‘She’s Letting Other People Do It For Her’: Mark Halperin Warns Harris ‘Late In The Game To Be Defining Herself’

Newsmax political analyst Mark Halperin warned Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris is running out of time to shape her own image, with the election less than three weeks away.

Harris told “The View” co-hosts on Oct. 8 that “nothing comes to mind” regarding how she would govern differently from President Joe Biden. Halperin, on “Wake Up America,” said he thinks Harris has failed to “define her differences with Joe Biden” throughout her campaign, and her limited public appearances have enabled others to shape voter perceptions of her.

“The thing she eventually said, she’d put a Republican in the cabinet, is just so vague and meaningless that I don’t think — if people think, whether her supporters think it or her critics think it, she needs to define her differences with Joe Biden,” Halperin said. “I don’t think you could say she’s done that yet, and that is what a lot of voters have doubts about, even ones who are probably more inclined to vote for her.”

“She’s got a bunch of stuff coming up, including a potential appearance on Joe Rogan that Reuters is reporting she might do. You know, it’s late in the game to be defining herself. Her staff’s right. This was a quick campaign, but you look at her schedule, more days than not, she’s got one event, zero events, a lot of staff meetings,” he continued. “And so if the goal is to define herself, then she’s letting other people do it for her more than she’s doing it herself, hour by hour.”

Democrats, including some of Harris’ own staffers, expressed worries to Politico in an article published Oct. 5 that Harris’ avoidant media strategy and limited campaign schedule could backfire in the final month of her campaign. Soon after, she launched a media blitz that consisted mainly of friendly interviews.

“I think there’s a few panickers. It’s mostly existential dread. They’re hoping to see her performance level rise up, because they’d like to see her take command of this contest as opposed to what happens, which is she’s more days than not, she’s not really making news, even in these high-profile interviews,” Halperin added. “So I think if we saw another round of bad polls, panic would set in in some quarters. For now, they’re kind of trying to convince themselves that between their turnout operation and abortion rights and [former President] Trump’s ceiling, that they’re still gonna win this.”

Trump currently has narrow advantages over Harris in six out of the main seven swing states, with the vice president only slightly leading in Wisconsin, according to the RealClearPolling averages.

Former President Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, said on Thursday that Democrats are “right to be concerned” about Harris’ chances against Trump in November. He credited the Trump campaign with being “very disciplined in their media,” which he asserted is intended to portray Harris as “a continuation of Biden’s economics” and “an exotic, left-wing radical.”

“They have been burning that message in, and I think that’s had some impact,” Axelrod said.

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