She Knows They're Losing, And She's Setting Walz Up As The Scapegoat

Monday, Kamala made a remarkable effort to put distance between herself and Tampon Tim:

Vice President Kamala Harris revealed Monday that she suffered from insomnia after President Biden endorsed her as his successor — and that she was sleep-deprived the morning she picked her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Harris, 59, told “All The Smoke” hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that she made her “gut” decision to select Walz after being unable to sleep much the night before, waking up early that Tuesday in Washington and using cooking to calm her mind.

“From the time that the president called me and told me he wasn’t running, I mean, it’s just like everything was in speedy, speedy motion, and I was not sleeping so well,” Harris told the basketball stars, who both played for the Harris-supported Golden State Warriors.

“And that one morning I just, I mean, I had, I don’t know, a few hours’ sleep — and I, you know, I like to sleep. I just got up,” she said. “I was like — so I just went out and got a pork roast and started marinating it.”

One thing that doesn't ring true is the bit aabout marinating the pork roast -- you can bet she and Emhoff have a private chef. But the business of being sleep-deprived? Remember yesterday's post and the quote about ". . . she comes up to the students she mentioned her score to and started venting about how she was distracted and didn't have her coffee and this and that"? That sounds just like what she said to lay off the blame for Walz onto sleep deprivation.

What this does suggest, though, is that she's paying attention to what's being said, at least about Walz. Ever since she announced her choice, the consensus has been this, happy-face aside:

In the context of the Electoral College, Harris’ choice could backfire. While Walz’s Minnesota is safely Democratic, Shapiro presides over the most important swing state in the 2024 election. Although many pundits see Walz as especially appealing to rural and working-class voters, the evidence suggests otherwise. Compared to Biden’s 2020 performance in Minnesota, Walz received the same share of the vote overall (52%), and he did no better than Biden among rural and small-town voters, working-class voters, and Republican identifiers while running four points behind Biden among Independents.

. . . It’s hard to believe that Shapiro’s presence on the ticket wouldn’t have helped Harris in a state she must win. She will have to hope that Walz’s midwestern appeal will end up putting Pennsylvania as well as Michigan and Wisconsin in her column. But if she loses Pennsylvania by a hair, and with it her Electoral College majority, she will have cause to regret her decision.

As of now, respectable polls have Trump ahead in Pennsylvania, and the Michigan Democrat Senate candidate, Elissa Slotkin, has acknowledged that Kamala is "under water" there. It's become pretty plan that any boost Walz was going to give the campaign in those states hasn't materialized, while by last week, according to Rasmussen, Kamala had only a 3% lead over Trump in Minnesota, so Walz isn't even helping her in his home state.

But there's another puzzling wrinkle: Afer Kamala was nominated, it was agreed that her clearest path to an Electoral College victory would be to secure Pennmsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin -- although even Nate Silver was saying she had to win all three. As these prospects have faded, a second potential path emerged involving North Carolina and Georgia.

But wait a moment -- didn't Hurricane Helene just deal severe blows to those specific states? They're on everyone's list of the battlegrounds, and Trump has already been in Valdosta, GA, personally distributing aid and meeting with figures like Franklin Graham:

Trump, who as president faced criticism for his response to Hurricane Maria, on Sunday criticized Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for not being in Washington over the weekend and not immediately traveling to the storm-ravaged region. He accused Biden of “sleeping” at his beach house, suggesting he was not focused on the recovery effort, and he attacked Harris for fundraising and campaigning in California and Nevada.

Trump on Monday traveled to Georgia to receive a briefing on the damage and distribute relief supplies.

So far, Kamala has issued no definite plans to visit the affected areas. This is especially puzzling, since North Carolina and Georgia are specifically cited as key to Kamala's Plan B for the Electoral College, while Trump, fully aware of the free media he gets from personal visits, is making hay in just those markets.

I'm getting the impression that Walz himself is losing interest as well.

Tim Walz gets heckled by students at the Michigan - Minnesota game

“TRUMP 2024 BABY!!!” pic.twitter.com/fOU7HrEeot

— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) September 29, 2024

We'll have to see how this shakes out after tronight's debate, but I'm beginning to get a sense that the Harris campaign, and Kamala in particular, have decided not to waste much further effort. In fact, I think they're counting on Walz to blow the debate so they can put the blame on him.