DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And NPR's Tamara Keith has been listening to that conversation. She covers the White House for NPR. Hey there, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: Well, you were very involved in covering the 2016 campaign. It sounds like Mook and team Clinton still thinking about what they might have taken for granted and what - not wanting to repeat that in 2018.
KEITH: Yeah, and one thing that stood out to me is he talks about how Republicans may have done some damage for themselves among women, female voters, in the Kavanaugh fight. You know, the Clinton campaign and others thought that President Trump had - then-candidate Trump - had done a lot of damage with female voters with that "Access Hollywood" video that came out just about a year ago - just about two years ago.
GREENE: Right.
KEITH: But ultimately, white women voted for Donald Trump. They broke for Trump in the end. And what we've seen in a lot of our polling is that gender is important, but party is everything.
GREENE: Well, let's talk about President Trump for a moment because I know Kavanaugh, we heard him at the White House as he did the ceremonial swearing in, saying he wants to move past the bitterness. He's not feeling bitter as he takes on this new job. President Trump seems to be taking a less pleasant tone when he's out there campaigning about this.
KEITH: Yeah, well, Kavanaugh is going to be on the - is on the Supreme Court. President Trump is trying to win a midterm and trying to keep his party in power. And what they discovered is that Republican voters were fired up by the fight. And - and, you know, the emotion of happiness and contentment is not as strong as the emotion of anger and frustration and resentment. And President Trump and Republicans want to keep that feeling going, keep their voters upset and angry because they believe that will get them out to the polls and get them voting Republican.
GREENE: I mean, you know as well as I do we're living in a world where you never know when a - what seems like a big story is suddenly going to go away, and there's going to be the next big story. But any sense of whether this Kavanaugh fight is going to remain kind of in the talking points and agendas of both parties in this one month that we have left? Or are there other issues that are going to be coming up that voters are really going to be thinking about?
KEITH: There are absolutely other issues. In the end, it's hard to say whether issues will decide this or whether it will really just be a battle of enthusiasm and a fight over President Trump and and Trumpism. But one thing that keeps coming up that hasn't gotten a ton of attention is health care.
And that is an issue where you have Republicans coming in and saying, well, we don't want to take away your pre-existing conditions. They're affirmatively going out there and doing ads about pre-existing conditions because Democratic candidates have made it such an issue. And it's resonating with voters.
GREENE: NPR's Tamara Keith.
Tam, thanks a lot.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
