Aug.28

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Harris, Walz to Chat with CNN

Our long national nightmare is over. Yesterday, both the Harris/Walz campaign and CNN announced that the duo will sit down with the network for the first formal interview conducted with the Democratic candidates since they became their party's nominees for president and vice president.

The lack of interviews has led to much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments on the part of Trumpy politicians and political operatives (see here, here and here for examples). The same is true of the media (see here, here, here, here and here for examples). Also Fox; see here, here and here for examples. We're just not sure if Fox belongs in the "Trumpy political operatives" list or the "media" list.

Needless to say, these various actors have their agendas, which may or may not have to do with keeping the people informed and fostering a healthy democracy. For us this whole "issue" raises at least four questions that we'd like to ask. And since the media outlets aren't going to answer us, we'll just answer them ourselves:

1. Is Harris Being Unreasonable?: We think the answer here is pretty clearly "no." Her presidential campaign is a bit less than 40 days old, and she's had plenty on her plate. There was the small matter of choosing a running mate, and then the small matter of the Democratic National Convention. There are also many forms of interacting with the general public, and Harris has been heavily engaged with some of those. She's overseeing and participating in a massive social media campaign. She's been doing rallies and speeches. She's been doing debate prep. And so forth.
   
   Now, that is a "logistics" answer. There's also a "strategy" answer. And the "strategy" answer is once again "no." Harris is riding a wave of enthusiasm right now. She's on the rise in the polls. She's raking in the bucks. When things are going so well, what is the point of reinventing the wheel? Director Quentin Tarantino, who isn't a political operative, but definitely is an expert in effective communication, says Harris should not do any interviews at all during the campaign: "I'm going to vote for her fu**ing anyway no matter what she says in the stupid fu**ing interview, so don't fu** sh** up."
   
   
2. Is Harris in the Wrong?: We mean this to be a somewhat different question. Even if Harris has a full plate, and even if her campaign is going well, maybe she has an obligation to subject herself to the fourth estate, so they can keep her "honest"?
   
   We're not so sure what our position is here. On one hand, the American people should know what they are buying when they cast their votes for president. On the other hand, this is a format that does not tend to convey much actual insight. Most politicians are pretty good at giving fairly bland politician answers. And even if they go off-script, it's not so easy to communicate meaningful ideas in 30-90 seconds.
   
   Generally, when these interviews "matter," it's because the candidate screwed something up. Maybe they said something impolitic. Maybe they struggled to answer, and stoked fears about their mental capacity. Maybe both. Some journalists (maybe many) know that THIS is where the big, eyeball-getting headlines are made, and so bring a bunch of "gotcha" questions, in hopes of tripping the candidate up. Does the candidate really have a duty to subject themselves to this?
   
   We're just musing here; again, we really don't know. If readers have thoughts, we're interested to hear them at comments@electoral-vote.com.
   
   
3. What about Donald Trump?: It is true that Donald Trump does many interviews. It is also true that 99% of them, if not more, are done with ultra-friendly interviewers who toss him softball after softball. Why does he get a pass here (more on this question below)?
   
   
4. Will One Interview Be Enough? Or Five? Or Ten? Or Twenty?: This is surely the easiest question to answer. No. No matter how many interviews Harris and Walz do, jointly or individually, there will be carping that they are not doing enough interviews.

In any case, the interview will air on Thursday at 9:00 p.m. ET. And we will certainly have an item about it on Friday. (Z)