Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Without going into intricate detail, a couple huge contrasts struck me this week – contrasts that could favor Kamala Harris over Donald Trump.

• First, from Atlantic Magazine:  “Whatever happens next, the frame has altered.  Now it is the Republicans who are saddled with the elderly candidate, the one who can’t make a clear argument or finish a sentence without veering off into anecdote.”

• Second, from the New York Times:  “What is particularly important, especially in this case, is Kamala Harris’ history as a prosecutor — someone who has stood for law and order.  Trump is a convicted criminal, who not just violates the law, but believes very firmly that the law does not apply to him and his supporters.”

So, there you have it – an aged one, Trump, running for president without the foil of Joe Biden; and the prosecutor, Harris vs. the perpetrator, Trump.

Two credentials for Harris.  And, both of them translate easily into sound bites on the campaign trail.

My hope is that Harris will be effective calling out Trump for what he is – an aged felon who bodes ill for this country, the United States of America.

As I write this, a footnote is that Wall Street Journal editorial writers, predictably are going after Harris as “too liberal.”  Which means they probably will support Trump for president.

Well, to the Wall Street Journal I say, better to be a liberal than a felon.