On Wall Street, some bankers and traders are comparing Kamala Harris’s recent campaign surge to cotton candy—suggesting, perhaps, that it’s an ephemeral sugar high and that the narrative may change when the euphoria passes. (Personally, I hope her early momentum will be sustained all the way to victory on November 6.) But to try to get Wall Street’s perspective on the vitality of her campaign, I rang up Charles Phillips, the former Morgan Stanley banker and Oracle executive who, as a Paramount Global board member, played a crucial role in steering its still-pending sale to David Ellison, son of Larry, and RedBird Capital. What did Phillips think of the cotton candy metaphor that’s making the rounds, I wondered? 

“There is a bit of a honeymoon period,” he told me. “People were so stressed out that we didn’t have a candidate at all. People were confused and didn’t like where we were. So just a relief rally, as we see on Wall Street. There is some of that, there’s no question. And [the campaign knows] that. And they’re looking past that. But once that settles down, I think she’ll come through with the substance. The good news is, because of that relief rally, which helped get people’s attention, they’ll want to see what’s there, and she’ll be prepared. There’s nothing bad about having that sugar high, if it gets your attention and gets people to refocus on you versus your opponent for a while. And then you’ve got to deliver. And I think she can.”