Vice President Kamala Harris has faced a barrage of questions in the more than five weeks since she became a presidential candidate about when she will sit for a major interview or hold a news conference.

It will finally come Thursday night when Harris is scheduled to be interviewed by Dana Bash on CNN. But that's already off to a bad start, because her running mate, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz, will be participating in the joint interview.

This presidential election is unlike any America has seen in recent memory, with President Joe Biden dropping his bid for a second term on July 21 and endorsing Harris, who launched a reconfigured campaign in a compressed calendar. Things were bound to be different, unconventional, even a little odd.

Even so, does the Democratic nominee really need her running mate present in her first major interview, absorbing some of the spotlight that for at least one evening should have been focused at the top of the ticket?

So did Harris tell CNN that Walz had to be part of the production? Or did CNN pitch the joint interview on its own?

CNN didn't respond when I asked on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. The Harris campaign on Wednesday told me that joint interviews are historically common in presidential races and noted that it had made that pretty obvious point earlier in the day on social media.

Nonetheless, signs point to Harris requiring Walz as co-pilot for her big interview, even as her campaign dodged the question.

She had all the cards to play in this transaction. The first big Harris interview is a huge get in a competitive news market. CNN, having won that opportunity, probably didn't want to anger Harris by citing any conditions she........

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