CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris only entered the presidential race a month ago, so it's unsurprising to see trace evidence all over the Democratic National Convention of the original plans for when President Joe Biden was the presumptive nominee. The order of the states for the ceremonial roll call, the choice speaking slots for folks like Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, and even a party platform so hastily rewritten it mentions Biden's "second term": all ghosts of the convention that would have been if Biden hadn't stepped down. Unsurprising, the most prominent relic of the alt-history convention was Biden's Monday night speech, which focused on the theme of his now-deceased campaign: "clear and present threats to our very democracy" from Donald Trump.
"Democracy has prevailed, democracy has delivered, and now democracy must be preserved," Biden declared. In contrast, the Harris campaign has downplayed the "democracy" talk in favor of another word: freedom.
