BBC :
The month since Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign has been a largely unprecedented spell in American politics: never has a modern general election campaign gone from a standstill to a full sprint so quickly.
In that time Democrats pulled together a well-scripted national convention with slickly produced promotional videos, political set-pieces and musical interludes, all done to boost the new nominee. It was a remarkable test of skill by party operatives under extreme pressure.
Over the course of four days in Chicago – and in the packed campaign rallies Ms Harris has held over the past few weeks – the outlines of her campaign strategy have begun to take shape.
And it’s not exactly what one would expect from a sitting vice-president who has occupied an office in the White House for three-and-a-half-years.
Ms Harris is pushing hard to be viewed as the candidate of change in this race. One who, as she said in her convention speech on Thursday, can “chart a new way forward”.
This strategy is in part born out of necessity. Across the globe democracies have been roiled by voter unrest. As economies struggle to recover from the Covid pandemic, regional conflicts churn and tensions over immigration flare up, political incumbents have faced deeply unhappy electorates in Canada, the UK, Germany and India among others.
Polling indicated that President Joe Biden, before he abandoned his re-election campaign last month, was set to confront similar challenges.
The vice-president has turned this situation on its head.
Her background and personal story is a sharp contrast with both the current president and her Republican opponent.
It also helps that Ms Harris is running against a former president who, while also styling himself as a change candidate, has his own sometimes controversial, sometimes unpopular White House record to defend.
“This election, I do strongly believe, is about two very different visions for the future,” Ms Harris said at a rally in North Carolina last week.
For the most part, Ms Harris has shied away from describing in detail what her presidency would look like.
There’s talk of unity and a way beyond America’s divisive partisanship; a focus on strengthening the economy and reducing consumer prices; and a heavy emphasis on reproductive rights and abortion – an area of particular strength for Democrats.
But it is vague. And this vagueness may suit the Harris campaign just fine.
By largely being an empty policy vessel, Ms Harris has allowed various constituencies within the Democratic Party to project their hopes and priorities onto her.