Election 2024: But What If She Can?

I'm on record, so many times that it's not worth looking for one to link to, as not thinking Kamala Harris has much chance of winning this November. In fact, I considered it unlikely that she'd be Joe Biden's successor as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee if they were interested in really trying to win this thing.

She's an empty pantsuit. The entirety of her political experience, aside from being an identity politics VP pick (who probably caused Biden to do less well than he would have with another running mate), seems to be climbing the party ladder and letting the party machine pick her as its horse in non-competitive races. She's a pretty terrible public speaker (I base that on her previous campaigns and selected clips as VP), Tulsi Gabbard effortlessly tore her a new asshole in the 2020 Democratic primary debates, and it's hard to imagine her doing well outside the very bluest states.

But what if I'm wrong?

What if she's taken Toastmasters to heart, sharpened her debate skills, has an attractive policy proposal suite ready to run on, selects a good running mate, and can both motivate partisan Democrats to the polls and make herself look better than Donald Trump to "swing" voters?

I'm awaiting decent polling information ... but what do you think?

Note: Today's Garrison Center column is about Biden's last few months as president rather than about the campaigns, etc.