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October 15th 2024

A sharp round-up of the most important political news

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The US in brief

A sharp round-up of the most important political news

When Kamala Harris took over from Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for president, she refrained from calling Donald Trump a threat to American democracy, claiming she would rather run a “joyful” campaign. With only weeks left before election day, she has revived Mr Biden’s approach. At a rally in Pennsylvania she again called Mr Trump “unstable” and accused him of seeking “unchecked power”. On Sunday he suggested that he might deploy the armed forces against “the enemy from within”, by which he meant “radical-left lunatics”. Ms Harris’s campaign also released a new ad entitled “Enemy Within” with an apocalyptic tone and the tagline “Donald Trump: a risk we can’t afford”.

Ms Harris agreed to an interview with Fox News. The vice-president has recently appeared on a number of podcasts and TV news networks to counter criticism that she has avoided being interviewed. But she is yet to sit down with an outlet as hostile as Fox, which leans strongly towards Mr Trump. The interview will air on Wednesday evening.

Ms Harris announced some economic proposals to give black men “the tools to thrive”. The grab-bag of policies includes business loans, vocational education, help for medical conditions that predominantly affect black people and legalising recreational cannabis at a federal level. Ms Harris has been wooing black voters, fewer of whom support her than backed any of the previous three Democratic candidates for president.

For the first time ever, the Arab American Political Action Committee refused to endorse a presidential candidate. The Michigan-based political group, which is more than 20 years old, said both candidates “blindly support” the “criminal Israeli government” and that it refused to choose the “lesser of two evils”. Democrats’ weakness among Arab-American voters could turn out to be crucial in Michigan, a swing state.

The head of Georgia’s state election board slammed his colleagues for creating new rules requiring ballots to be hand-counted by local precincts, and allowing election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” if they suspect foul play. He said the board’s job was to “clarify law, not create new law”. Democrats have lodged a legal challenge to the rules, which were put in place after a 3-2 vote in September.

Expecting the unexpected

October is the cruellest month—at least if you work in American politics. With a month to go before elections and early voting under way, nerves begin to fray. Poll-watchers and pundits brace for the story that will upend the contest. Excitement about an “October surprise” mounts. And yet, as our story explains, the phenomenon is usually a damp squib.

A view from elsewhere

Ms Harris has been “distancing herself” from Joe Biden and “borrowing themes” from Donald Trump, wrote Maria Maalouf in Arab News, a newspaper owned by a member of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family. But “these tactics are not necessarily winning over the American public.” A “complete political separation” from Mr Biden is “impossible”, but she does not “fully agree with Trump on economic policies”.

Figure of the day

$3trn, the amount of private and public investment in clean technologies that Mr Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will generate by 2030, according to Goldman Sachs, a bank. Read our policy brief on the presidential candidates’ climate and energy policies.

We want to hear from you
Which House and Senate races are you watching closely, and what do they say about America’s politics? Please send your views to usib@economist.com. And, of course, we welcome your feedback on this newsletter.

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Today’s forecast

Kamala Harris may be ahead in national polls. But it’s winning the electoral college, not the popular vote, that counts. Our forecast reckons that she and Donald Trump have nearly equal chances of becoming president.

Daily quiz

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things American. This week our questions are on Pennsylvania, the state that our model suggests is most likely to decide the election.

Tuesday: Aside from Mr Biden, only one president was born in Pennsylvania. Who was it?

Monday: Pennsylvania’s state seal features Liberty battling Tyranny and the motto “Both can’t survive”. What animal represents Tyranny?

See how to take part in the quiz at the bottom of this page.

If you enjoyed this week’s quiz, play Dateline, The Economist’s history game.

Heard in Pennsylvania

Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music.

—After pausing an event because two people fainted, Mr Trump suggested that the crowd just listen to some music together. He wobbled along for a full 39 minutes.

Read all of our recent coverage of the 2024 election. Confused about a term? Check out our A-Z of American politics.

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