Scoop: Harris works the phones, trying to lock down nomination

• She's doing so while acknowledging that despite endorsements from Biden, former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Democratic delegates are the ones who'll pick the nominee.
• "My intention is to earn and win this nomination," Harris said in a statement.

Harris' team is eager to put to rest the questions about the party's nominee that have been increasing since Biden's poor performance in his June 27 debate with former President Trump.

• Her team also knows that many Democratic leaders are extremely leery about having an open nomination process 3½ months before the Nov. 5 election.

The intrigue: Harris' endorsements from Biden and the Clintons came shortly after Biden announced Sunday afternoon that he was ending his campaign.

• Former President Obama, however, doesn't plan to endorse a Democratic candidate until one is officially nominated, according to a person familiar with the matter.
• "Just like he did in 2020 once Joe Biden earned the nomination, President Obama believes he will be uniquely positioned to help unite the party once we have a nominee, lift up that candidate, and do everything he can to get that candidate elected in November," the source told Axios.

Zoom out: Despite weeks of speculation about when or whether Biden would bow out, many Democrats were stunned once he finally did.

• Some party leaders — and major donors — are trying to create a sense of inevitability around Harris.
• "With Biden out, the party has just one candidate who has run for national office previously," former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told Axios.
• "She is proven on the campaign trail, in the situation room and in the Oval Office," Klain said.
• "It's time to unite behind our outstanding vice president, Kamala Harris."

Zoom in: State party chairs — who have some control over the nearly 4,000 delegates who will formally pick the party's nominee — are holding a call Sunday afternoon to discuss the party's options and the process going forward.

• Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement Sunday that Democrats will "undertake a transparent and orderly process" to select a candidate "who can defeat" Trump in November.
• But the DNC hasn't clarified whether it still plans to hold a "virtual roll call" of delegates in early August and finish the voting by Aug. 7, nearly two weeks before the party's convention in Chicago.
• Some state party chairs have called for the nominee to be chosen at the convention, but DNC officials say that could open up the ticket to legal challenges from Republicans.