OaktownBear said:
Her campaign has not been good, but it is less that she stands for nothing and more that her lane is squeezed. The establishment likes her, but they like Biden better. Minorities like her, but they see Biden as their chance to pick a candidate. Liberals like her, but they like Warren more. Etc. She is well liked but is everyone's second choice. She tried to stake out the middle ground between Biden and Warren/Sanders, and there wasn't any.
Had Biden not run, I'd bet she'd be leading the pack right now because she'd have all of his constituents (establishment and minorities) and the success would pull some of the other constituents to her. The bottom line is that Biden sucking up all the minority vote kept her from being able to gain traction.
I also think that she paid a price for trying to take Biden down.
I disagree with that.
I don't even know that the establishment actually likes Biden. I think they are so convinced that he's the safe choice that whatever he actually would do doesn't matter because all that matters to them is Democrats back in power. Maybe old Democrats actively like him, but I think it's mostly just because all they care about is getting rid of Trump.
I don't think there's ever been a point where it's been established that minorities actually like Harris. I don't know why that is, but they just don't. Then again, I don't understand why they like Biden.
Had Biden not run, I suspect she'd be sharing the benefit of that with Booker, Klubuchar, Buttigieg, etc.
I don't think she paid a price for trying to take Biden down. In fact, I think she was very successful, though saying "I don't believe you're a racist" implied that anyone actually thought that before she said what she said. I think the problem is that she didn't score off of that like she thought she would.
I'd still like to see her debate Trump. I think she'd eat him alive.