It’s do or die time, or it’s a nail biter right down to the vote counting on election night and the inevitable protests and crying from Republicans if they don’t win. Tomorrow’s debate, I think, is the last chance to move the polls in a single-stroke meaningful way. There will be gentle rises and falls for the next two months, most likely, but big moves need big impetus, and as the calendar lays out, the debate seems the only event likely to change that. (Absent war, assassination attempt, etc.)

So here is my recommendation to Kamala’s advisors:

Land hard on school shootings. To this point Trump’s response has been “Get past it”. And Vance’s response has been “It’s a fact of life” (iow: live with it.)

I believe she should come down hard on “We will NOT just get past it. She should say “We will *try* to solve it, like other problems we have faced.” We will try to stop 14 year olds from having semi-automatic weapons. We will prosecute parents who allow easy access to weapons in the home. We will do anything and everything we can think of, including equipping schools to handle this plague with screening, mental health support, or any other solutions as can be devised” and WE WILL NOT LET THIS STAND.

“While Republicans are content to do nothing, and put the nations’ children at risk, we will TRY to help. We may not succeed, but we will not stand idly by and let this carnage continue.”

Even if memories are short, staking out an *extreme* position here is good, because there will be more school shootings. And by drawing a vivid contrast with Republicans who just want to forget about it (“Now is not the time to talk about it” “Get over it” “You’re trying to take my guns”) it should profit with the 70% of the country that is appalled by the gun culture the minority has managed to foist on the rest of us.