Water was the obvious choice -- solid, reliable, readily available -- but when it came to sitting with Vice President Kamala Harris for a final interview, Minnesota's Tim Walz chose Diet Mountain Dew. And that reportedly made a difference in his political fate on the national stage.
A new book says that when Harris was faced with a head-to-head choice of Walz vs Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona's Mark Kelly she went with Walz, at least partially because she appreciated his drink of choice and what it said about him.
“2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” was released Tuesday. It's written and reported by journalists Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times and Isaac Arnsdor of the Washington Post.
All three candidates did a final interview with Harris at her residence, the book explains, adding that when asked what they wanted to drink, Shapiro and Kelly chose water while Walz chose Diet Mountain Dew, per the New York Post.
"Appeal with rural voters was a top priority for the Harris ticket and the book states that Harris’ advisers felt that Walz was the best candidate to do that."
Shapiro was the more experienced candidate and potentially carried the blue wall state of Pennsylvania with him, but the book says that Kamala was left with a 'bad impression' of him in contrast to the soda-drinking, folksy Walz.
“He came across as overly ambitious, pushing Harris to define what his role would be. He also conceded it would not be natural for him to serve as someone’s number two, leaving Harris with a bad impression,” the book states.
Walz, by contrast, was “deferential” while “showing no interest in himself” and “flatly denied any interest in running for president.”
As NBC News noted, Walz "charmed Harris and national Democrats alike with a Diet Mountain Dew-fueled media tour that labeled the opposition as “weird” and won him a spot in history."
Further, it's interesting to note there's one other politician known to favor the acid green soda pop Diet Mountain Dew ... and that man is current Vice President JD Vance. In the end, of course, Vance and President Donald Trump ran the board in the electoral college, leaving Walz and Harris licking their wounds.