Campaign Status Check (Kamala Harris)

[comradebillyboy]

I’m struck by the velocity and activity around and from Kamala Harris’s campaign. This is not a pro- or con- analysis. I genuinely have no favorite in any of this. Part of this is just the frequency of media attention, reports from campaign trips. That of course can simply be circular, media attention. But if you notice, over recent days Harris has received the endorsements of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Dolores Huerta and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The new governor of the biggest state in the union speaks for itself. The other two endorsements are in their own way more significant. In fact, considerably more.

Lee is one of the most important progressive leaders in the House. Huerta is a legendary labor organizer, cofounder of the United Farm Workers. True, endorsements don’t usually count for much. But these, I think, give Harris a great deal of credibility against attacks on her for being a fraudulent progressive, which is at least supposedly her main vulnerability.

Obviously, these are elected officials from Harris’s state. But I think we’re pretty far past the point where elected officials from a given state automatically come out for a presidential candidate from their state, especially when it is a state as big as California. It all suggests a deep level of politicking and preparation.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/campaign-status-check

[Cha]

1. Thank You for this from Josh

Marshall, comradebillyboy!

I'm glad he's pointing this out.. I think this being the most crucial election ever in 2020.. those people who know who they want aren't messing around. Time to gather forces now!

Link to tweet

Dolores Huerta Endorses Kamala Harris

“I have spent my career advocating for workers’ rights, immigrants’ rights, women’s rights, and on behalf of the LBGTQ community because I believe our country is only as great as the opportunities we afford all our communities,” Huerta said. “Senator Kamala Harris is the right leader to expand those opportunities as president, and I am proud to endorse her.”

Huerta also praised Harris, whom she’s supported in the past, for fighting on behalf of and giving a voice to the vulnerable — and singled out her work on criminal justice reform and for immigrants, ranging “from creating innovative programs to help first-time offenders get education and job training to avoid recidivism, to demanding that California and our country protect immigrant communities and afford them the opportunity to fully contribute to the country they love.”

For Harris, who since ascending to the Senate in 2016 has prioritized shielding immigrants — and specifically the Dreamers — from deportation, Huerta is an important validator, and not only in her home state of California — Huerta comes from a Mexican immigrant family and was raised in Stockton — but also neighboring Nevada, which stands to provide its winner a boost of momentum heading into Super Tuesday.

Huerta, a past recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, has been active in California politics for decades. She was on stage with Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles the night he won the primary and was later assassinated.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11825120

[comradebillyboy]

3. I'm pretty impressed by Harris so far myself.

[Cha]

7. Absolutely!

[RHMerriman]

2. One area where Harris' resume is interesting is that she has served

One area where Harris' resume is interesting is that she has served as the senior leader of two agencies, in what amounts to a chief executive's role. The San Francisco County DA office is not huge in relation to county prosecutor's offices across the country (the Los Angeles County DA is the largest, with some 2,000 employees and $300 million budget, and the larger boroughs in NYC come after) but the California AG's office has more than 1,000 attorneys and a budget of $700 million+.

Simply running agencies of this size successfully requires planning and an ability to chose staff wisely and quickly, and creating processes that move decision-making through the organization, and that sort of experience provides obvious advantages in running a campaign.

Legislators, generally, do not have that depth of experience managing organizations, and that difference in experience may be present here.

[Cha]

4. Thanks for that background.. I didn't

didn't know.

[RHMerriman]

9. Sure --- as attorney general of California, Harris was responsible for the operations of

Sure --- as attorney general of California, Harris was responsible for the operations of large organization with large budget, thousands of employees, and offices from one end of a huge state to another.

Takes a lot of managerial and leadership skills to run an organization like that...

[honest.abe]

5. Indeed.. her campaign seems to be firing all on cylinders right off the bat.

Indicates a well organized intelligent campaign. Exactly what is needed to win the Dem nomination and the general.

[mcar]

6. I'm impressed with her rollout, and with her

And note that the best her online naysayers can do is create Hot Sauce Scandal, pt 2!!11

[WhiteTara]

8. Ann Richards grand daughter, Lily, is apparently

running the campaign.