Media blitz to VP duties: on the campaign trail with Kamala Harris

Still a relatively unknown quantity, the former California attorney general and US senator is trying to make the electorate feel comfortable about the prospect of President Kamala Harris.

Harris has done it while carrying the burden of the hopes of millions in America and beyond who fear the return of Trump to the White House would herald a new dark age for American democracy and the planet. Opinion polls suggest the race is currently a dead heat.

Notably, in the days before she was a candidate, Harris would often struggle to attract media interest in her travels, sometimes flying with a solitary reporter. Some allies believe this explains why she was underreported and underappreciated for so long.

Still, as Harris left the View studios, a group of students let out a noise that was half-cheer, half-shriek. She proceeded to an office block containing the satellite radio station SiriusXM and sat with Howard Stern, whose show has an audience that is 73% male and 85% white. It was her most personal interview of the campaign yet.

The past two elections have been dominated by class and race. This one might be determined by gender A recent NBC poll found that men favour Trump over Harris by 12 points, 52% to 40%. Among women, Harris led Trump by 21 points: 58% to 37%. That adds up to a historic gap of 33 points.

In an amusing 40-minute interview, Colbert gave Harris two implicit auditions. One was the perennial commander-in-chief test. She proved fiercely authoritative, reminiscent of her finest moments at the debate, in eviscerating Trump as a threat to democracy and national security.

Harris also took part in a briefing on preparations for Hurricane Milton and gave phone interviews to CNN and The Weather Channel. Part of her mission was to counter disinformation spread by Trump and his acolytes.

In the afternoon the vice-president flew on Air Force Two from New York to Las Vegas, disembarking in desert heat and beholding the kitsch delights of Sin City including replicas of the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and Great Pyramid and Great Sphinx of Giza. Earlier that day the Tropicana hotel and casino, a relic of the mob era, had been reduced to rubble in a controlled implosion. Elsewhere, gamblers were still trying their luck at blackjack or in vast arcades of slot machines. It was a metaphor-rich environment for a candidate seeking to prove her authenticity, avoid campaign mishaps and counter accusations that she is risk averse.