The Morning: Shorter presidential campaigns

Plus, the Middle East, fox hunting and Black tennis stars.

View in browser|nytimes.com August 26, 2024 Good morning. Today, my colleague Adam Nagourney considers the benefits of shorter presidential campaigns. We're also covering the Middle East, fox hunting and Black tennis stars. —David Leonhardt Donald Trump Doug Mills/The New York Times The endless race By Adam Nagourney I've covered every presidential campaign since 1988. Presidential campaigns are marathons: They start years before Election Day and proceed through door-knocking, living room meetings, candidate debates, newspaper interviews, leafleting, primaries, caucuses and nominating conventions. It's not unusual, just a few months after a new president is sworn in, to see a contender stake out a state that holds an early primary or caucus. Not this year. The late entry of Kamala Harris means her campaign against Donald Trump will last for less than four months, from July 21, when President Biden dropped out of the race, until November 5. Why, some voters and analysts now wonder, can't we do it like this every cycle? In today's newsletter, let's consider the benefits of this relatively short contest — and why we might not miss the bloated campaigns of recent decades. The long campaign Jimmy Carter, a little-known former governor from Georgia, turned up in Iowa in early 1975 to campaign for the 1976 caucuses. The Democratic National Committee had recently changed the rules after the chaotic 1968 convention, shifting nominating power from party bosses to states like Iowa. Carter's "presidential aspirations have been considered laughable," as The Times put it in a story in October 1975. But he won, his first step to capturing the presidency, and created a model for long campaigns that both parties embraced. Jimmy Carter in 1976.  Associated Press Photo There are good things about a long campaign. It gives voters a chance to see candidates up close instead of only in slick political ads. In 2007, I watched Barack Obama linger in a small hall to answer questions until after the last television crew left. It also offers an inexperienced candidate a chance to learn how to run for national office — how to answer questions, hear voter concerns, master complex issues. A long campaign gives a candidate time to refine positions and overcome beginner mistakes. Candidates grow: They become more confident, more conversant with issues, more comfortable making arguments and parrying challenges. I witnessed that with Bill Clinton, Bob Dole and Hillary Clinton. Obama was often stiff and jargony in the early days of his candidacy; slowly and over many months, he blossomed into the politician we know today. Harris's first presidential campaign, in 2020, ended before the first primary, so she never got this sort of boot camp. No wonder some Democrats worried about how nimble she'd be this fall. The short campaign Yet long campaigns can sap the public's interest and energy, a dynamic that had clearly taken hold before Biden dropped out. A year of attacks and squabbling can breed cynicism and sow distrust of the political system in the electorate. And early primaries with more extreme voters "tug candidates to places that can hurt them later in the race," the political consultant David Axelrod told me. Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, in 2004. Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Overexposed candidates can also make sloppy mistakes. Meanwhile, political reporters look for ways to spice up a boring campaign and sometimes latch onto ancillary issues. For instance, the scream that Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, let out after he lost the 2004 Iowa caucuses shadowed the final days of his campaign. Politicians in other advanced democracies don't spend nearly as much time on campaigns. Mexico, Japan and much of the European Union, for instance, have laws limiting them. French presidential races can't officially start until two weeks before the first round of voting. The U.K. held a nationwide parliamentary election this summer in about six weeks. In Japan, campaigns last just 12 days. Citing declining public trust, the country's governing party last week announced that it would lengthen that period for its next leadership election — to 15 days. Harris is benefiting from the short campaign. She has been able to avoid releasing detailed policy ideas — which Trump could attack — with the plausible argument that she wasn't even a candidate until last month. She hasn't been tested in spontaneous settings. "If Biden had withdrawn a year earlier, Harris would have struggled in a marathon race," Scott Reed, the Republican consultant who managed Bob Dole's presidential campaign in 1996, told me. A fixed fate? The contest between Harris and Trump offers a natural experiment showing what it might be like if, somehow, the parties returned to shorter campaigns. What if, say, primary season began after the school year ended? What if every state voted for nominees at once, or in 10-state blocs over five weeks? What if Americans didn't have to sit through 15 months of caustic ads? There is a powerful constituency in this country for doing things the way they have always been done. The potential 2028 (or 2032) Democratic presidential candidates were already meeting with donors and jostling to give prime-time speeches at the convention in Chicago last week. And this is big business. The campaign machine supports high-paid consultants, strategists and pollsters; advertisements on local television stations; and hotel, bar and restaurant bills across the country. (About $14.4 billion went into the last presidential contest.) For political aficionados who never want it to end — I count myself in that group — it's tough to admit that a short campaign might be better for democracy. But the way this country elects presidents has changed many times since the founding. There's no reason to think we're stuck in this slog forever. Ian Prasad Philbrick contributed reporting. More on the election After a fund-raising blitz during the Democratic convention, the Harris campaign said it had raised more than half a billion dollars in the last month. Harris has downplayed her roots in