Hi, this is Gregory from Portland, Oregon, where I am celebrating my very first day of retirement.

This podcast was recorded at 209 PM on September 15, 2020.

Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but I most likely will still be retired,

and I also will have checked off item number 11 on my bucket list.

I'm Dan Gagne, National Political Correspondent and I'm Mara Liason, National Political Correspondent, also.

And we've also got a special guest. We have Abigail Sensky, of Michigan Member Station WKAR. Great to talk to you again, Abigail.

Thanks for having me.

And today we have Abigail here, as well as Don, because they have been out talking to voters.

They've both been out in battleground states, talking to folks, and so we're here to hear from them what sort of things they've been picking up on the ground.

So, Don, let's start with you.

So, I've been in the far northwest corner of Pennsylvania, up on Lake Erie County and the city of Erie, Pennsylvania.

And here's the thing about Erie County in this election. This is a place that knows it matters.

Four years ago, it was one of those counties that flipped. Trump won it by just a whisker.

Here is something that you do notice this year compared to when I rolled through this area in 2016.

You actually see lots of Biden Harris yard signs. Four years ago, Trump just owned the yard sign contest.

Again, those aren't votes, but they do tell you something about enthusiasm.

And I had a conversation downtown with Erie, city council member, Michael Kees. And Danielle, it did not take much prodding to get him to look back and start complaining about the campaign that the Democrats ran here in 2016.

He said they felt ignored by the Hillary Clinton campaign. When campaign staff came to town, they were always out of towners. They didn't know the neighborhoods.

He says it feels different this year. So it sounds like what you said about those yard signs. There might be a sort of the causality might work both ways there.

They might be a sign of enthusiasm. They also might be a sign of the campaigns being more engaged there.

That's right. And he says one thing that really helps this year, especially among African American voters, is that Biden has chosen a woman of color as his running mate.

I think people are excited about having the first woman of color on the ticket. And we've been driving by in neighborhoods where you don't see political activity. You see the Biden signs.

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