Dems are starting convention 'healthier, better organized' — and even more 'ruthless': analysis

When Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, were campaigning in Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 18, a reporter asked if she still considers herself the "underdog" in the 2024 presidential race despite a CBS News poll showing her "up 3 points up nationally."

Harris, without hesitation, responded, "I very much consider us the underdog. We have a lot to do to earn the vote of the American people. That's why we're on this bus tour today."

Despite many national and battleground state polls showing her with small single-digital leads over GOP nominee Donald Trump, Harris continues to use the word "underdog" repeatedly — which is her way of emphasizing that she takes nothing for granted.

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Nonetheless, Harris' campaign and party organizers are going into the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a great deal of energy — which, Politico's Jonathan Martin stresses in an article published on August 19, is a dramatic change from a month ago.

"This new era of good feelings for Democrats is a far cry from last month, when they faced their most existential crisis since Trump's initial election, their leaders staring one another down in a sort of political version of nuclear brinksmanship," Martin observes. "And it differs from so many previous conventions when there was often intra-party tension over policy, politics, personnel, or all three, looming above the proceedings…. Democrats are a healthier, better organized, more hierarchical and even ruthless party."

The Politico reporter adds, "Unified against Trump more than they are dedicated to any ideological project, they've adopted what's effectively an Al Davis platform: Just win, baby."

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville noted that a variety of Democrats, from progressives to centrists, are rallying around Harris as the convention gets underway in Chicago.

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Carville told Politico, "If a Democrat said, 'I don't want Bernie Sanders voters,' even moderate Democrats would say, 'You're out of your f*****g mind.'"

READ MORE: 'Numbers are ominous': Johnson says GOP may lose House due to 'electrifying' Harris campaign

Read Politico's full report at this link.