From the Vineyard Gazette editions of August 1965: Is she or isn’t she going to marry Frank Sinatra? The question had the whole Island in a tizzy of inquiry, while reporters were descending like locusts.

It was a busy day for Kamala Harris; her Vineyard vacation was drawing to a close and she was pressed for time. Stopping for a television interview on her way to catch a flight to New York city, the San Francisco district attorney, who is running for California Attorney General in 2010, arrived hurried but not flustered. The lights snapped on, a cameraman mimed a countdown, and she was on; speaking with precision about crime rates, recidivism, and the California budget crisis.