WEBVTT - Dan Morain Talks Kamala Harris' Presidential Campaign

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Dan Moraine, journalists and

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<v Speaker 1>author of the biography Kumela's Way an American Life, spoke

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<v Speaker 1>to me today about Harris's prospect of securing the nomination

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<v Speaker 1>and running for the US presidency. He told me that

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<v Speaker 1>despite Donald Trump saying that Harris would be easier to

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<v Speaker 1>beat than Biden, people who underestimate Comana Harris quote end

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<v Speaker 1>up losing.

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<v Speaker 2>For a person who will be on the most public

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<v Speaker 2>of stages running for the President of the United States.

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<v Speaker 2>She doesn't tell you very much about herself her personal views. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, we know what her political views are. That's

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<v Speaker 2>not a secret. But she can be a very close booket.

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<v Speaker 2>She's a fascinating character, you know, a true California somebody

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<v Speaker 2>who only could have come from California. I think her

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<v Speaker 2>mother was an immigrant from India, her father an immigrant

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<v Speaker 2>from Jamaica. They met at that most California of institutions,

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<v Speaker 2>the University of California at Berkeley in the nineteen sixties.

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<v Speaker 2>She is truly a product of California. Can't imagine any

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<v Speaker 2>other state that could have produced quite like Kamla Harris.

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<v Speaker 1>That's very interesting. Would you think her background. Then, as

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<v Speaker 1>you say, we know much more about her public life

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<v Speaker 1>then her background as a prosecutor. Then is the ag

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<v Speaker 1>the attorney general for California. Do you think that's going

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<v Speaker 1>to help or hurt her presidential campaign? How will it

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<v Speaker 1>shape this campaign?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I think it can only help her campaign. You know,

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<v Speaker 2>she was a prosecutor. She put people in prison. She's

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<v Speaker 2>running against a candidate who's been convicted of thirty four felonies.

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<v Speaker 2>Prosecutor versus a fellow seems to me to be a

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<v Speaker 2>pretty stark contrast. You know, she will be portrayed as

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<v Speaker 2>being a California liberal. She certainly is liberal, and she's

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<v Speaker 2>certainly in California. But she spent a lot of her

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<v Speaker 2>career putting people who had committed serious crimes in prison,

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<v Speaker 2>and the focus of much of her work as a

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<v Speaker 2>prosecutor was to go after sex trafficking crimes against children.

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<v Speaker 2>I think it's kind of hard to attack that now.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, she opposed the death penalty, the death penalty.

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<v Speaker 2>Her stand on the death penalty probably caught well, certainly

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<v Speaker 2>cost her some support. When she was district attorney in

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<v Speaker 2>San Francisco, the main prosecutor in the city county in

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<v Speaker 2>San Francisco. I'm not sure that that issue is necessarily

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<v Speaker 2>going to resonate quite so much in twenty twenty four.

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<v Speaker 2>We'll see.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you think she's going to be able to unite

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<v Speaker 1>the Democratic Party behind her. It's still not a certainty

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<v Speaker 1>that she will become the Democratic Party nominee.

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<v Speaker 2>Right well, she's got so much momentum built up up

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<v Speaker 2>this first day. It's been quite impressive. The last report

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<v Speaker 2>I saw was that she had raised sixty million dollars today,

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<v Speaker 2>which is just a phenomenal sum if that's true. So,

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<v Speaker 2>of course somebody could mount a challenge to her. It's possible,

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<v Speaker 2>but I think she has a huge amount of momentum

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<v Speaker 2>right now. It would be very tough to knock her

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<v Speaker 2>off as as the Democratic nominee in.

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<v Speaker 1>Terms of her best qualities, of what her team might

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<v Speaker 1>put forward. What sort of president do you think she

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<v Speaker 1>might make.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a question for every vice president you know. Can

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<v Speaker 2>a vice president be a Harry Truman, who was Franklin

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<v Speaker 2>delan Or Roosevelt's vice president. Nobody thought very much of

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<v Speaker 2>him when he was vice president. He didn't have much

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<v Speaker 2>of a role at all in the Roosevelt administration, and

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<v Speaker 2>yet he became a very consequential president. So will Kamala

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<v Speaker 2>Harris be a Harry Truman? You know, we will see.

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<v Speaker 2>But you know, people who underestimate Kamala Harris tend to lose,

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<v Speaker 2>and so I wouldn't underestimate her in terms of her position.

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<v Speaker 2>She's going to be a Biden Democrat. She's going to

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<v Speaker 2>be supportive of Israel. She's certainly going to be supportive

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<v Speaker 2>of the war in Ukraine. She's she's going to be

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<v Speaker 2>very supportive of NATO. So she would continue the Biden

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<v Speaker 2>tradition in those ways. I have no doubt.

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<v Speaker 1>What do you think drives Kamala Harris. How do you

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<v Speaker 1>think she's going to deal with Donald Trump? He said

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<v Speaker 1>that Harris would be easier to defeat than Biden.

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<v Speaker 2>Again, I think people who underestimate Kama Harrison of losing,

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<v Speaker 2>and she would not be the first man to underestimate

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<v Speaker 2>she can be formidable. She can be a very good candidate.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, I moderated a debate that she had when

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<v Speaker 2>she ran for Attorney General against a very accomplished prosecutor

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<v Speaker 2>and the head of the district, the district attorney of

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<v Speaker 2>Los Angeles County. So by all accounts he should have

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<v Speaker 2>won that race. He was very accomplished, but she she

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<v Speaker 2>bested him in that debate. I covered a debate, the

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<v Speaker 2>one debate she had when she ran for the United

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<v Speaker 2>States Senate twenty sixteen. And you know, she's very good

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<v Speaker 2>on her feet. So if Donald Trump thinks that she

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<v Speaker 2>would be a pushover in a debate, I'm not so

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<v Speaker 2>sure that he would be correct.

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<v Speaker 1>That was the journalist an author of the biography Kumala's

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<v Speaker 1>Way in American Life, Dan Moraine, speaking to me earlier.