A Harris Strategy May Boil Down to 3 Words

As Kamala Harris consolidates her position to be the Democratic nominee in quick fashion, strategists in both parties already are feeling out what a race between the vice president and Donald Trump might look like. Coverage:

• Three words: A story at CNN based on interviews with more than a dozen Harris advisers and allies suggests the VP's strategy could be summed up succinctly as "prosecutor versus felon." Harris served as San Francisco's district attorney before becoming a senator, and she played up the "prosecutor for president" angle in her own 2020 run.

• Six words: In an appearance on the Morning Joe show, former Obama adviser David Plouffe suggested a campaign message that struck the same chord with three extra words: "She's a prosecutor. He's a criminal." Plouffe also suggested a Harris campaign could immediately flip the he's-too-old card on Trump, who would be the oldest candidate ever nominated, per Mediaite.
• Against Harris: The Trump campaign and allied super PACs will attempt to tie Harris to high inflation and unpopular border policies, reports the Wall Street Journal. A video on the latter already is out. Republicans also are playing up the narrative that Harris misled the public about Biden's fitness to serve. A video on that is out as well, tagged, "Kamala was in on it." Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been among the prominent Republicans pushing that narrative. "The number one question that she's going to have to answer now is, why did she lie to the American public?" McCarthy said on Fox.
• Against Harris, II: A post at Popular Information has more details on the expected lines of attack against the vice president.
• As a prosecutor: The Trump team will be scouring Harris' record as district attorney for attack points, but it's complicated. As the Washington Post notes, she was criticized by Democrats in her 2020 race—amid the fallout from the George Floyd killing and Black Lives Matters protests—for her "tough-on-crime" policies. In 2024, however, a tough-on-crime message might resonate more against an opponent who happens to be a "convicted felon," per the Post. Her prosecutorial skill of understanding both sides of an argument in order to "unpack" it for a jury should help her as well, an ally says.

(More Kamala Harris 2024 stories.)