It's been five weeks and counting since Kamala Harris emerged as the Democrat nominee and we're still waiting for her to submit to her first sit-down interview with the press. She promised to get an interview "scheduled" by the end of August (or Saturday). It's been a while -- she was on Morning Joe two months ago to talk up abortion "access."
In Tuesday's Politico Playbook column, the reporters reported on how reporters are being asked which reporter should be selected for this weighty task.
Harris campaign staff have been asking reporters who they think she should talk to. Behind the scenes, TV producers from big name anchors have been calling the campaign to pitch their talent as the person she has to do it with.
Harris has had a light schedule since accepting the nomination Thursday in Chicago, and several sources said she has been using the time not just to prepare for her Sept. 10 debate with Trump, but to map out a media strategy for the next few weeks.
Asking reporters about how to run your campaign is a classic suck-up tactic, since reporters think they are the smartest political strategists in America. It's not just Democrats that play this game: then-Newsweek reporter Jonathan Alter once praised Republican John McCain for talking to reporters about presidential campaign strategy out on the trail.
Some in "Harris World" want a "lengthy serious interview with a brand-name news anchor." But "Harris herself has expressed disagreement with that view, we’re told by two people, telling some Democrats she doesn’t need a big showy interview. In October, Harris did a sitdown with Bill Whitaker on 60 Minutes and talked foreign policy. Some of the exchanges were testy and some Harris aides came away unhappy with the experience."
The real goal is the perception of a substantive interview with a journalist who will gently keep Harris from putting her words in the salad shooter.
Former Harris communications adviser Ashley Etienne nominates CBS morning-show queen Gayle King (naturally, since Etienne has a Contributor gig at CBS.) Who else is in the running?
ABC’s David Muir, who has the highest ratings, is co-moderating the Sept. 10 debate, a fact that several TV veterans said might take him and everyone else at the network out of the running for a pre-debate interview. CBS’s Norah O'Donnell or NBC’s Lester Holt were mentioned the most by people we pinged last night.
NBC’s Savannah Guthrie was also a popular choice. Going to a home team booster on MSNBC would not satisfy the media chatter about being challenged in a tough environment, but it can’t be ruled out, and a morning show interview with King might attract the same criticism. At CNN, Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, Kaitlan Collins and Abby Phillip were all considered possibilities.
There's no Laura "Sugar" Coates on this list after her January "I'm struck in your presence" interview on CNN. And no Asma "Cuddle" Khalid at NPR?
Backers of Guthrie haven't noticed she has tended to be tougher than the other morning anchors on Biden administration spokesmen, such as Antony Blinken and John Kirby.
It continues:
Going to Holt would make a statement, because he conducted the most famous Harris interview that went off the rails for her. O’Donnell recently announced she’s leaving the CBS Evening News, so it could be a nice capstone for her if Harris cares about that. Almost everyone we talked to said Harris will consider race and gender in making her choice, and that she would be keen to sit down with a Black and/or female reporter, though nobody believes that’s a requirement.
"Harris World" is also worrying about how to deploy her running mate Tim Walz in the media, because "he might not have a full command of where Harris is on every issue." They don't think the main problem is having to explain his bucket of lies about his own resume??
