Modern presidential campaign season often begins with the political chattering class -- voters, reporters, pundits, activists, strategists -- asking this hard to quantify, yet somehow answerable, question. Granted, some voters see the focus on personality rather than policy as exactly what's wrong with political journalism, but personality and identity certainly matter to voters, even if they don't want to admit it.

Obama had "it." George W. Bush had "it," too. Reagan really had "it"... the Hollywood thing helped.

In some ways, Kamala Harris' "it-ness" precedes her . As a woman of African-American and Indian descent, she has already made all sorts of history in California as the first this and the first that during her career as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and US senator.

But what does "it" even look like on a national female candidate? This 2020 race will mark a new chapter when for the first time a broad field of women candidates (none named Clinton) will compete for the White House.

Harris proved her ability to go viral, via her role on the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioning Gina Haspel over torture and taking on Brett Kavanaugh over accusations of sexual misconduct.

But what's beyond her black and blue pantsuits, her ever-present pearls and that prosecutorial zeal? Can she excite people? Does California's former "top cop" have the oratory skills to lift people up, to draw big crowds and to make voters feel something about her and her vision for the country?

This week, with the launch of her book, "The Truths We Hold," Harris begins to answer that question, just as Democratic voters are beginning to explore what their choices will be.

According to CNN's Maeve Reston, Harris is likely to announce her bid for the White House this month, nearly 50 years after Shirley Chisholm made the same kind of history. The broad outlines of her bio -- biracial, daughter of academics with immigrant roots -- will draw fair comparisons to President Barack Obama.

Among the known-knowns: Harris can draw a crowd, at least in DC -- about 1,500 people packed an auditorium at George Washington University to hear her interviewed on Wednesday night. Tickets ran as much as $40 a pop and included her new book. As one would expect, the crowd was packed with super fans, among them were members of Harris' sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Howard University students and graduates.

"She gave us hope, especially being young and black," said Jendaya Bell, 22.

Stump speech in the making?

In her interview with Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post , you could easily hear the kinds of stories that will make up her stump speech ... should she run. (She will run.)

There's the story about her deep civil rights roots. As a toddler, she had a front row seat from her stroller to civil rights marches and when she was fussy, her mom would try to figure out what was wrong.

"She would look down at me and she'd say 'Kamala, what do you want?' " the senator recalled. "And I'd look back up at her and I'd say, 'Fweedom!' "

There's the story about her fight with Jamie Dimon over billions of dollars in settlements over mortgage malfeasance.

"The lawyers are sitting in my office looking at me like, 'you can't call him,' " she recalled. "He is represented by a lawyer. 'You can't do this.' And I was like, 'yes I can.' "

Her vision for the country grows out of her own story.

"We need to paint a picture of the future in the which everyone sees themselves and everyone is seen," she writes in her book. "A vibrant portrait of a vibrant United States where everyone is treated with equal dignity and each of us has the opportunities to make the most of our lives. That is the vision worth fighting for."

(On Stephen Colbert, she offered a version of this, which wasn't delivered in the most compelling way.)

Squaring her career with progressive values

One issue that Harris will have to address with progressives is her record as a prosecutor -- she has said she was a progressive prosecutor -- clearly anticipating some scrutiny.

"I'm still undecided. I came here to check her out and I wanted to see how she was on the issues. I'm glad she brought up criminal justice," said Zach Savarese, 23. "She has more work to do on those issues."

What's unclear at this stage, is who this will be a problem for -- white "woke" progressives or black voters more generally. (Notably, none of the black people I talked to at her book event brought it up on their own).

But one issue that will likely be the dominant theme of this race, spoken and unspoken, is can a woman, particularly a black women, be elected president? Or will Democratic voters, a group that is more demographically diverse than ever, give an extra boost to white, male candidates, because they are white and male?

"People would like her race and gender to be a hindrance," said Amanda Moore, 30. "But, in the present and in the future, if we don't want it to be an obstacle, we have to push against it."