The report may never see the light of day—so the Harris campaign’s head of digital offers his candid breakdown of what worked, what failed, and what Democrats have yet to learn.
Mr. Flaherty, thank you for this inside baseball report on what you think went right and went wrong for the KH campaign, and double thanks for publishing here at The Bulwark.
You mentioned several times that the campaign failed to come up with a brand. But I think that you nailed the biggest problem with the campaign when you wrote this:
>"We underestimated then—and are underestimating now—just how disillusioned people are. There was and is a pervasive sense that nothing works and the institutions holding us up have failed."
Tim Miller wrote an essay on this subject 15 hours ago with the headline, "The Status Quo Needs Shaking Up" and I would recommend that essay to every Democratic candidate and consultant in the country.
Rob thank you for your courageous and cogent account of what went wrong and right and what the future may bring. Sadly, I suspect it's all too late. Trump is a monster. He is not going to allow mere politics to interfere with what he wants. He seems to have stitched up the mid-terms, but if he hasn't he will do whatever he needs to do to stay in power. He will keep his dynasty in 2028 and beyond, even from beyond the grave! He needs to be removed, and his clique swept away, but there is no practical way to do it. The politics you lay out so well has to wait for another time.
A lot of what you say makes sense and much of it I don’t understand. Here’s my beef with the campaign. Before a vice presidential candidate was chosen, I listened to all the possibilities. I was excited to have Harris head the ticket and knew a strong v.p. choice was important. My favorite by far was Tim Walsh. He had a strong way of speaking that anyone could understand. I was thrilled. Then everything changed and everyone was happy, smiling, on and on. Walsh was no longer the strong voice on what middle America wanted in a candidate. He was too “Mr. Happy”. IMO the whole campaign lost its credibility and seriousness.
Perhaps I’m an idiot, but this reads like analysis paralysis to me.
There were swing voters who went for Trump. I would like to hear them to say what they would have wanted to hear from the Democratic campaign that would have made them not vote for Trump.
There were people who didn’t vote at all. I would like to hear them say what they would have wanted to hear from the Democratic campaign that would have made them vote for the Democratic ticket top to bottom.
Mr. Flaherty, thank you for this inside baseball report on what you think went right and went wrong for the KH campaign, and double thanks for publishing here at The Bulwark.
You mentioned several times that the campaign failed to come up with a brand. But I think that you nailed the biggest problem with the campaign when you wrote this:
>"We underestimated then—and are underestimating now—just how disillusioned people are. There was and is a pervasive sense that nothing works and the institutions holding us up have failed."
Tim Miller wrote an essay on this subject 15 hours ago with the headline, "The Status Quo Needs Shaking Up" and I would recommend that essay to every Democratic candidate and consultant in the country.
Rob thank you for your courageous and cogent account of what went wrong and right and what the future may bring. Sadly, I suspect it's all too late. Trump is a monster. He is not going to allow mere politics to interfere with what he wants. He seems to have stitched up the mid-terms, but if he hasn't he will do whatever he needs to do to stay in power. He will keep his dynasty in 2028 and beyond, even from beyond the grave! He needs to be removed, and his clique swept away, but there is no practical way to do it. The politics you lay out so well has to wait for another time.
A lot of what you say makes sense and much of it I don’t understand. Here’s my beef with the campaign. Before a vice presidential candidate was chosen, I listened to all the possibilities. I was excited to have Harris head the ticket and knew a strong v.p. choice was important. My favorite by far was Tim Walsh. He had a strong way of speaking that anyone could understand. I was thrilled. Then everything changed and everyone was happy, smiling, on and on. Walsh was no longer the strong voice on what middle America wanted in a candidate. He was too “Mr. Happy”. IMO the whole campaign lost its credibility and seriousness.
Perhaps I’m an idiot, but this reads like analysis paralysis to me.
There were swing voters who went for Trump. I would like to hear them to say what they would have wanted to hear from the Democratic campaign that would have made them not vote for Trump.
There were people who didn’t vote at all. I would like to hear them say what they would have wanted to hear from the Democratic campaign that would have made them vote for the Democratic ticket top to bottom.