Welcome to The Campaign Moment, your guide to the biggest moments in the 2024 election \u2014 now with more Baba Booey.<\/p>\n
(Did a friend forward this to you? If so, sign up here. And make sure you\u2019re subscribing to the Campaign Moment podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else.)<\/p>\n
After much hand-wringing about Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019s lack of unscripted interviews since joining the 2024 race at the top of the ticket, Harris has in recent days undertaken a veritable media blitz. She\u2019s gone on CBS\u2019s \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d on the \u201cCall Her Daddy\u201d podcast and on Howard Stern\u2019s show, on \u201cThe View\u201d and on Stephen Colbert\u2019s late-night show.<\/p>\n
A few reflections on the key moments, what she said, and what we learned.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019s answer on Biden could be a problem<\/p>\n
Even while talking to generally sympathetic hosts in most of these interviews, Harris reinforced the idea that she can create problems for herself in these unscripted settings. The primary example may be her answer about President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
Asked on \u201cThe View\u201d what she might have done differently from Biden, Harris responded: \u201cThere is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of \u2014 and I\u2019ve been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s undoubtedly not how her campaign drew it up.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not an easy question, given that Harris is still serving with Biden. But it\u2019s also clear she needs to carve out some distance between herself and Biden, given how unpopular he is. And there\u2019s a way to massage it without giving Republicans such a potent video clip (a clip at least one House Republican is already using in an ad). For instance, at the debate last month, Harris said, \u201cClearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris seemed to recognize that stumble Tuesday, emphasizing later in the show that unlike Biden she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019s \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview also featured plenty of pressing from host Bill Whitaker. Harris resisted and talked around his questions, or offered some of those wordy, convoluted answers Republicans have attacked her for \u2014 particularly on Israel.<\/p>\n
Her big pitch: Strength<\/p>\n
This was a theme running through her appearances, as Harris perhaps sought to overcome questions about whether the country is prepared to elect a woman as president:<\/p>\n
On \u201cCall Her Daddy,\u201d Harris responded to a reminder that Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) questioned Harris\u2019s humility by subtly pointing to Harris\u2019s lack of biological children: \u201cI don\u2019t think she understands that, there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, are not aspiring to be humble,\u201d Harris said.<\/span> Harris also made a direct play for the mantle of strength in the Stern interview.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, I do believe that this is an election that is about strength versus weakness, and weakness as projected by someone who puts himself in front of the American people and does not have the strength to stand in defense of their needs, their dreams, their desires \u2026\u201d Harris said, while also pitching herself as stronger on national security and foreign policy.<\/p>\n Her campaign soon promoted that segment of the interview.<\/p>\n Her appearances reflected the changing media paradigm<\/p>\n Rarely have we seen a blitz that is so strategically and transparently geared toward specific constituencies and reaching large audiences, including by using nontraditional forums.<\/p>\n The \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and Colbert appearances are par-for-the-course for a presidential candidate, with the former being the long-running highest-ranked news show. But \u201cCall Her Daddy\u201d \u2014 an often raunchy, sex-themed show \u2014 is a massively popular and generally apolitical show with a huge audience among young women (it\u2019s Spotify\u2019s most popular podcast among women). \u201cThe View\u201d was obviously about appealing to women, specifically. And the Stern show, like \u201cCall Her Daddy,\u201d gave Harris an avenue to lots of less-engaged voters.<\/p>\n The potential downside of some of these shows is Harris associating herself with their often-vulgar content. But that ship probably sailed in our politics a long time ago; Trump was a regular guest on Stern\u2019s show for years.<\/p>\n This could put pressure on Trump to branch out<\/p>\n While there\u2019s been plenty of talk about Harris\u2019s not doing interviews, her recent foray might cause Republicans and the Trump campaign to rethink their own media strategy.<\/p>\n Harris has given few interviews, but she is now speaking to shows that could reach lots of casual and undecided voters. Trump \u2026 is not really doing that right now. His media-interview diet is heavier, but it\u2019s focused on preaching to the choir, going on Fox News and Newsmax and the like. (He did go on young-male influencers Theo Von\u2019s and Adin Ross\u2019s popular shows in August.) Trump also turned down the forum \u201c60 Minutes\u201d offered because he didn\u2019t want to be fact-checked.<\/p>\n That decision broke a tradition for major-party presidential candidates dating back to 1968.