Sen. Kamala Harris’ Rolls-Royce rollout of her presidential run quickly shot her to the front of the Democratic pack, and with it all the troubles that come with being seen as a front-runner.

The first misstep came during her televised town meeting in Iowa. She was terrific for the first three-quarters of the show, connecting with the audience both in the hall and those of us at home.

In the final quarter, however, her focus seemed to fade — and that’s when she stepped in it, flippantly dismissing the concerns of people who like their private health insurance and aren’t enthusiastic about replacing it with government-run Medicare for All.

Her “let’s move on” line sounded a lot like, “Get over it.” It was a slip that instantly went national.

And I must admit, I was no help to Harris on the national front.

“Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?” I thought that little item would put the issue to rest.

Not quite.

Six months ago, it would have been just a chuckle among us locals. Harris’ emergence at the front of the presidential pack turned it into something that pundits from here to the Beltway parsed from every angle.

Did I say that besides me helping her, she helped me? I honestly don’t think I would have made it through my first grueling run for mayor without her smarts and support.

She loved me, and I loved me. It was a perfect relationship.

Now she’s happily married to a great guy. And if she gets elected, I’ll probably have to leave the country.

No one smarter: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the envy of every politician in America.

She took on the most powerful person on the planet and humbled him.

Pelosi is also the most disciplined politician in America. She had the grace and smarts not to rub President Trump’s face in it when she beat him on the shutdown without having to deliver money for his wall.

She gave him the space to pull himself back together as Congress talks about border security measures, but make no mistake — not one shiny dime for the wall is going to roll through her House.

Waiting for Joe: The rollout of Democratic presidential contenders continues, with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker the latest to enter the race. By my count, he makes 10, with more to come.

After the initial buzz, it’s all about the money and who can keep it rolling in. It won’t be easy. All the big Democratic donors I know are holding back to see whether former Vice President Joe Biden is running.

Biden is playing it smart so far. He’s saying as little as possible, and with good reason. There is nothing worse for a candidate than becoming overexposed.

Plus Biden, for all his folksy charm, has a history of putting his foot in his mouth. He needs to stay low until the last possible moment.

And he can.

Biden doesn’t need a big rollout. He’s been silently rolling it out for the past decade.

You can’t beat City Hall: Mayor London Breed gave a great State of the City address at the National LGBTQ Center for the Arts in the Mission, but my hope is that next year she will bring it back to City Hall.

Moving the speech out of City Hall started with former Mayor Gavin Newsom. The idea was to engage with the community.

For my money, the best way to engage with the community is to do it in City Hall. It’s something positive in a building that people generally associate with paying taxes or fighting for a permit.

Give them a chance to celebrate the building. Host a meet and greet after the speech, where everyone can take a photo.

Who knows — you might even pick up a couple of votes.

A steal of a deal: Not everyone is shunning brick-and-mortar stores for the online world. Shoplifters in particular find the downtown bargains irresistible.

A couple of retail representatives told me how blatant the thieves have become. I can only repeat it on the condition that I don’t name the store they represent, but take it from me — chances are you’ve shopped there for years.

“You wouldn’t believe it, but there are people who go into the store, pick out a full set of clothes, go into a dressing room, change into the new set and just walk out,” one rep said.

And this is with security cameras clocking their every move.

“So why don’t you stop them?” I asked.

“Can’t. The policy is not to confront anyone in the store. You have to wait until they leave the premises, when it becomes a theft.”

“And then?”

“Security stops them and waits for the cops. But even if the cops come, if the theft is under $950, they just hand them a citation.”

The other rep said, “We even had one case of a guy going out of the store with a full rack of clothes. A full rack!”

It’s one of the reasons just about every downtown store, big and small, has a security guard at the door.

Although, from the sound of things, even this security is pretty much window dressing.

Meanwhile, staffing at the bigger stores continues to be cut, and Amazon has opened two app-driven downtown outlets that don’t even have salespeople.

What a future we are living in.

Movie time: “The Upside.” The title says it all, because there is no downside to this story about a wealthy quadriplegic who hires a parolee as his caretaker.

Great performances by Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston, both playing lovable losers. It’s a non-syrupy, no-crime, no-violence, great-dialogue, entertaining movie. Catch it before it leaves town. It was not highly promoted, but it should have been.

How cold is it? I got a call from a friend in Chicago the other day who told me, “It’s so cold here that politicians are having to put their hands in their own pockets.”

Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com