INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Many say they see Kamala Harris as a trailblazer who represents change.A drum line serenaded Sen
Kamala Harris, D-Calif., as she descended an escalator at a convention center to greet a throng of cheering supporters.It was the most
memorable entrance of the nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates who spoke at a party pep rally here over the weekend - and a
sign that Harris, who has struggled to establish a political philosophy to compete with her most prominent rivals, is still seeking to
distinguish herself.Throughout the weekend, she cast herself as a candidate of action, seeming to embrace the notion that the Harris brand
is one built on practicality as much as any sort of sweeping vision."I think it's important to have grand and broad ideas for how to fix
this world," Harris told voters at a Friday night meet-and-greet
"But it's also important, and I believe for me it's a priority, how can I address the things that wake people up in the middle of the
night?"Harris' performance, which had the feel of a reboot, reflected the challenge confronting her as she seeks to capitalize on her prime
spot this week in the first candidate debates in which she will share center stage Thursday with polling leaders former Vice President Joe
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.In a crowded field in which Sanders' Democratic socialism and Massachusetts Sen
Elizabeth Warren's heavily regulated capitalism are elbowing for supremacy on the far left and Biden is positioning himself as a centrist
best positioned to beat President Donald Trump, Harris is known more for her prosecutorial performance in Senate hearings than she is for
advocating any particular approach to policy."Everybody has their little niche, and I don't think Kamala has a niche yet," said Leslie
Stein, an engineer and California transplant to Las Vegas who attended a Harris speech last week in that city and has been following
Harris's career from her district attorney days
"She's saying a lot of what's out there, but she hasn't made anything her own."Stein's reaction is one offered by many people who attend
While many say they see Harris as a trailblazer who represents change, few can articulate exactly what kind of change a Harris
administration would yield - particularly in contrast to the well-defined agendas of other contenders."I know about Elizabeth Warren because
that's her thing: plans and ideas
Bernie Sanders I know because he's run before," said Shirley Sandoval, a 76-year-old Las Vegas resident
"And I know Joe Biden because he's been around so long - you just kind of know him, even though he's changed his mind on things
Even big things, like abortion.""(Harris) hasn't spoken as much on policy as I would like to hear her speak on it," Sandoval said
"She's got some good ideas, but I haven't heard as much as I would like."Those who have counseled Harris, 54, a former prosecutor and
California attorney general elected to the Senate in 2016, say she hews to a sense of pragmatism rather than a strict ideology."She's pretty
much a fundamentally pragmatic person always asking about: What is the real impact this is going to have on people's lives?" said Jill
Habig, who served as an adviser to Harris when she served as attorney general and in her Senate campaign
"But in terms of the methodology of how you get to that goal, she's not very ideological."The result, so far, is a policy portfolio that
often seems comprised of one-off announcements that put her largely in line with long-held, mainstream Democratic positions.The thread that
has connected her proposals is an emphasis on what she has presented as practical actions that can be put in place while long-term solutions
Harris' proposals for tightened controls on guns and a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants and their parents rely on
executive action, an approach used by Trump and President Barack Obama in the face of opposition from Capitol Hill
Her proposals for rent assistance and a middle-class tax credit of up to $6,000 per year, her campaign staff argues, provide more short-term
tangible benefits than, say, more dramatic moves like Warren's pledge to break up big tech companies.She and her campaign aides argue her
policy to raise teacher salaries by an average of $13,500 to match those of "similarly educated professionals" would improve student
outcomes and school environments, achieving broad benefits by addressing the problem directly
But outside of a broader education policy, it was possible to see such a policy as an appeal to the highly influential teachers' unions and
suburban women Harris is courting, rather than a piece in a broader policy puzzle.When it comes to her broader policy drive, Harris doesn't
spare much time for labels
Of all the words she has used since declaring her presidential candidacy, she has allocated few to positioning herself left of center, right
of the far left, or anywhere in between.When a voter in Ankeny, Iowa, said she heard the media labeling Harris as a moderate, the candidate
raised her eyebrows and stifled a smile
When a reporter asked her if she would call herself "an Obama Democrat," Harris said simply, "I call myself Kamala."Her approach to date has
She has raised millions of dollars, begun growing her ground operations in the four early voting states and even has a devoted fan club
called "the K-Hive," a takeoff on Beyonce's fan group.Harris is also making a hiring push in Iowa that she says will give her more staffers
there than any other candidate
In South Carolina, local organizer Brenda Price and her "Reckoning Crew" of 100 organizers just threw themselves behind Harris.Early state
polls show Harris' limitations and her potential
When California voters' first and second choices were tabulated by the Berkeley IGS poll, Harris was tied in her home state with Biden and
But when voters were asked their first choice, Harris trailed those two candidates as well as Sanders
The results, which had Harris trailing even in her home turf of the Bay Area, echoed the results of a Des Moines Register poll of Iowa
voters, far more of whom were considering Harris than firmly committed to her.In South Carolina over the weekend, a must-win state for
Harris, she maintained one of the largest and most vocal groups of supporters that was as big as Biden's, Sanders' and Warren's, and thanks
in part to that drum line, just as loud
Jesse Jackson sneaked into her pre-convention rally
She sparked visible interest.One of her prominent backers, former state legislator Bakari Sellers, who has publicly wondered whether the
senator was too cautious, tweeted that she had "set the stage on fire." But this week in Miami, Harris will be trying to convert undecided
voters, not inspire the ones she's already convinced - and she won't have much time to do it.(Except for the headline, this story has not
been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
