presidential candidates talk a lot about what they want to achieve, often with an emphasis on those heady first hundred days in office.

But before any ceremonial bill signings or executive orders or policy declarations, they first have to convince many millions of American voters that they are better suited for the job than whoever is running against them.

The process of building a political brand is essential for any candidate and their staff, and it doesn't happen in a vacuum.

Even as they are working to communicate who this person is and what they can do for us, the citizens of this country,

they are usually fending off the other side's attempts to paint them in a very different light.

From KERA in Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walls want to show

themselves as upbeat and forward-thinking. The Trump campaign talks about them as radical.

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance want to demonstrate strength and a commitment to conservative values.

The Harris campaign snarks, they are just weird. Whatever you think about the people running, they

definitely put a lot of work into managing their image. We wanted to explore how they do that,

how much control campaigns can exert over the way their candidates are perceived, and what

happens when their chosen political identities are threatened by some outside view of who they are.

So Basil Smichael is here to share his insights.

He is a political strategist and policy advisor,

professor of practice and director of the nonprofit management program

in the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University.

Basil, welcome to think.

I'm glad to be here. Thank you so much.

I will note here you had a stint as executive director of the New York State Democratic Party,

but as a political strategist, I imagine you've been able to learn to fully analyze the strengths and weaknesses of both parties and candidates in any given rights.

Absolutely. We had to recruit candidates for office. It's very important, big part of the job.

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