‘It can’t be Harris-Biden’

Jul 24, 2024

By Lauren Egan, Eli Stokols and Ben Johansen

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Running for president is hard. But running for president while still serving as vice president is its own unique kind of challenge. And very few people in Democratic politics have first-hand experience with it.

KAMALA HARRIS is the first sitting vice president from either party to seek the White House since AL GORE in 2000. So West Wing Playbook called up BILL DALEY — the former chief of staff to President BARACK OBAMA and former Commerce secretary — to talk about what it was like serving as chair to Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign. The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity.

What was one of the most challenging parts about Gore running while still serving as vice president?

There were no major issue differences for us with President [Bill] Clinton. I think back and the only vice president I can think of that had that was Hubert Humphrey in 1968 — where you had the Vietnam War and he had to figure out how to separate from President Lyndon Johnson on that.

The only big thing hanging from the Clinton period when Gore was VP, obviously, was Monica Lewinsky — the personal sort of challenge of dealing with that.

He had to project who he would be. And part of that was his vice president selection. Because Sen. Joe Lieberman had criticized Clinton over the scandal, there was a sense that Gore was moving away from President Clinton with that appointment.

With Lewinsky, how did you navigate that? You don’t want to trash the sitting president. But you also need to acknowledge his mistakes. That seems awkward.

There was this whole debate — and it lingered after — about if Gore ran away from Clinton, should he have embraced Clinton. There were negatives carrying over that Gore had to separate from in order to try to get his coalition to win. I don’t see Harris having any of that.

She may have to tweak some issues — whether it’s immigration, other issues that are hot right now like economics. And she will have to decide whether she is just going to double down on every position of the Biden-Harris administration and run with that. Part of this will be through their research, part of it will be her gut and what she plans to stand for.

POLITICO has reported that there is some daylight between Harris and President Joe Biden when it comes to Israel. But, again, how can she disagree with him on the campaign trail?

That’s a tough one. He’s still the president. There’s six months left.

I don’t know if she gets more downside by trying to show a separation. She can show that maybe she’ll handle things differently — not by specifically saying that, but by how she approaches things and how she looks at foreign affairs.

I assume at some point, she will give a big foreign policy address of the Harris doctrine. And she can lay out a possible difference, if she does believe there is one, other than just saying, "We ought to have a peace agreement."

How does the relationship between the vice president and the president shift?

It can’t be Harris-Biden. And that’s hard.

It’s hard for all presidents, except maybe Ronald Reagan in 1988 with George H. W. Bush. Reagan really did not get involved and gave Bush some running room to do his thing.

If President Biden is a negative for some of the voters that Harris needs, then how do you manage that? If he wants to be out there all the time campaigning, then that could be a risk — even though right now he’s so beloved by Democrats.

That sounds like a hard conversation that they might need to have.

I had to go to the White House, two or three of us, to tell President Clinton that the polling showed we had to use him very judiciously to campaign for Gore.

President Clinton and President Biden will always be popular with the base of the party. But it’s really identifying the voters you need to win beyond your base. That’s part of the problem with the president’s persona hanging over a VP’s run. And that has to be managed.

I have to imagine that Biden is doing a lot of emotional processing at this moment.

I assume the president is going to want to prove — whether he does this through governing or through campaigning — that he’s still very much got it.

If President Biden decides that he wants to have an active fall on the way out the door, that could make it awkward when the vice president’s campaign is trying to keep the focus on her and the future.

What advice would you give Harris on her VP pick?

First, do no harm. Make sure you really vet these people.

That’s hard. They’re on a tight timeline.

It's very hard. But I don’t care how well people think they know somebody, especially in today’s social media world. You discover some stuff.

You come up with a questionnaire to give to people — tax returns, a scrub of their record on policy positions. But then they have to get comfortable with the person. The one-on-one is vital.

But “do no harm” is still the first rule.

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POTUS PUZZLER

Who was the last president to open an Olympic Games in his home state?

(Answer at bottom.)

The Oval

BIDEN SPEAKS: President JOE BIDEN will deliver an Oval Office speech tonight at 8 p.m eastern that could go a long way toward explaining one of the most consequential moments in the 46th president’s career. The president will explain his historic decision to not seek reelection, make a case for Harris to carry on their shared legacy and attempt to extinguish concerns over his ability to finish out the next six months of his term.

Biden is also likely to present himself as the bridge candidate he vowed in 2020 to be, and only at the eleventh hour — and begrudgingly — became. His address, which comes four days after the initial announcement, takes place against a swell of enthusiasm, endorsements and fundraising success for Harris. But inside the White House, aides are looking to rally around the president himself. Staffers are planning to gather for a reception and then to stay and watch the speech together on campus, according to a source familiar with the preparations.

