO, who opened up the session to 44,000 Black women. And by the end of the night, within four hours, they had $1 million raised to back Kamala Harris. And I think any — at least any Black woman journalist in America understood what was about to happen. That was quite a moment. And it's an opportunity for us to think about how identities in our own newsrooms play into our ability to cover the moment effectively.

Peter Biello: So what will you be watching for in the news media in the coming days?

Nicole Carr: I will be watching for the stories that really dominated the news cycles when we were talking about a Trump-Biden match up as it relates to age, cognitive ability performance. I'll be watching for whether we have some of the same comparisons with a man of Trump's age and performance on the debate stages, against a younger woman of color who holds the second office, the highest office of the land right now, I'll be looking for the ways in which we lean into the narratives we've leaned into over the past six months: if we do the same thing with these, two likely candidates. And I'll also be looking for opportunities for us to not normalize the abnormal; for us to really lean into pro-democracy coverage when we talk about what is at stake here. And I'll be looking for more coverage of policy and what these candidates — whoever they may be, wherever we land — what policy is centering the campaigns rather than the drama of the moment.

Peter Biello: Nicole Carr is an investigative journalist and adjunct professor at Morehouse College. Thank you so much for speaking with me.

Nicole Carr: Thank you for having me.

 

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Now that President Biden has dropped out of the race for president, Democrats are looking for the least disruptive, most unifying path forward. With less than a month until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Important decisions need to be made for some insight into what comes next. We turn to Distinguished Professor of history at American University, Allan Lichtman. Welcome to the program.

Allan Lichtman: Thank you so much.

Peter Biello: So, in your view, are the Democrats smart to unify immediately around a candidate now, or does it make sense for them to debate different candidates at the convention?

Allan Lichtman: The verdict of history is crystal clear: It would be an enormous mistake for Democrats to have a big party brawl and try to select a candidate in a contested nomination battle. They already have created an open seat by pushing Biden out of the race. A big party battle would add a contested nomination. Since 1900, the party holding the White House has never, I repeat, never won when it's an open seat election with no incumbent running and a major contest for the party nomination. On the other hand, if you simply have an open seat but a consensus nominee, then the White House party does have a decent chance of winning.

Peter Biello: Is this change in the Democratic Party right now an opening for a third-party candidate, a chance to pick up some votes that otherwise not — may not have gone their way?

Allan Lichtman: Those who think they know instantly what the effect on a third-party candidate is going to be — I have a big bridge in my hometown of Brooklyn that I'll sell to you. There is no way of knowing immediately what the effect is going to be.

Peter Biello: If Harris is the nominee, how important is her vice-presidential pick?

Allan Lichtman: Not important at all, according to "The Keys to the White House" and history.

Peter Biello: And "The Keys to the White House" that you're referring to are several factors that you've developed that you think are crucial for winning the presidency. Among them: incumbency, being charismatic, major foreign or military success, absence of a scandal.

Allan Lichtman: There is no key for the vice presidency. A lot of people think there might be. For example, when George H.W. Bush selected the lightly regarded Dan Quayle. Again, a lot of the conventional pundits with no scientific basis, "Oh my God, this is going to sink his campaign." And Quayle experienced the worst moment in the history of vice presidential debates, or maybe any debate, when he compared himself as a young guy to John F. Kennedy and the Democratic nominee, Lloyd Bentsen, said, "Sir, I knew John F. Kennedy. He was a friend of mine. And you, sir, are no John Kennedy." And, of course, not only did Bush win, but he won quite handily by 7 to 8 points in the popular vote and an overwhelming majority in the Electoral College.

Peter Biello: Based on your key system, when do you think you'll have a prediction on how this election will go?

Allan Lichtman: I've made it very clear I haven't made a final prediction, although I can tell you where the keys stand now and what to look for. But I will make a final prediction, I expect, after the Democratic convention next month, so it's not that far off.

Peter Biello: What should we be looking for?

