In politics now, you won't see Governor Andy Beshear at this year's annual Fancy Farm picnic in far western Kentucky, an event that seen as the state's unofficial kickoff to the fall campaign season.

The event's political chairman, Steven Elder, says he's been notified by the governor that he will not be there Saturday, August the third.

No reason was given, but you can see coverage of Fancy Farm in two weeks right here on KCET.

Time now to review the big political developments of the week.

We go inside Kentucky politics with, of course, a couple of our faves.

Bob Babbage and Trey Grayson need no further introduction than their names.

Good to see you, gentlemen.

Good to see you.

So let's talk about what everybody's been talking about the last four days.

And it's kind of like about last night and the night before and the night before, right?

Trey Grayson, Let's talk about the Republican National Convention.

We can start with Donald Trump's speech last night.

That went well over an hour and a half.

I think it was clocked.

Talk about what he tried to message.

Do we see a softer, gentler Donald Trump last night?

Well, he did go on to longer.

90 minutes is best is too long for an acceptance speech.

The good news for him is because it started so late, most people probably turned off and only saw the beginning, which was a softer approach us where he talked about assassination attempt and what it was like and his feelings.

And so voters who are up in the air or swing voters watched that speech at the beginning.

Yeah, they probably saw a little bit different Donald Trump than the one that was maybe speaking later in the acceptance speech.

But the convention, I think from a Republican Party standpoint, you got to be pleased with how it went.

The party pretty unified, stayed on message, stayed on script.

It's not clear how much conventions matter anymore.

I remember going to several bars and, you know, doing several dimensions.

When you leave, you think you're going to win.

You always probably good.

I think Republicans need to feel very good about this convention.

Well, it wasn't like the convention of 2016 right, Bob Babbitt, that there was a lot of seemingly unity and a lot of energy from what we could hear from the commentators who were there in person.

They talked about it being electric and that they were solidly behind Donald Trump this time around.

Do you think that will continue and does it translate beyond just those delegates and attendees who were in Milwaukee?

It was a good look of positive and kind of the sports analogy.

No mistakes, a lot of elements, a lot of factions come together.

The opening part of the Trump remarks were much more conciliatory or engaging in a very personal way.

And that's what since the debate, when things went awry for Biden, we talked about this on the last show, and here we are still talking about it when Trump didn't pivot into a more positive message.

Everybody knew he would have that chance at the convention with the global events in Pennsylvania, a lot of focus on him surviving as well as telling that story and giving us kind of a different side of Donald Trump that made a difference that had to write.

But it did quickly turn to the red meat, though, Right?

But conventions expect that once it's explosive cans of commentary and some hard hits, that's that's just what conventions have historically always been about.

We're right there.

Wrong.

Yeah, that's right.

You want to add any more to the convention talk before I talk about the veep choice and J.D.

Vance?

Well, there was, you know, before Trump, I think maybe the highlight for many folks was the opening speech, you know, which was an attempt to make the Republican Party seem find more accessible, more approachable, but also a strategic attempt to try to focused on the swing voters, especially male voters, especially Gen X, my generation who grew up watching Hulk Hogan, you know, in those in this one battleground state.

So, yeah, they feel with the folks I know that were there to talk to, but really good about it, you know, I would say maybe a little too confident given that the races still kind of close.

Yes.

Right.

In the polling still shows that.

Right.

And and we'll see what happens when more polling comes out.

Let's talk about the impact of Senator J.D.

Vance as the veep pick with Donald Trump on this ticket.

And what.

I'll start with you, Terry.

What does he bring to that ticket that Donald Trump doesn't bring himself?

You know, in some respects, this reminds me a bit of the 1982 selection with Bill Clinton picked out for another Southern called moderate, you know, young Democrat.

And people wondered what did he bring?

But what they did, the synergy together.

It was a doubling down on a message.

And I think Vance represents the same thing.

It's a doubling down on this is a new Republican Party, a more populist, more working class Republican Party.

That's who we're going to go after.

We're going to go fight.

Vance is a really articulate defender of Trump's views.

He's got a good story to tell.

