Normally, we say that a candidate ran for office. But for Vice President Kamala Harris, it's been more of a sprint.
In just four months since she went from being on the ticket with President Joe Biden to being the Democratic nominee, she has had to improvise, borrowing a campaign staff and putting together a platform and a strategy in short order.
Nonetheless, she has owned it.
She has raised the money, debated her opponent and has barnstormed in the swing states. She has shown herself to be knowledgeable and prepared in multiple interviews, including on Fox News. She can be witty, especially with off-the-cuff comments like the one when she told hecklers, “Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally … I think you meant to go to the smaller rally down the street.”
Most of all, she has shown herself to be bold. There is no other way to describe the decision to hold Tuesday’s rally at the Ellipse, a park just outside the White House.
As a former prosecutor, Harris knows the importance of a closing argument, and nothing will contrast her more with former President Donald Trump, who stood at the same location on Jan. 6, 2021, and told supporters, “So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’re going to the Capitol.”
While Harris presents her finely tuned message, Trump is going off script, as usual.
In the final days before the election, the Trump campaign is busy explaining away the ugly rhetoric, vulgar jokes and incoherence of his bizarre rally at Madison Square Garden.
His campaign, which had a lot more time than Harris', developed a targeted message about inflation and the economy that Trump has repeatedly thrown aside in favor of whatever popped into his head just before he got on stage.
It's the difference between impulse and improvisation. Trump had all the time in the world and still couldn't stay on task, while Harris was thrown into the race at the last minute and has pulled it off masterfully.
If that doesn't show how they would approach the presidency in starkly different ways, I'm not sure what would.