Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A disastrous debate performance, an assassination attempt on a former President, and a sitting President of the United States bailing on re-election. All of this in just 25 days.
In the space of just one day, Vice President Kamala Harris secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee, as she raked in $100 million. Everything has lined up for her since President Joe Biden ended his bid for re-election on Sunday.
"In that very short period of time, you had a majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives, a majority of Democrats in the Senate and a majority of Democrat governors, as well as every single Democrat state party chair in the country endorse her within 24 hours. It's not a surprise that she's lined up the delegates," said Republican Strategist and WBEN contributor Carl Calabrese.
"The huge momentum that the party leadership engineered, dissuaded any other potential candidates from coming out before the convention."
The strategy, Calabrese said, is simple,
"They don't want chaos. They don't want the look of an out of control convention, with back biting, and chaos in the streets. The specter of Chicago in 1968 still looms in people's minds," he said. "Party leaders don't want to go into an election with voters thinking the party can't control itself, how can it control the country?"
He added the Harris nomination is pretty much a fait accompli.
"If you're a potential challenger, how do you go up against that? It's quite clear the party leadership has made its choice, and they're going to do everything they can to make it across the finish line with Harris at the convention," Calabrese said.
A challenger, Calabrese said, is really risking their future with the party because not one wing of the party is saying, "Hold on, let's look at someone else."
The most interesting thing, to Calabrese, is how quickly the party pivoted.
"Up until the eve of Joe Biden's departure, the conventional wisdom of the party was that Harris was a weak candidate. But on a dime, the party has switched to, she's the political equivalent to Wonder Woman. It's an amazing turnaround," Calabrese noted.