Kamala Harris writes new memoir and is ready to rescue ‘hot mess’ Washington

Sen. Kamala Harris has written a new memoir, and as far as the news media is concerned, it signals the start of her presidential campaign.

Published Tuesday, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey” begins with a description of the California Democrat’s reaction to Hillary Clinton’s failed run for the White House, revealing that it caused her to eat an entire family-sized bag of Doritos.

“Didn’t share a single chip. But I did know this: one campaign was over, but another was about to begin, a campaign that called on us all to enlist. This time, a battle for the soul of our nation,” the author writes, calling her book a collection of ideas and viewpoints, rather than a policy platform.

Nonetheless, multiple news organizations already have declared that this is the “soft launch” for Ms. Harris and her 2020 candidacy — making her one of 40 potential Democratic hopefuls who could be in the mix.

“Harris launching book tour as 2020 speculation mounts,” noted The Hill, while Politico simply declared, “Kamala Harris readies her 2020 rollout.”

In an appearance Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Ms. Harris also had some choice words for the nation’s capital, quoting the opinion of her own mother about the state of Washington.

“I think she would say, what’s going on down there? It’s a hot mess,” Ms. Harris told host George Stephanopoulous.

“And Kamala has to fix it?” he asked.

“Well, yeah,” replied Ms. Harris.

She has already made multiple appearances this week on “The View,” National Public Radio — to be followed by some late night TV and a four-city book tour. The lawmaker also suggested she was not quite ready to unleash her formal campaign.

“I am not prepared to make any announcement at the moment,” she told NPR.

It’s all part of the strategy in a complicated marketplace.

“The timing of the book tour and media blitz gives Harris — a first-term Democrat who still lacks the name recognition of some of her would-be competitors despite cutting a high-profile during the Supreme Court nomination hearings of Brett Kavanaugh — the opportunity to get a toehold in the news cycle while preserving some intrigue for a formal campaign launch in the near future,” noted Politico.

The publisher is Penguin Press, which describes the memoir as “a book about the core truths that unite us, and the long struggle to discern what those truths are and how best to act upon them, in her own life and across the life of our country.”