Kamala Harris has a modest lead in the national polls, and things are tied in the battleground states. Publicly, there's a lot of confidence from the political left about Kamala's chances in November. But, is that confidence a cover? For sure, there have been signs of concern from her campaign, including her flip-flops on various issues, including Trump's border wall, which she featured in a campaign ad. But, there's a brand new sign that Kamala's campaign is worried about the election not going their way.
Make no mistake about it: when things are going well for a campaign, you stay the course. A change in strategy is a surefire sign that something is wrong that needs fixing. You don't fire your campaign manager if things are going swimmingly. The only reason for a shakeup like that is when you need fresh ideas because whatever you're doing isn't working.
Now, the Harris-Walz campaign hasn't fired their campaign manager, but there is a shake-up in the campaign's strategy.
For two months now, Kamala Harris has avoided the media like the plague. She's only done two short interviews since Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and only one of them was solo. Her campaign hasn't been shy about this strategy and has clearly felt that it was working for them. However, according to a campaign memo obtained by The New York Times, the campaign is changing gears and plans to increase her media presence.
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"While Ms. Harris’s top aides are thrilled with her debate showing and Mr. Trump’s inability to push consistent and coherent attacks, they are looking to tweak their strategy only around the edges," the paper reports. "The next steps, close advisers say, are ramping up her visibility on the campaign trail, including retail politicking in communities, increased press appearances, and putting herself in front of as many voters as possible in battleground states."
According to the report, Kamala's advisers aim to boost her visibility by increasing campaign stops, press appearances, and engaging directly with voters in battleground states.
Ms. Harris is heading on Thursday to North Carolina and on Friday to Pennsylvania, in a planned swing through battleground states that her campaign insists will not serve as a debate victory lap. Her rally on Friday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., will be the sixth day out of seven she has had a public appearance in the state, the latest indicator of Pennsylvania’s importance to her path to 270 electoral votes.
She is also planning to sit for local media interviews in battleground states, according to a memo released Thursday by the Harris campaign, and will participate in an interview next week with the National Association of Black Journalists.
Officials with Ms. Harris’s campaign believe the debate helped her do something that Mr. Biden and his team long tried to make happen but could not because of his age and fading political dexterity: make the 2024 election about Mr. Trump.
Does this strategy make sense? Kamala's joint interview with Tim Walz on CNN last month was widely panned, and her recent solo interview was a trainwreck as well. Her campaign knows that putting her out there to speak off the cuff is a huge risk, so why do it? Well, focus groups and polls have found that independent and undecided voters feel they don't know enough about what she wants to do and have criticized her vague answers and canned responses. The Harris campaign clearly sees this as a liability that could cost them the election and is trying to fix it.
