You know what they say about karma being a (word that rhymes with “witch”), right?
At the second Democratic presidential primary debate back in July, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI) absolutely torched Sen. Kamala Harris’ (CA) criminal justice reform record during her time as California’s attorney general. It was the political shot heard round the world.
In case you missed it, watch it below:
Understandably, Harris was none too pleased about it and let it be known in a post-debate interview in what Brandon Morse described at the time as a “childish and elitist” response:
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: Did you expect that from Tulsi Gabbard? Had you had interaction about that in the past? And how do you think it went?
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS: Well, I mean, listen, I — this is going to sound immodest, but I’m obviously a top-tier candidate, and so I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight because there are a lot of people that are trying to make the stage for the next debate.
COOPER: For a lot of them it’s do or die.
HARRIS: Especially when some people are at zero or 1%, whatever she might be at. So I did expect that I might take hits tonight.
Watch:
Kamala Harris on Tulsi Gabbard’s comments regarding her record as a prosecutor: “I’m obviously a top tier candidate and so I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight. … I'm prepared to move on” #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/kPNYfBs2rB
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 1, 2019
It was a particularly cheap shot from someone who’d had such a disastrously poor debate performance. She actually stooped even lower during the same interview with Cooper, calling Gabbard an “apologist” for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Well, here we are three months later, and the tables have dramatically turned. Not only has Kamala Harris’ campaign cratered, but in some national and state polls Gabbard is now ahead of her, in spite of vicious attacks on the Hawaii congresswoman earlier this month from failed 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
First up, the CNN/UH state poll out of New Hampshire:
New CNN/UNH poll numbers from the Granite State (margin of error +- 4.1%)
Sanders 21%
Warren 18%
Biden 15%
Buttigieg 10%
Gabbard 5%
Klobuchar 5%
Yang 5%
Harris 3%
Steyer 3%
Booker 2%
O’Rourke 2%
Sestak 1%— David Chalian (@DavidChalian) October 29, 2019
Here’s how things have trended in that poll since July:
New CNN poll of NH (trend since July):
Sanders: 21% (+2)
Warren: 18% (-1)
Biden: 15% (-9)
Buttigieg: 10% (+0)
Gabbard: 5% (+4)
Klobuchar: 5% (+5)
Yang: 5% (+4)
Harris: 3% (-6)
Steyer: 3% (+3)Gets Gabbard one step closer to November debate.https://t.co/5qP1pcvg0T
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 29, 2019
Next, a national poll from Suffolk University and USA Today:
New Suffolk/USA Today NATIONAL poll (counts for both the November and December debates)
Biden 26%
Warren 17%
Sanders 13%
Buttigieg 10%
Gabbard 4%
Yang 3%
Harris 3%
Everyone else at or below 2 percent https://t.co/N3bYKoP3RC— Zach Montellaro (@ZachMontellaro) October 30, 2019
The trend on that one looks like this:
Trendlines from August to October…
Biden: 26% (-6)
Warren: 17% (+3)
Sanders: 13% (+1)
Buttigieg: 10% (+4)
Gabbard: 4% (+4)
Yang: 3% (-)
Harris: 3% (-3)https://t.co/6nBTZ6w6bb— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 30, 2019
To be fair, there are other polls taken recently that show Harris ahead of Gabbard by a few percentage points, but it’s still gotta sting Harris to know that the woman whose numbers she made fun of back in July is polling ahead of her in select polls now.
Daily Caller’s James Hasson calls it for what it is:
Kinda poetic that Harris is now polling below Tulsi, after she dismissed Tulsi’s attacks at the second debate by saying “I’m obviously a top-tier candidate.” https://t.co/dCF4WnO4Bu
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) October 30, 2019
To make matters worse for Harris, Gabbard is just one poll away from qualifying for the November Democratic debate (which is scheduled for Nov. 20th in Georgia).
Assuming Gabbard ends up qualifying, one has to wonder if she’ll be prepared to use a rhetorical finishing maneuver on her political foe this time around (assuming the mods don’t run interference).
Stay tuned! 😉
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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 16+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –
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