The seven minutes that put Kamala Harris back into the Democratic nomination race
For this Trump called her “nasty”
While most of us in the UK have been sidelined by the local election results, Gavin Williamson and the ongoing talks on brexit there has been a big development in the race for the Democratic nomination for next year’s White House election.
The early favourite, and my 66/1 pick from January 2017, Kamala Harris had been edging down in the betting somewhat since launching her campaign in January. We haven’t really heard from her in a big way on the issue of the day which is of course Mr Trump.
Last week she participated in a hearing of a Senate committee at which the Trump’s Attorney General, William Barr, was giving evidence. You should know when watching the clip that each senator on the committee is given exactly 7 minutes in which to carry out his or her cross-examination. So time is very precious.
You can see how Barr tries to run down the clock and seeks to eke out the seconds but the the non-aggressive but persistent way Harris dealt with him has been widely acclaimed. She didn’t lose her cool, she continued her forensic questioning, and the overall impact was to raise even more questions over Barr and his role for the President.
This was of course all carried live on TV and has been repeated endlessly since. This has helped her move up in the polling and in the betting she’s a solid third favourite behind the 76 and 77 year old Biden and Sanders. The former remains favourite but is doing far worse in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Harris looks set to be in a good position for the first TV debate of the primary campaign which start next month.