Hello everyone and welcome to the focus group podcast I'm Sarah Longwell publisher of the bulwark and this

week we're talking about the second wildest Senate race in the The Republicans have nominated Dr. Oz, a sentence that only makes sense in a post-Trump world.

And the Democrats have nominated John Fetterman, a dress down mountain of a man who looked

like he was going to shitpost his way to flipping a

Senate seat. But the realities of his recent stroke and millions in ads from

Republicans painting him as soft on crime have made this race incredibly tight.

Dr Oz barely won the GOP primary despite receiving Trump's endorsement.

His unfavorable ratings remain quite high, but the night before this focus group, the two candidates had their only debate in which the effects of Federman stroke were very apparent.

Oz had already started to close the polling gap with Federman going into the debate and

the debate likely increased Oz's momentum in the final weeks before the election.

Now we attempted to field a group of undecided voters who watched for the

election. Now we attempted to field a group of undecided voters who watched the debate to see how it

impacted their thinking. But ultimately the group was strong as leaners and the debate moved them solidly into the Oz camp.

But there's still a lot we heard from this group that is worth unpacking and I'm eager to dig

in to how the debate might impact the final days of the race.

My guest today has made his bones electing Democrats in places like Pennsylvania.

Former Bill Clinton strategist and host of the Politics War Room podcast, the one the only James Carville.

James, thank you for being here.

Well, thank you, Sarah. I'm a big fan of the Bull Walk, obviously.

I can't tell you how many focus groups I watch as a

campaign manager, which I did for a long time. I always found them not determinative, but

very helpful and you know key part of trying to develop campaign strategies and

...