Kamala Harris, the junior Senator from California, has dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential candidate nomination.
The move comes at the end of a slow trickle of bad news from the campaign. Four days ago, Michael Bloomberg hired away Kelly Mehlenbacher, Harris' operations manager. Mehlenbacher's scathing resignation letter made the media rounds, in which she said she had "never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly." Chief among her complaints were the firing of staffers who had moved to Washington, D.C. for the campaign, and the lack of confidence in "our campaign or its leadership," a swipe at Harris 2020 manager Juan Rodriguez.
After a high water mark of 15% approval following her strong performance on the first debate, the Harris campaign slowly lost momentum. Once a top-four candidate, she made a series of ill-advised comments over the summer. First, in an attempt at relatability, Harris bragged about smoking marijuana in college while listening to rap albums that hadn't yet been recorded. Fellow candidate Tulsi Gabbard used Harris' claim against her in a July 31st debate, slamming her for jailing 1,500 nonviolent marijuana users. Harris was caught flat-footed. She was never able to shake the hypocritical, bad cop image. In post-debate comments to Anderson Cooper, Harris added fuel to the fire by stating that she was a "top-tier candidate" capable of "taking hits."
Her polling numbers have declined steadily since then. In the last three national polls, her support was five, two, and four points, respectively
In debates and on the campaign trail, her increasing desperation showed. Harris was mocked for laughing animatedly at anything and everything, and her debate persona became less about the issues and more concerned with "gotcha" moments.
On Halloween, the first major crack began to show when the campaign announced it was laying off staffers. Dozens were let go after Harris raised $12 million over three months while spending $15 million. Finally, at the most recent debate, Harris was lampooned for claiming to be African-American and glossing over her own family's slave ownership.
The left is excited about Sen. Kamala Harris running for president because she's a black female. But she's not African American. The term "typically refers to descendants of enslaved black people who are from the United States." Harris is half Jamaican and half Indian. And her father says their ancestors owned slaves.
--WND
However, she's trying to play the race card in the presidential election to attract the black vote. She tried to portray Joe Biden as a racist during the first Democratic debates last week.
Perhaps this isn't the end for Harris. She may be seen by the eventual Democratic candidate as a vice presidential pick who can attract the all-important black vote. However, given her own tepid support in the black community, she might not be the best bet: she recently polled at 1% support nationally among likely black voters.
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