Harris’s Combative Debate Style Will Get Its Biggest Test Against Trump

The New York Times ^ | Sept. 7, 2024 | Lisa Lerer

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Kamala Harris’s razor-sharp debate skills have powered her political ascent. Her success next week will turn on how well she adapts to an unpredictable rival.

Few of the people gathered in the San Francisco church knew quite what to expect from Kamala Harris.

It was 2003, and the two men she faced in her first political campaign were well-known brawlers locked in a rematch to become the city’s district attorney — one of whom was her former boss.

Ms. Harris was a little-known government lawyer who had landed in the local gossip pages for dating Willie Brown, one of the state’s most powerful politicians. The attack on her was obvious: political patronage, packaged with a whiff of sexual intrigue.

After an audience member asked about her ties to Mr. Brown, she rose from her seat at the front of the sanctuary as her two opponents, Bill Fazio and Terence Hallinan, looked on.

Ms. Harris walked behind Mr. Fazio, asking if the audience remembered how Mr. Hallinan had attacked him for being caught in a massage parlor in a 1998 raid. She walked behind Mr. Hallinan, asking if the audience remembered how Mr. Fazio had attacked him for being a “deadbeat dad” who failed to pay child support.

As faint gasps echoed across the room, Ms. Harris wrapped her punch in a gauzy pledge. Unlike her opponents, she promised that she would run a campaign based on the issues, not on negative attacks.

The crowd jumped to its feet in a standing ovation, recounted Jim Stearns, a political consultant who had helped Ms. Harris in the race.

[dforest]

Trump could let her sound like the overbearing nasty ex fish wife and the woman other women don’t want to be, by ignoring taunts and give her a look, then talk about his vision for America.