<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear Trump is much more comfortable at rallies and with friendly interviewers; he makes so many false claims that branching out and actually being pressed is not a recipe for success. But there would seem to be a premium on speaking to the broader electorate with undecided voters looming so large late in the campaign.<\/p>\n And Harris basically challenged him to do that. Her answer on strength came on a show Trump used to frequent and, after Stern noted Trump had turned down \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n The big national story right now is, of course, Hurricane Milton. Our thoughts go out to the Floridians who will soon be struck by the this hurricane in Florida, as well as to those still recovering from Hurricane Helene in Georgia, North Carolina and other states.<\/p>\n It seems crass to talk about politics at a moment like this. But the campaigns and government officials are already confronting what this means for the vote in 2024 to have a pair of hurricanes strike three key states so late in a presidential election \u2014 a situation with little if any precedent. North Carolina officials have quickly moved to ease voting changes, for example.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, I looked at the history of how hurricanes can affect voting. Here are a few key points:<\/p>\n Hurricanes can lead to a drop in turnout: Hurricane Katrina in 2005 led to more than a 10 percent drop in turnout in New Orleans eight months later, as half the city was still displaced. Hurricane Michael late in the 2018 election led to a 7 percent drop in turnout in the affected areas of Florida\u2019s panhandle, amid confusion about polling places.<\/span> Stay tuned. Politics are not the primary concern right now. But these are crucial states \u2014 as The Post\u2019s polling averages demonstrate \u2014 in a 2024 election which has major consequences for the country, and these hurricanes have thrown everyone a major late curveball.<\/p>\n 2 percent and 5 percent<\/p>\n Those are Harris\u2019s edges on Trump in a New York Times\/Siena College poll when it comes to which of the two candidates was more likely to \u201chelp you personally\u201d and \u201chelp people like you,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n While those aren\u2019t big gaps, this is the kind of question that has normally favored Trump. A Times\/Siena poll just last month showed voters in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina said by an 11-point margin that Trump\u2019s policies would help them rather than hurt them, but by a five-point margin that Harris\u2019s policies would hurt them.<\/p>\n Even in the new national poll, voters said by 12 points that Trump\u2019s policies as president had helped rather than hurt them, and by 20 points that President Joe Biden\u2019s policies had done more to hurt them.<\/p>\n Why this is significant: There are few things that are as immediate a concern for voters as whether a candidate would help or hurt them. And Trump\u2019s advantages on questions like this have helped him overcome concerns about his character. If Harris can truly erase this deficit, that could be huge for her.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump secretly sent covid tests to Putin during 2020 shortage, new book says\u201d (Washington Post)<\/span> Welcome to The Campaign Moment, your guide to the biggest moments in the 2024 election \u2014 now with more Baba Booey. (Did a friend forward this to you? If so, sign up here. And make sure you\u2019re subscribing to the Campaign Moment podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else.) The big moment After much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOn Stern\u2019s show, Harris asserted that she was proud of putting \u201ca lot of people in jail\u201d and said of threats she faced as a prosecutor, \u201cI refuse to live in fear of the bad guys.\u201d<\/span>
\nOn \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d she disclosed that the gun she owns is a Glock \u2014 a stereotypically gritty firearm. (Harris previously told Oprah Winfrey, \u201cIf somebody breaks into my house, they\u2019re getting shot.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\nA brief moment on hurricane politics<\/h3>\n
\nThat\u2019s particularly problematic for Trump, given the areas hard-hit by Helene tend to be Republican-leaning. Trump addressed this Monday night, saying, \u201cI believe they\u2019re going to go out and vote if they have to crawl to a voting booth. He added that \u201cwe\u2019re trying to make it convenient for them to [vote], but they just lost their house.\u201d<\/span>
\nA hurricane response can also affect views of incumbents. That effect appeared to help Barack Obama in 2012 after Superstorm Sandy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in 2022 after Hurricane Ian, while it hurt the Republican Party in 2006 (after Katrina) and George H.W. Bush in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew.<\/span><\/p>\nA pair of momentous poll numbers<\/h3>\n
Take a moment to read:<\/h3>\n
\n\u201cThe fight for the House and Senate: Where things stand\u201d (Washington Post)<\/span>
\n\u201cLocal Republicans decry hurricane falsehoods \u2014 as Trump spreads them\u201d (Washington Post)<\/span>
\n\u201cThe latest union snub for Harris and Walz underscores a bigger problem for their campaign\u201d (Politico)<\/span>
\n\u201cHow Mike Johnson is navigating Trump \u2014 and his first real campaign\u201d (Politico)<\/span>
\n\u201cThe Most Dramatic Shift in U.S. Public Opinion\u201d (Atlantic)<\/span><\/p>\n