Washington, Jul 21 (IANS): US Vice-President Kamala Harris got down earning the nomination of the Democratic Party for President calling lawmakers, party leaders officials, and outside support groups soon after President Joe Biden announced he was exiting the race and endorsing her.
Harris had collected some important endorsements within a short while including from former President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senators Chris Coon and Amy Klobuchar and State Governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Gavin Newsom of California, who were once mentioned as probable rivals for the nomination.
Harris has been endorsed also by the Black and Hispanic Caucuses in US Congress.
ActBlue, an online platform for raising money for the Democratic Party, reported raising $27.5 million in small-dollar donations in the first five hours of Harris's presidential campaign. Donations, both small and large, had been on hold as the party waited for Biden to withdraw, clearing the way for a different candidate and once that happened, the sluice gates opened.
But Harris had promised to earn the nomination. Accepting President Biden's endorsement, Harris said in her first and only public remarks on the historic developments of the day, "my intention is to earn and win this nomination" and not claim it by virtue of her exalted office as Vice-President. And that's what she set about doing, as she also prepared to set up a campaign team.
The Democrats are scheduled to officially nominate their presidential candidate at the party convention on August 9 in Chicago, Illinois. The process is usually a formality to anoint the winner of the Democratic primaries, which would have been Biden who had won close to 3,000 delegates, securing the support of 14 million Democrats who participated in the party primaries.
It could still be a formality if Harris can round up majority support in the party. But the race will be thrown open if challengers surface for the nomination in which case the nominee will be determined at an open and contested convention in which delegates will be wooed and courted by rival contenders. So far, only Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who left the party to become an Independent, has expressed interest reportedly by re-registering as a Democrat.
The Democrats don't have the luxury of time to mount a campaign effective enough to stop former President Donald Trump, which was the key reason why the party pressured President Biden to take the unprecedented step to withdraw from the race after winning the primaries and before being anointed the nominee. Harris has two weeks to wrap up the nomination until then. And four weeks from the convention, early voting starts in September further shortening Harris's window for reaching out to voters beyond her party.