She was asked a question by one of her fawning female reporters about her tweet that declared the Jussie Smollett attack hoax a "modern day lynching," and suddenly, she was a babe in the wilderness, responding by looking around for staff to help and delivering a heaping helping of schoolgirl-like giggling.

Here's the story:

During an appearance at a bookstore in Concord, N.H., a female reporter asked the senator from California if she wanted to amend a tweet from Jan. 29, in which she said Smollett was the victim of "an attempted modern day lynching" and called the actor "one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know." Harris has also used the Smollett attack to push legislation that would make lynching a federal hate crime. "Which tweet? What tweet?" Harris asked. As the reporter specified the tweet in question, Harris appeared to look around for a campaign staffer before responding. "OK, so, I will say this about that case," she said. "I think that the facts are still unfolding, and, um, I’m very, um, concerned about obviously, the initial, um, allegation that he made about what might have happened. "And it’s something we should all take seriously whenever anyone, um, alleges that kind of behavior, but there should be an investigation," Harris added. "And I think that once the investigation has concluded then we can all comment, but I’m not going to comment until I know the outcome of the investigation."

The share function from the video doesn't share the kind of code I need to embed here, so click on the link to see for yourself just how bad it is.

That's not getting past first base, and it kind of suggests someone who's at a minimum concealing her thoughts.

There was no follow-on question about what listeners were really interested in, which is whether she had a role in the entire hoax itself. That's the real question now, because a black Hollywood film producer who seems to be wise to her has made the argument that the attack seemed to align with the work of a Democratic Party machine where an anti-lynching legislative bill, brought on by Harris (and rival Cory Booker), was all set up to pass as the news of this now exposed hoax broke. The film producer said he was alerted to something going on with the last-minute insertion of gay language into the bill, adding anti-gay hate crime language to the law to be passed, which matched perfectly with the crime Smollett said he is a victim of.

Harris, we know, seems to be the candidate of the Democratic establishment. Like former President Obama, she has that multiracial composition that duplicates the successful Obama run, which is great for a party so focused on identity politics, and, in the #MeToo era, is helpfully a woman. She's been schooled in the art of politics by none other than Willie Brown, the sharpest political grandmaster in the Democrats' talent quiver, and she also has the continuous and sustained support of networks such as CNN as well as newspapers such as the New York Times. Her press corps, after all, helps her pick out her clothing.

Yet unlike Obama, her response to being caught out — even before she was caught out and called to answer for the matter — was one of fear. She really doesn't like that topic now and doesn't know how to answer, not even with an impressive Bill Clinton– or Obama-style lie. She's a one-term senator, and perhaps that isn't surprising.

The heat is on; it's going to get hotter; she's up until now only been surrounded by fawning leftists who agree with her, which has left her defenseless in understanding her competition; and she's not ready.

This is an early sign of a campaign that's falling apart. Look for more of these blunders. She's going to melt in the heat.

Image credit: Fox News screen grab.