Today, I am going to channel David Letterman and his old Top Ten lists by listing the Top Ten mistakes Kamala Harris has made in her presidential race (so far).

These are only the mistakes she or her campaign have made. Note that the lawfare cases against Donald Trump, initiated and pursued by Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, were done largely without her input (although she most assuredly agreed with this strategy) and thus do not count as “her” mistake.

This list is in ascending order of importance, from the smallest mistake to the largest mistake.

Here is my list:

10. Harris should have visited hurricane-affected states instead of attending another fundraiser — Bill Clinton, Mr. “Feel Your Pain,” must have been screaming at the television set and tearing his clothes when Harris, the sitting Vice President, chose not to visit and attempt to comfort the people afflicted by Hurricane Helene and (later) Hurricane Milton. Harris eventually made a belated visit to Augusta, Georgia, but it was clear her heart wasn't in it. Granted, Harris is not known for being especially empathic and comforting. However, all she had to do was make a real effort; it is very unlikely that a person in the afflicted area would have attempted to embarrass her on the spot, and even if that person did, most swing voters would have blamed that person instead of her. That is, as long as she actually spent some time there and tried to be of legitimate assistance to the victims (trying to horn in later with Florida Gov. Ron Desantis when she didn’t actually do anything doesn’t help). Instead, Harris showed her disdain, or her fear, of getting involved with the afflicted hurricane victims when she chose to personally attend a Los Angeles fundraiser (a fundraiser that could easily have raised money without her).

9. Harris should not have leaned so strongly into her campaign depicting Trump as the devil. As I mentioned before, the Democrat campaign to depict Donald Trump as a crude barbarian crook who abuses women and minorities and wants to overthrow America’s democratic society in favor of dictatorship, while it works for Democrats and Never Trumpers (but I repeat myself), is not very helpful with the swing voters. (Note, this includes talking about things like January 6, Trump is a Hitler, Trump is a rapist, Trump is a felon, etc.) Remember that these swing voters have heard these kinds of attacks since 2015; if they haven’t already been swayed by them, they aren’t going to work now.

8. Harris should have been prepared to give an answer to "The View" and Stephen Colbert where she adequately separated herself from Biden. This was inexcusable. The interviewers were very favorable, and there had been numerous leaks in the media that Harris was going to try to establish independence from the Biden-Harris administration. All she needed to do was to actually do it. And that is where she failed. And as a result, the Trump campaign made a commercial attack ad out of it.

7. Harris should never have given examples of inflation running rampant. What Harris was thinking when she went through many examples of higher inflation afflicting various items is unknown, but it was a clear violation of Politics 101 when she went through these items, in her own voice, detailing the price increases because of the inflation she helped create. As a result, the Trump campaign made a brutal attack ad about it (which she and her campaign should have known they would do). 

6. Harris should have chosen a better vice-presidential running mate, presumably Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro, but certainly not Minnesota’s Tim Walz. As I said before, Harris somehow blew her most prominent campaign decision by choosing poorly for her running mate. The vice-presidential pick is meant to do three things in American politics: 1) to serve as an attack dog for the presidential candidate; 2) to help in the vice-presidential nominees’ home state; and 3) TO DO NO HARM IN GENERAL. And sometimes, as in 2000 and 2020, the vice presidential pick is also meant to help boost enthusiasm and/or fundraising with a specific ethnic/religious group. Walz does none of those things. His “knucklehead” status has made him a poor attack dog, as was seen in the vice presidential debate. He has not helped the campaign in his home state of Minnesota. And his “stolen valor” problem and other lies, which should have been picked up by any halfway competent vetting, have done harm to the Harris campaign everywhere. Even worse, Harris’ decision to not choose Gov. Shapiro looks especially bad now, when even a minor polling bump in Pennsylvania might give her the edge in the key state for the 2024 election, and his selection might have helped her with her demonstrated polling problems with Jewish Americans. 

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5. Harris should not have tried to run as independent of the Biden administration and as an agent of change. This was just a stupid decision. Even very low-information voters usually have some familiarity with the sitting administration, and are at least familiar with who is the vice president. Playing word games, even with MSM buy-in, is not going to fool them.

4. Harris should have undermined Trump’s record on the economy. Rather than spend so much time on her campaign attempting to depict Trump as the devil, Harris should have sought to undermine his economic tenure as president. Remember, Trump was ousted in 2020 over his temperament and “mean tweets”; most voters, including the swing voters, thought his economic record was excellent — especially when compared to the Biden-Harris administration, presiding over heavy inflation and a poor economy. Now, I am not sure it could have been done completely, but she needed to at least make the attempt. As a prominent politico once said, “It’s the economy, stupid!”

3. Harris should have fought Biden to be less crazy on the economy and the border. Harris, and Biden before her, should have been smarter about the economy, the border, and world chaos. We all know that they are committed leftists who want to fundamentally change the U.S. and the world. But, going with every wacky left-wing scheme, and letting every illegal alien in, should have been a bridge too far for a smart left-wing administration. Slow and steady was the correct approach, and Harris herself should have fought for that when it mattered (which was way before the election).

2. Harris should have separated herself from Biden early on. As I mentioned before, Harris should have followed in the footsteps of former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who, when faced with a very similar situation in 1968 – a bad economy and world chaos – chose to separate himself from his own president on the most crucial issue of the day – on Vietnam. Despite recent articles suggesting Harris’ campaign knew this was important, she never did, and now, it is probably too late.

1. Harris should have buckled in and done her homework as a government official. One of the reasons that Kamala Harris was so unpopular before her selection as the presidential candidate was her poor work habits and entitled nature. Even MSM organs, like Politico, wrote about this. Her vice-presidential office had much turnover, as Harris constantly blamed her staff for not preparing her for events and work, even though the real problem was she didn’t actually study those memos and other documents that they prepared for her, which led to her not making a suitable impression of being prepared (because she wasn’t). This has been a long-time problem for her. Apparently, despite being a prominent elected prosecutor, her record of actually prosecuting criminals is “slim and none.” In my experience with politicians, it is important to be a workhorse, and not a showhorse, to get ahead. Regardless of what individuals thought of him or his record, my former boss, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, won a record five terms in the U.S. Senate in a very competitive state by working his a$$ off. The fact that Harris was handed her career by more powerful politicos is unimportant; she still could have and should have buckled down to do the hard work to get ahead in political office.

Considering all of these mistakes, my humble opinion continues to be that Kamala Harris is the clear underdog in the 2024 presidential race, and for her to win the election, she really needs to stop digging her hole any larger.