"Harris wins no states for Biden"

The election of vice presidential candidates is usually a rather sleepy story. Few if even any vice president in modern times has decided the presidential election. The exception is possibly the election of Lyndon B. Johnson, then governor of Texas, who in 1960 helped John F. Kennedy significantly in the American South. Since then, the choice of vice presidential candidate has usually been mostly about three things:

Kamala Harris, who has been a top candidate since early this spring, is unlikely to help Biden on the first point. California, Harris' home state, is already a stronghold of democracy, and there are no other states where the support for Kamala Harris in particular is so great that she alone can be expected to tip over an election result in Joe Biden's favor. Right now, with Biden in the lead in many of the most insecure states, it does not do much, although much can change in just under three months.

But on point two, Kamala Harris points out most things. She has already been thoroughly examined by the media when she ran in the primary election and therefore does not seem to offer Biden any unpleasant surprises. She has rhetorical skills as a former prosecutor, which means that many Democrats are already drooling over upcoming debates with Mike Pence, if he now becomes Trump's vice presidential candidate. The fact that a daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother can become vice president of the United States also sends important signals to voters at a time when large parts of the United States are talking about inequality.

In addition, Kamala Harris is politically relatively close to Biden, which means that she does not seem to scare away any insecure center-right voters. The former prosecutor has received criticism from the more progressive parts of the party for his invisibility in matters relating to police brutality earlier in his career.

"She's saying all the right things now, but when she had the opportunity to actually do something about the police issue, she was either invisible or - when she was visible - on the wrong side," said David Campos, chairman of the Democrats in San Diego. Francisco and police chief in the same city when Kamala Harris was the district attorney there.

But during this summer's protests against police brutality, she probably repaired some of that damage. Kamala Harris has been loud, and among other things has been involved in writing a reform proposal to counteract police brutality. Everyone on the left in the Democratic Party does not rejoice over Harris, but the election will not be seen as a middle finger in the face against them either.

We do not know much about point three. Joe Biden may have praised Harris and vice versa on several occasions, but during the primary election it was Kamala Harris who left Joe Biden unanswered and almost ridiculed on stage when she criticized him for his history of racial segregation in the 60s and 70s, one of the most memorable moments of the primary election for many Americans.

The choice of vice presidential candidate is extra important this time. Biden's age means that the vice-presidential candidate will not be unlikely to be the Democrats' presidential candidate in the election in four years. Thus, Kamala Harris will be involved in shaping the party's future. Now she has three months to start working on it.

But Biden has apparently forgiven Harris, a sign of the impression she has made within the Democratic Party over the past year.

Given Biden's age, Harris will have a very prominent role in a future Biden administration, and the future Democratic Party. But right now the question is whether she will succeed.

During her career, Kamala Harris has often been "the first black woman" in her respective positions.