Kamala Harris

Another hat got thrown in the ring this week, as Kamala Harris announced her candidacy on Monday, and then had a rally in Oakland this weekend to kick things off. She is currently a freshman senator from California, and before that was California's Attorney General, and before that San Francisco District Attorney.

Almost instantly the pundits heralded her as the front runner (at least until Biden and Sanders get in). I don't think this is because of her name recognition (I'd put Elizabeth Warren's higher) but because of money. After announcing, Harris raised 1.5 million in two days, and is the candidate of many involved with the Clinton organization (although, given what happened to Hillary, she might do better prying David Plouffe away from Uber).

This association with the Clintons makes her unpopular with the far-left wing of the party, which calls her "faux progressive." To be sure, in the great scheme of things, she is probably closer to center left than far left, and probably has a very cozy relationship with Wall Street. While she was AG, she declined to prosecute Steve Mnuchin's bank OneWest in spite of there being evidence of misconduct, and Mnuchin later donated $2,000 to her campaign. She also fought prison reform, stating that giving prisoners early release would deny the state a significant source of labor (California prisoners are paid $1 an hour to fight forest fires).

That would please the tough-on-crime crowd, who are not voting in Democratic primaries. However, her prosecutorial experience served her well in the Kavanaugh hearings, where her sharp questioning landed her on the evening news.

Aside from these positions, Harris fits the bill for the ideal liberal. She has an "F" rating from the NRA, but a 100% rating from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She is for "medicaid for all," the federal legalization of marijuana, a full supporter of LGBT rights, opposes Trump's wall, and is for the DREAM Act and DACA.

She also brings a unique intangible to the race: she is the first black woman to be a serious candidate for President since Shirley Chisholm, and as far as I can figure she is the first Asian woman of either party to run (I suppose Bobby Jindal's brief candidacy made him the first Asian man). Her father was Jamaican, her mother Indian. She is, of course, not the only woman running this year for the Dems (she's the fourth to announce, and we'll see about Amy Klobuchar), but she is likely to be the only woman of color.

She is also childless, which is unusual for a presidential candidate (Tulsi Gabbard also does not have children, nor does Cory Booker, who is not married). The last president to enter the White House without a legitimate child was Grover Cleveland, but he famously had one out of wedlock. The last president to have absolutely no children was James Buchanan, because he was probably gay.

I like Harris as a candidate, despite her being part of the machine, because I think she can win and I think she's tough and smart. Winning the primaries while being attacked from the left won't be easy.