Confronted by an army of reporters after speaking before 5,000 cheering Democrats in her home state, Sen. Kamala Harris delivered a defiant response to recent media reports that her flagging campaign is crippled by internal disputes and on the ropes.
And early endorsers like Gov. Gavin Newsom and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis insisted that Harris remains a contender whose fortunes are far from determined in a volatile race.ut in the halls and meeting rooms of the Long Beach Convention Center, many of the battle-scarred Democratic insiders — strategists, elected officials, campaign operatives — had a far more caustic view of her chances, suggesting that Harris’ team has already let slip away her shot at the White House.
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With California polls strongly suggesting she might not win, place — or even show — in her home state, many privately expressed the view that Harris should begin seriously considering leaving the race to avoid total embarrassment in the state’s early March primary. Her continued weakness in the presidential contest could even have a more damaging effect, several said — encouraging a primary challenger in 2022, when Harris is up for reelection.
“I don’t think she can last until California,’’ says Garry South, a veteran strategist who has advised Newsom and former presidential candidate Joe Lieberman. “I don’t wish her ill, but she’s got a decision to make: you limp in here and get killed in your home state, and it damages your reputation nationally. Or you pull out before the primary like Jerry Brown did in 1980 … and you at least avoid the spectacle of being decisively rejected.”
Candidates have until late December to formally pull their names off the March 3 primary ballot in California. But some suggest Harris can withdraw from the presidential contest after Iowa if she fares poorly there — which would leave her on the California ballot, but enable her to justify the acute embarrassment of a distant finish in California by having left the race weeks beforehand.
A battering in California “would bespeak of weakness..and could embolden some billionaire with visions,’’ said South, perhaps a monied business executive — or even a wealthy activist like Tom Steyer, whose own presidential candidacy is viewed as a longshot and who has toyed in the past with a run for US Senate. Interviews with a half-dozen veteran Democratic campaign insiders at the convention who spoke on condition of anonymity — many out of fear of angering a sitting senator — echoed South’s view.
“It's not happening,’’ said one leading grassroots organizer working the campaign floor, speaking not for attribution. “She has her chance [to leave the race]...she should take it.”
“Of course she should get out..but who’s gonna tell her?’’ agreed one leading Democratic strategist, who declined to speak on the record. Harris has told California insiders she is determined to stay in the race through Iowa, said the strategist, who added the real concern was reports of team members who are apparently beginning to snipe at each other and lay blame anonymously in various media outlets.
Newsom waved off headlines about Harris’ collapse, and said he’s headed off on the campaign trail to assess the situation — and is determined to help her.
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"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan