WASHINGTON _ Not long ago, California Sen. Kamala Harris was one of the few Democratic candidates for president who earned praise from Donald Trump.
"I would say the best opening so far would be Kamala Harris," Trump said in an interview last January, shortly after she rallied 20,000 people in her hometown of Oakland. "I would say in terms of the opening act, I would say, would be her."
But Harris' decision to withdraw from the race on Tuesday, after months of sliding poll numbers and depleting funds, offered Trump and his campaign a rare lesson: crowd size isn't everything.