Jul.23

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Some Random Facts about Harris

Politico reporters have collected 55 random facts about Kamala Harris to save oppo researchers the trouble. Here is a brief selection of some of them:

• Her parents met at U.C. Berkeley and took her to protests in a stroller.
• "Kamala" means "lotus" and is another name for the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.
• Her parents divorced when she was 7 and she was raised by her mother in Berkeley.
• She visited India as a child and was influenced by her maternal grandparents there.
• She attended French-language middle school and high school in Montreal.
• She graduated from Howard University in D.C. and Hastings Law School in San Francisco.
• After a tough day at law school, she came home and helped potty train her sister's toddler.
• In the 1990s, she dated powerful California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.
• She was a successful DA in San Francisco, getting the conviction rate up from 52% to 67%.
• She was somewhat opportunistic on the death penalty and tried to have it both ways.
• Her first win as AG was so close, the San Francisco Chronicle wrongly declared her opponent the winner.
• As AG, she had a mixed record on prosecuting police brutality.
• As senator, she freaked out then-AG Jeff Sessions by asking about the Russia investigation.
• She has a mixed record on whether private health insurance should be allowed.
• Her 2020 presidential campaign was a complete disaster.
• She is a good cook and her go-to entree is roast chicken.
• She wakes up at 6 a.m. and works out then has cereal for breakfast.
• Her motto came from her mom: You may be the first, but make sure you're not the last.

Anything else you need to know about her? One item you are going to hear about endlessly (from Republicans) is her dating Brown. In that period, he helped her get on a couple of state boards that paid well. She admits that he helped her, but also says she did all the work required of board members and nobody ever claimed she wasn't qualified to be on the boards or that she was a no-show. Republicans will phrase this as: "She slept her way to the top." That is only true if you consider the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board to be the top. She was 30 and single at the time. When this topic inevitably comes up, she will counter with: People often get help from friends and family. Donald Trump's father gave him a lot of money to get started in real estate. And it is doubtful Jared Kushner got to manage billions in Saudi money, or Lara Trump got her gig running the Republican Party just because people liked the cut of their jib. Since Harris is not denying the help she got from Brown and this was 30 years ago, it is doubtful this story will last long. Well, OK, it will linger among the misogynists and incels, but they aren't voting for Harris anyhow. (V)