Allan Lichtman: Let's presume Harris becomes the consensus nominee. That would put the Democrats down three keys: the mandate key because they lost U.S. House seats in 2022, and the incumbent charisma key, because Harris is not an FDR. And of course, the incumbency key. So what are the keys to look for that could turn this election? There are four shaky keys: third party — will RFK Jr. stabilize at least at 10% in the polls? — social unrest, and foreign/military success and failure. Presuming Harris is the consensus nominee, three of those four keys would have to fall to predict the Democrats' defeat. I have often been asked: What does Joe Biden (when he was still the candidate) have to do to win this election? My answer is, “Govern well.” And a critical thing that could really secure at least one key, the foreign policy success key, would be if Biden succeeded in brokering a cease fire and hostage release in the Middle East.

Peter Biello: Distinguished professor of history at American University, Allan Lichtman, thank you so much for speaking with me.

Allan Lichtman: Thank you so much.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Delta Air Lines says it continues to recover and restore operations after a faulty software update by an outside vendor caused worldwide havoc on Friday. The Atlanta-based airline reported more than 600 cancellations, or nearly 83% of all canceled flights within and in and out of the United States today. Senior reporter Zach Griff on the travel industry website The Points Guy says Delta is, quote, "hobbling itself together" after cascading delays.

Zach Griff: All U.S. airlines as of Monday are really back to their normal cadence, except for Delta. And so at this point, it's a Delta meltdown and not an industrywide meltdown. 

Peter Biello: Delta has been offering waivers to affected customers.

 

Story 6:

 

Peter Biello: Delta passengers are still waiting in long lines at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to be reconnected with their luggage. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports.

Amanda Andrews: Some passengers have been waiting three days to get flights to their destination. Even customers who switched airlines have to file claims with Delta in person to have their bags sent to their homes. Holly Vlach originally rode with Delta when her flight was canceled. She took an Uber from Philadelphia to Baltimore to catch a Southwest flight to Atlanta. Vlach says now she's just trying to get her luggage sent to her home in Alabama.

Holly Vlach: And I was told yesterday my bag made it on the route on one of the standby flights and was waiting for me here. But I had somebody scan my ticket and they said it's actually still in Philadelphia.

Amanda Andrews Traffic on the Delta app and website has led to challenges, but teams are working to stabilize both platforms. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Experts recommend a few ways to protect yourself from cyber attacks compromising your data, particularly when it comes to sensitive health information. GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports.

Ellen Eldridge: Communications giant AT&T and Rite Aid pharmacy are just two of the recent security breaches that have compromised user data. Lisa Flagg Meyers is executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. She says there have been an astronomical number of incidents over the last decade, and that can be overwhelming.

While I wouldn't tell you to be dismissive of it, a lot of people do things like they don't store their credit card in an account or they don't even create an account, they check out as a guest from, like, an e-commerce site, things like that.

Flagg Meyers says one thing you can do is regularly change your passwords and consider using a password manager. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

 

Story 8:

Peter Biello: In sports, the Braves begin a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds tonight, and they'll do it without second baseman Ozzie Albies, who is expected to miss about eight weeks with a fractured left wrist. The injury came during a play at second base yesterday during a 6 to 2 loss to the Saint Louis Cardinals. The Braves recalled infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. from Triple-A Gwinnett and signed veteran Whit Merrifield. Merrifield served as a utility player with the Phillies, but his experience at second base is especially important now that Albies is out. The news about Albies comes shortly after left handed pitcher Max Fried landed on the 15-day injured list with forearm neuritis, a nerve inflammation. Reynaldo Lopez is scheduled to get the start tonight against the Reds.

 

Peter Biello: A busy day of news today. We do appreciate you tuning in to Georgia Today and more coming your way tomorrow. The best way to stay on top of it is to subscribe to this podcast. When you do, we'll pop up automatically in your feed tomorrow. And if you want more information about any of the stories you've heard today, or just want the latest on what's happening in your state, visit GPB.org/news. And as always, we are open to your feedback. You can reach the entire Georgia Today team with a single email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

---

For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news