I don't know how much name recognition matters when people are SO polarized about the extremely well-known name on the other side.

It seems like this is really going to be a "for Trump" and "against Trump" election at this point. Nobody's going to leap out and knock anybody's socks off this close to the wire. All the dems need to do is present any body people are reasonably sure will still be warm in four years. The results won't differ much.

> A fair number of Dems have seemingly engaged with the prospect of Biden stepping aside as a gateway to their wildest fantasies

Uh, who? Certainly there are people who have their own opinions out there somewhere, but virtually every name brand democrat over the past few hours has either explicitly endorsed Harris or notably avoided boosting a different candidate. And absolutely no one is going even the tiniest bit negative on Harris, at all.

No, it seems like a fait accompli at this point. Add to that her control over the almost $100M campaign warchest, and... yeah. The fight now is over who gets to be VP.

I'm not talking about prominent Democratic politicians/strategists/pundits for that part; it's just a sentiment I've seen a whole lot of as someone whose social media diet is dominated by left-leaning spaces. There's a huge appetite for the perfect candidate who can (in fantasy-land) ensure that Trump is defeated for all time.