What follows here assumes that Kamala Harris carries out her stated intention to “earn the nomination” and not pretend that the crown is only in the shop. This gives her an opportunity to craft her image as a centrist with a spine, the sort of Democrat who can win national elections.

The Democratic nominee has two automatic advantages. One is that President Joe Biden is leaving behind a U.S. economy that’s the strongest in decades and the envy of the world. The other is that the opponent is Donald Trump.

If Democrats choose Harris, she would be wise to showcase her law-and-order past. The right-wing opposition will smear her as a Californian and all that implies. But as district attorney for San Francisco and then California’s attorney general, she was tough on criminal defendants to the point that progressives targeted her.

One accuser, law professor Lara Bazelon, complained of her support for a state law “under which parents whose children were found to be habitually truant in elementary school could be prosecuted, despite concerns that it would disproportionately affect low-income people of color.”

That would have been a great law. And if it worked as the professor warned, it would have disproportionately advanced the education of low-income children of color.

On immigration, Harris has to set aside the idea that the fix lies in addressing the “root causes.” There is simply no lid on the number of people who will try to enter the United States illegally if they can. Biden was late into taking executive action to secure the border, but he did it. Harris should continue to support that strenuous enforcement and if elected, back a comprehensive reform that ensures America gets the workers it needs but that every immigrant enters legally.

Her vice presidential pick will be super important. How about Sen. Mark Kelly? He’s a war hero, an astronaut, an Arizonan.

Again, Harris is not yet the official Democratic nominee.