Kamala Harris had a great first act. She established a buoyant tone for her 2024 presidential campaign and rode a wave of polling momentum. But now her campaign has stalled. Undecided voters in a Times Opinion focus group were recently asked to describe her efforts. They responded with phrases like: “honeymoon’s over,” “the paint is wearing off,” “uninspired,” “absent,” “scared to talk directly to the American people.” Researchers who have been surveying voter sentiment as the campaign progresses found that there’s been a decline in how voters think about Harrisbonus365, while sentiment toward Donald Trump has rebounded slightly since the September debate.
The crucial question for the rest of the campaign is: Can Harris regain momentum and construct effective second and third acts?
I thought it would be interesting to see what the experts say — to see how screenwriters, dramatists and novelists build momentum so that audiences are gripped by their work all the way through. Maybe these writers have some wisdom on how Harris can finish strong.
The playwright David Mamet once wrote a memo to a group of fellow writers in which he reminded them that audiences “will not tune in to watch information.” They will “only tune in and stay tuned to watch drama.” What is drama? Mamet says it “is the quest of the hero to overcome those things which prevent him from achieving a specific, acute goal.” The screenwriter Aaron Sorkin builds on that definition. He says that strong drama is built around intention and obstacle. The hero has to be seized by a strong, specific desire, and she needs to face a really big obstacle.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTThat suggests that Harris needs to show the American people her strongest, most acute and controlling desire, the ruling passion of her soul. I know what Trump wants. He wants to dismantle the elites who he thinks have betrayed regular Americans. It’s unclear what Harris wants most deeply, other than the vague chance to do good and to be president. You don’t communicate your deepest desire when your campaign is run by a committee.
Candidates who are not driven by a single, specific, compelling desire become reactive. They hedge and trim according to the polls. People can sense their cautious, calculating nature. On the other hand, those who are compelled by a single strong desire are obsessed with a well-defined problem, which touches the taproot of their soul. They are on the attack, on the move.
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