146 days. That’s how long Kamala Harris’s book tour will be when combining the fall leg of the tour and the additional spring dates she announced on Wednesday. That eclipses the 107 days she spent on the campaign trail.

Her speaking tour complaining will now exceed the time she spent campaigning. Perhaps that’s appropriate for Harris. It’s symbolic of the fact that she will be remembered much more for losing than for anything she accomplished in office.

Unfortunately for Harris, her book tour is coming at a time when her prospects for the 2028 presidential campaign are dimming. (RELATED: The Spectacle Ep. 279: Kamala Harris’ Book Tour of Excuses)

While in February she led all Democratic presidential candidates in a SurveyUSA poll with 37 percent support, an August Emerson poll placed her well behind Gavin Newsom. In that survey, Newsom received 25 percent support, followed by Buttigieg with 16 percent support, with Harris trailing at 11 percent support. (RELATED: Kamala Finally Says Something True, And Now She’s Truly Cooked)

Recent state polls have also placed her behind both Newsom and Buttigieg. A November St. Anselm poll put Pete Buttigieg in the lead at 28 percent support, followed by Gavin Newsom at 24 percent support. Harris came in third, but well behind, with 6 percent support. A November Emerson poll in Nevada put Newsom in the lead with 37 percent support, Buttigieg in second with 19 percent support, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in third with 9 percent support, and Kamala Harris in fourth at 6 percent support. (RELATED: Pete Buttigieg: America’s Second Gay President?)

Last month, the Washington Post placed her in the “middle of the pack” of Democratic presidential contenders, saying that many Democrats have taken issue with her decision to blame others for letting Biden run for office again (when she herself was his vice president and repeatedly claimed that he was cognitively capable). (RELATED: Josh Shapiro–Kamala Harris Feud Heats Up)

One question Democrats are increasingly asking themselves is why they should go with Harris in 2028 when she already had her chance and failed. Even one Democratic senator, who remained anonymous, put forward this line of reasoning against a second Harris bid.

Harris is struggling with Democrats on both sides of the political spectrum. Progressives are upset with her for prioritizing winning over moderate Republicans during the 2024 election, while many moderate Democrats perceive her to be a progressive in disguise, given her extremely liberal voting record in the Senate. This week, a progressive think tank, RootsAction, put out a report blaming her loss on her decision to act as a moderate throughout the campaign, which it says caused poor turnout among Democratic strongholds.

In an interview with the New York Times published this week, in which the newspaper said of Harris, “Is she now suddenly a figure of [the Democratic Party’s] past?”, Harris fared quite poorly at answering the question of why she should have a political future.

She was unable to put forward a coherent vision for the Democratic Party or explain what direction she wants to go politically. When asked by the Times what the party should do, she said, “This sounds really corny, but we have to stand for the people. And I know that that sounds corny. I know that. But I mean it. I mean it.” As for her answer on the direction she personally wants to go politically, the Times was baffled. “The elevator pitch of Ms. Harris’s ideology remains as elusive as ever,” said national political correspondent Shane Goldmacher.

One thing Harris did attempt to do in her interview was combat the idea that her national political career will simply be remembered for failure. She already has a storied place in history, Harris claimed. “But there will be a marble bust of me in Congress. I am a historic figure like any vice president of the United States ever was,” she said.

Harris’s vice presidency was, of course, far from impressive. It began with a year-long period in which she was kept at arm’s length by a Biden camp uncomfortable with the dysfunction within her office. And it ended with no notable policy wins or initiatives. Her election defeat while sitting as vice president sealed the nation’s displeasure with her term in office.

Harris is using her book tour to prepare for a 2028 presidential run. It’s a way to travel through swing states and interact with voters. But Harris seems not to have asked herself if spending more time mulling over her defeat is a good way to prepare for a new presidential bid.

With every book tour she does — and she has 18 more stops to go across 13 different states — she binds herself more closely to her 2024 defeat, letting it define her entire political identity.

Politicians may be granted a year to mourn a devastating political loss, but dragging her mourning period (she says of her loss that she “grieved in a way that I have not since my mother died”) into 2026 may go too far for anyone in the Democratic Party.

READ MORE from Ellie Gardey Holmes:

Cheaters Faking Disabilities Are Dragging Colleges Into Crisis

Texas Might Be the Only State Strong Enough to Face Real Evil

Rev. Phil Phaneuf’s ‘Transition’ Shows United Methodist Church in Turmoil

, 2025-12-12 03:04:00, , The American Spectator | USA News and Politics, %%https://spectator.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://spectator.org/feed/, Ellie Gardey Holmes