NEW: Behind the scenes, the warren campaign is building all tv/digital/graphic production in-house (+ all digital ad-buying.
campaign tells me it won’t pay commissions to media consultants for primary/general.
Joe Rospars is officially chief strategist politico.com/story/2019/07/…
Combined w/ the no fundraisers, no outside pollster, and the early investment in staff instead of stockpiling resources for the usual TV ad blitz at the end, the in-house media moves are a rebuke of and an attempt to disrupt the consultant-heavy campaign model.
Some media consultants see this as purity politics gone awry and, perhaps unsurprisingly, see the campaign needlessly shunning expertise.
The ascension of Rospars to chief strategist (digital strategists for Obama’s 2 campaigns) is a signal that the campaign is producing the campaign w/ smartphones and comp as the main medium instead of TV. some experts think TV still critical given older people watch/vote more
Rospars is, somewhat ironically, technically a consultant on the campaign and is being paid through his firm Blue State Digital even as he is in many ways the architect and builder of this in-house approach that rebuffs the consultant-heavy model.
Here’s Rospar: "Campaigns offer a chance not only to tell people what kind of president you’ll be, but to show it. She’s running her campaign the way she intends to govern: willing to question existing power structures, making decisions grounded in evidence” (full quote here)
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Operatives in both parties instantly saw it as a flashback to Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" remark.
The Trump team has already started to fundraise off it, sending out an email with the subject line: "You are not garbage! I love you! You are the best our nation has to offer."
Biden's comments are the latest example of why Kamala Harris' team has been avoiding campaigning with him.
Biden is both unpopular and undisciplined, Harris aides told Axios.
After Slotkin retreats from EV’s in a new ad this week, Harris told people in Michigan yesterday: "Contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive.”
Some more context in this piece.
In 2019, Harris backed a plan requiring all automakers to only make EV’s and hydrogen cars by 2035.
New: In an Aug. 28 letter obtained by Axios, the WH News Photographers Association said Harris' team was engaging in an "unprecedented reduction in access.”
The VP’s team didn’t respond until last night after we asked about the letter
Jessica Koscielniak, the president of the WHNPA, wrote to Harris' top aides last month protesting that "the four independent news photographer seats have been downgraded to one."
She proposed either adding a "chaser plane" for additional media or the WHCA reorganizing who gets a seat.
In their response last night, the VP’s office said they explored adding more seats on Air Force Two and a chase plane and "learned both suggestions are not viable given available resources, including personnel and aircraft."
The full VP response below:
Veteran WH news photographer Doug Mills, speaking in his personal capacity, told Axios that "the current situation puts the still photographers at a distinct disadvantage on every trip."
He added: "It's essential to us for people to understand the importance of having a full photographer pool. Every photographer sees each event differently. "
As Senator, Harris co-sponsored the Zero-Emissions Act in 2019, which would require by 2040 that 100% of new passenger vehicle sales in the U.S. release no greenhouse gases (only EV’s and hydrogen cars fit that criteria).
During her 2020 campaign, she advocated for an “accelerated model” of the bill and proposed requiring "50% of all new passenger vehicles sold are zero-emission by 2030, and 100% are zero-emission by 2035."
This was what Harris proposed on her 2020 website.
"we will ensure that 50 percent of all new passenger vehicles sold are zero-emission by 2030, and 100 percent are zero-emission by 2035. This will require a new and improved “cash for clunkers” program with incentives for cars to be replaced with zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) manufactured in America" web.archive.org/web/2019120323…
New: The good vibes Harris's campaign are masking tensions among competing factions, as Harris loyalists and Obama alumni are grafted onto Biden's campaign.
“The entanglement of these different entities has led to many people feeling a real lack of role clarity," one person involved in the campaign told Axios.
The result is a large and at times unwieldy team, with internal worries about cohesiveness when inevitable stumbles arise, 6 people involved in the campaign tell Axios.
Biden's campaign was insular, with a few long-serving aides making big decisions.
The Harris campaign has become a diffuse "Frankenstein" team with multiple power centers of ppl close to Harris, some on the Biden team, and the new Obama folks.