Berkeley, Calif. Some residents understand. "We have such a reputation for being on the far left," one said. JD Vance, in an NBC News interview, defended tariffs imposed by Trump in his first term and said he believed that Trump would veto a federal abortion ban. THE LATEST NEWS Middle East Southern Lebanon. Aziz Taher/Reuters Israel and Hezbollah — after some of their most intense fighting in recent months — quickly de-escalated their attacks. Hezbollah's attacks killed one Israeli naval officer, Israel said. Israel's conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah show no sign of easing. The Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has evaded capture for months. Israel and the U.S. are both searching for him. More International News In Warwickshire, England. Mary Turner for The New York Times English fox hunters have tried for years to overturn a ban on the sport. Now they have a new plan of attack: securing protected status under a discrimination law. There are no mpox vaccines available in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of a health emergency. The country first asked for the shots two years ago. An ice canyon wall collapsed in southeastern Iceland. It killed one person and trapped two others. The authorities are treating a knife attack that killed three people in western Germany as terrorism, prosecutors said. A top Venezuelan election official told The Times that he had no proof that Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian president, won last month's election. Business In Pennsylvania.  Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Political and labor opposition could halt Nippon Steel's $15 billion takeover of U.S. Steel. The founder of the messaging app Telegram was arrested in France on charges related to the spread of illicit material on the service. Elon Musk used to mostly tweet memes and about his companies. Now, he posts almost daily about politics. The Wall Street Journal analyzed years of his posts. Other Big Stories Lidia Martinez's house was raided.  Christopher Lee for The New York Times A civil rights group asked the Justice Department to investigate raids conducted on Latino voting activists and political operatives as part of the Texas attorney general's voter fraud inquiry. New York City officials have focused on fare evasion on the subway. In the first three months of this year, however, around half of bus riders did not pay. As A.I.-generated data becomes harder to detect, it's more likely to train future A.I. This would lead to worse results. Opinions For Trump to win, he needs to show that Harris doesn't care about ordinary people, Rich Lowry argues. Ethiopia's prime minister wants to start a war in East Africa. The United States should stop him, Afyare Elmi and Yusuf Hassan write. The rare human beings who abstain from gossip teach us to judge others by their best features, Michal Leibowitz writes. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss the Harris campaign. Here is a column by David French on evangelicals' persecution complex. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Thomas Elfmont  Will Warasila for The New York Times Dashed hopes and big breaks: Investigators share what it's like to work on cold murder cases. The DMZ: The heavily fortified area separating North and South Korea is a source of great honey. Ibiza: The Spanish island is filled with wealthy tourists. Its workers live in tent cities. Can A.I. solve climate change? It uses a lot of energy, which hurts the planet, but it could also help advance the green transition. Read how. Metropolitan Diary: Pizza and serendipity. Lives Lived: Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill, a married comedy duo, had long and successful careers. But they're remembered for one infamous set: when they fell flat on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on the same night that the Beatles made their American TV debut. "I think it's hysterical," Brill said. McCall died at 93. SPORTS Venus and Serena Williams in 2003. Sean Garnsworthy/Getty Images Tennis: Serena and Venus Williams opened a path for Black players in what was seen as a predominantly white sport. Read about the new generation. N.F.L.: League executives voted Patrick Mahomes the best quarterback in the N.F.L. in a long-running poll. Paralympics: This archer is competing while seven months pregnant. Collectibles: The Yankees jersey said to be worn by Babe Ruth in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series sold for $24 million at auction, breaking the record for the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia in history. ARTS AND IDEAS In Taipei, Taiwan. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times The Taiwanese drama "Zero Day" depicts the country's worst nightmare. In the series — which will air next year — China takes over the democratically governed island and chaos ensues. The trailer has already ignited debate: Supporters believe it could encourage conversation about the threat, while detractors call it alarmist. "I want to talk about it, because I think it's the biggest fear in each Taiwanese person's heart," the show's producer told The Times. More on culture Sabrina Carpenter Cheney Orr/Reuters Sabrina Carpenter's new album is "a smart, funny, cheerfully merciless catalog of bad boyfriend behavior," Jon Pareles writes in his review. The Guggenheim will survey the career of Rashid Johnson, an artist who has expanded the cultural conversation around race in the U.S., in 2025. Times staff writers and critics picked their favorite films from 1999. Read their choices — and share your own. In book publishing, the departure of prominent Black editors and executives has led some to question companies' pledges to diversify. "What would be the point?" Older American women are less likely to get remarried than men, The Wall Street Journal reports. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Greg Lofts. Serve peanut sauce with a dumpling and smashed cucumber salad. Consider these shorts to avoid "chub rub." Clean your baseball caps. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was leitmotif. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? 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