'Running out the clock may not be an option'
CNN data guru warns Trump may beat Harris in key metrics
CNN data reporter Harry Enten revealed that former President Donald Trump is expected to garner a "historic" number of Black and Hispanic voters in November.
Vice President Kamala Harris' recent media blitz was a "massive missed opportunity" to shift the trajectory of the razor-thin race, a column published Monday for MSNBC argued.
Harris sat down for several interviews last week, after facing weeks of scrutiny from voters and the press calling on her to be more transparent about her policies and her record. In a new opinion piece for MSNBC, politics writer Alexander Nazaryan ripped the VP's strategy, writing that "The plan for the vice president's campaign press blitz seemed to be: 'Talk to everyone and say nothing.'"
Harris took tough questions on "60 Minutes," but faced far friendlier environments on "The View" and other venues on her press tour. She was hailed as "the next President of the United States" on the ABC talk show; cracked open beers with Democratic fundraiser Stephen Colbert on "The Late Show;" and talked about her exercise routine with fawning radio host Howard Stern last week.
Nazaryan questioned if these "buddy-buddy" media appearances would move the needle for undecided voters in swing states.
Vice President Kamala Harris was criticized for dodging questions and saying "nothing" in her recent media blitz. (AP/Ross D. Franklin)
"And that is the problem: The Harris campaign conducted this tour not because it had something new to say, but because it needed to redirect the media narrative about its candidate," Nazaryan, a former White House correspondent for Yahoo News, wrote.
"As the media tour came to a close with a Univision town hall on Thursday night, I was left with the same vague impression I had before the press tour — which makes that tour a massive missed opportunity," he continued.
The Harris campaign's strategy of "running out the clock" with less than a month to go until the election "may not be an option," as some polls in swing states show the race shifting away from Harris, Nazaryan argued.
Vice President Kamala Harris criticized former President Trump for not giving an interview to "60 Minutes" in advance of the election. (Getty Images)
Additionally, a trio of new national polls indicate that former President Trump may have erased the gains made by Harris in recent months after replacing President Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
TRUMP-VANCE TICKET HAS DONE COMBINED 76 INTERVIEWS SINCE AUGUST COMPARED TO 41 FOR HARRIS-WALZ
During her media appearances last week, Harris told viewers that abortion rights and democracy would be on the line if Trump returned to the White House. Nazaryan said these arguments would fall on deaf ears to voters who were not already firmly in Harris' camp, such as swing voters, who view the economy as their No. 1 issue.
Voters are looking for a "change" candidate, he argued, but Harris has not proven that she's that candidate, he said. Harris even told "The View" that she can't think of anything that she would've done differently from Biden since he's been in office.
"For what it’s worth, I still think Harris will squeak it out. But if she doesn’t, her inability to fearlessly say who she is and what she believes will be one of the reasons. And even if she does, she will likely face a Congress where both chambers are controlled by Republicans. There will be no avoiding difficult conversations with GOP leaders who are going to be a lot less understanding than Joy Behar," he wrote.
Whoopi Goldberg introduced Kamala Harris as the "next President of the United States" when she visited the set on October 8, 2024. (ABC/The View)
While the Harris-Walz campaign has increased its media appearances over the past month, the Democratic ticket still lags behind the Republican ticket in the number of interviews taken since the Democratic ticket was formed.
Harris will sit down for an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier to air on the network on Wednesday.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this article.
Kristine Parks is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Read more.
