Whatever might befall the Kamala Harris campaign after her choice of Minnesota governor Tim Walz as running mate today, it will not be for want of preparation.

The process has had a rigour befitting Harris’s background as a prosecutor, in this case looking for the figure who can best take down Donald Trump’s re-election bid and spike his momentum.

Harris interviewed four leading potential candidates on Sunday and also spoke with many others to test her own instincts and compare capabilities.

The choices usually boil down to a combination of geographical, gender and (in this case) ethnic considerations to give balance on the ticket and that personal “click” factor.

Walz prevailed, because his affable Midwestern “dad charm” conceals an ability to cosh Republican opponents with the authority of a teacher and football coach (he has been both) while he also has a reputation as a well-liked figure among fellow governors in swing states, and one who will provide campaigning firepower.

It was however the “weird” factor which edged him over the line – a rare example of a single word, smartly applied, which has secured a 60-yea-old state-level politician without a high national profile the prize of potentially being the next vice president, creating a meme along the way.

Walz coined the attack line which the Harris campaign is now running with on CNN last week, in reaction to Trump’s mid-speech tribute to fictional cannibal “the late great Hannibal Lecter”.

“That is weird behaviour,” Walz said. The........

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