Hollywood Dream

California's lame-duck governor, the always controversial Gavin Newsom, caused yet another stir when he said that he would not run for President in 2028 if former Vice President Kamala Harris does so.

I don't know why Newsom would come out and say this when Harris has not indicated whether she plans to run for anything.  It doesn't make sense that Newsom would give up so easily in such a ridiculous circumstance, even as many Democrats are urging Harris not to try again for the Presidency. Unless, as Robert Kuttner suggested, writing in the American Prospect, that Newsom is "trying to smoke out Harris’s intentions, since they would indeed be drawing on the same donor base. Newsom and his backers need Harris to declare, or get off the (donor) pot."

So far, her only strong show of support for a possible 2028 presidential campaign is from black voters, suggesting the very sort of identity politics she trumpeted in 2019 (remember, she never made it to 2020) and tried to rise above when she became Joe Biden's reliever in 2024.  Polls indicate that she could win the South Carolina primary, which is going first in the Democratic presidential nomination campaign, a power play President Biden pulled to avoid any embarrassment in New Hampshire.  Yes, South Carolina Democrats are overwhelmingly black, but, given the fact that the state hardly matters in general elections - i.e., Republicans always win statewide elections - that's hardly a reason for South Carolina to be the first state to hold a Democratic primary, especially when it was the first state to secede from the Union to preserve the sanctity of slavery.  

Anyway, Harris is only doing well in preliminary 2028 presidential polls because of name recognition.  Her fellow Californian Mark Zuckerberg, who is easily one of the most hated men in These States, could easily run for President and get good polls numbers on name recognition alone.  Harris, as the first black woman to ever be nominated by a major party for the Presidency, has only that distinction; otherwise, she's just another Democrat who lost a presidential election, and Democrats are highly unlikely to nominate her because they need to nominate someone who can actually win.  It was Harris who said that when Democrats fight, they win, and when she lost, Trump aide Susie Wiles said that the Harris campaign was so lackluster ("I'm working on my to-do list!") that it seemed like Harris never even tried.

Harris must think she's so special that she can make a comeback, even though the last Democrat to make a comeback from an unsuccessful general-election presidential campaign was . . . umm, er, no, wait a minute . . . uh . . . uh . . . Grover Cleveland? 

And his second presidential term was a disaster. 

Right, Kamala.  You keep dreaming.