Kamala Harris ?! ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️

Polls and Money:  As my Spectrum app was the first of many to alert me, President Biden announced yesterday afternoon that he is no longer running for reelection. He made that decision after a Saturday night meeting with two of his aides who showed him their latest set of truly dreadful polls.  Not only was he behind Trump nationwide and in the key swing states but the polls revealed that he was dragging down House and Senate candidates and might even lose in one or more reliably blue states like Virginia.  Then there’s the money, with big money donors closing their wallets and some really big ones announcing huge contributions to Trump, the funding advantage that Democrats had enjoyed earlier in the year had fizzled.  Biden, who still wanted to stay in the race, finally couldn’t ignore the writing on the wall and made the decision to step away, throwing his support to Vice President Kamala Harris. Despite calls from the Republican echo chamber, including Speaker Mike Johnson and NY’s increasingly despicable Elise Stefanik, who insist that if he’s too “feeble” to run he shouldn’t stay in office, Biden’s not stepping down he’s just not running for reelection. After all, since the Supreme Court said president’s are almost always immune from prosecution, he’s got lots to do before departing. Though VP Harris isn’t the official candidate yet, absent another earthquake, meteor, or whatever else is waiting in the wings, she will be.  She’s already been endorsed by Bill and Hillary Clinton, 10 Governors, 32 Senators, 153 House members, including South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn, the king maker who anointed Joe Biden in 2020, and the Congressional Black and Asian caucuses. Though former President Obama,  Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi haven’t endorsed Kamala yet, they’re expected to do so once the formal process, whatever that turns out to be, plays itself out.  Significantly, California Congressman/Senate candidate Adam Schiff, a Pelosi surrogate, has endorsed Kamala and he wouldn’t have done that without a Nancy nod. Yesterday, all of the state Democratic party chairs endorsed Kamala and the Democratic delegates from Tennessee, Florida, New Hampshire, Louisiana, South Carolina, and North Carolina announced they were committing to her with many more states expected to follow shortly.  Because the Democratic convention is late this cycle, Democrats had already been planning to hold their delegate vote virtually to ensure qualification for their ticket on all state ballots, so it’s likely that Harris will be voted in before the physical convention’s August 19 start date.  On the financial front, because Kamala’s name was on the Biden ticket, most, if not all of the money that the Biden campaign has raised to date flows to Kamala.  In addition, yesterday a number of PACs indicated that they’re redirecting their funds to her campaign, with more expected to follow. Small donors hit ActBlue yesterday, contributing close to $60 million to the Kamala campaign yesterday. No word yet from George Clooney.

The Alta Kocker Brigade:  Naturally, 76-year-old West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin who left the Democratic Party to become an Independent earlier this year, is now attempting to throw a wrench into the process. He’s considering reregistering as a Democrat to challenge Kamala’s anointment.  Worth noting, Manchin isn’t running for reelection to the Senate because he can’t win in his home state. Marianne Williamson, 72, is another one who wants a “process.”  She’s now running again and insists that she can win.  Spoiler alert, she can’t.  Not to be outdone, RFK Jr, 70,  another one who dropped his Democratic affiliation insists that the Democrats should hold an “open process.”  He added that it’s now a two-man race, emphasis on man, between him and Trump. That may have been the brain worm, age unknown, speaking, we’ll never know for sure. Trump weighed in too, taking some time out from one of his soliloquys about sharks and his newest bestie Hannibal Lecter, the fictitious cannibal who he apparently thinks is real, to slam Biden once again.  Apparently having called for Biden to pull from the race, Trump, at 78 now the glitchy old man in the race, is upset that Biden has stepped down and is demanding a refund for the money he has already spent campaigning against him.  Trump is also calling for the planned September presidential debate to be reassigned from ABC to Fox and has accused Biden of faking his current case of COVID.  Trump’s medical accusation is particularly adorable given that the medical report that he had released about his ear injury was from Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor who is no longer a rear admiral because of his bad behavior and is also no longer licensed to practice medicine.

Running Partner:  With Kamala the likely Democratic candidate, the question now turns to her running partner. The top of the list candidates are North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.  Other possibilities being bandied about are Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, California’s Gavin Newsom, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Illinois Governor Pritzker.  Notably Cooper, Shapiro, and Kelly all quickly endorsed Kamala yesterday. Given that electing a woman president has proven to be a stretch in this country, it’s highly unlikely that a two women ticket would work so Whitmer is probably out.  It’s also not clear that the country is ready for a mensch or at least a Jewish one yet either so that could knock both Shapiro and Pritzker off the list. And despite his obvious capabilities Buttigieg probably isn’t on that list either because gay bashing is still a thing.  Newsom is likely off the list too because Kamala is from California and Democrats can’t afford to put California’s huge number of delegates at risk.  That leaves Cooper, Beshear, and Kelly, assuming that giving up an Arizona Senate seat is okay, as the likely picks. 

Fog: Somehow, despite his conviction and a lot of pressure to resign Bob Menendez is still the Senator from New Jersey.  The hostages are still hostages, including WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich who was found “guilty” of bogus espionage charges and has been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison. That prison sentence is horrendous but since real hostage negotiations with Russia often don’t bear fruit until after sentencing takes place maybe, just maybe there’s a glimmer of hope there.  Or not. Israel has retaliated against Yemen for the Houthis drone attack on Tel Aviv, because of course, and Bibi Netanyahu is visiting the US, presumably still meeting with Biden who may or may not still be shedding COVID virus.   

#BringThemAllHomeNow