BIBI’S BOMBASTIC SPEECH: Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday felt more like a state of the union than a typical foreign leader’s remarks — largely due to the massive applause received and aggressive rhetoric used. Throughout his speech — which roughly half of congressional Democrats did not attend — he chastised anyone who has questioned his prosecution of the war in Gaza, including by tying pro-Palestinian protesters to Iran and calling them “evil” and “Tehran’s useful idiots.”

His address came as police deployed pepper spray against thousands of protesters outside the Capitol.

Very much in character for the polarizing politician, the speech in the capital of his country's most critical ally should perhaps be viewed in the context of Netanyahu's political weakness at home.

Bibi thanked President Biden multiple times for his “tireless work” in trying to secure a ceasefire deal and praised him for coming to Israel in its “darkest hour.” On Thursday, the president will sit down with Netanyahu for a high-stakes meeting, in which Biden is expected to take a more aggressive posture toward his ally of over four decades in order to reach a ceasefire and hostage agreement with Hamas, our JONATHAN LEMIRE reports.

And following the shifting political dynamics of the past week, Biden’s meeting will not be the only one sharply analyzed. Vice President Harris, who was unable to preside over Netanyahu’s congressional speech today, will also meet with the Israeli leader Thursday.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by Washington Blade’s KEVIN NAFF, who writes that the LGBTQ+ community has never had a fiercer ally in the White House than President Biden. Naff highlights Biden’s record on making LGBTQ+ rights a top legislative priority, praising him for describing anti-transgender discrimination as the “civil rights issue of our time” and for celebrating Pride Month and the Trans Day of Visibility every year despite rampant criticism from the right.

“Young voters mustn’t get complacent; such sentiments from a sitting president are not the norm,” Naff writes. “Biden’s leadership on LGBTQ equality means the next Democratic president has big shoes to fill.” He adds that, among other issues, Biden will be remembered for “showing future presidents how to fully embrace and empower the LGBTQ community.”

A gay icon, as some have said.

Communications director BEN LABOLT shared the piece on X.

WHAT WILMINGTON WANTS YOU TO WATCH: This CNN segment, in which HARRY ENTEN argues that JD VANCE is “making history in the completely wrong way” since being tapped as DONALD TRUMP’s running mate. Enten, going back to 1980, says that the Ohio senator is the first VP nominee following their party’s convention to have a net negative favorability rating — which sits at -6 points currently. Since 2000, the average VP favorability has been +19 points.

In a memo, campaign spokesperson SARAFINA CHITIKA wrote: “We’d like to be the first to congratulate JD Vance on making history as the least popular VP pick, well … ever.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by Axios’ STEF W. KIGHT detailing Vice President Harris’ history on migration in the early days of the administration and how it will — and already has — become a concern for her campaign. “Confusion around the VP's exact role, early media misfires and the rapidly changing regional migration crisis has made the issue a top target for the GOP trying to define their new opponent,” Kight writes.

In recent days, the Trump campaign and those on the right have sought to label her as the “border czar” — a title she has never had. Still, the issue of immigration will be a defining attack point for Republicans, who are aiming to paint Harris as weak on the border.

CAMPAIGN HQ

FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Poder PAC and Voto Latino are hosting a “Latinas 4 Harris” call at 9 p.m. eastern to rally support for the vice president, our MYAH WARD writes in. The call will be joined by Latino leaders of the PAC — from New Mexico Gov. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM to Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair NANETTE BARRAGÁN — and leaders of national organizations, including MARIA TERESA KUMAR of Voto Latino and JANET MURGUÍA of UnidosUS Action Fund.

The call will also feature Latino women in media and entertainment, including MARIA CARDONA, ANA NAVARRO, ROSARIO DAWSON, ROSIE PEREZ, ANNIE GONZALEZ, AMERICA FERRERA and JESSICA ALBA.

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK: The Harris campaign is out with a new memo arguing how Vice President Harris can beat Donald Trump by “drawing the support of voters who have moved towards Democrats since the 2020 election,” our ELENA SCHNEIDER reports. In the memo, campaign chair JEN O’MALLEY DILLON says that the “shift in the race” — swapping out Biden for Harris — “opens up additional persuadable voters who our campaign can work to win the support of,” adding that the race is “more fluid now.”

