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Greg Nash
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In tapping Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate, Vice President Harris chose an affable figure with dad-joke zeal and “Minnesota nice” energy.
But Walz’s time in the House reveals another dimension — one of a shrewd tactician able to survive rough political waters when other Democrats were sinking, and play hardball to achieve his ambitions when the moment demands.
Those attributes surfaced not only in the act of taking tactful votes that helped keep him in his competitive seat, but also during his rise to become the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, eclipsing a more senior member in a power play rarely seen in the Democratic Caucus.
Sources say that dichotomous disposition — congenial mid-Westerner combined with sharp-elbowed political pugilist — likely played a major factor in Harris’s pick of vice presidential candidate, a position that traditionally straddles the dual roles of party cheerleader and attack dog.