VP'S EXIST TO BE USED:

Biden knew all about her political shortcomings after watching her implode during the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination -- but went on to select her as his running mate, regardless. The optics of having the first woman, first black and first Asian vice-president at his side were too good to resist. And then, as President, he handed her two unwinnable assignments -- solving the "root causes" of the migrant crisis (created by his own open door to families with children), and fending off Republican attempts to reform statewide voting systems (over which she has no power).

"Maybe I don't say no enough," Harris joked last weekend, when asked if she had been given too many tasks, but she didn't seem that amused. "It's just a lot of hard work, but that's why we're here and that's what people wanted. Right?'"

Tough luck, insiders say. Vice presidents always get the worst jobs. There was no love lost between Joe Biden and Barack Obama, either, who haven't seen each other for months despite their supposed closeness. There is, though, more to it than that. The reputation of the "big guy" -- as Hunter Biden likes to call his father -- has been shored up at the expense of Harris in the hope of neutralising any threat to the now 78-year-old Biden running again in 2024.

As a bonus, the stitching up of Harris has put paid to all those wounding accusations, from Donald Trump and his supporters, that Biden was merely a doddery placeman, whom she was eying up for lunch and bound to dispatch on the grounds of senility at the earliest opportunity. The ploy has worked. With her approval ratings on 44%, according to the latest YouGov/Economist poll, Harris is no longer seen as the heir apparent to the President. 

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