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Was Harris picked by Biden or was she thrust upon him?
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October 15th, 2020
First some background about the Democratic Primary.
Heading into Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020, Biden was not in the top Democratic candidate; that honor belonged to Bernie. However, since Super Tuesday involved a lot of states with significant Black votes, Biden was expected to do well. However, he was expected to lose some states to other contenders. On March 2, Mayor Pete and Amy Klobuchar dropped out. See
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/02/800856100/sen-amy-klobuchar-ends-presidential-campaign
Elizabeth Warren and Bloomberg dropped out right after Super Tuesday, and the Biden train was on its way. Even a big Democratic fan like Michael Moore was dumbfounded: See
The role of the DNC was not clarified, but it was obvious to all. The powers that be had decided that Biden would carry the mantle that the DNC had entrusted to Hillary in 2016.
By March 15, Biden was the presumptive candidate and committed to selecting a woman as his running mate. See
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/15/politics/joe-biden-woman-vice-president/index.html
Klobuchar was the favorite and even referred to herself being on the ticket on at least one occasion – see
In late May, after the start of the BLM riots, pressure was applied on Biden to select a woman of color as his VP candidate – see
However, as late as July 20, Biden did not commit to selecting a woman of color – see
On Aug 10, 100 prominent black men issued a letter urging the selection of a black woman. The letter (linked below) contained these words:
“failing to select a Black woman in 2020 means you will lose the election.”
Exactly one week later, on Aug 17, Biden announced his selection of Kamala Harris.
So my question is: was Harris forced upon Biden?
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