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The interview that Kamala Harris promised to do by the end of August is finally happening Thursday, as the Democratic Presidential candidate is slated to sit down with CNN’s Dana Bash. Critics are already ripping the interview to shreds, starting with the fact that running mate Tim Walz will do the interview with Harris. It also remains to be seen, among a plethora of other things, how and where the interview will conducted, what sort of questions Bash will ask, and whether Walz will take the lead when answering the questions. ABC News contributor Sarah Isgur has done her fair share of interviews in her career, and appeared on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program to dissect the set-up for the spectacle.
Riedel and Larry Mendte, sitting in for Berman, asked Isgur the obvious question: What would you ask Harris if you had landed the interview? “The biggest question for me that I’d like to see her answer is, you know, was she seeing the President Biden that we saw at the debate on a regular basis. When was she seeing that? If not, does that mean she wasn’t in the room for major decisions and conversations, or does it mean she doesn’t think that was a problem, and trying to pin that down? And then, the next set of questions would all be policy-related. Your staff says you’ve changed your policy on this; when did you change your mind and what new facts convinced you?”
The fact that Walz will be sitting beside Harris is a major sticking point, but Isgur says that technically leaves the door open for somebody else to make a deal for the exclusive and elusive one-on-one. “It’s an interesting dance. I mean, think about this behind the scenes. You know you’re competing for such an interview, so what are you willing to promise? You can’t promise that you’re not going to ask tough questions, because that would defeat the whole purpose, but why would she take your interview over someone else’s? Well, you’re going to try to offer things that would make her look good or maybe a location that she wants, or a format that would be better… so there’s lots of different pressures, when she’s been able to hold out for this long, that come to bear on the journalists who are now wanting to get these interviews. It’s tough.”
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