Kamala Harris Risks Losing to Trump Unless She Makes a Bold Move Now

A few days ago, I wrote an essay on this website titled “Donald Trump Is Running Scared.”

Kamala Harris should also be scared, because given former President Donald Trump’s criminal record and constant lying, the vice president should be sailing to victory. But according to polls she isn’t. She is barely leading in the national polls, and is virtually tied with Mr. Trump in the swing states that will decide the winner.

Also, recent news stories report that for the first time in many years more voters identify with the Republican Party than with the Democrats. That should put a scare in Ms. Harris.

If I was advising her, I would tell her that she has to do two things, and do them fast, before Mr. Trump overtakes her. 1) Shake up her campaign staff and add someone who is not afraid to suggest playing Mr. Trump’s games, as unseemly as they are. If that means getting into the mud with the former president, so be it.  Losing politely is still losing. 2) Unleash an October surprise.

The October surprise must convince wavering GOP and independents voters that Ms .Harris means it, when she says she will be president for all the people in the U.S.

The October surprise that I would suggest will probably upset some far left Democrats in Congress, but they are only a tiny minority. While they would scream and stamp their feet, they still will stick by Ms. Harris because a Trump victory would be a four-year nightmare for them.

The details of my suggested October surprise follows:

• Announce that if elected she would appoint disenchanted former Republicans to cabinet positions. Liz Chaney, Mitt Romney or Adam Kinzinger comes to mind.

• Appoint as secretary of defense a retired general or admiral. Stanley McChrystal, Mark Milley or Wesley Clark comes to mind, but there are many others from all branches of the military to choose from.

• And the surprise kicker that is certain to shake up the political world is that she will have the most bipartisan cabinet in history by appointing seven Republicans to the 15 cabinet positions, a decision that could revolutionize the political culture of our country for years, if not forever, and prove to voters that she is the candidate of change.

Appointing members of the opposite party to cabinet positions is not original, but it sends a message that the president is conducive of working with the opposition party for the good of Americans.

Two prominent examples. One recent one not so recent: President Obama appointed Robert Gates, who served under several Republican presidents, as defense secretary, Ray LaHood, a former congressman from Illinois as secretary of transportation; and Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire as commerce secretary,  although he changed his mind and opted out of working in a Democratic administration 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed two prominent Republicans to his cabinet: Henry L. Stimson as secretary of war, and Frank Knox as secretary of the Navy.

Recently, Ms. Harris has stepped up her media appearances and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have joined President Joe Biden in campaigning for her. 

But they are not on the ballot. Kamala Harris is. And she must do something to convince voters that she’s the better choice than Donald Trump, who recent polls show that he is pulling ahead of Ms. Harris in the battleground states (not by much, but enough to be elected president if the trend continues).

Thus far, the polls show she’s falling short convincing voters that she’s the better choice for president. In my opinion, Ms Harris must do something quick to change the mood of voters. And by announcing that she would have nearly a 50-50 GOP and Democratic cabinet would garner her considerable favorable major media coverage and take the spotlight away from Donald Trump for the remainder of the campaign.

But time before voters cast their ballots is short. People in several states are already voting. She must announce some sort of October surprise that will change the trajectory of the polls. If they keep on their current route, Ms. Harris is likely to join Al Gore and Hillary Clinton in winning the popular vote and losing the election.

Note to people in our business

The reason that Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 and is on the cusp of being reelected this year is because he disregards many of the ancient norms of campaigning and does things outside of the normal political box. Conversely, Ms. Harris is running a traditional conservative campaign, instead of exciting voters by doing something different. Most PR people spend a career trying to convince journalists that a #10 pencil is better than a #9 one. That’s fine for some practitioners. But if you want to work on major accounts and climb the ladder at your agency you must be noticed by top management and not blindly follow the tenets of our business that were established by the founders of our business a century ago. In order for you to stand out from your colleagues and be noticed by top management, you must suggest solutions to PR problems that go against the PR norm. In my case, after two years of stagnating at Burson-Marsteller, I did just that. I advised a client not to respond to a negative news article immediately, even though others counseled an immediate reply because they considered it a PR crisis. The client sided with me, and the so-called crisis disappeared overnight. Because early in my career I was a sports writer, I was called in to attend a meeting regarding a sponsor's long-time Major League Baseball sports marketing program, which had been receiving negative media coverage for more than a decade. I suggested an entirely different approach, using former All-Star ball players who were out of the media spotlight for years to promote the fan balloting and the client’s representative said, “We never considered and no one ever suggested doing anything like that. But we’ll give it a one year try,” and added, “It’s yours and the agencies neck if it doesn’t work.” It worked so well, that the client wanted me to manage the account, which I did for eight years, until the program was discontinued because MLB wanted to increase the sponsorship rights. Another time, I was called into a 

meeting with the CEO of Koppers Inc. who was disappointed that the account team couldn’t find a way to publicize his annual report messages, which included a theme that there was a lack of business education in schools. . I found a way to do so. I bypassed financial reporters and targeted general business reporters.

The three examples all had one thing in common: New thinking and it was the thinking outside the box approaches that caught the eye of top management and resulted in my climbing the corporate ladder. 

So my advice to practitioners who do not want to be considered part of the pack is to take a risk and suggest creative ideas that that will catch the eye of top management because they are not run of the mill. And, importantly, find a way to let top management know they are yours.

Note to people in our business Part 2

The reason that Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 and is on the cusp of being reelected this year is because he disregards many of the ancient norms of campaigning and does things outside of the normal political box. Conversely, Ms. Harris is running a traditional conservative campaign, instead of exciting voters by doing something different. Most PR people spend a career trying to convince journalists that a #10 pencil is better than a #9 one. That’s fine for some practitioners. But if you want to work on major accounts and climb the ladder at your agency you must be noticed by top management and not blindly follow the tenets of our business that were established by the founders of our business a century ago. In order for you to stand out from your colleagues and be noticed by top management, you must suggest solutions to PR problems that go against the PR norm and not let others take credit for your work an ideas.