Former Republican presidential campaign strategist Stuart Stevens had some key advice for Vice President Kamala Harris as she tries to drag down former President Donald Trump and map out her path to victory in the fall.
Stevens, who ran the Mitt Romney presidential campaign in 2012, discussed the key issue that Harris needs to go after during a Politico roundtable alongside Robby Mook and Patti Solis Doyle, who ran previous presidential campaigns for Hillary Clinton.
"If I were on the Harris campaign, I would attack Donald Trump on his record with immigration," said Stevens. "It was a total failure. Barack Obama deported more people than Trump. Trump said he was going to have Mexico pay for a wall. I would go in and say he’s the greatest failure that we’ve had. And that’s what the Biden administration handled."
The important point, Stevens added, is that "if this is a referendum on immigration, it’s not going to be a great day for the Harris campaign." Which means Harris should go on the offense early and try to weaken Trump on the issue.
On most other policy issues, said Stevens, Harris can press an advantage: "if you look at that 100-day plan that the president rolled out in Michigan after the debate, which I thought was beautifully done and timed … and if you take Project 2025 and what Republicans were talking about at that convention … I mean, one tests about 80/20 to the good, and the other tests about 20/80 to the bad.
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"So it’s not hard to take that 80/20 and run it against the 20/80. And do that all day. And I would attack, attack, attack. I think I’d run maybe one positive ad and the rest would be contrasts."
But there's not just a policy message to be had here, he added. Harris also has a potent cultural message, which is, “I am more like America than Donald Trump is.”
"Republicans keep getting into these culture wars, and they lose," said Stevens. "They attack Nike and Colin Kaepernick. What happens? Nike makes $9 billion. They get in a fight with Disney? The happiness company? They’re sort of at war with the modern world, and I think you have to just bet on that. There’s more of her than there are of them. I would make that bet."