Anyone who has been paying even a little bit of attention to this election knows that there were really only a few issues that seemed to matter this time around. Chief among these was the economy. After that, Republicans were clearly looking to campaign on immigration and Democrats on abortion. 

So here we are in the 11th hour of this election and the Harris camp/CNN just dropped a trial balloon yesterday about her possibly heading to the border this Friday. That suggests that the Republican push on immigration is working and Harris is looking to blunt that objection by showing up at the border and doing a photo op.

Today, Harris herself dropped another hint about her future plans in a radio interview, this one about abortion.

Vice President and Democratic nominee for president Kamala Harris told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” on Monday that she supports ending the filibuster to restore Roe v. Wade to protect abortion rights nationally. 

“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe,” Harris said in an interview that aired Tuesday morning. “And get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do.”

In 2022 as vice president, Harris said she supported ending the filibuster to protect reproductive and voting rights. As a candidate for president in 2019 when she was a U.S. senator, she also said she would support ending the filibuster to pass environmental legislation known as the Green New Deal.

Several points about this. First, it's not a new position exactly since she's apparently said this before, fairly recently. Though because it's Kamala Harris and her positions are constantly changing to suit the audience, you won't be shocked to learn that she was against ending the filibuster at one time.

🚨Kamala wants to abolish the filibuster, but here's the letter she signed as Senator pledging to support the filibuster to ensure the Senate "continues to serve as the world's greatest deliberative body."

Her word is meaningless.

She'll say anything to get elected. pic.twitter.com/XzDY4ZfJ8S

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) September 24, 2024

Second, she's saying this in a local radio interview in Wisconsin, not in a national interview on television. This is a pathetic, cowardly way to campaign but let's face it, radio works for Harris because she can read the talking points put in front of her rather than trying to think on her feet, which often doesn't go well for her. More to the point, this is clearly a political play to highlight abortion as an issue in swing states.

Third, this is almost certainly a waste of breath because it appears pretty unlikely Democrats will be able to retain control of the Senate. Surprises do happen but as of now this is just one more thing Kamala Harris won't be able to do, even if she's elected.

The border visit announced yesterday and the filibuster comment today smell of Democratic desperation. I have the impression that, behind the scenes, strategists are seeing some polls that worry them a lot and this fantasy-based push is the response. Is Harris actually tough on the border? No, she's not. Is she going to end the filibuster anytime soon? No, she's not. But if she can rally a few more voters with this, that's the real goal. 

There's already been a reaction from several Democratic senators.

To state the supremely obvious, eliminating the filibuster to codify Roe v Wade also enables a future Congress to ban all abortion nationwide.

What an absolutely terrible, shortsighted idea. https://t.co/ldzTB9BkV7

— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) September 24, 2024

And here's Joe Manchin's response.

New — Joe Manchin, a staunch defender of the filibuster, tells us he WON’T endorse Kamala Harris now over her vow to gut the filibuster to codify Roe.

“Shame on her," Manchin, who is retiring at year's end, said in the Capitol. "She knows the filibuster is the Holy Grail of…

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 24, 2024

Sinema and Manchin were already on their way out but what about the most endangered Senate Democrat, Jon Tester? He told Semafor he did not support Harris' proposal.

Montana Democrat Jon Tester, the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbent, told Semafor that he supports requiring senators to hold the floor in person while filibustering legislation — the so-called talking filibuster. And he opposes the complete elimination of the chamber’s 60-vote requirement to pass most legislation.

“My stance is this: We need to change the filibuster into a talking filibuster,” he said in an interview last week. “We should not eliminate the filibuster.”

Sen. Bob Casey on the other hand is for it.

Senate GOP Whip John Thune said “no” he wouldn’t change the filibuster under any circumstances if he becomes majority leader.

Sen. Bob Casey, a vulnerable Pennsylvania Democrat, told us he supports Harris’ push to gut the filibuster in order to pass abortion legislation.

“I…

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 24, 2024

But again, it doesn't really matter because it's not going to happen. For Harris the goal was to make people (and the media) make abortion an issue. So far it seems to be working. Here's the key part of the Harris interview.

In an interview with @WPR VP Harris said she supports the elimination of the Senate filibuster to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade. Here’s the clip. pic.twitter.com/g5kjVUMOA1

— Nidia (@NidiaCavazosTV) September 24, 2024