By now it’s become obvious that the Harris campaign is acting desperate. After weeks of doing no interviews, they’ve suddenly put Kamala out there, without training wheels, hoping she doesn’t crash.
This strategy hasn’t gone very well. It hasn’t mattered that these interviews were on friendly territory, with interviewers who obviously support her; Harris hasn’t been impressive, and each interview has given the Trump campaign new ammunition. This week alone, she’s gone on “60 Minutes,” “The View,” “The Late Show,” and even a sex podcast called “Call Her Daddy.” None have been a net gain for the campaign, and it’s hard not to ask why her campaign continues to put her out there.
Harris’s interview on “60 Minutes” was so bad, the network literally edited her answers to make her sound better. She still didn’t come off very well, but clearly she’s choosing venues and hosts that are going to be easy on her. Again, the problem is that it’s hard to make her sound good no matter how hard you try. So why bother putting her out there at all?
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I’ll tell you why: time is running out, the race has remained relatively stable, she’s not where she needs to be, and the campaign is hoping these interviews change that. The strategy smacks of desperation, though. CNN’s Dana Bash admitted as much on Monday during a panel discussion. She didn’t mince words, but pointed out that Harris’s team knows these interviews aren’t doing what they hoped.
“They’re not moving the needle,” Bash said.
“Exactly,” agreed CNN’s Jeff Zeleny.
“I mean, this is not me saying this, this is the Harris people privately saying we need to move the needle.”
“It is stuck,” Zeleny agreed. “It is a stubborn race.”
Dana Bash saying the quiet part out loud about Kamala Harris’ “media blitz” this week. Kamala Harris is doing interviews because her campaign is desperately trying to “move the needle”:
“They’re not moving the needle. This is not me saying this, this is the Harris people… pic.twitter.com/q2RArAef75— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) October 7, 2024
Assuming Bash is telling the truth here, it’s a striking admission from a campaign that’s clearly feeling pressure to do better than they are. And the fact that Kamlaa is relying on these softer, more controlled environments suggests a lack of confidence in facing tougher questions. Despite doing everything possible to stack the deck in her favor with these interviews — sticking to friendly networks and interviewers — they’re just not going well and not having the desired effect. They’re not, as Bash put it, “moving the needle.”
The fact that Bash is admitting this and that the campaign is acknowledging it sounds like proof that the Harris-Walz team is frustrated and perhaps even panicking. It’s like they keep doing these interviews because the polls suggest they have to get Harris out there more, but it’s not working, but even if she tosses absurd word salads there’s pretty much nothing to lose.
In other words, it seems more like a Hail Mary than a calculated political strategy.