This undecided segment — which O’Malley Dillon says are disproportionately Black, Latino and under 30 — could put the Sun Belt states like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina in play, on top of the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

NO REAL MOVEMENT: In the first CNN poll conducted since President Biden’s historic decision not to seek reelection, there is little change in the state of the race. Trump holds 49 percent support among registered voters to Harris’ 46 percent, a finding within the poll’s margin of sampling error. But there has been some movement among key voting blocs that O’Malley Dillon locked in on in the memo.

In the spring, 49 percent of voters under 35 said they would support Trump and 42 percent would support Biden. But now, 47 percent say they support Harris, compared with 43 percent for Trump. Black voters, who split 70 percent for Biden to 23 percent for Trump in previous polling, now break 78 percent for Harris to 15 percent for Trump.

And Trump was leading Biden among Hispanic voters, 50 percent to 41 percent. Those same voters now split about evenly: 47 percent for Harris to 45 percent for Trump.

MAYBE SHE DID FALL OUT OF A COCONUT TREE? According to new research from the Democratic firm Blueprint, Harris remains relatively unknown to broad swaths of the electorate — giving her an opportunity to define herself more favorably over the next 100 or so days, especially on issues where Biden was weak.

Voters associate Harris with words like “liberal” and “prosecutor,” but they do not blame her for inflation, meaning that she can run hard on prices-focused economic messaging — the message that tested the highest — as well as reproductive rights messaging, which tested second highest.

THE BUREAUCRATS

EVERYONE’S GOT A PODCAST NOWADAYS: The first episode of “Politickin’” — the podcast featuring GAVIN NEWSOM, MARSHAWN LYNCH and NFL agent DOUG HENDRICKSON — dropped Wednesday. Lynch, the former Seattle Seahawks running back, summed up Biden’s decision to end his campaign as you might think: “I ain’t seen no shit like that.”

Newsom, who said he was in the gym on Sunday when the news broke, hyped up Vice President Harris and discussed the stakes of the election. “This is a binary choice. You got a guy who wants to bring us back to a pre-1960s world or you got Kamala Harris who’s just lighting it up right now,” Newsom said ... before Lynch cut him off for talking about politics.

As if this pod could be any more tailored to Eli’s interests, the trio interviewed Golden State Warrior DRAYMOND GREEN, a fellow podcaster.

PERSONNEL MOVES: KAMAU MARSHALL recently joined the Harris campaign as a senior adviser and senior spokesperson. He most recently was a senior adviser at the Education Department to Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA. He’s an alum of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and has worked for Biden as director of strategic communications since his primary campaign launched in 2019.

— LANE BODIAN is now principal deputy assistant secretary of defense in the legislative affairs shop at the Pentagon. Bodian most recently was deputy assistant secretary of defense in that office and has previously worked for Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.).

Agenda Setting

MORE DETAILS ON THE TRUMP SHOOTING: On Wednesday, FBI director CHRISTOPHER WRAY testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee to discuss the agency's investigation into the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, AP’s ERIC TUCKER reports. Wray revealed that the gunman is believed to have done a startling Google search one week before the shooting: “How far away was [Lee Harvey] Oswald from [John F.] Kennedy?”

Wray told the committee that the FBI has built out a detailed timeline of the shooter’s movements and online activity, but his precise motive — or why Trump was supposedly singled out — remains elusive.

WHEN ART IMITATES LIFE: In the 24 hours following President Biden’s decision to end his campaign, viewership on the first season of JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS’ “Veep” skyrocketed, up 353 percent on Monday, Axios’ KELLY TYKO reports. The show, which follows disgruntled Vice President SELINA MEYER (who eventually climbs the political ladder to the Oval), had 2.2 million total minutes watched on July 22, compared to 486,000 total minutes watched the day before.

What We're Reading

Harris vs Trump: America’s sudden gender election (Financial Times’ Edward Luce)

The GOP doesn’t want to talk about abortion. Harris wants to make them. (POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Alice Miranda Ollstein)

The KHive Has Some Unlikely New Members: Bernie Stans (POLITICO Magazine’s Catherine Kim)

Hillary Clinton: How Kamala Harris Can Win and Make History (Hillary Clinton for NYT)

An Indian Person’s Guide to Saying Kamala Harris’ Name Correctly (Slate’s Scaachi Koul)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

President RONALD REAGAN traveled from the White House to Los Angeles to open the 1984 Olympic Games in his home state of California, according to the White House Historical Association. “Athletes know better than anyone that there is more, much more, to the Olympic experience than winning medals,” Reagan said during his opening speech. “It’s the personal striving, the ability to achieve the fullest measure of human potential that counts most.”

To learn more about White House history and how celebrating the Olympics became a White House tradition, visit whitehousehistory.org.

A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!

Edited by Steve Shepard and Rishika Dugyala.

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