Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz kicked off his debate against Ohio Sen. JD Vance on shaky footing when he was first asked about his foreign policy platform in the Middle East. 

“Governor Walz, if you were the final voice in the Situation Room, would you support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran?” CBS’ Margaret Brennan asked Walz on Tuesday evening in New York City during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate. 

Walz thanked the moderators for hosting him before delivering a halting and stammering answer while calling for “steady leadership.”

“Iran, our I, Israel’s ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental. Getting its hostages back, fundamental. And ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But the expansion of Israel and its proxies is an absolute fundamental necessity for the United States to have to steady leadership there. You saw it experienced today where along with our Israeli partners and our coalition, able to stop the incoming attack,” Walz responded, taking a few pauses between words. 

ISRAEL UNDER ATTACK: IRAN LAUNCHES MISSILES, GUNMEN KILL AT LEAST 8 NEAR TEL AVIV

Earlier Tuesday, Iran launched more than 100 ballistic missiles at Israel. War broke out in Israel nearly one year ago on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched attacks on the nation.

“What’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter. It’s clear. And the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago, a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment,” Walz continued. 

GOP LEADER SAYS VANCE ‘ABSOLUTELY PREPARED’ FOR VP DEBATE SHOWDOWN WITH WALZ

Walz continued his response by taking shots at former President Donald Trump and his former administration officials. 

Republican vice presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, participate in a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on October 1, 2024 in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“His chief of staff, John Kelly, said that he was the most flawed human being you’d ever met. And both of his secretaries of defense and his national security advisers said he should be nowhere near the White House. Now, the person closest to them… said he’s unfit for the highest office. That was Sen. Vance,” Walz said, referring to Vance’s previous criticisms of Trump before he was elected to the White House in 2016.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS UPDATES ON THE VP DEBATE

Walz summed up his first response by arguing Vice President Kamala Harris has shown “steady leadership” on the world stage. 

Tim Walz expressed support for single payer healthcare in a 2018 debate (C SPAN )

“What we’ve seen out of Vice President Harris is we’ve seen steady leadership. We’ve seen a calmness that is able to be able to draw on the coalitions, to bring them together understanding, that our allies matter. When our allies see Donald Trump turn towards Vladimir Putin, turn towards North Korea, when we start to see that type of fickleness around holding the coalitions together, we will stay committed. And as the vice president said today, we will protect our forces and our allied forces, and there will be consequences,” he continued. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

It all comes down to Pennsylvania.

That is not an exaggeration.

If Kamala Harris loses Pennsylvania, Donald Trump is the 47th president of the United States.

Now you could say the same about Michigan or Wisconsin, but it especially seems that a Democratic candidate should be able to carry the Keystone State.

HARRIS CAMPAIGN ‘UNDERWATER’ IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE, DEM REP WARNS DONORS

And that’s why, in my view, Kamala should have picked Josh Shapiro, its popular governor.

I have nothing against Tim Walz, of football coach fame, but I don’t see what he’s done for the ticket. There’s a reason the campaign hasn’t let him do any solo interviews – a stark contrast with JD Vance, who is constantly doing interviews and holding press conferences.

In fact, Vance now frequently takes reporters’ questions in front of supporters, who boo the journalists, sometimes even before they start speaking.

We’ll find out whether Walz can think on his feet when he faces off against Vance in tonight’s VP debate. The most generous thing I can say is that the Coach will be rusty.

Gov. Tim Walz speaks to his supporters at Grand Rapids Public Museum on Sept. 12. (Detroit Free Press/Adam Vander Kooy/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Let’s look at the latest numbers.

The Real Clear Politics average has Trump leading Harris by a miniscule margin, 48.1% to 47.9%, which of course is a statistical tie.

At 538, the micro-margin in Pennsylvania is flipped, with Harris averaging 47.9% and Trump at 47.1%, another tie.

Now imagine that Shapiro, who is more of a moderate liberal than the uber-progressive Walz, was the running mate. And let’s say Shapiro had brought in another 50,000 votes as the home-state guy. You can see where that would tip the balance.

Kamala didn’t pick Josh for two reasons. They had a rough conversation when she interviewed him, with the governor insisting on an influential role if he were to relinquish his current job. But so what? Presidents and their veeps often don’t see eye to eye. She preferred the image of Walz, hunter and fisherman, to the prospect of two East Coast lawyers.

But the more important reason is more troubling. Harris was under pressure from the anti-Israel faction in her party not to tap Shapiro, who is Jewish and a strong supporter of the Jewish state.

