“As Democrats fill this week’s convention with a renewed sense of optimism, there’s one person many credit for the sharp reversal of their political fortunes: Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker whose work to pressure President Biden off the ticket has inspired fresh appreciation for the longtime party operator’s strategic acumen,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Pelosi: “The convention is, of course, a different one than was envisioned one month ago, and it’s one that is going to be enthusiastically attended.”

But the credit, she insisted, “goes to the president. He made the decision about how we would proceed, and I respect him for the decision. His selflessness is something that the American people admire greatly, and the reaction that people have had to it, I hope, is satisfying to him in return.”

“Vice President Kamala Harris made a brief video appearance at the DNC from a Milwaukee rally after she officially accepted the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nomination following roll call on Tuesday,” Axios reports.

“The simultaneous vision of two packed arenas comes as Harris has been weaponizing crowd sizes against former President Trump, to the frustration of her Republican presidential rival.”

“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’?”

— Michelle Obama, quoted by Politico, slamming Donald Trump in her speech to the Democratic convention.

“The magic of 2008 roared through the United Center on Night 2 of the Democratic National Convention, courtesy of the party’s most beloved retirees: Barack and Michelle Obama,” Axios reports.

“The symbolism wasn’t subtle. President Biden sees Vice President Kamala Harris as the heir to his administration. The Obamas see her as the heir to their movement.”

“For the first time in a long time, Democrats have a presidential nominee in Kamala Harris they are excited about. But they can’t quit Donald Trump. The party’s muscle memory and strategic imperative for bashing him are too strong,” Politico reports.

“And so, in the opening days of the Democratic National Convention here, this celebration of Harris has turned into a bludgeoning of the former president.”

Axios: How Obama’s bitter feud with Trump drives Dems’ campaigns.

“In a single, 21-minute speech Tuesday night, Michelle Obama delivered a powerful encapsulation of nearly every key strategic aim of this week’s Democratic National Convention,” the Washington Post reports.

Peter Baker: “While the delegates loved Mr. Obama, they really loved Mrs. Obama. From the minute she entered to Stevie Wonder to the end when she introduced her husband, she had the hall wrapped in her hand. No wonder Mr. Obama did not want to go next. No wonder former President Donald J. Trump over the years has repeatedly expressed a feverish worry that the Democrats would turn to Mrs. Obama as their next nominee in some kind of bizarre conspiratorial plot.”

“From the stage at the United Center on Tuesday, Mrs. Obama eviscerated Mr. Trump as a product of ‘the affirmative action of generational wealth’ who nonetheless enjoyed the ‘grace of failing forward’ while moaning that he was somehow a victim. She described him as a racist and misogynist who exploited fears and lies, a huckster and a hatemonger still playing ‘the same old con game’ on America.”

“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer likes to remind everyone that he’s a perpetual optimist. During a convention week, it’s easy for that to verge into pure spin,” Punchbowl News reports.

“Despite facing their worst electoral map in years, Schumer and other top Democrats say their chances of holding the Senate are far better than they appear.”

“A mix of newfound enthusiasm for the top of the ticket thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris, plus what Democrats see as a repeat of Republicans’ ‘candidate quality’ problem, has Schumer putting his usual optimism into overdrive.”

Timothy Mellon, a longtime GOP donor and heir to the Mellon banking fortune, “gave $50 million to a pro-Trump super PAC in July, following two other massive donations to boost the former president this cycle,” Politico reports.

“He has now given $115 million to the group, Make America Great Again Inc., since the start of 2023. That makes him by far the largest donor to the super PACs backing Donald Trump’s candidacy this cycle.”

Donald Trump’s onetime White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told delegates at the Democratic convention that Trump, when out of the public eye, would mock his supporters and refer to them as “basement dwellers,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

She added: “On a hospital visit one time, when people were dying in the ICU, he was mad that cameras were not watching him. He has no empathy. No morals. And no fidelity to the truth.”

“Arizonans will be able to vote in November on whether to put a right to abortion in the state constitution,” the Arizona Daily Star reports.

“In an order late Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected arguments by Arizona Right to Life that a description of the key provisions in Proposition 139, which was attached to petitions, misled people into signing the initiative.”

Associated Press: “Under the measure, abortions would be allowed until an embryo or fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks. There are some exceptions for later-term abortions to save the mother’s life or to protect her physical or mental health.”

Mother Jones: “When Barack Obama takes the stage in Chicago tonight to support the candidacy of his old friend Kamala Harris, many Americans will see it as another torch-passing moment in a Democratic National Convention that’s already been replete with them. This one is extra emotional because of the sheer improbable nature of what the former president and current vice president have achieved.”

“What many people won’t realize is that without Harris’s early and enthusiastic support, Obama’s career might have taken a different trajectory. Maybe he would have ended up in the White House anyway in 2008, maybe later, but Harris gave him a critical boost at a time when he was still largely unknown. And she did it at enormous risk to her own standing with the Democratic Party’s donor class.”

The Harris campaign and its affiliated groups have raised close to half a billion dollars just since President Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris last month, NBC News reports.

Democrats expect that number to grow to around $600 million by the end of August.

“Top Democrats scrambled Tuesday to trim the length of key speeches after widespread complaints about Monday night’s long lineup of programming pushing Joe Biden past prime time,” Politico reports.

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are the featured speakers at the Democratic convention tonight as they rally voters behind the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris.

The programming gets underway at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the schedule being moved up slightly after the first day’s speeches stretched into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

For a detailed list of events, see the DNC’s schedule. 

Leave your reactions in the comments.

Donald Trump said Tuesday he would “certainly” be open to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. playing a role in his administration if the independent candidate drops out of the 2024 race and endorses the former president, CNN reports.

Said Trump: “I like him, and I respect him.”

He added: “He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a very long time. I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it.”

UAW president Shawn Fain said that he didn’t have a problem with the Teamsters President Sean O’Brien addressing the Republican National Convention last month — but said he wouldn’t have done it, Axios reports.

Said Fain: “I give him credit for going into the belly of the beast and actually speaking about working class issues, but I don’t really think it swayed anybody.”