So Jim So Democrats have their new presumptive nominee. I hate Delaware. Kamaa, Kamaa, Kamaa, Kamaa, Kamaa,

Thank you guys.

And in the day since Kamala Harris stepped into this role,

I've been going back through my own reporting. I've been covering Harris

since early 2019 and I was the Times reporter assigned to her a presidential run.

Last year I wrote an in-depth article about her for the Times magazine, examining some of the questions that have swirled around her in Washington.

Like, what does she stand for? How does she make decisions? And what she only selected

as Biden's running mate because of her race and gender?

Today, as Americans are once again looking at Harris as their potential president,

I wanted to listen back to two excerpts from conversations I had last year, to hear how the questions that felt so big then land now. One with a friend who knows Harris very well, and another with Harris herself.

From the New York Times,'m astead Herndon.

This is the run-up.

When I think about my time covering Harris,

the word that comes to mind is guarded.

Not only can she be cautious as a candidate,

but the people around her are often quite cautious as well,

worried about offending her,

or getting ahead of her on a particular issue.

I talked to more than 75 people for the magazine article,

Childhood friends, former staffers, political allies, and people in senior positions in Biden's

White House.

But one boy stood out in particular, someone who knows Harris as a person and politician

...