You know, the flip side of that is he doesn't come from a state that's a swing state.

He doesn't have a lot of political or government experience.

And so, you know, when you look at some of the boxes that you want people to shake, like when Obama picked Biden, he was broad gravitas of age and foreign policy experience.

Mike Pence was bringing social conservatives and stuff to the state.

Add anything for the perhaps by reinforcing the Trump message and bringing in another articulate spokesman to the stage.

He does that electorally.

I think Trump also is looking for someone who has legacy.

You know, Vance, I think he views as a successor of Trump to win to keep the MAGA movement friends that are inside the party and the country.

Yeah, you.

Agree with that, Bob?

It's definitely it's a generational change to get someone so young.

Vance, who Kentucky Roots bestselling book that many of us read when it came out at the time and thought, this guy sounds like a leader and sure enough, he's on the ticket when others was much more experienced, could have been picked.

But he has the business experience.

I think his wife is very significant, a woman, a strong pick.

Just because it's from the heartland of America and the part where Trump has to win the Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.

Not the best of labels, the Rust Belt, but the emerging Rust Belt could be represented by someone like Vance.

And when you think about Vance from Kentucky and Beshear from Kentucky, also getting some national conversation, yes, it puts a lot together for our state.

Okay.

We want to get to that.

But I want to go to President Biden, who, as we all know, has been dealing with COVID.

And there are still the resounding voices are coming out more and more strongly and intensely about him to step aside.

But when he sent out his response to Donald Trump's speech last night, he said, I will return to the campaign trail and make my case for the vision of America.

So it seems to me Bob Abbott is digging in, even though others are telling him it's time for him to make his exit.

You nailed it.

That is exactly right.

He sounds like he's going to be back on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Yeah, on the same routine with the same message where she doesn't exactly say it's him.

True.

If you wanted to slice and dice it.

Okay, That's a good point.

It could be.

It could be a substitute.

And that would be Harris moving up into that role.

Do you think that's probable?

Like.

Like that's so hard.

But asked all week long, you know, what are the odds?

I'm sure it's being bet out there in England and other places where people try to predict these things.

The odds are hard to peg with with people perhaps surrounding him this weekend.

People have standing saying it's time to consider stepping back from the race.

Finish your term and allowing Harris to move on with the campaign or.

Someone or someone bright may not be Harris Right.

Might not.

Wouldn't that be something to drag race and that's going to make that Democratic National Convention really interesting on the night eight.

Well, yeah, we've got between now and then the Olympics, and we could have a Democratic Olympics.

Yeah.

That's what would be a lot of fun.

And Bob, I did see this morning that in the betting markets, I haven't see one on whether Biden will run or not, but Trump's actually gone down a little bit in his likelihood of victory.

And Nate Silver suspect that that was because there were the voters think that by it's going to drop out and that somebody other than Biden gives the Democrats a more of a shot.

No, it wasn't a it wasn't a you know, what wasn't a referendum on the convention or its success or not, but just that Biden was likely to step aside.

And I did see the wiggle room in that statement.

And I think he ultimately will not run.

Okay.

Really quick, 30 seconds to Bob Babbage, Andy Beshear.

Where does this put him?

He's in Asia this week.

He's been with companies that have ties to Kentucky.

He seems to be doing the kind of things that a vice president will kind of do or a president we've got to do.

Well, it's a brilliant visual.

He's talking to CEOs who have investments in Kentucky and who can make more investments in Kentucky.

It's job creation.

It's the future.

It's technology.

Terrific timing, although was not intended to be this move.

But he's in the right place to burnish his reputation here and around the country.

Many people don't know him yet, but those who are getting to know him like him.

However, there are other folks in the Democratic Party who also think they should be on the ticket.

Now, Andy for sure could be on the ticket later, like 2028.

All right.

We'll have to leave it there.

Was just getting good.

Thank you, as always.

Trey Grayson and Bob Babidge.

Take good care.

Let's after we take today's Inside Kentucky Politics.

Congressman Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat from Kentucky's third Congressional district, put out a statement saying he believes President Joe Biden should step aside as the Democratic nominee for president.