Remember Kamala Harris? Now, she’s center stage for the Supreme Court fight

Now’s her chance. When Kamala Harris was chosen as Joe Biden’s running mate back in August, she was portrayed as a younger pioneering partner who would bring new energy and followers to the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket.

At 56, she is a generation younger than the 77-year-old Biden. As a woman of color on a national ticket, she is certainly a pioneer. Vice presidential candidates are traditionally the attack dogs of a national campaign, and as a former prosecutor, she seemed well-suited.

However, given Biden’s unusually low-key political effort this time, Harris has been largely invisible. Token visits here and there. No big headlines.

Now comes her largest opportunity — and biggest, most dangerous challenge. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Harris will be the prominent opponent of President Donald Trump’s third Supreme Court nominee, Federal Appeals Court Judge Amy Barrett.

Not by accident for a lifetime appointment, Barrett is younger (48), a devout Roman Catholic and mother of seven, including a special needs child and two adopted children of Caribbean heritage.

Barrett has also already gone through a confirmation hearing. And she’ll have all the coaching and Republican cooperation necessary as both Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell forge their lasting legal legacies through a historic number of new conservative judges at all levels.

It’s one thing for Harris to go after the last Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, over allegations of sexual misconduct in his youth. It’s another, given the heated social realities of a divisive election season, for the mother of a blended family to go after another mother on a national political stage. With no margin for explanation or healing, Harris can’t risk even the appearance of aggressive cattiness just five weeks from Election Day.

And how effective will she look if, as expected, Trump’s court pick is confirmed anyway?

The Catholic vote is important. Ask Biden, who’s going after members of his own faith, especially in the suburbs, in an effort to become only the second Catholic president in U.S. history.

The hearings will keep Harris in Washington, D.C., away from continuing even her minimal array of campaign appearances. And the hearings, followed by the actual Senate vote, are certain to dominate the news through most of the remaining time. Most voters during this bitter cycle profess to pollsters that their ballot decisions are set in cement.

But early voting is well underway across the country. The hearings and potential outbreaks of new protests and street violence will be the top stories as millions actually cast their ballots. News coverage of D.C. events has already drowned out Biden’s top campaign theme, Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic.

If Trump is successful in his reelection, future political histories will focus on this opportunistic and classic Trump diversion to change the national topic of conversation from that damaging storyline to a theme advantageous to him.

On the plus side for the Biden-Harris ticket, a time-consuming controversy over who succeeds the liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg might help energize liberals just as numerous local Democrats began to voice fears that the Biden team was overconfident given his polling leads, which have dwindled somewhat.

While Trump and his vice presidential partner each make two or three campaign appearances most days, national Democrats seem to be playing a political version of football’s infamous prevent defense, aimed at not losing in the closing minutes instead of actually winning.

Allegedly because of COVID-19, Biden’s campaign is relying more on electronic canvassing, shunning some of the traditional signs of enthusiasm such as rallies, bumper stickers and door-knocking.

It’s hard to measure, but there is also a clear enthusiasm gap. Boat parades, car parades, lawn signs, large rallies and the intricate ground game of the Republican National Committee create a strong impression of Trump ubiquity. When Biden gave a major speech in Detroit recently, eight of his masked supporters were present. Twenty noisy Trump fans demonstrated nearby.

Such impressions may not, in fact, change many minds, given Democrats’ enduring Trump antipathy from the trauma of his 2016 upset. But they could well dampen Democratic turnout to play a major role in close results.

Now come the debates, which will be more important for Biden than the president. Trump will be Trump. After five years, is there perhaps a herd immunity to his behavior?

Biden, on the other hand, must show energy, sharpness and a deft rhetorical touch under tough questioning to counter the widespread impression of low-energy and suspicions that his age is showing.

Here’s an amazing stat compiled by the Associated Press:

In the seven weeks since Biden announced his vice presidential pick, he has done no campaigning on 22 days. Not a single event with the presidency at stake. He took the entire week off the trail after his nomination and had Harris respond to Trump’s convention acceptance speech. On other days, Biden does one photo op, calling it a day by 9:30 a.m.

In the same period, the 74-year-old Trump made 24 trips to 17 states. Last Friday alone, he campaigned in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and the District of Columbia. On Saturday, he announced his Supreme Court pick, then returned to campaign in Minnesota’s Iron Range again.

Whatever their political leanings, American voters know they have leverage at times like these. They want to see candidates work for their ballot support. Forget your personal preference for a moment. Looking at all this, which presidential ticket would you say is working harder for your vote?