Axios has a story about the Harris/Walz strategy of avoiding media interviews and press conferences, and the obvious question is not whether it is fair to the American people, but rather "could it work?"

🚨🚨Exclusive: The Harris-Walz ticket is on pace to do fewer interviews and press conferences than any major party's presidential pairing in modern U.S. history. https://t.co/2H1jgoEe1S

— Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) September 19, 2024

Fairness and politics rarely mix, so there is no point in whinging about the strategy. It may annoy you, me, and the political obsessives, but if it works, then it works. I get upset about the lies and hoaxes because they are flat-out corruption that the media should be pointing out, but Biden's basement strategy worked for him and perhaps Harris's arms-length strategy will work for her.

Axios' analysis lays out the numbers, and it shows two things of note: J.D. Vance is the point person with the media for Trump, giving the lie to the claims that Trumpworld regrets picking him as a running mate.

He is great at doing media interviews, and everybody knows it. All that propaganda that Vance is a drag on the ticket is contradicted by his visibility. If the Trump people were disappointed by him, their strategy doesn't show it. 

Axios focuses on the other striking thing: Harris and Walz are nearly silent when it comes to dealing with journalists, and that is also a strategy. 

The Harris-Walz ticket is on pace to do fewer interviews and press conferences than any major party's presidential pairing in modern U.S. history.

Why it matters: Vice President Harris' team is betting she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, can avoid many tough interviews and still win as they run down the clock to Election Day.

• That strategy comes even as many voters say they want to learn more about Harris — and as her campaign has said she's changed many of her past liberal positions to more centrist policies.
• The previously press-friendly Walz has joined Harris in largely dodging the media while campaigning before friendly, enthusiastic crowds.

It's hard to see how Harris and Walz can change strategies now because there is so much pent-up demand for answers, and neither Harris nor Walz has had any practice lately. Harris' friendly interview with the National Association of Black Journalists puts an exclamation point on the problem: even the friendliest journalists feel compelled to ask her to explain herself, and she is terrible at it. She left her interview in a huff, which is a terrible look. 

I keep telling yall about Kamala! Now look for yourselves.

Kamala at the end of her interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). She couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Kamala left frowning (She’s a mean woman).

I swear they were limited in their… pic.twitter.com/VbLEvUb8dh

— Vernon Jones (@VernonForGA) September 19, 2024

Look at the faces of the black journalists, who couldn't believe how badly Kamala did. And Kamala couldn't even look at the audience. 

This, after what amounted to a tongue bath compared to Trump's reception there. 

NABJ Question to President Trump: Why are you such a horrible human being?

NABJ Question to Kamala: “Why is joy important to you?🥰”

Notice the difference? pic.twitter.com/MBifHaUny3

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 17, 2024

If Kamala flubs that encounter, what press scrutiny could she survive?

This brings us back to the question: can she win with this strategy? I think it will be much harder than many do, and not just because "undecided" voters are tired of the silence except for stump speeches. At some point a journalist will lose patience and start pushing harder and harder for answers. 

Reality check: Harris' team believes limiting interactions with the press is the right strategy — even if it frustrates reporters, some close to the campaign told Axios.

• Trump and Vance may get more attention for interviews, but that often brings negative attention too — such as when Vance has had to defend his past comments about "childless cat ladies" and when he has spread unverified rumors about immigrants eating residents' pets in Ohio.
• Biden also limited his interviews during the pandemic in 2020 and defeated Trump (he participated in more interviews than Harris has over the same time period, however, including a CNN town hall).

What they're saying: The Harris-Walz campaign declined to make either candidate available for a brief interview.

Think of the incentives. While almost all journalists favor Kamala over Trump and want to help her, the Harris campaign is starving them of news. If a journalist decides to quit kowtowing to the Harris campaign, their stock will rise with much of the public, and not just conservatives. 

Lots of people want to hear from Harris, and as long that inquisitive journalist doesn't go all Doocy on Harris, people will pay attention--the currency that journalists value most. Other journalists will start competing for that attention as well. 

I am not predicting this will happen exactly; rather, I am noting that the incentives push people in this direction. Another two months of nothing to cover is not a welcome prospect for any journalist wanting to make a name for herself. 

In other words, the Harris/Walz campaign got a free ride for an unusually long time; they shouldn't expect it to continue indefinitely.