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... Even as polling shows the presidential race is a toss-up, Vice President Kamala Harris has been running with a measure of risk aversion that some Democratic strategists and activists worry has failed to fully capitalize on the excitement surrounding her entry into the race in July.

Until this point, Harris has largely eschewed freewheeling interactions with voters like town hall-style events or interviews with the media that could offer a sense of her authentic self and make people more comfortable with her abrupt emergence at the top of the ticket, these Democrats say.

"They're trying to keep her away," Steve Shurtleff, a former Democratic speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, said of the Harris campaign. "It's like seeing your favorite Hollywood actor and then they're on a talk show and they can't even speak.

"The president of the United States has to be able to be on their toes all the time and answer questions," he added. "It's so obvious she's been avoiding the one-on-one interviews, and the voters deserve better."

Harris campaign aides say she will venture into new forums in the coming weeks, a chance to reveal more about her temperament and character. She is giving an interview to CBS News' "60 Minutes" as part of an election special that will air next week. And she is expected to appear on late-night talk shows, as will her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. ...