(Politico)
CARLA MARINUCCI 11/17/2019 09:24 PM
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Confronted by an army of reporters after speaking before 5,000 cheering Democrats in her home state, Sen. Kamala Harris delivered a defiant response to recent media reports that her flagging campaign is crippled by internal disputes and on the ropes.
“I am very supportive of my campaign, of the people who are working on it,’’ she told reporters at the California Democratic convention after her appearance at a live Univision presidential forum here Saturday. “They've done great work which has gotten us to the point where we are today.“
“And let’s be clear,’’ she added. “We have to focus on the real issues in front of us. We’ve got an impeachment hearing going on, we’ve got a criminal living in the White House, we’ve got immigrants who are afraid of leaving their homes. We’ve got the 2020 census coming up. ... That’s where my head is focused.”
The California senator’s pumped-up demeanor was bolstered by a powerful new endorsement from the iconic United Farmworkers Union. Still, much of the buzz this weekend among the activist delegates and guests gathered in Long Beach to hear from eight presidential candidates centered on her political future — and whether it may be time for her to withdraw from the race rather than face potential humiliation in her home state primary.
After a spectacular campaign launch in January before 22,000 in her hometown of Oakland, Harris — once lauded as a top tier contender — has been mired in low single digits in the polls and dogged by reports of a campaign marked by flailing strategy, muddled messaging and a team in disarray.