When that fall happens, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) loyalists will be fast out of the gate in Iowa and New Hampshire, and those wins will scare the wits out of Democratic elites, who will turn en masse to whoever wins South Carolina and the Golden State. That will be Harris. Everything but the hard realities of the rules regarding delegates is noise.

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The debates may winnow the field but not quickly enough to allow a serious contender to the right of Harris to emerge as the alternative to her. There are plenty of suitors for that job, but former congressman John Delaney, Rep. Seth Moulton and Rep. Tim Ryan, former governor John Hickenlooper and Gov. Steve Bullock, and Sens. Michael Bennet and Amy Klobuchar just can’t get energy going because of, well, that guy: Mayor Pete. Buttigieg is gobbling up the “what if” column inches and superb profiles, and he will continue to do so because he’s more interesting than the other off-the-rack pols. Not interesting enough to be the nominee but endlessly fascinating to the cynical media elite.

I still think it is Harris’s to lose, and much as it might frustrate her colleagues Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, it’s Harris who is the best hope of the left to actually beat Trump and stop Sanders fair and square.

Sorry, Mr. Vice President. Every day, oppo research on you surfaces, and it’s just beginning. No politician who got their start in the Richard Nixon presidency can possibly hold on to the two generations beneath the tail end of that era. There’s too much political ammo lying around to use on you and, unlike Donald Trump in 2016, you are not the master of messaging that he is.

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— Hugh Hewitt

The Ranking

Position Position Challenger Change Over Last Ranking 1. 1. Joe Biden — 2. 2. Bernie Sanders — 3. 3. Kamala D. Harris — 4. 4. Elizabeth Warren — 5. 5. Pete Buttigieg — 6. 6. Cory Booker — 7. 7. Amy Klobuchar — 8. 8. Beto O’Rourke — 9. 9. Michael Bennet — 10. 10. Julián Castro UP 1 11. 11. John Hickenlooper DOWN 1 12. 12. Jay Inslee UP 2 13. 13. Seth Moulton DOWN 1 14. (TIE) 14. (TIE) Tim Ryan DOWN 1 14. (TIE) 14. (TIE) Kirsten Gillibrand RETURNS TO RANKING 14. (TIE) 14. (TIE) Andrew Yang RETURNS TO RANKING

Falls off ranking: Stacey Abrams

Also receiving votes: Abrams, Steve Bullock

Don’t forget to click on the yellow highlighted text above to expand the Ranking Committee’s annotations. Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts in the comments. We’ll see you for the next ranking. Until then, we’ll catch you on the air waves. Maybe.