Analysis | The Trailer: No lock on California for Sen. Kamala Harris, even as liberals scramble for an alternative to Joe Biden

Analysis Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events In this edition: The California aftermath, the struggles of impeachment cheerleaders, and the end of Hogan 2020.I hope the next Democratic cattle call adds a jeer-o-meter to the applause-o-meter, and this is The Trailer.SAN FRANCISCO — The first real “cattle call” of the 2020 primary was full of drama, from loud booing for two candidates, to a shocking interruption of Kamala Harris; from activists shouting “impeach” at Nancy Pelosi, to sex workers staging a “die-in” protest.The state Democratic convention and satellite events also did a little, if not much, to define the most crowded Democratic contest in modern history. The vanishing of former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who until April had been threatening a third-party bid if Democrats went too far left, opened a seat for a candidate who would attack "socialism." (Schultz has not decided against a run, but had initially planned to announce something by now.)“Republicans will try to make us into socialists even if we’re not,” Hickenlooper said in an interview. It was the only physical evidence at the convention of Biden, whose campaign was a sponsor of the event, but whose candidate was speaking to LGBT rights activists in Ohio.The warm reception for Biden's rivals demonstrated what has been obvious for months: The former veep is leading the polls, but most Democratic activists remain interested in alternatives. At the Progressive Caucus meeting, there was plenty of applause for a co-chair's assertion that “we must send a message that the future of the party is not Joe Biden.” But there was no clear way to do so.“The more candidates that get in, the better it probably is for Biden,” said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), who has not endorsed a candidate in the primary.Meanwhile, in an interview with Cenk Uygur, the host of “The Young Turks” news network, Sanders gave an unusually game answer to a question about whether nominating Biden could lead to the same sort of defeat as the 2016 Clinton nomination.“I fear that it could be, I really do,” Sanders said. “I fear that you could have a campaign without a lot of energy, without a lot of excitement.”Supporters applaud as Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts speaks to thousands of delegates at the 2019 California Democratic Party convention. It wasn't clear, after one weekend, whether that would consolidate support, or leave more room for Warren to meet swing Democrats.Sean Sullivan contributed reporting.Author and Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson speaks during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last month. But they are too rattled to be sure he's wrong.“Insurgent Democrats, many of them women, worry a new party policy will block them,” by Jennifer SteinhauerThe DCCC policy of cutting off contractors who work for primary challengers is facing another backlash, from those who want a more diverse party and wonder whether incumbent protection will hurt that.Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) speaks during the 2019 California Democratic Party State Organizing Convention in San Francisco on Saturday. The past few weeks haven’t changed that — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) have continued to talk about impeachment in the third person, as an event that may become inevitable, not one they want to bring about.“We're five months into the year,” Steyer said, exasperated. Failure to act quickly on impeachment, he said, was “a big part” of why polling showed Democrats to be slightly less enthusiastic about the 2020 elections than they were about 2018.“If I were the president, and it was October of 2020, and there had been a bunch of investigations and nothing had happened, I would say ‘Look, there was a lot of talk, but I got cleared by Nancy Pelosi,’” Steyer said. The state's Democratic Party elected Ben Wikler, the longtime Washington director of MoveOn, as its new chairman during a weekend convention that was slightly overshadowed by the festivals in California.Democratic presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden speaks during the Human Rights Campaign event in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday. She didn't get a microphone at the California Democrats' convention; she will at next week's Iowa “hall of fame” event, and she's building out several more days of campaign stops around the state.Pete Buttigieg.