CNN is reporting that the Harris camp is considering sending the candidate to the border for a photo op.

Campaign officials are weighing a potential visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to the US-Mexico border while in Arizona on Friday as the campaign tries to close the gap with former President Donald Trump on the issue of immigration, according to two sources familiar with the discussions...

Some Harris campaign officials remain concerned about the gap in polling, which shows Trump holding a lead on the issue, but also see an opportunity to narrow a gap they believe is closing and try to shut down GOP attacks over her not visiting the border enough, according to one of the sources...

No final decision has been made, according to another source.

This is such a weird non-story. The whole thing basically says that Harris could go to the border, but then again maybe not. It's basically a CNN issued trial balloon meant to get the idea out there so the campaign can judge the response from allies and opponents before committing to anything. 

Why can't the candidate speak for herself about her own plans? Why does everything have to come in the form of anonymous leaks which are unconfirmed to provide additional deniability? I guess we know the answer to both of those questions. Still, it must be nice to have the media on call to act as an arm of your campaign.

It's not hard to see why the Harris camp is feeling pressure. That NY Times poll released today showed Trump with a 5 point lead in Arizona.

Arizona, which Mr. Biden won by just over 10,400 votes in 2020, now presents a challenge for the Harris campaign. Mr. Trump is ahead, 50 percent to 45 percent, the poll found. A Times/Siena poll there in August found Ms. Harris leading by five percentage points. Latino voters, in particular, appear to have moved away from Ms. Harris, though a significant number — 10 percent — said they were now undecided. And Mr. Trump is benefiting from ticket splitting there: While Ms. Harris is trailing, the poll shows that the Democratic candidate for Senate is ahead.

A ten point drop in one month is pretty massive. Just a few weeks ago, MSNBC ran a story about how well the Harris camp approach to Latino voters seemed to be going.

It’s still early days, but Vice President Kamala Harris’ performance among Latino voters is looking promising. According to a Economist/YouGov poll released Wednesday, 56% of Latino registered voters prefer Harris, compared to 34% for former President Donald Trump. That’s a significant surge from when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July; at that time the same poll found Harris was leading by just 6 percentage points, 44% to 38%. This comes as recent polling data from Equis Research, a research organization focused on the Latino electorate, has found that Harris’ entry into the race has let Democrats “reset” with Latinos and that she is outperforming Biden’s 2024 campaign with this demographic.

That was then, but over the weekend, ABC News pointed out that Harris wasn't doing nearly as well as previous Democratic candidates with Hispanic voters.

 “Right now, our latest polling shows a solid lead among Latino voters for Kamala Harris, 17 points in our latest ABC-Ipsos poll from just a couple of days ago, but that isn’t nearly the edge she has among black voters or Asian voters and it isn’t nearly the edge that previous Democratic candidates for president have had — 30-plus point advantage for Joe Biden in the exit polls among Latino voters from four years ago,” Klein told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.

If Trump really does get 41% of the Hispanic vote, which is what ABC's poll earlier this month was showing, then he is probably going to win Arizona and maybe Nevada.

So the plan is to maybe go to the border this Friday and take some photos of Harris talking tough. She has tried this already in the form of a campaign ad which led to some sustained mockery. Does anyone really believe she can make herself look tough on the border at this late date? I guess someone in the campaign believes it or they wouldn't be floating this trial balloon but I don't get it. So long as there are videos like this circulating, this message is going to be a tough sell.

Kamala Harris shouting 'Down down with deportation!' at a 2018 parade in Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/jgcAmkeQbe

— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) September 23, 2024