What the hell kind of campaign is this?

Make these decisions by Harris and Vance make sense?

The goal of a political campaign is to get as many people as possible to vote for you. Should you get more votes than your opponent, you win.

To achieve this you need to identify persuadable voters and give them ample reason to support you.

So, please, explain to me how the following decisions help these respective candidates.

JD Vance Whiffing on 2020 Question, Again

If Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, the MVP of this campaign will be JD Vance.

When Brat Summer was unrelenting it was Vance who did the dirty work of following around Harris’ introductory rallies. He answered open press questions, comparatively highlighting how managed the jubilant Democratic ticket was. He put the first dent in Walz with the stolen valor claims.

This all happened while Vance was being compared to Sarah Palin and the top of the GOP ticket dealt with the untreated PTSD that comes along when you almost get your head blown off on live television and 30% of the country is openly mad you survived.

If that does not happen, I think there is a chance Kamalamania could have taken hold. Trump could have made very self-destructive decisions like firing his campaign leadership and bringing in flunky loyalists.

But that didn’t happen. Vance did the dirty work.

So, good for JD.

But in both his crowning achievement (the dismantling of Walz in the VP debate) and in this recent interview with the New York Times he has whiffed on the same question: did Donald Trump win the 2020 election?

I don’t fault him for the debate. Life comes at you fast on live television.

But he had to know the question was coming again at some point.

What should he have done?

Well, let’s first acknowledge that he can’t say anything Big Chungus won’t like. And either GOP candidate is going to further their cause by talking much about 2020.

This leaves obfuscation.

The weakness of the very neat question is that you can derail it.

For example: “Did Donald Trump win the 2020 election?” can be countered with “Are you asking me if Donald Trump is currently the president?” to which the question must now be clarified with more specificity. Probably something like “Do you think 2020 was a free and fair election?” This is ground the JD wants to be on as you see in the clip he immediately discusses Big Tech censorship and Hunter Biden’s laptop.

If this is a question you can’t win, and Vance cannot, then the best thing you can do is make it less of a sound bite.

Kamala Harris talking about Trump’s medical records

I hope for you dear reader that you one day find someone you love in life like Democrats love presenting a list of experts in a public letter.

Beginning one of the final weeks of the campaign, Harris ‘24 seems: scattershot.

Donald Trump is physically unfit to serve and won’t release his medical records. Kamala Harris has a list of bullet points and heretofore unmentioned programs for black men. Donald Trump will put anyone who disagrees with him in a military camp.

It says something that the two most positive pieces of new for her Monday is the announcement of a Fox News interview on Wednesday and the reports that she is negotiating to go on Joe Rogan.

Why? Because they are two more chances to show this campaign might have some coherence.

Ask yourself, why is Kamala Harris running?

To stop Donald Trump from winning, sure. But that gets you to 46% of the country that didn’t need convincing.

But why else?

This has eluded her and honestly, she is rapidly running out of time to figure it out.

So what should it be?

ettingermentum

called her campaign a “a cruel parody of Clintonism” which means she can’t run to the left.

Chris Cillizza

believes she should have a “Sistah Souljah” moment and break from the orthodoxy of the Biden White House by making a bold move on immigration.

I believe the answer is staring her in the face: abortion.

The two Top Five issues that Harris has a lead with voters on are “threats to Democracy” and “abortion” and the former is pretty well covered. But Harris has not made abortion as relevant of an issue as it should be. She’s consistently talked about “signing a bill” to restore Roe and even hinted at abolishing the filibuster to get it there.

But the wheels of law making turn slow and women voters want urgency.

I would use the Fox News and Rogan platforms to campaign against horrendous Abortion Trigger Laws that came to pass after Dobbs and commit to deploying campaign resources to every state with an abortion rights referendum on the ballot. Yes, that means spending money in Colorado, Missouri and South Dakota where you wouldn’t otherwise. But you raised a billion dollars for a 3-month campaign! You can afford it.

You will also be spending money in Maryland, Montana and Florida which also have senate seats you need to win if you want to make Roe the law of the land.

And you will put renewed focus on Arizona and Nevada which are teetering away from her currently.

Yes, you will sign a national bill when it gets there. But you can’t wait. Women are dying right now.

Are Fox News and Rogan the best places to roll a plan like that out? Yes.

One, if Kamala Harris can’t explain why Trigger Lawes are over reaching and problematic to anyone and everyone this election is over already. Two, these are probably the biggest platforms she has left to introduce herself on.

Or she can talk about how the Orange Man is fat and bad again.

---

Eric

You’ve probably seen it since you live here but this one actually made me chuckle.  My buddy asked “why aren’t the girls wearing pads though?”

By far the most unhinged commercials supporting Ted Cruz’ reelection is the Truth and Courage PAC which made this ad where Democrat Colin Allred inserts himself in a girls football game and trucks a teen. They also made this one featuring a legless Vietnam Vet who says that while he sacrificed two limbs for America he still has two eyes to see that Allred is too extreme for Texas.