Kamala is cooking. When will she be burnt?

The bump was immediate and measurable. Coming next: A test of agility.

She’s improved … markedly so … at the most important skill a modern presidential candidate can possess, communication.

She conveys it with her self-assured gaze as she scans an Obamaesque stadium crowd in Atlanta; she projects it through that uproarious cackle, which virtually overnight was recast from canned and corny to somehow cozy; she benefits from the bar having been so low for Joe that simply reciting a teleprompter without error inspires confidence equal to the force of a confetti bomb.

Kamala Devi Harris’ boomlet — however long it lasts — was never assured.

Eleven days ago, she looked better than Biden, yes, but everyone did. Through her tenure as No. 2, Harris was widely perceived as unsteady, underprepared. Undisguisably mediocre. She still appeared inherently risky and would start as a definitive underdog, perhaps even a sacrificial lamb. She looked like she’d have to fight off a challenge from somewhere, someone in the party. It would be warranted, noble even to test someone so weak.

It could be argued that it felt more dangerous not to kick the door to the Democratic nomination wide open at the convention; that was Nancy’s initial instinct, after all.

But nothing washes away a preconceived notion as briskly as promising political polling.

Up in Wisconsin and Arizona and Nevada (narrowly) and way, way, way up in Michigan. It’s not a lock, it’s not even quite a lead, but the numbers impart a feeling Democrats have been devoid of most of the year: H o P e.

By one estimate, the swap of the century has netted Democrats