Kamala

Whoever said a week is a long time in politics is old-fashioned. With modern communications technology, a day could be a long time in politics – as Donald Trump and his cohorts are finding out.

One day after Joe Biden made that fateful decision to withdraw from the presidential race, the newly-constituted Kamala Harris campaign drew over a $100 million in contributions from small donors. Over a million of those small donors were giving money to a political campaign for the first time.

A week before Biden withdrew and endorsed Harris, a CBS poll showed Harris beating Trump among women voters (52 percent to 47 percent), among black voters (76 percent to 21 percent) and among voters aged 18 to 29 (62 percent to 37 percent).

A Reuters/IPSOS poll taken the day after Biden’s fateful announcement gives Harris a 44 percent share against Trump’s 42 percent. Momentum is building on her side. Thousands of volunteers are signing up for her campaign.

Less than two days after Biden withdrew, Kamala Harris won the endorsement of more than enough delegates to next month’s convention. She was endorsed by all the Democratic governors and nearly all the elected Democrats in both houses of Congress.

A sea change has happened just a hundred days before the elections.

Neither Biden nor Trump truly excited the voters. Both are old men with tired ideas to match their failing cognitive functions. Many voters were resigned to abstaining next November. Biden’s sudden withdrawal and Harris’ early consolidation of support changed all that. The dreaded internal chaos due to party infighting did not happen.

The electoral atmosphere is now positively charged. The base of the Democratic Party is energized – and united. Undecided voters have now found a candidate they would want to support. The Republicans who reject Trump now have a comfortable option.

The swiftness of Democratic Party consolidation tells us that Harris has been quietly moving while everyone fretted over Biden’s failing health. The moment Biden announced, Harris’ organization sprung into action.

Harris labors under several vulnerabilities. She is a woman in a country that has never yet elected a female president. That she is a woman of color magnifies things.

Both vulnerabilities could be overstated, however. Years before, Americans overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama. In the 2016 elections, Hillary Clinton actually garnered more votes than Trump – except that the mystifying electoral college feature of US presidential elections awarded the old white man the majority of the electoral votes. In both instances, neither skin color nor gender proved insurmountable barriers.

No two candidates are as different from each other as Harris and Trump. The Harris campaign is exploiting this to the hilt, characterizing the contest as one between a prosecutor and a felon.

After weeks of hammering Biden over his age, Trump now finds himself the oldest party presidential nominee ever. He is the old man in this contest, beset with questions over his cognitive competence. Harris represents the next generation of leaders.

Trump, as we know, thrives in bare-knuckled negative political campaigning. His campaign organization has been rightly characterized as “feral.”

Unable to articulate complex issues, Trump relies on insults and lies. He demeans his opponents, calls them names and spouts all sorts of conspiracy theories. The record shows he is twice as cruel against women rivals. He will not hold back against Harris.

But Harris has shown she could hold her ground and cut through Trump’s lies. She cuts a charismatic presence during political rallies and a deft hand in handling even the most divisive issues.

As a sign of the Trump campaign’s desperation, they put out attack ads showing Harris laughing. These ads are meant to suggest the female candidate is unserious. But that line of attack has backfired.

Trump has no sense of humor. That is beyond his intellectual competence. All his speeches are disdainful, hateful and griping. He paints a despairing picture of his country. He does not inject an element of joy in American politics.

Kamala Harris, by contrast, laughs from her belly. She finds joy in even the dreariest political moments. With her, Americans may laugh again.

We are now less than a hundred days to fateful elections. The past three weeks treated all of us to the sudden twists and turns of political fortunes.

Biden may have withdrawn from the presidential race. But in doing so, he might have created the next president.

If a week is a long time in politics, the next three months will be an eternity. There could be more surprises down the road.

But it is more likely momentum has shifted to the Harris campaign.

Biden withdrew from the campaign after the Republican Party convention proclaimed Trump the standard bearer. Trump chose a novice runningmate who has proven to be uncharismatic and prone to make mistakes.

Trump is trapped in a set campaign strategy aimed at vilifying Joe Biden. He is blamed for taking away women’s reproductive rights – a potentially powerful campaign issue. He is burdened with the extreme rightwing Plan 2025 that inspired fear among American voters.

In a word, Trump has less opportunity to reinvent his campaign. He does not have the flexibility to move away from his tired old campaign playbook.

By contrast, his Democratic opponent could change the tone and focal points of this campaign. We should see this happen in the next few days.