Mile High said:
In this political environment it's probably better to run with a new candidate over any current VP. They won't be carrying as much baggage.
That's actually poor long term political strategy by the DNC. There's no way they actually do that.
1) Being the sitting Vice President provides many distinct advantages in an election cycle. While this is normally a situation where being the actual sitting President is the advantage, this scenario from a resource base perspective is still true.
2) By pulling away from Harris, DNC HQ and the DNC Super Delegates are openly admitting their mistake. They are already going to lose 2024 to Nikki Haley and/or Ron De Santis. The 2022 mid terms are projected to flip Red. Pulling away from Harris has a massive down the ticket impact. What's more dangerous to the establishment Democrats? Nikki Haley as POTUS or Nikki Haley as POTUS with a Super Majority?
3) By pushing someone else forward ( Who would it be?), they are burning out a potential contender for 2028. Mitt Romney had zero chance to beat Obama. He was sent up to lose. The GOP knew he was going to lose. But they didn't want to burn down one of their real prospects. They didn't want to burn down one of their real long term established hitters. Romney existed to as a placeholder to push to hold as many GOP interests as possible in that cycle.
Who will replace Harris? The contenders from 2020, people who actual got some kind of delegate support included Warren, Klobuchar, Buttigieg, Sanders and Gabbard. The last two were railroaded by their own party. Gabbard no longer holds office ( Smart of her to walk away) and Sanders is too old and has been turfed too often. Warren was railroaded and self inflicted the Pocahontas Scandal. Klobuchar will, no doubt, go to war with anyone and none of the establishment Democrats want that and she would be difficult to replace where she is now heading up several major powerful committees in Congress. They could sacrifice Buttigieg but the way things are shaping up, they might need him for 2028.
You can't just hit "reset" on POTUS contenders. It takes YEARS and LOTS OF MONEY to build a contender and they are groomed and established over time. It takes time to build relationships and to win delegates.
This is how bad things have gotten for the Democratic Party - If Gavin Newsom barely survives recall, he could fail upwards to get the ticket at some point. But "Auntie" Pelosi will have a hard time sending him up to be sacrificial lamb against Nikki Haley.
Harris is already sunk, there is incentive in place to let her just eat 2024 as a walking punching bag politically, like a Romney, to fully tank and hope to prevent a GOP Super Majority.