It's Friday, August 9th, 2024.

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Article podcast.

I'm Chris Elkins with the Denison Forum, narrating today's article written by Dr. Ryan Denison.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will have their first debate on ABC next month, with two more

potentially following on NBC and Fox, though Harris has not yet agreed to the other two.

But while the debates between Trump and Harris appear set, a meeting between their respective

running mates is still up in the air.

Both Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walts have expressed an interest in

such a debate, but we'll likely have to wait until after the Democratic Convention in a couple of

weeks to set a date. In the meantime, we'll have to settle for continuing to hear each candidate

talk about one another rather than to one another. And if the past few days are any indication of what's to come,

that back and forth is unlikely to prove overly cordial. As such, our time is better spent

learning more about the candidates than on paying attention to what they're saying about one

another. Dr. Jim Denison wrote about Vance's story after he was named Trump's running mate, and today,

I'd like to do the same with Waltz. While distilling anyone's life into a few bullet points,

promises to fall short of giving the full picture, what follows are some of the more pertinent

parts of Walt's story to date. Waltz was born and raised in West Point, Nebraska, a community of 3,500 people,

roughly an hour outside of Omaha, before joining the National Guard at 17. He and his wife moved

to Mancato, Minnesota in the 1990s. While there, he taught social studies and coached football

at the local high school, winning a state championship in 1999.

He served in the Army National Guard for 24 years before retiring to pursue a career in politics.

While in the National Guard, he achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major before retiring with the rank of Master Sergeant.

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