107 Days (Kamala's campaign diary)

[Mr.Moto]

I’m #130 in line but it is a huge library system. 65 copies in use. I should be up to borrow one in a month or so.

[FlikTheBlue]

@asterion

@chappachula

I’ve never understood why 107 days wasn’t enough, and everybody thinks that if only she had more time, she would have won.

I don’t think there’s ever really a situation where she wins. If Biden says by say June 2023 that he’s not running, we get a full primary. I don’t see her winning that primary. If he drops a week after that debate, perhaps there’s enough time for a short primary and again, don’t see her winning. The only reason I kept hearing as to why she had to be the candidate had something to do with campaign finance law and access to what Biden had on hand. And of course in the end she blew over a billion dollars to see the entire country move somewhat more to the right.

IMHO there were scenarios where she could have won. The timing of when Biden decided to not run / drop out, as you both say, doesn’t figure into those scenarios.

[bordelond]

@chappachula

I’ve never understood why 107 days wasn’t enough, and everybody thinks that if only she had more time, she would have won.

If anything, 107 days might have been about five or six weeks too long. All that seemed to happen between late September and Election Day was Trump-Vance gaining ground.

[3AxisCtrl]

@jsc1953

… Shapiro was over-qualified (ie, ambitious) …

I think he’d have been a MUCH better choice for VP (Walz was pretty much a dud). If he wasn’t chosen because “ambitious”, that’s on her - a selfish decision.

[bordelond]

@3AxisCtrl

(Walz was pretty much a dud)

Weirdly**, for about a month or so, Walz had a lot of juice. He could have been over-exposed, though – it seemed like, after a time, the campaign was forcing the idea that Walz was a “difference maker!”.

** No pun intended.

[Thing.Fish]

I haven’t read the book, but my impression is that Shapiro wanted a promise to be considered a “co-President”, which does seem like a pretty big ask.

[jsc1953]

Yes, that’s exactly what she said.

[3AxisCtrl]

If Shapiro actually tried to extract a promise he’d be “co-President”, I’d say she was fully justified in rejecting him. But it’s hard to picture a savvy politician - which he is - saying something that out of line.

I find it more likely he wanted a promise to be treated as a prominent, “front & center” member of her administration, and that she interpreted this as overly ambitious.

[DWMarch]

There’s also that thing with Shapiro where he quashed the investigation into a friend of his whose wife killed herself by stabbing herself in the back of the head ten times while the husband was home. If Shapiro wants to be a serious candidate, he’s going to have to come up with an explanation for his part in that.

Death of Ellen Greenberg

[JohnGalt]

The talk about forming a team of co-presidents between Harris and Shapiro brings to mind the 1980 Republican convention. Ronald Reagan considered asking Gerald Ford to be his running mate on a “dream team”, where they would serve as co-presidents. They couldn’t agree since Reagan didn’t want to give up so much, and of course Reagan would go on to beat Carter without Ford.

When Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford Considered a Co-Presidency in 1980

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@3AxisCtrl

If Shapiro actually tried to extract a promise he’d be “co-President”, I’d say she was fully justified in rejecting him. But it’s hard to picture a savvy politician - which he is - saying something that out of line.

I find it more likely he wanted a promise to be treated as a prominent, “front & center” member of her administration, and that she interpreted this as overly ambitious.

Now I kind of want to believe that he asked if she’d treat him the way she would’ve wanted Biden to treat her…