So the vice president effectively handed veto power to this minority faction, which basically backs the Hamas terrorists who would wipe out Israel, and would have faced a week or two of controversy as a result. I said at the time this would be a world-class mistake if she lost Pennsylvania.

An anti-Israel protester, in straw hat, interrupts Vice President Kamala Harris in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News)

The reason Harris has spent so much time in the Pittsburgh area is that the western end of the state is much more conservative than the eastern section anchored by Philadelphia. Her goal is to hold down Trump’s margin in a part of the state that he’ll easily win.

KAMALA HARRIS IS GETTING ‘OUTHUSTLED’ AND ‘OUTCLASSED’: JESSE WATTERS

One problem Harris faces right now is that she makes little news. By picking “friendly” interviewers, such as MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, who has trashed Trump as a danger to democracy, she avoids tough questions and followups. 

Visiting the Mexican border was a smart move, not just because Trump has a major lead on immigration, but because Harris broke into the news cycle, where images can count more than words, and attempted to position herself as tougher than Joe Biden on the issue.

Otherwise, I’m just hearing chunks of her stump speech in response to questions, starting with how her mother raised her. Repetition is important in politics, but if you don’t throw in a few new lines, the press is left without a headline.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a rally on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Meanwhile, Trump over the weekend called Harris “mentally impaired,” saying Biden just got old but she was born that way. He also said Harris should be impeached, and maybe prosecuted, for the way she helped run the country.

Now that is classic Trump. By using over-the-top rhetoric, he sparks a media debate about whether he’s gone too far, and that debate revolves around the words “Kamala” and “mentally impaired.” 

IN HYPERPARTISAN ENVIRONMENT, MSNBC DRAWING FIRE FOR ANTI-TRUMP, PRO-HARRIS PROGRAMMING

Harris has wisely not responded to every Trump jab. But remember, Trump benefits from negative coverage as much as positive coverage because he’s driving the news agenda.

Here’s a pool report from Harris at a West Coast political event over the weekend: “She then switched her remarks to talking about the need for comprehensive immigration reform. VP Harris remarks on the issue were very similar to her remarks in Arizona on Friday.” In other words, no news.

Think about this: Trump has been absolutely pummeled by a hostile press corps, is a twice-impeached convicted felon and carries the burden of Jan. 6. Harris has been riding an extraordinary wave of positive press, and yet she’s slipped slightly in the polls and is tied in Pennsylvania.

And there’s no question that if she loses there, the election is over.

CNN has long had one of the most visited news websites in the world. Starting Tuesday, users are going to have to pay for it.

The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned news operation is putting a paywall on CNN.com, requiring U.S. users to pay $3.99 for access or a discounted rate of $29.99 a year. The subscription will provide unlimited usage of the site, which is visited by 150 million people globally each month.

Users will be asked to subscribe after accessing a number of free stories, according to an internal memo from Alex MacCallum, executive vice president, digital products and services for CNN.

CNN’s reason for the move is rooted in the problems that plague all of traditional television. Consumers are spending more time with online video and canceling their traditional pay TV subscriptions. Revenues from cable and satellite subscribers are declining as cord-cutting continues at a steady pace each year. The trend, along with a decline in ratings, has put pressure on CNN’s profit margins in recent years.

Whether consumers will pay for a product they have used for free over the years will be test. Mark Thompson, who took over as CNN chairman last year, turned the New York Times into a successful digital subscription site during his tenure at that company.

MacCallum’s memo said subscribers “will receive benefits like exclusive election features, original documentaries, a curated daily selection of our most distinctive journalism, and fewer digital ads.” CNN is currently developing video content with some of its talent designed to be behind the paywall on the site, according to people familiar with the plans.

The launch of the subscriber plan comes more than a year after CNN’s false start into the streaming marketplace. The network launched CNN+ last year with a slate of original programs hosted by big-name talent at the network. The costly venture was shuttered days after its launch once Warner Bros. Discovery took ownership of the network in 2022.

CNN has created a stream of news programming for its parent company’s Max platform.

CNN has been running behind Fox News and MSNBC in the Nielsen ratings. But all cable networks face an existential threat from cord-cutting as they are losing revenues and their ability to reach consumers through television. The carriage agreements with pay TV providers prevent the news networks from replicating their channels for a direct-to-consumer offering.

Fox News has a subscription service called Fox Nation, which offers documentary and lifestyle programming aimed at its conservative-leaning audience. The service does offer some Fox News programs from the previous day on a video-on-demand basis.