Harris Vaults Into a Tie with Trump

SBINSIDER NEWS\ANALYSIS: August 13th, 2024

VP Kamala Harris has deftly and cleanly maneuvered herself into the Democratic Party’s candidate for President. Less than 30 days ago, Democrats were reeling from Biden’s dementia on full display in his debate with Donald Trump. Trump was pulling away in the race and the Democrats decided to give the heave-ho to Biden. Lead by the ultimate politician in DC, Nancy Pelosi, gave Biden the bad news that he was out as the candidate and that he would in turn support Kamala Harris. He did.

Today the polling shows how an exciting new candidate can move the thinking of the electorate. It is no surprise that once depressed Democrat voters are now energized because they have a candidate they think can win and she does represent nearly the ultimate of Democrat identity politics: a female, multi-racial, no children daughter of two college professors. Too, she is reported to be “joyful.”

Her positions on the issues, which put her to the Left of Bernie “the Bolshevik” Sanders, are now being pulled back as her campaign team knows they are losing positions. She was stridently against fracking but is no longer because she needs Pennsylvania voters. She was for Universal Medicare, but now, not so much. She was in favor of mandatory AR-15 (and other “weapons of war”) buy-backs (confiscation). In fact, so far in the campaign, she has no publicly stated positions on any much of anything and it is working!

Meanwhile, she had to quickly get a VP. What the media is not reporting is her three top picks told her, no thanks. Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Governor Roy Cook of North Carolina and Governor Josh Shapiro of the aforementioned Pennsylvania. She settled on a far left clone in Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota who too, would make Bernie Sanders look centrist. Walz is not denying his enjoyment of spending other people’s money in pursuit of socialist utopian ideas.

Trump is in a tough spot. He no longer has Biden’s age\decline as an issue and Harris is sliding past any responsibility for the Biden administration many miscues. Although as Border Czar, she was famous for telling South and Central Americans not to come here. She forcefully told then “Don’t” several times but the nine million or so new voters Democrats recruited apparently ignored her admonitions. Similar to Biden telling Putin “Don’t” 15 minuttes before Putin launched his tanks into Ukraine. She also wants to put price caps on medications, a move which would destroy the pharmaceutical industry.

Family budget issues usually dominate the late deciding voters and it remains to be seen if they will punish Harris for the inflation that ravaged their paychecks or not.