Harris strategy and staff recycles Obama’s 2008 playbook
By
Ross O'Keefe
August 2, 2024 3:33 pm
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While many people celebrated New Year’s Eve in 2007 with ambitions to overcome the financial crisis, then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris spent the holiday at then-Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign headquarters.
Obama ran a successful 2008 presidential campaign, becoming the first black president and winning in a landslide against then-Sen. John McCain. Harris witnessed it in person, and in 2024 against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, she is emulating aspects of it.
And the parallels between Harris’s 2024 campaign and Obama’s presidential effort run deep.
Harris is trying to make inroads with youth voters using technology. She is trying to become the first female president, “breaking a glass ceiling” that Hillary Clinton did not. She is trying to excite black voters in the same way Obama did. Harris is even hiring some of Obama’s former staff members, adding 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe, 2012 deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, and grassroots organizing strategist Mitch Stewart, according to the Washington Post.
Plouffe may be the most telling addition, given his critical role in Obama’s presidential efforts.
“There will be several new roles/assignments,” a source familiar with the changes afoot told Politico. “He is the biggest one.”
“There is no one you’d rather have in a foxhole with you in a battle like this,” said David Axelrod, who worked with Plouffe plenty during the Obama campaigns. “He’s seasoned. He’s brilliant. He’s seen it all.”
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3108688/harris-recycles-obama-2008-playbook/
