WASHINGTON — The public rooted for Kamala Harris during her media campaign this week. Talk show hosts also raised questions.
“You have to win,” Howard Stern said on his eponymous radio show.
“I personally don’t understand why anyone would vote for him,” Joy Behar of ABC’s “The View” said of Donald Trump.
“Would you like to have a beer with me so I can tell people what it’s like?” asked CBS' Stephen Colbert.
Miller brought it to life and joined Vice President Colbert in taking a drink from the can.
Wanting to win seats with key voting blocs, Harris Take some precautions He has appeared since entering the race and sat down for a series of interviews, albeit on his own terms, with mostly friendly hosts. Her campaign believes the appearances will help introduce her to Americans who didn't think highly of Harris before she became the Democratic nominee in July and want to know more about her life story.
“We saw in the surveys that people wanted to get to know him better. They want to see more of him, and we are engaged in that and want to continue that” before Election Day, said a Harris campaign aide.
There's nothing random about the places it shows 'The View' is particularly popular with female voters, with the campaign taking advantage of Harris's visit on Tuesday New policy proposals to help 'Sandwich Generation' families who care so much for aging parents as dependent children
Stern's audience boos the man — an opportunity for Harris to occupy a central part of Trump's base. This year's NBC News poll showed that just 25% of men ages 18 to 49 had a positive view of Harris, while 55% had a negative view.
She needs help to attract young male voters and Stern has committed to doing so, inviting her millions of listeners to open themselves to the possibility of a female president. Stern is famous for being raw — he once asked Actor Warren Beatty She adopted an appreciative tone when addressing Harris about her bathroom routine, gently drawing him into her education and career.
He praises well-known women in positions of authority, saying, “Your best organizations in radio and business are collaborating with women.” Men, on the other hand, “can get over the old shit and get away with it,” he said.
“I was the first woman in almost every position,” responded Harris, a former U.S. senator, California state attorney general and San Francisco district attorney. “I believe that men and women support women in leadership and that has been my life experience and that is why I am running for president.”
One challenge for Harris is the ubiquity of her opponents. Whether he's in or out of power, Trump tends to dominate the news cycle, running a presidential campaign that began in 2015 and hasn't really stopped.
Harris, on the other hand, seemed cloistered, always wary of risky missteps in unrestrained encounters with the media. But four weeks out and so close to the race, Harris is looking for a way to jump to what campaign aides call “the front of the conversation.”
Harris dialed the weather channel then spoke with CNN by phone Wednesday afternoon, urging Floridians to heed warnings and get out of the path of Hurricane Milton.
He gave an interview to CBS's “60 Minutes” for an election special that aired Monday. Trump declined an interview request for the program.
And Thursday night Harris is scheduled to participate in a televised event hosted by Univision in Las Vegas. Taking questions from the audience, Harris will try to appeal to Hispanic male voters who have aligned with Trump. In two key states, Nevada and Arizona, a majority of Hispanic men under 50 favor Trump over Harris, according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll.
Even if voters miss your presence during the campaign, they can still capture viral moments that are replayed on their social media, campaign advisors said.
“People may not see it live, but there are a lot of clips — maybe an image of him having a beer with Colbert — that are circulating around the campaign and to a lot of people,” the aide said.
Trump has taken a less conventional approach. He has maintained a tight focus on his voter base, appearing frequently on Fox News and other conservative media outlets, as well as on podcasts that appeal to far-right male audiences.
Conversations can go either way – and often do. Cocaine was discussed extensively during Trump's appearance on a podcast hosted by comedian Theo Vaughn. At one point, Trump asked the host if the drug gives the user “highs.”
“Cocaine will turn you into a goddamn owl, bro,” Vaughn told America’s former commander in chief. “Do you know what I'm saying? You will be on your balcony. You will be your own lamppost.”
For her part, Harris feels more comfortable talking about her personal life, less so when it comes to politics.
She told Stern how, in 2016, she dealt with the news of Trump's victory by downing an entire family-sized bag of Doritos.
When Stern asked if therapy could be an antidote to the stress he faces on the trail, he said with a laugh, “That's my therapy now, Howard.”
“With me? Wow! Dr.
He seemed less certain in his “60 Minutes” interview. Asked how he would win approval for his plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, he offered no plausible path to overcoming divisions in Congress.
“You know, when you talk calmly to a lot of people in Congress, they know exactly what I'm talking about, because their constituents know exactly what I'm talking about,” he said.
“And Congress has shown no inclination to move in his direction,” said his interviewer, Bill Whittaker.
Still, Harris campaign officials say they are pleased with his performance in these less scheduled environments.
“He destroyed them!” A Harris advisor.
“It’s been great,” said another senior Harris campaign aide. “We were able to reach a lot of voters.”
Additionally, he connected with the campaign's target audience, which includes young people, senior aides said.
Speaking without notes, Harris occasionally stumbled to get his message across. She is presenting herself as an agent of change – a barrier-breaking woman who looks, acts and sounds younger and more vibrant than Trump or Biden. However, he still struggles to show respect for Biden when explaining how his presidency will be different from his.
During his appearance on “The View,” Harris was asked if he could have done anything differently than Biden in the nearly four years he spent as director.
“There’s nothing that comes to mind,” he said.
Later in the interview, he corrected his answer, saying, “You asked me what the difference is between Joe Biden and me. . Adding a Republican to his cabinet.)
It could be days or weeks before Harris's media offensive registers, for better or worse. Early in-person voting began Wednesday in Maricopa County, Arizona, the population center of a key electoral battleground.
In 100-degree heat, an Arizona voter said he was uncomfortable with Harris appearing on Stern's show because of the storm damage in the South.
“He’s laughing at Howard Stern,” one woman who went to vote told NBC News.
